Yankees’ second-base solution may be right under their noses
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — How Aaron Boone juggles Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge between right field and DH will be the main event of spring training.
However, the undercard has an intriguing feel to it since the Yankees need to find Starlin Castro’s replacement at second base after he was shipped to the Marlins in the Stanton deal.
Gleyber Torres, Ronald Torreyes and Tyler Wade will be in the mix and the most intriguing of them is Torres. And never count out the Yankees looking outside if the right deal surfaces.
“Our second-base situation is going to play out one way or the other,” general manager Brian Cashman said Monday at the Winter Meetings. “We’ll see how the rest of our dialogue in the winter goes, and then we have players like a Gleyber Torres, like Torreyes, Tyler Wade, [Thairo] Estrada. We have a lot of good, young, hungry players that depending how it looks in spring and depending upon how our conversations as we move forward this winter play out — so clearly, stay tuned. I don’t have, nor will Boonie have, a second baseman that we will name on Dec. 11.”
Obtained from the Cubs in July 2016 for Aroldis Chapman, Torres is the jewel of a solid minor league system. A natural shortstop, Torres’ 2017 season was cut short by a left (non-throwing) elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery.
It’s not out of the question Torres, who turns 21 on Wednesday, could impress enough in spring training to win the job, even though he played only five games at second last season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and five at Double-A Trenton.
In 55 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Trenton, Torres hit .287 with seven homers, 34 RBIs and an .863 OPS.
Free agent CC Sabathia is expected to visit the Winter Meetings on Tuesday, and the Yankees remain interested in bringing the veteran lefty back.
“Yeah, we have payroll space because we have more work to do,” Cashman said. “This situation fits because we still have room to accomplish all of our stated goals, but obviously it takes up some of that space clearly.”
Sabathia, meanwhile, has spoken to the Angels.
Boone said Monday that Phil Nevin will be the new Yankees third-base coach and Reggie Willets will be at first. Carlos Mendoza is in line for the infield job that will put him in the dugout. Mike Harkey is expected back as the bullpen coach, and Marcus Thames is the favorite to be the hitting coach.
Steinbrenner confirmed Monday what was a badly kept secret in the Yankees universe: Cashman remains the Yankees GM.
“Without getting into specifics, yes, Cashman is going to stay. I want him to stay, and he’s going to stay,’’ said Steinbrenner, who didn’t offer the terms of what has been reported as a five-year deal for $25 million.
Cashman, a member of the Yankees organization since 1986 and the GM since 1998, wasn’t thinking about leaving.
“I wasn’t intending to go anywhere, never had an interest in going anywhere, so I had told Hal straight up, ‘Like, listen, let’s just try to work through this and get it behind us because I have no intent of jumping ship,’ ” Cashman said. “We’re fortunate to have a great ownership. This is a place that I’ve grown up in, but I didn’t want to go anywhere either and especially at this time and place regardless.”
Cashman said he hasn’t signed the contract but has agreed to get it finalized.
“The numbers aren’t necessarily accurate,” he said. “But I don’t care about any of that stuff, either.”
Unless Jacoby Ellsbury is traded — and that will be difficult because he is guaranteed $68.3 million over the next three seasons and has a no-trade clause — Cashman expects him to challenge Aaron Hicks for the center-field job in spring training.
“His role is to help us any which way he can when and if it is needed, and that could be on an everyday basis or it could be in a role basis,” Cashman said. “I know it’s an extensive circumstance with the contract, but that was my doing. Therefore, that’s not something that factors into what’s going forward in 2018 or 2019. I think you saw that we don’t make decisions based on money that way. We make decisions on what somebody has a chance to step up and get more playing time. I think their performance dictates that.”