YANKEES MAILBAG: RETURNING PLAYERS AND FINDING UPGRADES ALONG THE MARGINS

Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

LocalBlueWhaleRuinsEverything asks: Looks like Stanton will be healthy before Domínguez. Given how poorly Verdugo has been playing, do you think the Yankees would call up Domínguez even if Station is healthy?

The Yankees played it safe with Dominguez at the start of the year, and the elite start that they got off to afforded them a cushion to bring him up to speed at a reasonable tempo. Now they're in a wildy different situation, and they're desperate for some spark on offense outside of what Juan Soto and Aaron Judge have been giving them.

I think they would gladly call up Dominguez alongside Stanton, giving both around a week or so to get back in the swing of things. Aaron Boone can talk up how they like Verdugo's approach, but at the end of the day he's been one of if mot the worst hitter in baseball for a month and wasn't doing so hot beforehand - a good April can't be enough to justify a starting spot now. The roster shuffling it would take to make this work will be a bit messy, but additional moves working in potential trades may make it more viable in the end. Either way, the best players need to play in order for the Yankees to hold onto a playoff spot and contend for the division, and there's a good chance that Dominguez coming in cold is still better.

Trevor DeMont asks: Has DJL fallen so far that he’s now at risk of being DFA’d, assuming the Yanks acquire another infielder or 2 by the trade deadline?

Not yet, but he's heading towards the Aaron Hicks ending quick. The Yankees aren't going to dump him this late into the season, and no-one is going to take on that contract without significant compensation, so the solution for the remainder of 2024 is to go and get a third baseman and move LeMahieu into a backup infielder role. This wouldn't be the "super utility" role they envisioned for him in the past but a true bench role with minimal playing time, and then reset and evaluate in the offseason. If they can stomach the dead money then, that would be the first legitimate timing to drop LeMahieu.

Michael G. asks: Should Detroit sell, what do you think of Canha and Vierling? I don’t think either would be super expensive to acquire.

Both are upgrades to what the Yankees are currently running in the outfield and DH respectively, but that isn't saying much. It's also a matter of marginal improvement - there are bigger holes to fill in the infield considering what the Yankees have coming back for these positions soon, so using prospects in trades for these players as opposed to having them available for a bigger trade may not be desireable.

That being said, one of the biggest lessons from this era of the Yankees is that you simply can't rely on health to just get better, so I'm for grabbing some legitimate insurance in case Stanton or Dominguez comes back just to get shut down again later. Picking up waiver wire players clearly isn't a good enough floor, so finding marginal upgrades alongside the major ones they need would be a nice bonus. The only worry is that there isn't enough time considering how the market has played out to tackle all of these fronts, and the big moves are going to take precedent. At the end of the day, that's on the Yankees for not doing enough for their lineup's depth during the offseason.

2024-07-26T20:09:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd