Yankees Editorial: Murphy v. Romine, Who will Win the Final Spring Training Battle?

After Thursday’s decision to option Rob Refsnyder, Nick Noonan and Chase Whitley, the New York Yankees are finally down to their last roster battle of Spring Training, as J.R. Murphy and Austin Romine await the decision on who will be the teams backup catcher to start the season.

As I reported on Wednesday, Austin Romine is currently out of options, meaning that if the Yankees decide to send him to the minors, he’ll be placed on waivers and they’ll run the risk of losing him all together. While it makes sense for GM Brian Cashman to possibly trade the young backstop, he’s declined to say if he has received any significant trade interest in Romine. It’s believed that the Phillies and Padres are in the market for a backup catcher.

Neither of the two have really run away with the competition this spring, as J.R. Murphy, the younger of the two, is batting just .211, while Austin Romine is batting an even lower .182. Yankees skipper Joe Girardi however, has remained adamant that the decision will come down to their defensive ability.

"“We probably won’t make that decision until Saturday night, that’s the bottom line,” Girardi told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “It’s tough. It’s a tough decision. I think it a lot. And the unfortunate thing is that know you’re going to disappoint someone, and that’s the bad part.”"

As I noted in a previous article , In 167 major league plate appearances, Romine has hit .204 with one home run and 11 RBIs. He was drafted by the Yankees out of El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Ca. in the second round of the 2007 amateur draft.

His counterpart, J.R. Murphy, was drafted in the second round of the 2009 amateur draft out of the Pendleton School in Bradenton, Fl. In 112 major league plate appearances, he’s been slightly better than Romine, batting .252 with 10 RBIs and one home run.

J.R. Murphy’s WAR (0.3), is significantly better than Romine’s as well (-0.8), but sticking to Girardi and his note that the decision will come down to defense, the decision get’s even more tougher. Romine has posted a dWAR of 0.1 and a fielding percentage of .990 in 70 major league games. Murphy, again slightly better than Romine, has recorded a dWAR of 0.3 and a fielding percentage of .996 in 46 games played.

Joe Girardi wasn’t kidding when he said this was going to be a tough decision, but let’s all remember this is a business.

Yankees fans, what do you think will be the faith of these young backstops?

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