Yankees Editorial: It’s A Good Thing No One Claimed Austin Romine

By Jason Evans | Apr 9, 2015

Catching depth is non-existent in the major leagues. Everyone is looking for it. When the New York Yankees took John Ryan Murphy over Austin Romine I was a little leery of it. There had been rumors swirling all spring about Romine. Teams like the Phillies and Padres were supposedly interested in Romine, someone that Yankees had huge hopes for.

Romine was DFA’d and even with all the interest in him, passed through waivers. Romine will now be with AAA Scranton. You know what? It’s a good thing.

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As I said, catching is in short supply. With Francisco Cervelli already traded in the off-season, it took away from the depth. Losing Romine would have hurt even more.

The only other catcher on the 40-man roster is Gary Sanchez. Sanchez is in AA and isn’t ready to come up to the majors quite yet if something were to happen with their catchers. Brian McCann has had some injury issues here and there in the past. Romine can help bring the pitchers along in AAA and play everyday, which he wouldn’t if he was in the majors. It can help him re-establish some value.

Even though Romine is off the 40-man, the Yankees can purchase his contact if need be and either DFA a player or transfer an injured one to the 60-day DL to open up the spot.

The way the Yankees have age and injury questions up and down the roster, any time you can keep some sort of roster depth it’s a good thing. It wouldn’t surprise me if you see Romine back in the Bronx at some point this year catching for the big club.

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