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New York Yankees Editorial: The Yanks’ Second Base Situation

By Antonio Mendes

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New York Yankees’ second baseman Rob Refsnyder was a fan-favorite at the start of this season, still is. That along with the not-so-fan-favorite Stephen Drew struggling has made an ongoing topic that’s played a big part into the Yanks’ season. Joe Girardi has been under interrogation all season as to why Drew hasn’t been pulled yet.

In the past the reason was just simply that Refs’ defense isn’t where it needed to be and though it’s understandable, it still seemed like Brian Cashman and Girardi were reaching at times. So now that Ref is back up with the big club as a September call-ups, he’s only had one at-bat. Apparently that correlates with the new ‘reason’ as to why Refsnyder isn’t on the field, because he “doesn’t know the pitching staffs up here.”

I don’t believe I’m the only one who was extremely confused by this. It’s pretty clear to me they’re just making this up now. I haven’t had much to say on Stephen Drew mainly because there wasn’t much left to say. But if this is the new reason I have a couple things to say. Was Greg Bird familiar with the ‘pitching staffs up here’ when he was called up? Am I saying Ref is going to have an impact like Bird? No, it took Birdy a while to get to where he is now, and it still is. Was it a must to call him up because of an injury? Yes, but is Stephen Drew anywhere near Mark Teixeira? No.

Jose Pirela on the other hand has had bursts this season, but not consistent playing time to really keep it going. Is his fielding at Drew’s level? No, but being that this team can’t play small ball and Pirela can, I think that outweighs the 17 home-runs Stephen Drew has and his defense (which hasn’t been that great lately) brings to the table.

Brendan Ryan has gotten in a lot of action the last month and what you see is what you get. His bat shows sometimes, mostly at home. His defense is the second best of all the options here, and it appears that’s why he’s second on the charts.

In Rob Refsnyder’s  defense, yes his defense is lacking, but he can sure as hell swing the bat. He probably has the second best chance to make an impact behind Pirela (hitting wise). Obviously all of this is just opinion, but it seems logical. Is Stephen Drew’s defense and occasional home run once a week really worth it?

The Yankees are like the 2013 New York Knicks. For those that don’t know, the Knicks that year were the best three-point shooting team. However, when playoff time came the three-pointers went away and it led to a second-round exit. If you took one three-point shooter off of that team it wouldn’t have made that big of a difference because the whole team shot the ball well, instead they needed more help inside and under the basket. In this situation, the help ‘inside and under’ for the Yankees is small ball. Pirela or Refsnyder could be the Yankees’ help inside and they need to take a chance on it soon or they’ll continue to have an eight man line-up card.

Though I am not a fan of Robinson Cano anymore (to say the least), this all makes me wonder whether Brian Cashman knew what he was doing not giving him his money (it seems like neither side knew what they were doing but that’s besides the point). Did Cashman know this would be a story line for seasons to come? Also did he really think his options out into the future and realize it’d be this hard to find a stable second baseman? I mean, imagine how lethal Cano would be this year when the Yankees actually have a chance to do something. It’s just a small topic to think about, and for once this all makes me realize maybe the Yankees should’ve brought Cano back under any condition. Yes I know Cano is having a bad year, but taking into consideration the things that’s been going on in his life I think he’ll come back to earth next season.

Who do you think should be at second for the Yankees and now that the current situation is out in the open do you think Cano should’ve been brought back?

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