Yankees: Five moves the team should make without blinking

Make Provisions At Third Base

Chase Headley took a beating over the winter with calls for a trade that sent him anywhere but the Bronx. Joe Girardi stuck with him and for the first month of the season, he thunderstruck the Yankees lineup.

The law of averages for a .260 hitter would dictate that he couldn’t keep up the .400 pace he was setting, and naturally, he didn’t.

He hit the skids in May, and his manager gave him what were couched as “mental health days” without saying so, and Headley is now bouncing back and giving the bottom of the Yankees lineup some life.

But the question remains, is what Headley can and will produce from here on in enough to contribute to a team that has World Series on their mind.

Until yesterday, virtually everyone believed that at some point in the season Gleyber Torres would be called up, move in gracefully, and seize the spot from Headley. That’s gone by the wayside now, though, as Torres will be having season-ending surgery.

And even discounting the fact that, according to General Manager Brian Cashman, Torres was never in the Yankees plans for this season anyway, there remains a need to call up another infielder.

Cashman himself has previously tagged Tyler Wade as the player who would be called up, “if the Yankees needed to.” Hey Brian, we need to.

Wade’s numbers speak for themselves. He’s scored 53 runs in 64 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and he’s hitting .322 with a .386 on-base percentage.

Wade was in the mix when the Yankees were deciding their pick to replace the injured Didi Gregorius when the season opened, only to have Joe Girardi‘s choosing Ronald Torreyes.

That choice worked out well for the Yankees with Torreyes doing a man’s job at short during the month of April.

But now, it’s time for reality to set in and for the Yankees to ask themselves – who would you really want to have as your everyday backup infielder – Torreyes or Wade?

Give it up, Tanaka is not the answer

At what point do the Yankees say okay, we’re in the middle of a season that is promising, and many of our young players who we were hoping would develop, have developed. But there’s a gigantic hole in our arsenal that mystifies and surprises us, and we know we’ve gotta do something, but what should we do?

That is the story of Masahiro Tanaka and the New York Yankees this season.

Yankees fans know the litany of Tanaka’s numbers this season, and there’s no need to repeat them here. Suffice it to say; he is no longer their number one.

The bottom line is what it always is in baseball or any other sport, and that’s money. The Yankees are paying Tanaka to be their number one and come hell or high water, his spot remains at the top of the rotation.

But at the same time, is anyone convinced that whenever his turn comes up in the rotation that Girardi sends him out there with the confidence that he’ll pitch like a Clayton Kershaw, a Zack Greinke, or a Corey Kluber? Hardly. So why keep dragging the inevitable on?

The question of what to do with Tanaka at this point of his opt-out season is an issue better handled by Brian Cashman.

A trade is always a possibility, but given his consistent devaluing with every start, that presents a problem when you look at the potential return on his services and the money involved.

But there is one thing that Joe Girardi can do all by himself, and that leads into the next move the Yankees can and should make.

Rotate The Rotation

The Yankees have been more than pleased with the development this year of Luis Severino. Formerly an enigma that no one could figure out, it’s said that Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez, much to the chagrin of Red Sox fans, took Severino under his wings over the winter and a transformation has taken place.

Severino, in 13 starts this season, has a record of 5-2 with a sparkling ERA of 2.99 in a DH league, and he’s struck out 90 batters while walking only 22 in 81 innings pitched.

But more than the numbers, Severino’s body language on the mound tells a different story from previous seasons, when more often than not, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Moreover, Severino has been most often mentioned as the Yankees ace of the future. So, if that’s the case, why not install him there now? It would be another boost to his confidence and solidify the team’s belief in his ability.

Following that, Jordan Montgomery, at least in CC Sabathia‘s absence, needs to be moved into the number two hole as the lefty preceding Michael Pineda. Montgomery has done nothing to warrant not promoting him, and Girardi, by doing so, will merely be accenting a decision he made back in March to appoint Montgomery as the fifth starter in the first place.

From there, Girardi has a choice between Tanaka and a host of others who include Luis Cessa, Chance Adams, Adam Warren (when he returns from the DL), Brian Mitchell, Justus Sheffield, and a host of others to fill out the remaining two spots in the rotation.

Making the moves soon, though, is the key as the opportune time to juggle the rotation will be during the upcoming All-Star break when the entire staff has multiple days off.

Don’t Play Around, Solidify The Outfield

Regardless of when Jacoby Ellsbury comes back, Aaron Hicks should be the Yankees everyday center fielder. From day one, Joe Girardi has professed a belief in the young man who came over to the team in a trade with Minnesota Twins two years ago.

He’s proving his value to the team and, at the same time, proving that writers like myself can be very wrong when judging talent from afar.

Hicks has climbed the ladder from the loser in a Spring Training battle with Aaron Judge for the right field position. He is an outside chance for a reserve spot on this year’s American League All-Star team.

And despite a recent injury setback, Hicks sports a .306 batting average with a .413 on-base percentage, adding ten home runs and 36 RBI that hardly come near what Ellsbury has produced.

As with the case of Masahiro Tanaka, though, the question of money enters the picture and the Yankees need to justify, (not to us!), but to their stockholders as to how they can not play someone who is earning $20+ million this season.

Again, that’s Brian Cashman’s problem, and he needs to take that to Hal Steinbrenner with only one question. Hal, do you want to win this thing, or not? Because if you expect me to win it, I need your okay to field the best players I can every night.

None of this means dismissing Ellsbury as a vital part of the team. But it does require an adjustment that makes Ellsbury the fourth outfielder and not Hicks.

And as the dog days of summer reaches us, Ellsbury will still get plenty of at-bats as a replacement for the veteran, Brett Gardner, who has been playing all out and needs to watched closely and given adequate rest.

But a statement needs to be made the day that Ellsbury returns. And that statement will read on the lineup card Girardi posts that day with the name Aaron Hicks in there.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

That may sound like an anomaly given what’s been suggested beforehand. But when you think about it, it’s really not.  Because the only change in the clubhouse that’s been proposed is the one promoting Tyler Wade to the squad as a reserve infielder and insurance against Chase Headley.

Other than that, all we’re talking about is re-shuffling the deck by taking a look at what’s transpired over the first three months of the season and making some needed adjustments from there.

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And notice, none of the changes require or need a trade to accomplish their goal. And that’s important because Brian Cashman has been adamant about not wanting to trade minor league talent until he has a full season to evaluate who’s staying and who’s going in future deals.

And that’s a necessary strategy when you consider, just as an example, trying to fit five starters into a rotation that, with another five starters names could be the starting staff for at least a few major league teams next season.

Brian Cashman wants to keep the Yankees, and that includes their entire farm system, intact until the Fall when the dust has settled on the season that will by then, be in the record books.  You could say that’s a noble strategy, but it’s also a wise one.

To reiterate what I’ve said numerous times before, the Yankees have enough to reach the Playoffs this season. And they also have enough to make some noise in those playoff series, and yes, with some crap-shooting luck, even reach the World Series.

At the same time though, let’s remember where we started this season with most predictions betting the team as a .500 entry at best. As fans, we tend to conveniently forget that, and we push, push, push for changes.

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Cashman has his hand on the pulse of this team and the organization. His initial take that says, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it is the right one for the Yankees franchise at this moment in time.