Yankees on the 40-Man Roster Who Are Expendable

Reserve infielder – Ronald Torreyes

The Yankees wanted Torreyes so badly over the offseason that they acquired him twice.

Okay, maybe wanted is an exaggeration, but their scouting department obviously saw something in him that could be of service. In Torreyes’ first relocation, he was shipped off with pitcher Tyler Olson from the Los Angeles Dodgers to New York for minor leaguer Rob Segedin and cash considerations.

The Yankees later designated Torreyes for assignment to make room for outfielder Lane Adams. Torreyes was claimed by the Angels, who DFA’ed him shortly after. Finally, the Yankees then reclaimed him and DFA’ed Adams to make room for Torreyes.

It was a fun game of musical chairs, but the Yankees ultimately got what they wanted by maneuvering both Adams and Torreyes into the system.

But now that they have ‘Toe’ — the shortened nickname skipper Joe Girardi bestowed on him — they never use him. In fact, Torreyes has played in only 30 of 86 games, and started in only 19.

Initially, a solid spring opened the eyes of the coaching staff, and Torreyes stole the final bench spot from Rob Refsnyder as the team’s reserve infielder. Refsnyder was instead sent to Triple-A to increase his exposure at third base, the position where ‘Toe’ has seen the most of his playing time (96.1 of 179.1 innings).

He’s always profiled as a glove-first player, but the Yankees expected his contact bat to produce better than a .222/.290/.302 line in limited at-bats.

Recently, Girardi has been using Starlin Castro at shortstop to spell Gregorius on his rare rest days while the hot-hitting Refsnyder slides into second base for Castro.

With Chase Headley manning third 89.5% of the time (77 of 86 games), Torreyes has been crowded out of the team picture.

Headley is averaging less than one unscheduled off-day per week. At that rate, the Yankees may be prepared to roll the dice with Refsnyder’s glove just to keep him in the lineup.

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