Yankees: Four Takeaways From Spring Training 2017 So Far

Maybe The Matt Holiday Signing Wasn’t Such A Good Idea

How could the Yankees, or any other organization for that matter, not want Matt Holiday on their team. He’s a consummate professional who wakes up in the morning getting base hits rolling out of bed, and he does it all quietly and with little fanfare.

With the tandem of Greg Bird, who’s looking more and more like the keeper he was expected to be, getting the bulk of playing time and Chris Carter manning first base when Bird isn’t in the lineup, the Yankees may not have the need they thought they did.

The DH spot is also clogged. Carter will get the bulk of those at-bats, and Gary Sanchez will get the rest on the two days a week he isn’t catching. Aaron Judge will also be in the mix as a DH when Joe Girardi needs to get Tyler Austin and Aaron Hicks some at-bats.

It’s Carter, though, who is upsetting things. The Yankees signed him on the cheap mainly as insurance against the possibility that Greg Bird would have a reoccurrence of his injury, or need more time to get back into baseball following a full year off from the game.

Either Carter or Holliday could become potential candidates for a trade if Girardi can’t find enough playing time for everyone.

Holliday would yield the most, but he is more valuable to the Yankees if a choice has to be made between the two because, with Holliday, you know what you are getting. Well, take that back because you also know what you are getting from Carter, which is a ton of strikeouts leaving runners on base when a hit the other way would have extended a Yankees rally.

Again, it’s a nice problem for a team to have. But it sure does complicate things.