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Yankees Girardi Finally Gets It: Kids Are Pushing Up On Veterans

By Steve Contursi |
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees: This just in! Girardi sees veteran player’s jobs in jeopardy. Been hiding in a cave, Joe?  We’ve been saying that for a month now.

Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, saw fit to tell ESPN’s Andrew Marchand yesterday that:

“In a sense, everyone’s job in here is in jeopardy in a year, two years,” he said. “That is the quality of player that we have in camp. People are starting to pass people up.”

Joe, excuse me, but what do you think we’ve been saying since a month ago when the Yankees opened camp. Surely, it can’t be just dawning on you now.

Because here’s the thing. The Yankees could start an infield of Gleyber Torres at shortstop, Jorge Mateo at second base, and Ronald Torreyes or Miguel Andujar and they wouldn’t lose a step to the anointed infield of Starlin Castro, Didi Gregorius, and Chase Headley.

For Girardi to light the fire again by proclaiming that “people are starting to pass people up” is (to be kind) a misstatement

As a matter of fact, you could make a strong argument that the kids would carry the Yankees further than the veterans.

Ditto the outfield. Clint Frazier, Aaron Judge, and Justin Flower/Billy McKinner (pick one) sounds equally appealing, if not better than, Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Aaron Hicks. I mean, put it this way: as an opposing pitcher, which trio would you rather face?

So, either Girardi is late to the party, or he’s playing the age-old game of wake up the old guys. The thing is that he looks foolish in saying what he did. A kick in the butt to Brett Gardner, who has all but turned into an out machine this spring, as he was leaving his office after a “chat” would have done the same thing.

The Dream Team cited above that would represent the Yankees going all-in this season and not in 2018 or 2019 is just that – a dream of many Yankees fans, including this one for 2017. But it ain’t gonna happen, and most of us know it and accept it.

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Jacoby Ellsbury, for instance, could hit .200 with two stolen bases and when October rolls around, he would still have 500-550 at bats. Same with Gardner and Headley. They simply make too much money not to play.

And when Girardi speaks of “next year,” he is either blind, or he thinks we are because nothing is going to change then either. Salaries for these three will still be the same as they are this season for 2018 and at this time next year, we’ll be having the same conversation again. So, why bother now?

Over the winter, the Yankees, mainly in the name of Brian Cashman, had some hard decisions to make. They made them, and now there’s nothing left to do but live with the choices they made.

They could have unloaded Gardner, Ellsbury, and Headley, eating a good portion of their salaries to make room for the kids. They could not have signed Chris Carter. They could have traded Castro making way for at least one of the kids. They chose not to.

In this way, 2017 is a wash. And unless the Yankees make some significant moves, so is 2018 regarding widespread personnel changes.

And for Girardi to light the fire again by proclaiming that “people are starting to pass people up” is a misstatement that, not only irritates me, and presumably, others, but it is one that borders on a con game. Because nothing is going to change, no matter, who is pushing up on who.

So, why don’t we take the team as it is, minus Torres, Mateo, Judge, Frazier, etc. and let it be, at least for now. Because in June, when Torres is hitting .400,  Judge has 20 home runs and Frazier 15 more, we’ll have our day.

We’ll have our day just as these kids will have theirs.

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