Yankees facing critical decisions as August baseball begins

Solving The Outfield Collision

The first order of business for the Yankees will be tackling a crowded outfield when Aaron Hicks returns from an oblique injury.

Hicks is taking batting practice with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders, the Yankees Triple-A affiliate and is expected to begin rehab games some this week.

Hicks worked his way into the Yankees starting lineup when Jacoby Ellsbury smashed into a wall and responded with a batting average well over .300, with some pop in his bat as well.

Following a Spring Training battle with Aaron Judge for the right field position, Joe Girardi eventually chose Judge, and the rest we’ll just say is history.

In the meantime, however, Brian Cashman decided to call up Clint Frazier to replace Hicks, and that too has turned into “history” as Frazier continues to produce in the Yankees lineup.

Originally, Frazier was ticketed for Scranton upon the return of Hicks, and that was publicly pronounced numerous times by both Cashman and Girardi.

Now, the plot has thickened, however, and the choice is not so easy unless Girardi can figure out a way to make all four outfielders (Judge, Hicks, Brett Gardner, and Frazier) happy with their playing time.

The crunch has been alleviated somewhat by Girardi’s decision, presumably with the okay from the front office, to demote Jacoby Ellsbury to the bench as a part time player.

Sometimes less is more but not in this case. And Girardi should feel lucky to have these options from game to game, and even at-bat to at-bat.

Still, it bears watching.