Yankees: Five questions the team needs to ask themselves, pronto!

How Many Players Get Called Up In September

In a couple of weeks, the Yankees will be faced with the task of deciding which players deserve a call-up from the minors to play with the big club in “The Show.” Typically, there’s an effort to pick guys who not only have had good seasons, but they also worked hard to get where they are now.

It’s the traditional “Cup Of Coffee” reward to travel and be with the team for a few weeks, and often it’s used as an incentive used by the team to encourage the player to perform even better next season.

Now, if you are the San Diego Padres just playing the string out, that’s one thing. But if you are a team like the Yankees fighting for their lives trying to secure a spot in the playoffs and making some noise when they get there, that’s a whole other ballgame.

No one, including management or players, likes the roster expansion rule and it is soon to be amended as a contract addendum. I’ll write more about that soon, but suffice to say, for now, having these extra players around, especially at crunch time, is a headache for everyone from the Travel Secretary to the Clubhouse Manager, and especially, Joe Girardi, who is tasked with finding playing time for each player.

The number of players the Yankees bring up is entirely up to them. Though not likely, they could call up no one.

By now, the chemistry of the team is set. And make no mistake, that’s something Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi have worked on all season. The Sonny Gray’s and the David Robertson‘s were all vetted before they were brought into the clubhouse.

Obviously, the Yankees will take advantage of the opportunity to add players who can help the team, but how many of those players are there, three or four?

So the question as a team is, do they go beyond that when the time comes?