Yankees curiously sign Danny Espinosa to minor league deal

On Monday night, the Yankees came to terms with veteran infielder Danny Espinosa on a one-year minor league contract which includes an invite to spring training.

The fact that I’m even writing an article about Danny Espinosa signing a minor league deal with the Yankees shows you just how slow of an offseason its been in the Bronx since the blockbuster trade for Giancarlo Stanton.

But that’s where we find ourselves; as the 30-year-old switch-hitter has officially been brought in to compete with the likes of Ronald Torreyes, Tyler Wade and Jace Peterson for the starting second base job.

With the increased likelihood of Yankees’ top prospect Gleyber Torres spending at least the first 20 days of the season at Triple-A Scranton, thereby securing an extra year of service time, the competition will be fierce in Tampa in just a matter of weeks.

Though Espinosa can play a myriad of infield positions, he’s best suited for second base. As an everyday player in 2015 for the Nationals, Espinosa saved 10 defensive runs.

Over the course of his eight years in the majors, FanGraphs estimates that Espinosa has saved a total of 34 runs as a middle infielder.

The issue with Espinosa is his diminishing skill with the stick. Across 93 games with three different teams in 2017, Espinosa hit a miserable .173/.245/.278 with six homers and 31 RBI, striking out 109 times in 266 at-bats (37 percent).

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Enter the Stephen Drew comparisons.

It all began to unravel for Espinosa in 2016, his final season in Washington. Despite the fact he slugged 24 home runs and 72 RBI, Espinosa’s slash line of .209/.306/.376 with 176 strikeouts was enough for the Nats to cut him loose before the ’17 season began.

Clearly, swings and misses don’t carry as much weight in today’s game as they once did, and it certainly helps that Espinosa has a reliable glove.

For those that feel his “potentially potent” bat would play well in Yankee Stadium, even if he were to fill the currently vacant third base job, Espinosa has only played 20 games in his career at the hot corner. Solid glove or not, it’s basically a new position.

To me, this signing, albeit one without any real strings attached, is a lateral move. General manager Brian Cashman already inked former Braves utility player Jace Peterson to a similar deal last month, so why bother with Espinosa, who plays the same positions?

I’m not convinced Espinosa or Peterson make the opening day roster, but these low-risk deals do put added pressure on Torreyes and Wade to play exceptionally well during spring training, which isn’t a bad thing.

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But I’d rather see Toe, Wade, Torreyes and Miguel Andujar get an extended look in camp rather than the two veterans, who will most likely fill out the Triple-A roster anyway.