Yankees outfield is crowded; what to do?

Hatteberg, Doolittle, Santana, Mauer, Desmond

When the Oakland Athletics signed Scott Hatteberg back in 2002, they had the idea to teach him how to play first base instead of catcher; because they needed a first baseman and wanted his bat in the lineup.

Remember the scene from the movie “Money Ball” where Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) does his best to convince Chris Pratt (Scott Hatteberg) to switch positions?

Now Hatteberg was not a great defensive first baseman, in fact, he was downright lousy; but the Athletics were a very successful team that season, winning over 100 games. And this was not the last time the Athletics have moved a player to a different position for the benefit of the team.

Billy Beane, as we all know, was not the conventional general manager and now VP of baseball operations for the A’s. In switching Sean Doolittle from a first baseman to a relief pitcher, Beane created an All-Star closer with a career ERA just around 3.00.

There are hundreds of other examples of this successfully happening; from Carlos Santana playing primarily first base now, after having been a catcher early on in his career — to Joe Mauer doing the same. Even

Even Ian Desmond initially played almost exclusively at shortstop, but now splits his time between first base and left field; having played shortstop once in the past two seasons.

The question is who should or could play the infield for the Yankees?