Yankees: Strengths, weaknesses and where they can improve

Struggling role players and their replacements

After a very successful Spring Training, where he hit .286 with a .400 OBP and won the starting spot at second base, Tyler Wade has again struggled to find any success in the big leagues.

The Yankees still believe they have a good player in Wade, but he’s probably going to have to battle his mind and prove to himself he can succeed before he sticks in the majors, especially since he was just sent back to Triple-A. Of course, that will happen when you sport a .086/.158/.143 line.

Similarly, Neil Walker has struggled and been far from what the Yankees expected when they signed him this offseason. He has yet to hit his first home run while having a .463 OPS so far, a huge disappointment relative to his career numbers.

Both Wade’s and Walker’s struggles, coinciding with the success of top prospect Gleyber Torres in Triple-A, have left their spots on the major league roster in jeopardy. As Jack Curry of the YES Network had to say:

Now that Torres is on the team, he seems here to stay and rightfully so given his elite talent level and a generally advanced approach at the plate. Now that Andujar has started to flex his muscles and mash the ball, there’s no way the Yankees will take his bat out of the lineup, leaving an interesting roster dilemma given the pending return of Brandon Drury.

Since both Drury and Andujar can play some first base, it looks like Wade might be staying in Triple-A for the foreseeable future while Walker may be deemed expendable, especially given that he’s only signed to a one-year deal.

It seems time for the Yankees to deploy all of their young guns and show the rest of the league what they will have to compete with for the next few years.