Yankees manager Aaron Boone implies Tyler Austin will stay?

With Yankees first baseman Greg Bird’s return to the roster just days away, the screws are tightening on GM Brian Cashman. What will he do?

Who could have forecast this dilemma? The Yankees are playing super baseball with the current 25-man roster. No GM or manager wants to upset that delicate balance, but there are simply not enough available spots.

Everyone and their brother assumed that when Bird returned, Tyler Austin would be sent down to Tripe-A Scranton, but then the Yanks went to Kansas City and the rookie finally got to play, which allowed Austin to come with his A game.

Austin has returned to his pre-suspension form and in the last three games alone has gone 6-for-11 with three home runs and knocked in seven RBI. He is now hitting .261, and all his numbers are as good as Greg Bird’s best.

Following Austin’s outstanding performance in the Bomber’s series win over the Royals, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked about Austin’s roster spot, to which he replied:

“I don’t even think about that,” Boone said. “Tyler Austin is an important part of what we’re doing right now and obviously another huge day for him to get us going with a couple long ones. He’s playing great. He’s done a great job all year. He’s been a part of us winning games and hopefully that continues.”

Of course, the final decision on Austin’s fate belongs to GM Brian Cashman, who signed Neil Walker to a $4.5 million contract this spring and has been touting him everywhere, despite Walker’s extremely overall poor performance thus far.

What will Yankees GM Brian Cashman do?

A trade seems to be his best option. Walker has some value at present, and Brandon Drury doesn’t fit with the Yankees anymore because of Miguel Andujar. Baseball championships begin with starting pitching, and the Bombers weakest link is just that.

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Luis Severino aside, the Yankees rotation is showing cracks. Masahiro Tanaka and Sonny Gray are inconsistent as we are never quite sure what we’re going to see. C.C. Sabathia has regressed in his last two starts and Domingo German is an unknown quantity.

The Yanks’ bullpen has also shown some wear, especially since German became a starter. With Tommy Kahnle and Adam Warren both on the DL, David Robertson has not been the guy we know as Houdini. All this makes things a little too fragile for my taste.

When asked about shortening the ‘pen to make room for Clint Frazier, Cashman said :

I think we’ll just see how we get through this interleague. We’ve gone all year with the extra pitching to try to protect our starters. I think that’s probably in our best interest for it to be a short-term situation because we’re playing in Washington. Like everyday, something can affect the decision making. But going into it we just definitely want to balance out better in the National League ballpark.

Next: Austin needs to stay right where he is

My guess is that Cashman is furiously working on a trade for some kind of pitching, in exchange for Walker and Drury. I think both Tyler Austin and Neil Walker will stay with the club and the Yankees will drop a reliever until a trade is organized.