Yankees bench has suddenly become a weakness

Just a couple weeks ago the Yankees had one of the best benches in baseball thanks to the abundance of depth they had throughout their organization. However, following the injuries to Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge and the moves made before last week’s trade deadline the bench has suddenly become a weak spot.

If you were told in June that come August the Yankees bench would feature names like Shane Robinson, Luke Voit and Kyle Higashioka it would be very hard to believe. For most of the first half, their bench was too crowded and big league caliber players like Brandon Drury, Ronald Torreyes, and Clint Frazier were relegated to Triple-A because there wasn’t enough room on the 25-man roster.

Fast forward to today and Frazier is back on the DL with post-concussion symptoms and Drury is now with the Blue Jays along with outfielder Billy McKinney. Tyler Austin is now with the Twins and Torreyes is still stuck at Triple-A trying to play his way back to the big leagues.

Most of these players (if healthy) could have certainly bolstered the Yankees current bench to help them make up for the absences of Judge and Sanchez. Instead, the Yankees now lack depth and that’s been on full display since Judge went down.

Shane Robinson is a grinder who always plays the game the right way, but he’s also a 33-year old journeyman outfielder with a .225 career average. His defense is decent but he doesn’t hit for power and yet he’s started 4 of the last 7 games the Yankees have played.

Luke Voit is a 27-year old first baseman just recently acquired from the Cardinals with a .233 career average in only 73 big league games. He started twice against Red Sox lefties during last weekend’s disaster and failed to pick up a hit. Voit was brought up to fill the same role Tyler Austin did as a platoon guy before he was traded for Lance Lynn, but during his season with the Cardinal’s Triple-A squad, he only batted .231 against southpaws.

For both Robinson and Voit this a great opportunity for them to make an impact on a team that’s expected to compete for a championship. However, I’m sure the Yankees are wishing they had better internal options to go to. That’s not a knock against them but just a month ago the Yanks were in a much better position to replace a guy like Judge because they had capable big leaguers down at Triple-A.

Obviously, injuries are a big part of why Robinson is up because had Clint Frazier or Jacoby Ellsbury been healthy they would slide right into the outfield or DH spot until Judge returned. The same could even be said for McKinney who was called up earlier this season when Aaron Hicks went down with an injury.

Right now Giancarlo Stanton is getting most of the starts in right with Judge out but that’s left a hole at DH, especially against left-handed starters. Neil Walker has been fine in that spot against righties, but he’s really struggled against southpaws so the team has opted to go with Voit since his arrival.

I don’t blame the Yankees for trading Drury and McKinney for J.A Happ or Austin for Lynn because they needed to improve their starting rotation. Those were good deals because they didn’t have to give up any of their top-tier prospects, but it’s also exposed their bench as a weakness.

As much as Austin struggled against righties at the big league level he was very solid against lefties and provided a lot of pop near the bottom of the order. Anytime your lineup loses hitters like Judge and Sanchez it’s obviously going to hurt, but with Robinson and Voit in there along with Austin Romine batting 7th-9th, it’s no wonder why the Yankee offense has struggled lately.

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Personally, I’d like to see Ronald Torreyes get called back up because he gives them more options than Voit does since he can play all over the infield. He can be the DH against lefties or he can play somewhere in the infield and give one of the regulars a half day off at DH. That way Walker can stay at DH against right-handers and Stanton can play in right so they don’t have to start Robinson as often as they have.

Torreyes is also beloved in the Yankees clubhouse and bringing him back could provide a spark the team could really use right now. Since he was demoted for the second time back on June 18th the team is 23-20.

Now I’m not saying the lack of Torreyes was the main reason for this record, but in games when Torreyes was on the 25-man roster the Yankees were 37-19 this season.

Bringing Toe back up could certainly help this Yankee team, but no matter who they’re bringing off the bench nobody is going to be able to replace what Aaron Judge brings to the table. The same goes for Sanchez. As much as he’s struggled this season we’re now seeing Romine revert back to the below average hitter he’s been for most of his career.

The Yankees really need more production from their bench until they both return. However, whether or not they have the depth to manage without them, this team still isn’t going anywhere come October without their two sluggers.