Yankees clarify why Logan Morrison wasn’t promoted

When Luke Voit went on the 10-day IL with an abdominal strain, many expected the Yankees to promote Logan Morrison. However, the Yanks chose Mike Ford, instead, leading to speculation as to why.

Logan Morrison isn’t the first veteran major leaguer signed to a minor league contract never to be called up by the Yankees, thus exercising his contractual opt-out — and he won’t be the last. Left-handed starter Gio Gonzalez suffered a similar fate at the beginning of the 2019 season.

The bottom line is that DJ LeMahieu is an All-Star — even if he technically made the AL team as a second baseman, he plays a legit first base. With Luke Voit recovering on the IL, it allows Aaron Boone to plug in Gio Urshela, who was a significant part of the Yanks success during April and May.

But saying that Mike Ford was a better choice than Logan Morrison isn’t necessarily true (both have beat up on Triple-A pitching this season). However, Ford is four years younger and possesses more potential and thereby, inherent trade value, than the 31-year-old Morrison.

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Also, Ford was already a member of the 40-man roster. Morrison’s promotion would have caused someone to be DFA’d, as Boone explained to Randy Miller of NJ.com.

"“The reports were good. A lot of the guys down in Scranton, Logan included, are obviously swinging the bats really well. He was considered (for a call up) a couple of times. Obviously not having the (40-man) roster spot maybe complicated it a little bit, but we felt like there were a couple times where he was definitely in consideration.”"

And with that, after slashing .289/.341/.658 with 29 runs scored, 11 doubles, 15 home runs, 37 RBIs and only 26 strikeouts in 152 at-bats, Morrison requested his July 1 opt-out, which was granted by the Yanks on Thursday.

In the 11 games before his release, Morrison was on fire with his .405 average, six long balls and 14 RBIs.

Considering Morrison hit a measly .186/.276/.368 with 15 homers and 39 RBIs in 318 at-bats (95 games) for the Twins last season, he likely did enough in 43 minor league games this time around to hook on with another organization for the stretch run.