Yankees: Don’t expect Clint Frazier to be called back up anytime soon

The July 31st trade deadline has come and gone and the Yankees roster remains the same. The team didn’t make any significant moves at all to upgrade the big league club but they did hold onto to OF Clint Frazier after weeks of speculation that he could be on the move.

When the 4 pm deadline passed on Wednesday Frazier had to have breathed a sigh of relief. I don’t know if he’s happy or not to still be with the Yankees but he has to feel better about not having to listen to all the rumors surrounding his future with the club.

Those rumors will probably return this offseason but for the rest of this season, he can focus on baseball and making his way back to the Bronx to impact the big league club. Hopefully, he won’t have to wait long to get another opportunity, but unfortunately, it still doesn’t look like there’s a spot for him on the 25-man roster.

Prior to Wednesday’s game, the Yankees placed 1B Luke Voit on the IL with a sports hernia. Right now it’s unclear whether or not Voit will need surgery but if it is deemed necessary he’ll be out at least six weeks which would leave a big hole in the middle of the Yankees lineup.

To replace him on the roster the team called up IF Breyvic Valera for the second time this season. Valera has had an excellent year at Triple-A hitting .328 with 11 HR and 38 RBI and was definitely worthy of another call-up. However, I think the main reason he was called before Wednesday’s game was to give the team another infield option since DJ LeMahieu was still day to day and out of action with groin soreness.

LeMahieu should be back tonight to face Boston after missing four straight games and with Voit out he’ll likely be the primary first basemen moving forward. Edwin Encarnacion will also get some reps as well but for the most part, he’ll continue to be the DH.

Tyler Wade is also back with the big league club so the Yanks don’t really need another infielder on the roster. With Voit out indefinitely it would’ve made some sense to call up Frazier to split some time at DH with Encarnacion but with Brett Gardner nearing his return off the IL, that’s highly doubtful.

According to Aaron Boone, Gardy should be activated off the IL today which means Valera or Wade is heading back to Triple-A. Wade actually homered for the first time this season on Tuesday and is a much better and more versatile defender than Valera so his spot on the roster should be safe for now.

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As for Frazier, he’ll continue to play every day for Scranton because right now there’s just not a spot for him to play consistently with the big league club. The Yankees are about to carry five outfielders with Gardy back in the fold and are going to have a tough time splitting up the playing time in left field between him, Mike Tauchman and Cameron Maybin.

There’s even an outside chance the Yanks could hold onto Valera and option Tauchman back to Scranton just because there aren’t enough at-bats to go around. I don’t see it happening because Tauchman has been so good of late, but it just reinforces that there isn’t a spot for Frazier on the current roster.

That could always change because the injury bug has suddenly hit the Yankees offense hard again. Although, their 40-man roster is so deep with outfielders that even if another one goes down we probably still won’t be seeing Frazier called back up anytime soon.