Yankees: Projecting New York’s Full 30-Man Roster for 2020 Season

2020 Yankees Roster: Outfield

Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are both presumably healthy for the 2020 Yankees.

OF: Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Tauchman, Rosell Herrera, Clint Frazier (7)

If Judge is unable to beat his Tommy John-having running mate back to the field, this will all change — and would likely result in another pitcher being added to the roster instead of a replacement seventh outfielder. However, the latest reports claim he’s healthy, so…we’ll go with that.

The top five names on this list are all shoo-ins for active roster duty, presuming they’re able to participate in a 2020 season. Beyond that, we encounter the interesting cases of Herrera and Frazier, who present a bit of an overload, but a generous and likely necessary one. Spring Training’s abrupt exit hurt Herrera more than anyone else — with Judge, Stanton, and Hicks all absent, he’d earned himself an Opening Day roster spot, torching Grapefruit League pitching to the tune of a .400/.444/.600 mark in 27 plate appearances. Unfortunately for the small sample size king, it’s been three months since then, but his versatility will lend itself well to this bizarre roster. As for Frazier, where else is he supposed to go? He’s better served on the big league bench than on a taxi squad, fuming about where he’ll be come the Aug. 31 trade deadline.

As we saw in 2019, the way the outfield mix crumbles will allow for playing time for the Tauchman-tier guys. It will likely open up for Herrera and Frazier as well, even in a sprint, though one of them very well may be among the first to go when the roster is shaved down again midway through the campaign.

2020 Yankees Roster: Pitchers

The New York Yankees have a well-stocked bullpen and rotation.

SP: Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, JA Happ, Jordan Montgomery (5)

Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, Jonathan Holder, Luis Cessa, Michael King (9)

Of course, necessary reminder: MLB players can opt out of the 2020 season, and Tanaka feels like a leading candidate to do so. He fled to Japan when the pandemic started, his logistics are very confusing, and he’s theoretically a free agent to be who might not want a sordid 60-game campaign as your last memory of his work before hitting the open market.

Gerrit Cole’s wife is also pregnant. He would not receive service time if he opted not to play. For now, we’ll pencil both in. This is how the rotation seemed likely to shake out at the end of Spring Training, and we see no reason to alter things now.

For the excess bullpen spots, we opted to carry Michael King over Ben Heller, choosing a potential spot starter over the sometimes-erratic short man who’s still fighting his way back from injury, and could still use some Instructional League time before being wedged into the 2020 campaign. New York liked what they saw from King, and you could do far worse from the last man in this beastly ‘pen. Cessa and Loaisiga will also, presumably, get starting opportunities.

In a tightly-packed bundle of a season, a strong bullpen is worth double, and New York has both the depth and ability to shorten games and keep arms fresh for this extended stretch run.

Hopefully, circumstances allow us to watch what should be an incredibly fun and unique ride.