FanSided

Yankees: 3 Surprises From 60-Man Player Pool Reveal

By Thomas Carannante |
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 20: Matt Duffy #5 of the Tampa Bay Rays tosses the ball to a fan during a game against the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field on September 20, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 20: Matt Duffy #5 of the Tampa Bay Rays tosses the ball to a fan during a game against the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field on September 20, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
1 of 3
Next

The New York Yankees released their player pool for the 2020 MLB season on Sunday.

With Spring Training Part II right around the corner, MLB teams were required to submit their 60-man player pools for the 2020 season on Sunday. These players will be eligible for the team at any point in the 60-game season as long as they aren’t removed between now and the end of the regular season.

For the Yankees, fans were certainly pleased with who the team decided to include, but there were still a few surprises (both good and bad) that caught us off guard. What were they?

Well, we think we know a few. Let’s take a look.

3. Carrying 6 Catchers

Erik Kratz #36 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Erik Kratz #36 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

The Yankees are carrying SIX catchers on their 60-man player pool.

Sure, the catcher position is arguably the most demanding, but do the Yankees really need them consisting of 10% of the player pool? New York will bring the usual suspects in Gary Sanchez, Kyle Higashioka and Chris Iannetta, but the front office also included Erik Kratz, Josh Thole, and the newly-signed Max McDowell (did we really need him?). How many backups/reserves must there be for a 60-game season?! This would be more than understandable for a full slate, but El Gary should be catching just about every game with the exception of a few days of rest. If the Yanks wanted to do something interesting here, why not go for it all and throw Austin Wells into the mix if we’re so bullish on his bat? That would’ve been something to pique further interest from the fans.

2. The Addition of Matt Duffy

Matt Duffy #5 of the Tampa Bay Rays (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Matt Duffy #5 of the Tampa Bay Rays (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /

Remember Matt Duffy? For a hot second, Yankee fans collectively groaned when the San Francisco Giants opted to trade him to the Tampa Bay Rays in the Evan Longoria deal. Duffy was coming off a campaign in which he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting (back in 2015) and displayed a pesky bat and defensive versatility. But in an unexpected turn, he fell off the face of the earth in Tampa, playing in just 199 games since August of the 2016 season. He had a pretty solid 2018, but that’s about it. The Yankees decided to add him on Sunday after signing him to a contract, and we’re not entirely sure what the appeal is here. Perhaps some intel on Tampa during a shortened season? Maybe. But with an infield jam packed with talent consisting of DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, Mike Ford, Tyler Wade, Miguel Andujar, Thairo Estrada and others, was there really a need for Duffy? We’re not going to complain about extra depth, but we thought we already had it. However, it does make a shred of sense considering beyond Estrada and Kyle Holder, the Yankees don’t have much infield talent ready for MLB action.

1. We’ve Got Every Top Prospect Pitcher You Can Imagine

New York Yankees pitcher Deivi Garcia (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
New York Yankees pitcher Deivi Garcia (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Think we have enough pitching? With the MLB roster already stacked, the 60-man player pool opened up even more of an opportunity for the Yankees to flash their strength in this department. We’ve got top prospects Michael King, Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia, Luis Gil, Albert Abreu, Brooks Kriske, Nick Nelson, Alexander Vizcaino, Daniel Alvarez and Miguel Yajure. Adonis Rosa is on there too, which left fans a bit upset about the omission of Roansy Contreras, but you can’t win ’em all. There’s a plethora of talent on here with some of these guys skipping multiple levels to potentially make their MLB debuts this year. For guys like King, Schmidt, Garcia, Gil and Abreu, Bombers fans want to see what they’re made of against top talent to determine if they’ll be the future of the rotation. Will we see them all? Most definitely not. But hopefully some will get to toe the rubber and keep the veteran relievers even more fresh for the extended postseason, if that’s part of the team’s plan. After all, we don’t know what to expect from Domingo German upon his return from suspension; Luis Severino is done for the year; and Jordan Montgomery is coming back from Tommy John. Cashman could make moves at the trade deadline to fortify this unit (and he probably will), but it’d be encouraging to get these guys some reps and not have them lose an entire year of development.

Next
Home / Yankees News

Schedule