Yankees: 3 Surprises From 60-Man Player Pool Reveal

2. The Addition of Matt Duffy

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.