Yankees: 3 roster moves struggling NYY need to make

2. Demote Tyler Wade/Call up Jordy Mercer

The Yankees don’t have a ton of speed in their lineup, so the presence of Tyler Wade was genuinely invaluable to start the season. However, his aggressiveness on the base paths got him into some indefensible trouble against the Mets a few nights ago, when he ran New York out of its last scoring opportunity in extra innings. He also, more importantly, consistently fails to hit. Many of the Yankees are whiffing in an attempt to hit their ceiling. Wade may have hit his, and it’s still not working for him or the team.

The right move here would be to let Wade get his mind right. While a demotion would normally derail a player’s confidence, we fully believe it would benefit him in the long run. The 25-year-old infielder has evidently been trying to do too much, and it’s unfortunately resulted in costly and boneheaded mistakes.

In our eyes, Jordy Mercer should be the subsequent promotion. Though he hasn’t played great in the abbreviated campaign, his consistency in the field and discipline at the plate is needed. We don’t love the idea of demoting Wade, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

1. Slice Erik Kratz/Keep Clarke Schmidt

This isn’t going to sit well with Yankees fans, especially on the heels of his heartwarming relationship with Devi Garcia, but beloved veteran Erik Kratz is going to be the odd man out when the Yanks realize they can’t be carrying all these backstops.

With how bad New York is playing, the club simply cannot afford to keep three catchers on the roster. There’s a slim chance that Gary Sanchez is ever the odd man odd, despite how lost he looks at (and behind) the plate recently. The two-time All-Star has gone down on strikes in seven straight at-bats and is now in the midst of a 4-for-41 slump that has seen his average drop to .130 on the season. Sanchez was rightfully benched on Sunday, but that likely won’t last long as he’s still considered baseball’s most lethal slugging catcher and can still “run into one” at any given time.

That brings us to the Yankees keeping Clarke Schmidt, who was admittedly knocked around in his official MLB debut coming out of the bullpen. To be fair to the young right-hander, he was put in an incredibly difficult and pressurized spot. We’d love to see what he can do as a starter, or at least as a reliever without ducks on the pond and a game on the line.

During a stretch where a slew of hurlers have underperformed, Schmidt deserves a chance to prove his worth. Even Miguel Yajure should probably still be here.

Kratz belongs in the Bronx as a coach for the next decade. But it’s either him or Kyle Higashioka (and we’d hear you out on that one, too!). It’s essential that the Yankees keep as much young pitching as possible, and keeping three catchers is a luxury this decrepit team can no longer afford.