Here’s what Yankees signing Socrates Brito might be telling fans

The Yankees have signed OF Socrates Brito. Here’s what it might mean.

When fans caught wind of the New York Yankees making a roster move on Friday, everybody was hoping for it to be something somewhat significant. OK, we’re probably not getting DJ LeMahieu yet, but maybe Masahiro Tanaka or Brett Gardner? Anyone? Please?

On the first day of 2021, the Yankees announced they signed outfielder Socrates Brito. Not sure who he is? He’s a former international signing of the Arizona Diamondbacks out of the Dominican Republic. However, since making his debut in 2015, he’s played in just 99 games.

He opted out of the 2020 season due to the global pandemic and actually survived a battle with COVID-19, with his last reps coming in 2019 with the Toronto Blue Jays. The lefty slugging outfielder is just 28 years old and could benefit from a stacked lineup around him given his production at the Triple-A level since 2016.

Nobody is positively sure what this signing means, but there are two things that come to mind. The more conservative viewpoint is that the Yankees want as much outfield depth as possible given their injury issues out there since 2017 with Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier and Mike Tauchman.

The Bombers also need to add lefty bats to their lineup, so taking a chance on Brito, given his situation and recent production, could only stand to benefit their situation. If he manages to impress during Spring Training, he could put pressure on Tauchman for the fourth outfield spot.

Oh wait, what about Brett Gardner?

Uhhh … maybe this addition is the Yankees potentially bracing for Gardy’s departure? We have no intel on that, but that’s one potential conclusion to draw from this.

https://twitter.com/Yankeelibrarian/status/1345384488893902851?s=20

Though it’s recently sounded as if the Yankees would eventually work out a deal with Gardy, there’s been nothing but uncertainty surrounding him, LeMahieu and Tanaka, so we can’t sit here and assume any of those guys will be returning. The safe assumption here is that the Yankees are adding insurance in the event the situation with Gardner doesn’t go their way.

So for all of you out there scratching your head in regards to this signing, hopefully this somewhat clears it up.

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