3 Yankees who are about to lose their 40-man roster spots

1. Mike Ford

If Jay Bruce makes Mike Tauchman redundant, then what does it mean that he’s been taking backup first base reps from Mike Ford, too?

Ford can be sent to the minors without repercussions, and almost certainly will be next week, a move that will be attributed to his 2020 backslide, which was Tauchman-esque.

It all started on that weird Sunday Night broadcast when his power was compared to Babe Ruth’s, didn’t it? What was all that about?

Ford, like almost everyone else who was called upon, filled in admirably in 2019, socking 12 homers and OBP’ing .350 as a 26-year-old backup first baseman. Life was good.

Then, 2020 hit, and Ford was worth -0.6 WAR in a year that was also rife with opportunity; the team’s main mashers went down, but so did Ford’s .135 average with very little power.

The question here is whether another team will bite on the potential of the 28-year-old, or deem him a dime a dozen. The Yankees will certainly float the Princeton Power Threat’s name in the weeks to come, but if there aren’t any takers, he’ll likely languish at Triple-A Scranton until he’s needed.

Ford makes this list because he, too, lost his Yankees shine last season, and it doesn’t feel as if the team will protect him for very much longer, especially with roster spots at a premium.

Yankees: 3 players NYY should’ve traded at peak value over last few years

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been tremendous, but he missed out on getting value for these guys he likely can no longer trade.