Yankees: 3 NYY players most impacted by Luke Voit surgery news

The Yankees couldn’t possibly let spring training end without an unexpected surgery, now could we?

It’s simply not the Yankee Way.

After beat writer Bryan Hoch rightly noted on Saturday morning that Luke Voit had been held out for two consecutive games, the hammers came in quick succession. First, Jay Bruce made the opening day roster, setting off serious alarm bells. Then, Aaron Boone quickly clarified he was the everyday first baseman, and Voit was about to take three weeks off from baseball activities after a surgical cleanup.

Not the maximum harm, but certainly some foul. We’ll see him well before June, supposedly.

It’s not an exaggeration to say Voit’s absence changed the roster calculation 100% in the final hours before everything became official. Bruce had opted out, and would’ve left the team the very next day if New York hadn’t made this emergency alteration.

He’s not the only one who earned either a second life — or extra pressure, or a role shift — with Voit’s impending absence looming over this roster.

Is the Yankees offense still great? Of course! Get your finger off the panic button, though it’s fair to be annoyed, saddened and dismayed.

These three players will have a much larger role in the season’s first sprint, and though it may sometimes be for the worse, it won’t torpedo the campaign.

3. Jay Bruce

We’ll start with the Captain Obvious portion of this piece. Bruce’s future went from entirely uncertain to an assured starting gig in a bizarre, isolated 24-hour window. Enormous change!

Instead of reckoning with hitting the market during yet another COVID season, Bruce will instead slot in sixth or seventh in the Opening Day lineup, and will look to pepper the short porch as many times as possible prior to May 15. That’s his stated goal now.

Could things be worse? Of course! This decade, the Yankees relied upon both Lyle Overbay and Chris Carter to start at first base. Bruce is a low-.200s reclamation project who shouldn’t be counted on to show off his 2017 vintage, and he will be a step back, but he’s a professional leader who many fans were worried about losing for nothing a day ago.

Now, there’s a very good reason for his presence. The team could certainly be in more dire straits.

We won’t pretend like Bruce isn’t a step back, though, and a relatively large sample size of numbers bears that out.

For better or worse, the Yankees do finally have a bit more of that precious lefty balance in the lineup, something fans hilariously begged for all offseason long only to watch it arrive on the verge of Opening Day in a monkey’s paw scenario.

All eyes are now on Bruce, but thanks to the Yanks’ padded lineup, there still won’t be much pressure on him.

1. Tyler Wade

Has Tyler Wade earned a spot on this Yankees roster? Not particularly. He struggles with the bat, and his defensive versatility only takes him so far.

Also, whether the official scorer was being harsh or not, his back-to-back errors Friday night were bad optics at a critical juncture of his career.

So, now we’re here. Wade made the Opening Day roster, which always felt like an unfortunate inevitability. But now, without Voit, LeMahieu will likely play first more often over the season’s first few months, giving Wade plenty of starts out of the nine hole.

We prefer Tauchman at first every so often, and we’d enjoy the Yankees coming to their senses. But we also don’t make the rules.

The legendary Kid Mero put it best:

https://twitter.com/THEKIDMERO/status/1375854955798667265

In 24 hours, Wade went from an annoying gnat buzzing around the roster bubble to someone who will once again start 10 games in the season’s first month or two unless the Yankees take drastic position-shifting action.

This is why we begged for another true backup shortstop option all spring long. Derek Dietrich was fun…until we remembered he can’t play short, and was basically in camp as a showcase. Pointless.

Can the Yankees survive Voit’s absence? Of course they can. But in keeping his seat warm, Bruce isn’t the real problem here.

3 Yankees who won’t make Opening Day roster but will contribute a ton in 2021

Here are three New York Yankees players who won't make the Opening Day roster but will be key contributors for the team in 2021.