3 difficult roster decisions Yankees must address ASAP

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The New York Yankees are, at best, an imperfect product awaiting the return of the best hitter in baseball. At worst? Save for an excellent month of May, they've been roughly a .500 team since mid-June last season. After collecting an extended data set, it sure looks like this team's offense is meh, and only getting meh-er.

Is there a way to fix all this before 2024? Did the Yankees really "run it back" after being swept out of the ALCS by the Astros, or did all their supposed improvements just dissolve in the same way that many past adjustments have? Was it fair to believe in a bounce back from several fan-favorite veterans, or is nothing in Yankee Land ever fair these days?

Either way, the Yankees have a number of problems that can't be immediately solved, perpetrated by some supposedly core members of the lineup. Unfortunately, that has placed the burden on a few vulnerable players, who might be working with a shorter leash than they should be. Struggling in the nine hole for a first-place team? Figure it out. Bouncing around the lineup of a league-worst offense in June struggling to stay in the playoff race? Yeah, we might not have time for this.

With the All-Star break (and Aaron Judge's...return?) less than a month away, it's time for the Yankees to make some difficult choices before the season melts away like a soft serve cone in the bleachers.

3 difficult roster decisions Yankees must make before All-Star Break

Is there room for Oswald Peraza on Yankees' roster? Does Anthony Volpe go down?

To demote, or not to demote will be the Anthony Volpe question all year long. He began with a strong enough April, but regressed in May, then regressed further in June. One chicken parm video session got him closer to his peak, but not close enough to sustainability; his doubleheader performance against the Red Sox on Sunday was more of the same. His struggles with the fastball have led to pitchers taking full advantage of his sudden jumpiness, retiring him with either heaters in his theoretical hot zone or breaking stuff down and away. It's become routine.

Is there anything more for him to learn at Triple-A that he couldn't figure out against big-league pitching, really? At this point, it might not matter. He might require a mental reset regardless.

Whether or not Volpe does go down, the team has to consider bringing fellow top prospect Oswald Peraza up. The 23-year-old Peraza has responded as well as possible to his post-spring training demotion, hitting .292 with 11 homers and a .923 OPS, most of his production coming after recovering from the injury he sustained on the bases in the Bronx earlier in the season. Add in the Estevan Florial conundrum, and it's tough to argue the scuffling Yankees are currently putting their best offensive foot forward.

Maybe the necessary corresponding move involves Volpe taking a gap month in Scranton. Or maybe it's something else...

Time for a phantom IL stint?

There's no way to remove Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu or Giancarlo Stanton from the roster entirely, but in a month where the Yankees have sunk to the bottom of the league offensively, the perpetrators haven't been the random patchwork fill-ins. Billy McKinney, Willie Calhoun and Jake Bauers have been more than competent; it's the team's supposed stars who are dragging the entire roster down.

It's possible there's an explanation for all three issues. Stanton came back quicker than expected for a marquee road series at Dodger Stadium. Was he ready? Or was somebody who wanted star power in LA pulling the strings? Rizzo got bonked on the head by Fernando Tatis Jr. and immediately stopped hitting. It's not hard to draw a line between cause and effect. LeMahieu? No one wants to admit it, but his exit velocities are declining as the season progresses (while his strikeouts rise). His toe issue last season may be contributing to his demise, but it might also just be the aging curve.

Rizzo and LeMahieu both seem primed to spend some time on the injured list, for issues that are varying degrees of ghostly (again, Rizzo's head/neck got clobbered and LeMahieu is clearly laboring). The Yankees don't want to lose any of their current subs. Theoretically, losing another veteran bat while Judge is down would be a massive issue but, again, the veteran bats are the anchor dragging this lineup down, at the moment. Losing one or two couldn't possibly make the league-worst Yankees any worse. It's probably time to make a move.

Is it worth DFAing Josh Donaldson?

Donaldson is reportedly undecided about playing in 2024, a season that comes with a team option and $8 million buyout if the Yankees decide to move on. No word yet on whether he plans to play in 2023.

The Yankees have already taken the DFA plunge once this season, yanking Aaron Hicks out of the lineup with a cane and paying $27.5 million for the pleasure of his departure. Only God knows when Hicks' small sample size success will stop, but it's certainly been embarrassing for New York's braintrust to watch him become electric in Baltimore.

Getting rid of Hicks -- especially to add a younger defensive upgrade in Greg Allen -- was certainly the right move just a few weeks back. Of course, like anything the Yankees seem to try these days, it backfired; Allen's hip has laid him up for 6-8 weeks, while Hicks has gone back to roaming center field in Baltimore and doing it well. Therefore, it'd be understandable if the Yankees were hesitant to hit the DFA button again, despite Josh Donaldson's best efforts to be altogether useless.

A few weeks ago, Donaldson was actually the more obvious DFA candidate. Hicks was secured for the next 2.5 years, while dumping Donaldson only required eating a massive chunk of 2023 money and a relatively small (ok, fine, still big, $8 million) 2024 buyout. Hicks' cash will now weigh down multiple seasons. Donaldson would've mostly been a 2023 problem, something he still very much is as he collects garbage time home runs without doing much else.

Since battling accusations of being "Jacoby Ellsburied" by the team, Donaldson has returned to the lineup and been extremely weird. He's socked five additional homers since returning at Dodger Stadium, but only has ... one other hit. He's gotten on base at a .233 clip this season, but even when he gets there, he's not safe; his mindless pickoff against Boston on Sunday night loomed large in the "embarrassment" column. Is DFAing Donaldson the easiest way to get Peraza to the bigs? Do they have any loyalty remaining towards the third baseman? Or will they just be skittish after letting a contender pick up Hicks and watching him shine?

Considering this is a 2023-only problem, it might be worth it to bench Donaldson, keep him around and hope his homers begin to come at more opportune times. Then again, of course ... he's been awful. Awful, awful, awful. If the flub on the base paths Sunday night didn't clinch his departure, then it's not clear what will. Cutting Hicks looks like an early mistake. Will the Yankees be willing to hold their noses and try it again? The leash probably lasts through mid-July before a move must be made.

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