Oswald Peraza injury is repetitive lesson Yankees and Brian Cashman refuse to learn

The New York Yankees' inability to protect and maximize assets really makes you wonder what Brian Cashman's financial portfolio looks like. Red, all over. That's why he's had to keep this job with the Bombers for 25 years?

All jokes aside, Yankees fans simply cannot witness another top prospect go to waste under this regime's watch. But it just happened again with Oswald Peraza. Hope you're ready for another 1-2 years of Peraza wasting away in the Yankees' system before he's dumped and a desperate team picks him up.

Over the weekend, it was revealed Peraza is going to miss considerable time with a shoulder injury after tests came back and confirmed he's dealing with a strain. He's going to be shut down for 6-8 weeks and then who knows how long the ramp-up after that will take?

And this is yet another lesson for this stubborn organization. Trade your assets while you can. Stop stockpiling them only to watch them wither to nothing. Peraza is the latest in a long line of them.

The Yankees objectively put Peraza in a terrible spot. They promoted him before Anthony Volpe at the end of the 2022 season, gave him some playoff reps, and then subjected him to a do-or-die spring shortstop competition last year, which he lost. And the Yankees made it as clear as day that that was always the plan. He was relegated to part-time duty/Triple-A, which helped nobody, months after starting a desperation ALCS game! Now, here we are.

Oswald Peraza injury is repetitive lesson Yankees and Brian Cashman refuse to learn

Even before the injury, it was evident Peraza had become expendable. He wasn't gaining any experience in the minor leagues, nor was he properly developing at the MLB level with part-time reps. Both of those scenarios, on the surface, would work to decrease his trade value.

The injury was just the cherry on top. Now it's confirmed Peraza will have no meaningful trade interest until the offseason, because he probably won't have enough time (or opportunity) to build it back up before the summer deadline.

This is a classic case of the Yankees a) feeling like they weren't getting the proper value in return for trades, so they held onto Peraza or b) mis-utilizing/assessing their depth at the shortstop position in the minor leagues.

Peraza was expendable the day the Yankees told themselves Volpe was the shortstop of the future. He should've been shopped when he was an actual commodity after the 2022 season. At the very least, he should have been shopped halfway through last year's spring training when it was obvious Volpe was running away with the competition.

Instead, we'll just watch another MLB top-100 prospect become roster fodder and either track depressing updates about Peraza for the remainder of his days or scream at the front office if he ends up being successful elsewhere.