The New York Yankees are eight days away from Opening Day and still making significant changes in order to shape their 25-man roster.
By Christian Kouroupakis
We are at that time in Spring Training where teams make final cuts, and today the New York Yankees lost some outfield depth.
Outfielder Chris Denorfia was released from his contract earlier this morning after he exercised his opt-out option.
The 35-year old veteran has spent ten seasons in the big leagues, with the San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and the Seattle Mariners.
Denorfia has a career slash line of .272/.330/.392 with 41 home runs in 808 career games.
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He was picked in the 19th round of the 2002 amateur draft and was brought to the Yankees as a non-roster invite to provide some insurance in case of an injury in the outfield.
Aiming to win a reserve outfield spot for the Yankees, he slashed .200/.259/.320 over his 27 plate appearances in spring training and that was ultimately his downfall.
Knowing he’d get demoted to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Denorfia opted-out of his contract in order to pursue a position with another organization.
Earlier today, OF Chris Denorfia exercised his opt-out and was released.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) March 27, 2016
This isn’t detrimental to the Yankees. It’s not like they were banking on this aging veteran to have a great spring and earn a job as a reliable reserve.
Aaron Hicks is having an incredible spring, both on and off the field, Dustin Ackley can provide in the corner spots, and Slade Heathott is a call away.
Don’t forget, Aaron Judge is not too far away from bringing “Judgement Day” to the Bronx.
The Yankees are well prepared if any injuries occur in the outfield. Although it would have been an added bonus for Denorfia to provide a valuable veteran presence, it wasn’t necessary.
General manager Brian Cashman has seven more players to cut, in order to get the roster down to 25-men by Opening Day next Monday.
