With the New York Yankees losing Didi Gregorius until possibly mid-may, should Brian Cashman look for a shortstop outside of his own roster?
Unfortunately for the New York Yankees, starting shortstop Didi Gregorius will be out for six weeks after suffering a shoulder strain at the World Baseball Classic.With a return date slated for early-to-mid May, manager Joe Girardi needs to find a replacement and while he has depth in his own system, none seem all that appealing.
Starlin Castro would be a defensive nightmare, Ruben Tejada has turned into a journeyman shortstop with one solid season back in 2012 and while Ronald Torreyes packs a quality glove, he has never truly received consistent major league at-bats to justify a starting role.
Tyler Wade and Gleyber Torres simply aren’t ready for the spotlight, so the Yankees are going to have serious difficulties trying replacing Gregorius’ value for the first month and a half of 2017.
However, there are whispers that general manager Brian Cashman could be looking elsewhere to fill the void. The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro reported that New York has already shown a degree of interest in Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed, and The New York Post’s Kevin Kernan named White Sox infielder Carlos Sanchez or the Phillies’ shortstop Freddy Galvis as external options the Yankees can turn to in order to fill the vacancy left by this shoulder injury.
Sanchez, has been thrown in the back seat after the highly touted Tim Anderson came through the system and established himself as the everyday shortstop. So, he’ll be available, but looks as unattractive as any of the options the Yankees are assessing.
Phillies’ shortstop Freddy Galvis, however, is a different story.
Galvis hit 20 home runs and drove in 67 RBI’s last season while owning the third-best defensive rating among major league shortstops. The Gold Glove finalist is slated to open up the 2017 season as the Phillies’ shortstop but with the rise of J.P. Crawford, the 27-year-old Galvis could looking at a bench or utility role by the All-Star break.
Philadelphia has Andres Blanco and Jesmuel Valentin as fill-in options on the depth chart, so they’d probably consider moving Galvis and obtaining at least some return value.
As for New York, Galvis would tear apart any of the current candidates in a spring training position battle. The bat came along last season and would look even better at Yankee Stadium while the glove is one of the best at the positions.
Additionally, he could be brought in until the team’s top prospect, Gleyber Torres, is ready for his major league debut. The 20-year-old has never seen a pitch past High-A ball, but is on a tear this spring (.464/.484/.964 in 18 spring training games), became the youngest player to win the Arizona Fall League MVP and approaches the game like a 10-year veteran.
If he were to head to Double-A Trenton and continue to hit the cover off the baseball, that’s when the pressure is on to make a call-up. Galvis could implement superb defense and some power from the bottom of the order until that happens or until Gregorius returns at some point in May.
It won’t be a wasted move when their starter returns because Galvis, who has seen major league time at second, third and the outfield, could become the team’s ideal utility man.
So, to recap: Galvis to New York gives the Yankees a valuable fill-in piece that can certainly help the team win more than any of the internal options and will be an improvement over Torreyes or Rob Refsnyder as a utility man when Didi returns from the disabled list.
For the Phillies, this would surely bring clarity to a position that looks a little cluttered right now. Crawford might not be up to the task to take over yet — similar to the Torres situation for New York — but shipping Galvis out would make it the passing of the torch to Crawford a lot smoother when the time comes.
There should be no panic nor pressure to get a move like this done. There is, by no means, a need for Freddy Galvis. The Yankees certainly possess many players that fit the category as a “fill in.” But, it’s hard to ignore the value Galvis can bring as a place-holder and an improved bench option when Gregorius returns to his natural habitat.
Let's remember, Didi is down for 6 weeks, not the rest of the season. We don't need to trade for a player of equal caliber, especially when we have a host of serviceable options in-house. Plus - since this is a youth movement - we can try one solution and move on to another, if it doesn't work........
So start with Castro at SS and Refsnyder at 2nd. It won't be Tinkers to Evers, but it will offer the Yankees the potential of league average fielding, plus they will provide the best hitting we can hope from the in-house options. Keep Torreyes as back up.
Ditch Carter - he's already dead weight on the bench - and use that position for the 'Scranton Shuttle' and work others into the speculative mix. If Castro-Refsnyder can be proven as a bad idea, move on to Kozma or Tejada. If Wade tears AAA up with his bat, put him on the Scranton Shuttle and send him up. We already know he can field. Leave the rest of the prospects to continue with their development, regardless of what's happening on the MLB level.
No need to import more players onto an already crowded landscape when Didi will be back in 6 weeks looking for his day job.