While the Yankees brass counts the days remaining for a full-strength lineup, the Replacement Yankees are counting the days of wearing the Pinstripes…
It goes without saying, the Yankees would not be where they are today without the contributions of The Replacements who have kept the team above water when worse was in the horizon. To put the Yankees season in perspective, they have used every player on their 40-man roster to fill holes on the big league club without reaching beyond their system to do so.
To combat the parched desert in the outfield, the Yankees were forced to seek help from outside, acquiring good-field no-hit outfielder, Cameron Maybin from the Cleveland Indians for future cash considerations (whatever that means).
But the story in the near future about these New York Yankees is a human one, and it revolves around the players who have been subbing for the “real” New York Yankees on the Injured List (IL), What is their fate when those injured are pronounced ready to play?
It’s a question which most of us who follow the game of baseball, or in this case the business of baseball know the answer to. The Replacement Yankees have no place on the team once the IL players return. And what’s more, most if not all know that.
Take someone like Gio Urshela, who forced Yankees radio announcer John Sterling to compose a home run call specific to “Urshela” last night when he hit his first dinger into the left-field seats. I know you are dying to hear it if you missed it…
🎵 The most Happy Fella 🎵 – Sterlings Call for Urshela pic.twitter.com/fcAYmFxHO6
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) April 26, 2019
Surely Urshela will have that video on standby to show his grandkids – but what happens to him when Miguel Andujar returns to the Yankees lineup as he is expected to do when the Yankees return home from their West Coast trip?
The Yankees won’t release Urshela, but only because the situation with Andujar is so tenuous. Doctors forewarn the future of Andujar by saying it’s only a matter of how much pain he can tolerate when throwing, which need I remind you a third-baseman tends to do a lot of…
How about Tyler Wade, a player who generates speed the Yankees need and don’t have much of with the aging of Brett Gardner. In Wednesday’s win against the Angels, for instance, Wade stole second, then third, scoring on DJ LeMahieu‘s double to shallow center. Wade also played a key role in a Yankees win, despite a blunder on the bases (Video)
Capable of playing second, short, left and right field, it’ll be interesting to see what the Yankees do when the sun sets on Wade’s playing time. And remember, he was the final cut of Spring Season. That didn’t sit well with him then – what now?
Clint Frazier, currently on the IL himself with a sprained ankle, presents the most compelling story of
The Replacements. Not only has Frazier wiped away questions about his ability to play after suffering season long repercussions from a concussion suffered last season, but he’s turned into a highly productive force in the middle of the Yankees lineup.
It’s hard to think of Frazier being returned to Triple-A baseball in Scranton when Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks return. With Hicks, it’s not out of bounds at this point to ask if the Yankees jumped the gun when they gave him a 7-year $70 million extension in Spring Training.
Hicks is afflicted with back problems, and even lay people like ourselves know how fleeting they can be. Already, Hicks has missed the first month of the season, and following his return, the next issue is only a tweak away.
All of which, together with the fact that Brett Gardner will need a wheelchair soon if the Yankees keep running out there as they are, spells a good chance that Clint Frazier, and his lightning speed bat, has a life with the Yankees for the remainder of the season.
Yankees Aaron Boone Rolls With The Punches
Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, has done a brilliant job of maneuvering and concocting a Yankees lineup on a day-to-day basis without “the regulars”. Disappointments are bound to come with a few of The Replacements, but as we’ve learned from the first month of the season…
Hold on, because you never know when the next opportunity will arise. Is that enough for the rejected replacements to hold onto? The Yankees hope so, and soon we’ll see…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
