At times, Cooperstown Cashman has seemed determined to trade Andujar for:
a) a starting pitcher,
b) a bullpen lug nut,
c) a lefty-slugger
d) the incredible NEW memory-foam super-pillow.
No trade has happened, probably because Coop recognizes Andujar's popularity across the Yankiverse, and that Gio Urshela still must prove last year was not a fluke of random numbers.
Everything came together yesterday in this bizarre statement to MLB.com:
"It's Gio's job to lose, the same as it was Andujar's job to lose, until he got hurt."
Okay, where do we start? Frankly, I don't know. But were I Urshela, I wouldn't buy the gated Westchester mansion just yet. Cashman seems to be referencing a traditional adage that injured players are not supposed to lose their jobs while in the hot tub of healing. But in Andujar's case, he's saying the rule didn't matter, the same as it won't to Gio, if he falls off a stepladder. It's Gio's job, just as it was Andu's, until it isn't anymore. Weird, eh?
Look, let's give Cashman a mulligan here. Sometimes, you start a sentence in Pittsburgh and finish in Phoenix. What's clear - I believe, anyway - is that the Yankees in spring training will look long and hard at Andujar's defensive play, and if they like what they see, it won't matter that it's Gio's job to lose, because it was once Andujar's, and he's lost it. If Miggy can play a solid 3B, we will win the AL East by 15 games. If he can't, we turn to Urshela, and should win it by five.
In the meantime, let's keep in mind these comparisons:
Andujar: currently age 24. In 2018... 47 2Bs, 27 HRs, 92 RBIs, .297 BA, .855 OPS. (Cost: $617,600.)
Urshela: age 28. In 2019... 34 2Bs, 21 HR, 74 RBI, .314 BA, .889 OPS. (Cost: $2.475 mill.)
All things considered, not a bad competition in spring training, eh?
I was hoping their splits might give a clue to who has the edge, but no dice. Both of these righties hit right-handers better than they hit lefties. Of course, Gio didn't hit anybody until last year, so you have to wonder. Outlier? Spiked ball? Gary's leftover ice cream? Hard to say.
ReplyDeleteIf he doesn't hit .300 by June, Miggy steps in full time. If Gio hits .250 for April, Miggy steps in. Whichever, we need the offense because when Stanton and Judge and Ice Cream are all on the DL...oh, sorry, that's the politically correct IL...offense will be needed. That, on the other hand, is a weird thing to say because Stanton and Judge and Ice Cream will all be hitting .250--IC probably .220--when they go out.
This team, supposedly so unbeatable and awesome, is very, very strange, if you ask me. We need Mick and Yogi pretty badly.
And a friend tells me that Giancarlo Stanton has badly wrenched his back, leaning over to pick up a kitten who was in his slipper. Don't worry—he expects to start doing "baseball activities" again by July.
ReplyDeleteChances are we're going to need Miggy for every DH at-bat we can manage, and thus Gio to play third no matter what he's hitting.
KEEP. EVERYONE.
Too bad we don't have Ellsbury to kick around any more.
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