Changes the Yankees Should Consider Making Soon

Mid-August thoughts by Cary Greene 

August 15, 2024

*** 

Here we are, half a month past the Trade Deadline and the biggest fish that Yankees GM Brian Cashman managed to reel in is already on the DL as Jazz Chisholm has gone down with a UCL injury to his left elbow and it’s now being reported by multiple outlets that he may be facing season ending surgery. Whether or not surgery is in the cars is up to the Gods and speaking of Gods, I’m left to wonder what the Yankees did to anger Hygieia because it sure seems like she doesn’t care for Brian Cashman and the Yankees.  

Forced into “scramble for a solution” mode, the Yankees have promoted the slick fielding Oswald Peraza, who has slashed .317/.407/.658 across 79 at-bats with a 1.065 OPS since July 20th down in Triple-A with the Yankees affiliate, the Scranton RailRiders. Meanwhile, a fellow RailRider teammate of Peraza’s, Caleb Durbin, has recently returned from an injury and he’s also on fire, slashing .348/.484/.696 with a 1.180 OPS, albeit in a much smaller sample size spanning 23 at-bats.  

With John Berti soon to begin a rehab assignment as early as next week, per MLB.com, the Yankees suddenly have some very exciting developments brewing. I must admit, I’m rather excited to see Peraza finally get a legitimate chance to show what he can do. His floor as a Major Leaguer is that of a light hitting, super utility player - while his ceiling is rather unknown. I’m a bit gunshy to proclaim him a capable Major League shortstop because we’ve yet to see his bat play at the Big League level. It’s also true that the Yankees have always valued Peraza more than scouts around the League have, but who knows? I’m going to be tuning in, rooting for him to succeed and it seems like if he can continue to get on base at a good clip, that his speed could impact games. What if he winds up capitalizing on what is a golden opportunity? 

Who knows what might happen? Anthony Volpe has been struggling both offensively and defensively this season. Best case, if Peraza continues his scorching summer, he might come out of nowhere and push Volpe to another position. Worst case, if Peraza comes crashing back to reality versus Major League pitching, he’ll have gained invaluable experience and hopefully, consistent playing time. Therein lies a potential problem. I’m not confident that the Yankees will find him consistent playing time and if that happens, he’ll almost certainly cool off.  

One of the Yankees most glaring offensive problems is that they are a downright crummy team on the base paths - the Bombers rank dead last in the Majors with a team BsR of -15.2 and it’s no wonder that they’ve hit into a whopping 103 double plays this season, which is the second most in baseball.  

Obviously, the Yankees are flat out desperate for a leadoff hitter. This past offseason, I  wrote about this subject often here on SSTN rather emphatically and I provided fairly convincing data to back up my top concern with Cashman’s offensive plan, which was to use a combination of Alex Verdugo and DJ LeMahieu in the leadoff spot. Neither was projected to have high OBP’s and both were projected to be bad base runners.  

This oversight by Cashman caused the Yankees to move a red-hot Anthony Volpe into the leadoff position and instead of continuing to bang, he very quickly imploded as he was trying to focus on simply getting on base. That’s not really his calling card and it’s never been the focal point of his game. Predictably, the plan backfired and it threw Volpe into a massive funk, one which he still hasn’t broken out of.  

Oswald Peraza is probably not the answer to the Yankees lack of a leadoff hitter, but I do think he might bring a much needed ability to get aboard dynamic to the lower third of the lineup. He might actually be an ideal number nine hitter.  

Now for an unthinkable suggestion. What if the Yankees DFA’d Gleyber Torres, who has played himself out of a lucrative contract opportunity in what is his walk year – and then inserted Caleb Durbin into the leadoff spot in the lineup and at second or third base? Durbin could possibly ignite the Yankees offense and it would be amazing to see the Yankees make a bold move like this so that both Durbin and Peraza could get acclimated to Big League pitching.  

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that for a few years now, I had visions of a Yankees infield of Josh Smith, Trey Sweeney, Volpe and Peraza. My master plan envisioned the Yankees teaching Peraza to also play center field as he’s fast and he has a cannon of an arm. The Smith’s and Sweney’s of the world were sent packing by Brian Cashman, but with Durbin now in the picture, I’m growing giddy with hope that Cashman will make a bold move and cut the sagging Gleyber Torres. It may be premature to DFA Torres as he is coming to life a bit here in August, but he’s not getting extra base hits at all as his .279 August batting average has been the result of nothing but singles.  

The timing may soon be right to DFA Torres and it feels like the Yankees may be thinking the same thing as they are now getting Durbin reps at third base. The way he’s come back from the DL has been very hard not to notice and I’m wondering if the Yankees too might realize how impactful two speed demons like Peraza and Durbin might be. It sure would give the Yankees lineup a sorely needed boost in the baserunning and contact hitting departments.  

Unfortunately, the Yankees also badly need Giancarlo Stanton to start producing so that both he and Austin Wells can make opposing teams pay for pitching around Soto and Judge. If Stanton gets injured again, it would put a serious damper on the Yankees chances to win it all this year. The most “ready now” and capable DH in the Yankees system is Jose Rojas and he’s having a solid year in Scranton, but the Yankees most 

realistic plan to replace Stanton would be to rotate players through the DH spot, using Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto - but that means lots more at bats for Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham so I’m not sure that plan would be very successful in the grand scheme of things.  

Meanwhile, Jasson Dominguez looks like he’s a long way from being ready for a call up, so the Yankees organizational outfield depth remains problematic. The Yankees need Stanton to remain healthy and get his swing going. Failing to give Stanton a rehab assignment when he came back from his one month layoff due to his injured hamstring highlights how badly the Yankees need him to protect Soto and Judge. Unfortunately, his timing has been way off and he’s only slashed .225/.273/.450 with a .723 OPS since returning on July 29th. 

Come September, Dominguez might be ready to come up and contribute and that potentially makes the Yankees lineup pretty scary, but the World Series won’t be won on what if’s and maybe. What the Yankees can do is to control what they can control and Brian Cashman might want to roll the dice on inserting Durbin into the mix. I think calling up Peraza was an excellent first step. The Yankees need speed badly.  

Do our readers think calling Peraza up was a good move? Do they also want to see Torres DFA’s and be replaced with Durbin? Let’s discuss all this in the comments below!