By Paul Semendinger
February 19, 2025
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It is funny how things come around.
Last year I wrote, a lot, about how the Yankees moving Aaron Judge to centerfield was not a smart move because that position is more physically taxing than right field. (Now, in truth, it worked out in the end. Judge had an MVP season. But, of course, sometimes bad ideas do work out. But that's not the point here.)
When I explained, a million times over, that centerfield was a more taxing position, many many many readers, over and over and over, argued with me. Time and again they argued. "You're wrong," they said.
On Monday, the Angels announced that Mike Trout will be moving to right field. Why? Because centerfield is a more taxing position and they want to try to keep him healthy.
Imagine that.
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In one of his most recent discussion with the press (maybe it was his only one this year), Hal Steinbrenner made a comment about the Dodgers and their efforts to build the best team possible. Steinbrenner said, "They still have to have a season relatively injury-free for it to work out for them, and it's a long season, as you know, and once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. We've seen that time and time again."
As if the Dodgers don't have depth or the willingness and resources to address any situations that might occur during the season...
Well, what happens next? The Yankees, a team that does not have depth nor seemingly the willingness to spend more to address injuries, has their DH come to camp injured.
It seems Giancarlo Stanton was hurt in the post season last year. He thought rest might help his aching elbows. It didn't.
What's the Yankees' suggestion now that Stanton is hurt? Rest.
Brilliant.
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By the way, weren't many of the Dodgers injured in the World Series last year?
And yet they still won.
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Hal Steinbrenner's words above, speak, very loudly, to the Yankees' approach. "Once you get to the postseason, anything can happen."
That's the Yankees' model explained by the owner in clear detail. I have also been saying that for years.
Rather than building the best possible team they can, the Yankees want to be just good enough to get to the postseason and then hope things go their way. The Yankees do not seek to be great. They seek to be good - and then lucky.
It's a bad approach.
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What makes the Yankees' approach worse is they have a manager who isn't very good at managing games. That is often what makes the difference in the postseason and yet one of the Yankees' manager's biggest weaknesses is game strategy.
The whole approach doesn't make sense when looked at logically.
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The postseason is also where attention to the little things, like fundamentals, throwing to the right base, backing up plays, and such, make a big difference.
Imagine that. That's also a weakness of Boone-led teams.
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The Yankees don't build the best teams so they they can get to the playoffs where their biggest flaws are magnified.
Brilliant.
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If you ran a baseball team, and one of your most expensive players (I didn't say valuable) was hurt at the end of the previous season and a long winter lay ahead, wouldn't you check in on him, send him to the doctor, and such so that, with months off, if there was an injury it would be addressed then rather than waiting until Spring Training?
This isn't the first time situations like this came up with the Yankees. Stanton isn't the first player to come to camp with a lingering issue from the previous season that wasn't addressed in the winter.
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After the 2023 season, the Yankees spend big money to have a consulting firm help them figure out where they're making mistakes.
These are not difficult things to figure out. If a guy ends a season with an injury, send him to get it all checked out in the winter - while he has lots of time to address it.
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The Yankees, time and time again, prove me correct when I state that they are reactive rather than proactive. That is the way Aaron Boone manages. It's the way the front office operates. There never seems to be a long term plan. Things change from day-to-day.
Here's another suggestion - make a plan that makes sense. Things like that usually work when building a baseball team.
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The Yankees now need to react because in addition to not having a quality third baseman, now they also do not have a quality designated hitter.
They could have addressed these situations proactively. They didn't.
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Marcus Stroman is a player who has had issues with his former teams. The Yankees signed him to a two year contract with a vesting option.
After one season, Marcus Stroman is now having issues with the Yankees.
Is any of this a surprise?
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Marcus Stroman wants to be a starting pitcher for the Yankees. He seems angry that the Yankees want to move him to the bullpen. He has defiantly said that he won't pitch out of the bullpen.
Does Stroman understand that he pitched so poorly last year that he lost his spot in the rotation? This isn't the Yankees being unfair. Stroman's performance made this all a reality. This is all a result based on his own poor performance.
Does Marcus Stroman really believe he's a better option for the starting rotation than Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, or Carlos Rodon? He can't possibly think he's better than Max Fried or Gerrit Cole. Can he?
Last year, among those pitchers, Marcus Stroman had the lowest WAR, the highest WHIP, and the fewest strikeouts per nine innings...
It's really quite simple. If Marcus Stroman pitched better last year, he'd be in the rotation. Stroman has no one to blame but himself.
Also, his complaining, I am sure, isn't making other teams lineup at the door to trade for him.
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Then there's a guy like Mookie Betts of the Dodgers who willingly plays (and offers to play) anywhere to help the team win.
The Yankees have a bad starting pitcher who says that he refuses to go to the bullpen. Last season they had a bad second baseman who refused to move to third base to help the team.
I thought Aaron Boone was supposed to be a person who gets the most out of his players. It seems like that narrative just doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Instead it seems like there are some players, at least, who do not listen to his direction.
Think about the best leaders in your line of work. Do the employees openly defy that leader? I tend to think not.
Does an organization thrive when employees openly defy the leader? I also think not.
And yet, soon Aaron Boone will get a contract extension.
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Vlad Guerrero, Jr. did not sign a contract extension. It seems likely that he will reach free agency.
The Yankees will need a first baseman in 2026.
While I have no idea how this will play out, I see the Yankees making a competitive offer, but one that isn't quite good enough for Guerrero as he signs with another club. We saw that scenario play out with Yamamoto and Soto. "We made a very strong offer..." (It's easy to make a strong offer if you know it's going to be turned down. If I knew the Dodgers offered Yamamoto $325 million, even I can offer him $300 million knowing that even though I don't have that much, he's going to turn me down.)
I'm not sure if making a not quite good enough offer is any better than when they didn't even make an offer such as with Bryce Harper.
In the end, the result is the same. Those players all signed with other teams. My initial gut on this is we'll see the same with Vlad Guerrero, Jr.
Trout has a long history of injuries. Much like Stanton (or Roseanne Rosannadanna), it's always something -- calf, knee, hamate bone, thumb, and back. That is the context of moving him to RF, though really he should be DH'ing. By contrast, since 2020, Judge has been injury-free except for the toe he hurt running into the concrete at Dodger Stadium when he was playing -- wait for it -- right field. He doesn't need kid-glove injury protection. The reason Judge is moving back to right is that at his age, he's a defensive liability in center, but not (or at least not so much) in right.
As for Stanton, why do you assume he didn't receive medical treatment and advice…
Unfortunately the "Stroman Situation" seems to have legs and I wonder why? ... as you note he didn't pitch well and the Yankees want to move him.... he wants to be moved.... so why hasn't Cashman done so? Stroman has a bad contract, no significant value and it appears teams do not want to trade for him, so is Cashman trying to get the best deal for this player? Take your pick, but this seems to be a Yankee problem created by the GM not the player.
yes, indeed.
you certainly and tirelessly wrote that moving Judge to centerfield would require him to expend more energy running around a far greater expense of outfield.
what I never recall seeing in your writings was the reason why the Yankees (and Judge) were undertaking to have him play center.
your omission made it seem as though the thing was being done for the halibut.
Paul, Paul, Paul. I know I hadn't found this site yet, as it was in its infancy in 2017, but the old RAB blog had comments at the time, and many of us back then said straight out once the Stanton trade was announced, and said with this trade, the Yankees would not be going after Manny Machado or Bryce Harper - both who were scheduled to be free agents the next winter. Especially with a young nucleus at the time in a lineup that had Bird, Judge, & Sanchez, and with a prospect recovering from TJS, one Gleyber Torres, scheduled to join them early in the 2018 season. (Personal note: I was at the NYC BeerCraft while Torres …