The Tuesday Discussion: Jasson?

May 14, 2024

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This week we presented the following to our writers:

There is speculation that when Jasson Dominguez comes back, assuming he's 100%, and assuming he's ready for the big leagues again, that the odd man out could be Alex Verdugo as Dominguez would slot into left field.

If you were running the Yankees, when Dominguez is ready to come back, where would you put him?

Here are their responses:

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Lincoln Mitchell - I would put Verdugo on the bench. If the Yankees have Soto, Judge and Dominguez in the outfield and Stanton as DH, Verdugo can still be very valuable. Verdugo would get plenty of playing time filling in when one or more of these players get injured and could be a useful lefty bat off the bench. Dumping a good player because the team temporarily has no room for him would be a grave mistake. Being unprepared for injuries is not bad luck, it is just that, being unprepared. Keeping Verdugo would be a way to be prepared.

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Derek McAdam - In this scenario, I think Domínguez should be playing in center field. He’s a decade younger than Aaron Judge and can play a much better center field, although that’s not a knock on Judge’s abilities. Judge should then be moved over to left field with Juan Soto remaining in right. 

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Ed Botti - With 37 AAA plate appearances and only 33 MLB plate appearances in 2023, I’d send him to Scranton to get 200 or 300 at bats and play the field every day.

Verdugo has done well (they even have him hitting clean up), so I don’t see Verdugo taking a back seat to him in 2024. There is no rush at this point, he is only 21 years old.

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Paul Semendinger - If Dominguez is healthy, and if he does well in 150+ plate appearances at Triple-A, and he is called to the Major Leagues, the best plan, as I see it, would be for the Yankees to develop a rotation of Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Jasson Dominguez, and Giancarlo Stanton. The first four would get the bulk of the playing time. Since I can't see the Yankees releasing him, Stanton would have to learn to be a force off the bench.

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Mike Whiteman - I loved watching Jasson Dominguez last year. He was an electric talent in the week he spent with the 2023 Yanks, and gave a positive jolt to a dreadful season.

That being said, it was about a week. Eight games, 33 plate appearances. Dominguez has a ton of talent but he needs to win a spot on the team. I suspect that means he starts in the minors, showing that he shakes off the rust and is back to 2023 form. It should not happen overnight. 

If he indeed is that player who took the team by storm last year, I would see him taking Trent Grisham's spot on the roster, and then floating between left field and DH. 

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Tim Kabel - if I were running the Yankees I would make a four-man rotation with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo, and  Jasson Dominguez. One of them would be the DH every day while the other three played the outfield. 

Giancarlo Stanton would have to be either traded or released. He remains a one- dimensional player who is not a role player. 

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Andy Singer - We have a long, long way to go before we have a problem this good on our hands. If Dominguez rips through his rehab assignment and shows that he's ready to return to the Majors in June AND everyone is both healthy and performing...you see where I'm going with this, right? There's a lot that has to go right for the Yankees to need to manage this situation in early June.

If it comes to pass, then I think the answer is to rotate the four best outfielders on the roster (Judge, Soto, Verdugo, and Dominguez) through the 3 outfield spots and DH. The real question is what the Yankees do with Stanton. If Stanton is performing like an above-average hitter, then it's pretty easy to give one of Dominguez or Verdugo a night off 2-3 times per week. If Stanton is average or worse as a hitter by the time Dominguez is ready to return, then the Yankees have a very interesting situation on their hands. Stanton doesn't fit as a bench piece, at all. He really can't play the field, and pinch hitting really isn't his cup of tea. The obvious answer is to release Stanton in the summer, but I don't think the Yankees will do that. I think a 5-man rotation through the outfield and DH is most likely, one that favors playing time for Judge and Soto.

The big thing that can't happen is allowing Dominguez to only play, say, twice per week at the MLB level. If he's up in the Show, he needs to play.