Bombers should Wade in deep end
TAMPA — Tyler Wade was not a Cowboys fan when he arrived at the Yankees clubhouse Friday morning, but he was so impressed by a presentation delivered by Dallas coach Jason Garrett that “I will root for them now.”
Wade appreciated Garrett’s message that people win games and those people become stronger collectively when they love and defend each other.
In Garrett’s case, it also doesn’t hurt to have a really good quarterback, which gets us to Dak Prescott and Wade and a connection I see that goes beyond that Prescott was a fourth-round selection taken with the 135th-overall NFL pick and Wade was a fourth-round selection taken with the 134th-overall MLB pick.
Garrett told me the Cowboys really didn’t have anywhere else to turn but to Prescott when Tony Romo was injured during the exhibition season, because his other quarterback, Kellen Moore, also was injured. But Dallas signed Mark Sanchez a little more than a week before the opener and could have made the safe play to go with a veteran.
Instead, the Cowboys trusted what they saw in Prescott’s positive preseason and invested in the potential upside, and Prescott honored that decision by leading Dallas to an NFC East title.
The Yankees lost Didi Gregorius to a shoulder strain while he was playing for the Netherlands during the World Baseball Classic. Their top officials had yet another meeting Friday in which they discussed how to cover the four to six weeks Gregorius is supposed to miss.
I would go with Wade because — like Prescott — he arrived at this camp with little renown, has had a positive preseason and has upside. When Derek Jeter missed six weeks to open 2003, the Yankees could afford to plug in Erick Almonte and Enrique Wilson because they had a proven championship core elsewhere.
To make the playoffs, these Yankees are going to need some upside to play out on guys such as Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez and at least two or three young starting pitchers. There is no upside for someone like Pete Kozma. He is Mark Sanchez. The most you are hoping is he doesn’t lose you games.
Wade was a fourth-rounder out of high school in 2013, but the Yankees believe because of his defense, speed, athleticism and growth, he would have emerged as a first- round pick had he gone to college.
That growth — more muscle and power — has led to better offense this spring, which combined with those other skills has kept him in camp as Clint Frazier, Dustin Fowler and Gleyber Torres have been sent to minor league camp. Well, that and Gregorius’ injury has the Yankees pondering if Wade can handle the jump. One of his other traits is that he is a baseball gym rat, and I believe those types generally adapt well.
“No one is going to outwork me,” Wade said.
Yet because of what the Yankees view as the short-term nature of Gregorius’ injury — there are some who think he will be back May 1 — they do not want to fur- ther complicate their 40-man roster situation. Thus, I suspect the Yankees will use Ronald Torreyes. Perhaps they will mix in a bit of Starlin Castro and maybe add Kozma to the 40-man roster to use his high-end defense because he is the kind of malleable veteran they could remove from the 40-man roster when Gregorius returns.
If they put Wade or Torres on the 40-man, those guys have to stay on at a time when the Yankees’ burgeoning system has made every one of those spots more precious. So for 30-ish games, my gut says, the Yankees will not burn a long-term 40-man roster spot. And because they do not want to add much money or give up useful prospects for six weeks, a trade for someone such as the Diamondbacks’ Nick Ahmed is possible but not probable.
Torres would be the truly intriguing option, but he already has been sent to the minor league camp.
General manager Brian Cashman said he thought Torres could be the special 20-year-old who could jump all the way to the majors, but added: “He hasn’t played in cold weather, he hasn’t played above Single-A, and I just believe dropping him into the deep end of the pool for a short-term fix is the wrong thing to do.”
Wade, 22, is two years older. He has played a full year for Double-A Trenton. The Yankees believe Wade has the traits to be a starting shortstop, but many others in the industry see him as a utility guy, perhaps maxing out as a Ben Zobrist-lite, who moves around the diamond. Wade’s upside is not that of Prescott, though of course we didn’t know Prescott was going to be Prescott at an equivalent moment in Cowboys camp.
But a month is something — onesixth of a season — and Wade has upside and the Yankees want to try to win while developing this year.
“I came to this camp trying to show I belong and to try to break with the team,” Wade said. “Nothing has changed.”