THE LONG & SHORT OF IT
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The clock is ticking on the Yankees’ roster decisions, but they are not in a rush to call the biggest position battle or make a trade to alleviate their glut of infielders.
With Wednesday marking just over a week until the Yankees will have to finally settle on the 26-man roster for Opening Day, general manager Brian Cashman said he does not plan on declaring a winner to the shortstop competition until “towards the end” of camp.
“We’ll make a decision when we have to in the very end,” Cashman said Wednesday before the Yankees fell to the Nationals, 5-2, at Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. “We still have some time on the clock, but we’ve had a good camp. A lot of good things to see. But we have time on the clock to make the final call.”
What began as an open competition among Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe has seemingly come down to Peraza versus Volpe for the starting shortstop job to open the season.
Volpe, 21, has started 10 games at shortstop this spring and Peraza, 22, started his 10th game there Wednesday, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Peraza, who is already on the 40-man roster and impressed in a one-month cameo at the end of last season, is viewed as the better defensive shortstop. But Volpe, who is not on the 40man roster and has played just 22 games at Triple-A, has made a loud case for the job with his all-around play, including the 1.027 OPS he has recorded through 14 games.
Though some scouts view Volpe as a second baseman in the long term, the Yankees are crowded at that position with Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu. Torres and Kiner-Falefa, who is trending toward becoming a utility player, could be trade candidates if the Yankees can find the right return. But Cashman said he does not believe trading from the club’s infield depth is a must.
“We don’t have to make a move,” Cashman said. “We’ll make a move if there’s a benefit to doing so, and if there isn’t, then we won’t.”
Over the final week of spring training, transactions could begin to pick up across the league as teams finalize their respective rosters. Whether that might lead to a team calling the Yankees for one of their infielders remains to be seen.
“We’ll stay engaged with the other clubs, but clearly there’s a lot of players trying to make teams in camp,” said Cashman, who spent much of batting practice talking on his phone behind the cage.
The Yankees had their first real roster-construction meeting Monday, with members of different departments present to share their opinions and “lay their cards on the table,” Aaron Boone said. But those discussions will continue over the next week.
Rosters do not have to be submitted until the morning of Opening Day, and though the Yankees are unlikely to wait that long to make a final decision on their shortstop, Cashman said he did not know whether it would be made by the time they leave Tampa next Monday for a final exhibition game in Washington on Tuesday.
Shortstop is not the only roster decision looming. Aaron Hicks appears to be the frontrunner to win the starting leftfield job, but the Yankees will need to fill a roster spot left by Harrison Bader’s strained oblique — with Rafael Ortega and Estevan Florial among the options to be the fourth outfielder.
A bullpen spot or two could also be up for grabs, though injuries to Tommy Kahnle and Lou Trivino may have created enough room for Albert Abreu, Greg Weissert and Jimmy Cordero to all make the team unless the Yankees want to carry a second lefty in Matt Krook.
“It’s like every year at the end of spring training,” Cashman said, perhaps understating this number of key decisions the Yankees face this spring. “Obviously it’s time to start making calls on the initial roster, but you recognize the roster is always changing as the season moves on.”