MAD AT THE WORLD
Didi to miss month with shoulder injury Girardi not happy as WBC claims another Bomber Yanks right to keep Gleyber in minors for now
Didi Gregorius won’t run out for Opening Day thanks to injury sustained during World Baseball Classic, and now Bombers, who lost Mark Teixeira in similar way in 2013, must find replacement.
TAMPA − The Yankees won’t have Didi Gregorius on Opening Day − and you can blame the World Baseball Classic for that. In 2013, Mark Teixeira injured his wrist preparing for the WBC and was limited to just 15 games. And now, the event has cost the Yankees their 27-year-old shortstop for the start of the 2017 campaign. Gregorius suffered a right shoulder sprain while playing second base and trying to turn a double play for the Netherlands during an exhibition game, and will miss approximately six weeks, according to Brian Cashman. The hope is that the Yankees get him back sometime in May. Gregorius underwent a dye-contrast MRI on Tuesday that confirmed the injury. He’ll be out of baseball activities for the next two weeks before beginning a light throwing program. “Those are the concerns you have when players go to the WBC,” Joe Girardi said. “You always worry about the injury thing. I know it is important for the game, but he really is important to our team.” And let’s not forget, Gregorius was playing second base, a position he would not be playing were he with the Yanks. Gregorius has played in just 11 career games at second — all in 2014 with Arizona. “It could’ve happened anywhere,” Gregorius said. “It’s not like because I went to the WBC it happened. It’s not because of that.”
Cashman wouldn’t criticize the event, saying, “Injuries are part of baseball. That’s the bottom line. The WBC seems to be getting bigger and better. But as a consequence of any competition, there’s risk. The best organizations deal with this. And hopefully we’ll deal with it as well.”
Gregorius is slated to make $5.1 million this season after he and the team avoided arbitration. He’d like to play in the WBC again. “I mean, if I’m allowed to go then I’ll go,” he said. Gregorius hit .348 with a homer and eight RBI for the Netherlands.
He hit .276 with a career-high 20 homers for the Yankees last season. MLB teams may not prohibit players from participating in the WBC, which happens every four years.
The Yankees now must deal with life without Didi. Many would like super prospect Gleyber Torres to take over in his absence, but the Yankees are smartly going in a different direction. Torres was reassigned to minor-league camp following Tuesday night’s 4-2 exhibition loss to the Red Sox.
Torres, 20, has shined during the spring, hitting .464 with six doubles, a triple and two homers. But now isn’t the time to rush him to the majors. It would be a panic move, thrusting him into the spotlight with all the perceived pressure that comes with playing in the Big Apple.
Instead, the Yankees, who weren’t considering Torres to make the roster even before Didi’s injury, are taking a smarter, more pragmatic approach.
“I think we have to make some important decisions, and one of them is not to overreact to Didi’s injury at the expense of Gleyber,” Cashman said. “Gleyber’s time is coming at some point, and whenever that’s going to be is going to be. But it doesn’t have to be right now − especially when we have other options that we can look at in the short-term.”
Torres will open at Double-A Trenton, where he can continue to hone his skills and face higher quality pitching. The majors aren’t going anywhere. He’s still really young, with 301 minor-league games under his belt.
Remember: Derek Jeter, a 1992 first-round pick, didn’t play his first full year with the Yankees until his age-22 season. He became a better defender in the minors, something Torres also needs to continue to work on. And that worked out pretty well.
“From the beginning, they told me that’s where I was going,” Torres said. “No surprise there, that’s what the plan was all along. I’m not disappointed at all. On the other hand, I’m super happy and excited to be part of this camp.”
Options the Yankees will look at to replace Gregorius, who won’t participate in baseball activities for the next two weeks before beginning a light throwing program, include Ronald Torreyes, Tyler Wade, Ruben Tejada and Pete Kozma. The possibility of shifting Starlin Castro, Torres’ mentor, from second base to short also exists.
Wade, 22, who projects as the starter at Triple-A Scranton, is the most intriguing of that bunch. He’s hit .394 in the spring while also learning how to play the outfield with the Yankees wanting to turn him into the next Ben Zobrist or Brock Holt. Talent evaluators wonder if he’ll be able to hit enough at the big-league level. Now — at least until Gregorius returns, anyway — seems like a good time to find out.
Torres is one of the most intriguing prospects in baseball, ranking in the top-5 on ESPN.com and MLB. com. Talent evaluators have all been raving about him, saying he could turn into a star, and so far he’s lived up to lofty expectations. But as Cashman has said repeatedly, Torres hasn’t played above A-ball yet.
If he dominates at Double-A Trenton, who knows how quickly he could rise. Given his ability to play second and third, Gregorius, Castro and Chase Headley are all going to need to produce, because the kid is coming.
Just not yet. Not until he gets more seasoning. Not until they feel he’s ready. Not when he has his whole career ahead of him — a career the Yankees and their fans hope yields multiple All-Star appearances and championships in the Bronx.
“I think we need to see more,” said Cashman, who acquired Torres in the blockbuster deal that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs at the trade deadline last season. “Gleyber just got to us in the summer last year when we made that trade. It was a trade that we thought was important to make, but it was not a trade that I made with the anticipation that he would be a starting anything on our 25-man roster come Opening Day of 2017.”