Are More Reinforcements On The Way?

When September 1^st comes around teams around Major League Baseball have the ability to call up an additional 15 players to their active roster when rosters expand from 25 players to 40. The Yankees called up eight players before their first game of September this Tuesday which begs the question, are the Yankees done or are more reinforcements on the way?

The quick answer is I believe New York may be done. None of their minor league affiliates are eligible for postseason play except for the GCL teams (and they may be done by the time this comes out, I’m not sure) so it’s not like the team is waiting for seasons to wrap up to call up other players. Also the list of players that could come up are far from “sure things” which also complicates things. The Yankees are facing a serious 40 man roster crunch and to make a move prematurely for a guy like Tyler Austin (who has to be protected this winter anyway), Jacob Lindgren, or Robert Refsnyder just don’t make sense from a business standpoint.

As much as I would like to see Kyle Roller, who also has to be protected this winter from the Rule 5 Draft, Austin, Refsnyder, Jose Pirela (another Rule 5 guy and potential minor league free agent), or Jacob Lindgren I just can’t see it happening. Also with injuries to Jose Ramirez, Slade Heathcott (who is on the 60 day DL), Jose Campos (who the Yankees don’t want earning service time), and Manny Banuelos still working back from Tommy John surgery I think the Yankees called up what they could and that’s going to be it.

New York could conceivably call up an Austin Romine, who deserves to be here anyway, or a Ramon Flores but the idea is pretty unlikely. This is all the team is going to get to its time to put up or shut up when it comes to the division and second wild card race.