Monday, January 23, 2012

What To Do With The 40 Man Roster

We Can Only Carry 40... We Have 41 And Counting



Currently the Yankees 40 man roster, which can be seen here on The Greedy Pinstripes, had 39 players on it. That is a great problem to have a week before February until you remember that Hiroki Kuroda's deal is not official yet and neither is Andruw Jones' deal. Not to mention we currently do not have a DH on the roster or a utility infielder. What do we do?

The Yankees, like I alluded to in the previous paragraph, have Andruw Jones on the roster to mash left handed pitching and be adequate in the field from the right side. This sounds a lot like Justin Maxwell, who is occupying a 40 man roster spot. I think he is the most obvious cut and the first to go, especially with no options and a better version of himself in Chris Dickerson already on the roster. 

We have two guys on the 40 man that were selected in the Rule 5 draft, Cesar Cabral and Brad Meyers. I think both of them will have a 40 man roster spot going into Spring Training so I do not see either of these two as an option for a cut RIGHT NOW. I personally do not see either of them making it on the roster when camp breaks and we head to the regular season but we have seen weirder things happen. 

George Kontos is another player I could potentially see on the chopping block. He is 27 years old and was already claimed and returned once in the Rule 5 draft. He really does not do anything special and is too old to really be counted on for anything in the majors. He could easily be replaced by a Hideki Okajima on the roster and probably give us more on the field.

Kevin Whelan has gotten a call up last season and did not take advantage of it. He is the last guy remaining over from the Randy Johnson trade to Arizona. He has been less then impressive in the minor leagues to boot, which makes him another potential cut on the 40 man roster. Especially considering I think he could clear waivers and return back to the Yankees if he chose to.

AJ Burnett... no I could not do it with a straight face, never mind. We are not ridding ourselves of him this season unfortunately. Get used to it Yankees fans. 

Here are three very likely cuts to be made to make room for Kuroda/Jones/DH/UTIL. Also if someone just blows us away in Spring Training we can potentially cut and return Cabral/Meyers. The 40 man roster situation looks difficult and grim right now but it is not as dreary as it may seem.