Thursday, October 22, 2015

What About Ian Desmond?


You guys know me by now and know where I have stood on the Yankees second base situation for the past two seasons now, I believe the job belongs to Robert Refsnyder. Refsnyder, when given the opportunity, has done nothing but hit the ball and improve defensively in his time with the Yankees yet the team continued to give the bulk of the playing time to Stephen Drew, Brendan Ryan and Dustin Ackley. The talk for the 2016 season, however premature, if that Ackley and Refsnyder will platoon at second base to begin the season if Yankees GM Brian Cashman doesn’t bring in an alternative at the position, could that alternative be Ian Desmond?

Desmond struggled mightily for the Washington Nationals in 2015 but honestly outside of Bryce Harper, who didn’t? The team was hit by the injury bug harder than any team in the league and just had a down year overall as a collective unit. While I don’t feel like their manager Matt Williams was to blame I can’t say anything for sure since I am not in the clubhouse. If Williams was the issue then you should expect a resurgence from the team and its players in 2016, including free agent shortstop Desmond.

Desmond is a right-handed shortstop that could be moved to second base to fill the 2016 position that Stephen Drew was meant to fill in 2015. Desmond could play second base for the most part while acting as a suitable backup at shortstop and third base whenever needed. Desmond would add power and versatility to a team that is desperately needing both heading into the 2016 season and would likely come “at a bargain” considering the back of his baseball card. It seems unlikely that he would come back to Washington in 2016 and it seems even less likely that the team would risk extending him a qualifying offer meaning Desmond could be had for salary alone and would not come attached to any sort of draft pick compensation.


It’s hard to find an offensively productive everyday shortstop and if the Yankees signed Desmond to a relatively small pillow type contract to rebuild his value at second base then I would honestly have to be all for it. I want Refsnyder to get the job, everyone knows that by now, but I am coming to terms with the fact that the team does not think as highly about him as I do, and that’s okay. If the team fills the position with a player that makes sense then it’s hard to argue the logic, even if it is a 30-year old shortstop who struggled in 2015. 

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