Injuries Are Bound To Happen, So What If?

The New York Yankees built a team around youth, aggression, versatility and flexibility this season giving the team a ton of depth and manager Joe Girardi a ton of options. As the Yankees phase out the older players and bigger contracts of Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and others the team has an army of prospects and young players lining up behind them ready and hungry to take over the positions when they become vacant. Those positions may become vacant earlier than the team would have hoped though because as we know, injuries happen. Thankfully for the Yankees they have almost every position covered if an injury were to occur and thankfully for you I am bringing you a few of those options (obviously not all of them) if the injuries were to occur.

If Mark Teixeira were to go down at first base the Yankees could call up recently signed first baseman Chris Parmelee and plug him into the position. The team also has seen players such as Chase Headley, Brian McCann, Dustin Ackley and Tyler Austin down in Triple-A play the position in recent years.

If Starlin Castro were to go down at second base the obvious choice in my opinion would be the right-handed Robert Refsnyder. Of course the team also has Ronald Torreyes, Donovan Solano, Dustin Ackley, Jonathan Diaz and a slew of other options including the possibility of a young shortstop named Tyler Wade.

Speaking of shortstops if Didi Gregorius were to go down the team would likely put Starlin Castro back at his natural position. If Castro were not available to move the team could always call up Wade, sign Pete Kozma to a major league deal or absolutely go crazy and bring up Jorge Mateo. Mateo is completely a shot in the dark but I got excited and I had to bring him up. Ha!

If Chase Headley were to go down at third base I think the Yankees would have a problem. No, one man does not make or break a team but one man with a lack of depth behind him can in my opinion. See the Yankees last season when Mark Teixeira went down. Greg Bird was fantastic but the team as a whole took a swan dive into the offseason. Anyway, if Headley goes down the Refsnyder/Castro experiment would come to fruition because the number of minor league possibilities outside of Solano, Diebinson Romero and others are slim to none.

In the outfield the Yankees have a gluttony of prospects and young players headed by Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge and filled in with Mason Williams, Slade Heathcott, Ben Gamel, Tyler Austin and others. Don’t count out recently signed Chris Denorfia either and Dustin Ackley also has experience in the outfield as well which is worth mentioning.

The catching position is looking thinner than it has in recent years only because of the Yankees minor league options situation. Gary Sanchez has minor league options but Eddy Rodriguez, Austin Romine and Carlos Corporan to name a few do not.

The pitching is more stacked than it looks in my opinion with the recent strides taken by Luis Cessa and Chas Green for the starting rotation. We haven’t seen much of Bryan Mitchell yet but if he can harness any sort of understanding and control over what he throws he could be a dangerous mix going forward in either the bullpen or rotation while Ivan Nova looks to be the odd man out in the starting rotation currently. While the rotation options may be limited the sky is the limit when it comes to options in the bullpen as the Yankees can offer anywhere from 5-20 capable and ready pitchers that could join the big league club this season. That’s all without every mentioning Yankees top pick from the 2015 Draft James Kaprielian. Happy belated birthday by the way James!

It looks like the Yankees have plenty of depth and plenty of versatility, here’s to hoping they don’t have plenty of injuries to test that theory though. Have a great rest of the weekend Yankees family.