00:00Joel Sherman back with three things. I am now in Arizona. Yesterday was my last day with the
00:08Yankees for a couple of weeks. I'll be back to do the Yankees and Mets one more time around.
00:13I'm here for about a week. But why don't I wrap up the Yankees by trying to go through what
00:21I
00:21think their roster construction might look like. And the proviso is always two outfielders run
00:27into each other. It's a different roster construction. And always you just worry about
00:32the pitching, pitching, pitching. So why don't we start here? Number one, they're right at this
00:40moment, which is bordering on about two and a half, heading towards three weeks of camp. You're
00:45starting to get towards the middle of camp. The Yankees have had, and this is the knock on wood
00:50portion of the program, right? It won't last. Storm is coming. But they've had a really good camp as far
00:56as health is concerned. They have four rehabbing players in Cole, Schmidt, Rodon, and Volpe. And all
01:05four seem to be progressing well. And they have not taken on a significant injury yet. It's coming.
01:13It comes for everyone. What you try to do is push back the storm as long as possible. But three
01:20weeks
01:21or so into camp, almost to the midway point, they have to start thinking, if they're thinking roster,
01:27hey, what if everyone makes it to the start line? I doubt anyone, everyone will. But as of today,
01:34that's where they are. So for number two, let's talk about the position group and what that might
01:41look like and what the major issues are. So the Yankees signed Randall Gritchick to a minor league
01:46contract. I expect he'll be in camp in the next few days, maybe as early as Friday. I would think
01:54if he shows he's healthy and capable, he will make the roster. Because the last thing they kind of
02:00needed on this team, as far as a, hey, that piece, was a righty hitting outfielder with a history of
02:09hitting lefties. Gritchick has that. He did not have a strong OPS last year against
02:16lefties after being over 900 the three previous years. But Yankee officials say that his underlying
02:22numbers against lefties stayed the same. The thing to keep an eye out for is he is not a very
02:29strong
02:29defender anymore. And he'll probably be playing left field in Yankee Stadium. That's really tricky.
02:34So we will, will he be able to do that capably? So what does it mean? It means I think
02:40Jason
02:40Dominguez is in the minor leagues. Spencer Jones is in the minor leagues. Gritchick is the fourth
02:45outfielder. I suspect he'll play left field and Bellinger will play center field with Grisham on
02:49the bench against lefties. What are the next issues? How quickly does Oswaldo Cabrera come
02:55back from that fractured ankle last May? He is still not expected to play his first spring game
03:01until next week. To me, it feels very much like the Yankees are slow playing him and are comfortable
03:06beginning him in the minor leagues. I would say that would put Max Schumann in some position to
03:12potentially make this Yankee team. They made a small trade with Oakland to get him. He brings
03:18something important with Jose Caballero starting at shortstop, at least until Anthony Volpe returns.
03:24That takes their big speed guy off the bench. Schumann is no Caballero, but he does have the ability
03:31to steal a base and run well. Plus, he can play every position on the field, notably backup shortstop.
03:37If Caballero needs a day off early in the year, he can go play shortstop. You don't have to move
03:42Ryan McMahon there, who I think has played three innings in his career, or Ahmad Rosario, who obviously
03:48came up as shortstop with the Mets, but has started one game in the last two years. So Schumann could
03:53do that. I would think that that looks like the guy. The other issue will become, do they take
04:00J.C. Ascara as a kind of, and have two and a half to three catchers? The question is, can
04:07Ben Rice be
04:08the regular first baseman and the backup catcher to Austin Wells? It's kind of what they did last
04:13year, though you wouldn't say that Rice was the out-and-out starting first baseman, but by late
04:18in the season, he was playing near every day. The last 60 games of the year, J.C. Ascara bounced
04:26up
04:26and down, he never started a game at catcher. It was Rice or Wells. I think Rice is the dominant
04:34first baseman now. Paul Goldschmidt will play against lefties, and I think that means that Rice
04:39will catch some games against lefties starting pitching. The question is, you know, Rice's job
04:46is to bat five times a day a game, and do you detract from that if you ask him to
04:53play the two
04:54positions, notably do the toughest thing on the field and catch? They'll have to decide that as
04:58they go along. But if I were guessing, I would say Schumann is the extra infielder. They go with
05:06two catchers early in the season and see if it catches up with them. If they end up in an
05:09emergency
05:10situation and they don't have anybody and it looks really bad for a day before they can call to AAA
05:15to get Ascara back. Or do they, you know, I think that's the way they're going to go. And it
05:22will put
05:25Cabrera, Spencer Jones, and Dominguez at AAA for depth with Cabrera, Ascara. It's not bad depth.
05:36And by the way, it might be Anthony Volpe at some point. The Yanks are going to have to decide
05:40what
05:40they're doing with him when he comes back. But why don't we table that for another day? I've talked
05:44about it a little bit on previous episodes. Let's talk about the pitching group. The Yankees have
05:50four off days in the first 13 days. So if they wanted to do an option for a pitcher like
05:55Will
05:56Warren or Luis Heal, I think they can do that and get away with it and bring them back 10,
06:0115 days into
06:01the season. I don't think they're going to do it. Just again, this is all hunch and kind of educated
06:08guesswork. I think they'll go with the five starters and eight relievers. We know the identity
06:15of, you know, like four guys, right? It's Cruz, Duval, and Hill to set up Bednar. Again, this is
06:23where the full health comes in it. The Yankees have the full complement of their five starters.
06:27Then Ryan Yarborough and Paul Blackburn fold into the bullpen. Well, that gets you to six,
06:33right? That's six guys. You could carry eight. Again, who knows if you're going to get to the
06:38starting line with all your guys healthy. But if you do, those guys are not optionable
06:43pitchers. I would think early in the season when guys aren't fully built up, they'll be
06:48important as length guys in piggyback situations. And so that leaves two spots. I do think Cade
06:55Winquist has a shot. The Yankees like him a great deal. He was a starter in the Cardinals
06:59organization. The Yankees think his stuff really plays up in the bullpen. He is a rule five
07:04pick. The Yankees have had one rule five pick in their history last the full season,
07:09Andy Cosco. They had a first baseman, Josh Phelps, who lasted a couple of months in like
07:16about 2006. In the 60th year history of the modern rule five draft, like say since 1965
07:23when the common draft began, those are the only two guys who even made a team for the Yankees.
07:29Yankees have generally been a very good team in that era. It's hard to have a rule five guy who
07:33has
07:33to stay on your roster all season. A, make it. B, stick around. But I think the Yankees will
07:39try to take a look at it and see if they found some free talent outside the organization and see
07:45if this plays. And they could always make another move in April. If it's not, he could get offered
07:51back to the Cardinals. They could see if they can make a small trade with the Cardinals to keep
07:55him. I think they'll take a shot. So that would leave one spot out there. Could it be Jake
08:01Bird? Sure. I think it could be. Could it be Yeri De Los Santos? Could it be Dylan Coleman?
08:07I think it's going to be Brett Hedrick. Aaron Boone talks about him so much, the power lefty
08:12arm that he brings to the team. And I think Boone thought he saw in spurts last year that
08:21Hedrick was good, couldn't stay healthy. The Yankees feel that with an offseason of training
08:26as a reliever, that they could get something more out of him over the full year. So we'll
08:34see. But it would put a power lefty, which felt like something they left on the table this
08:40offseason, not if they could get it from Hedrick. So it's an interesting call. And look, again,
08:46I just want to urge that we're not even midway through spring training. These rosters are an
08:52exercise right now. Things will change with performance and especially with injury. But
08:57as I also, I'll leave you with this. I would assume March 25th, the Netflix game, the only game of
09:03the
09:03night is Yankees-Giants. I would assume that's Max Fried is starting that game. And then I would just
09:09wonder if you start playing back to early April when they open against the Marlins at home. I wonder
09:16if because of how he pitched against Boston last year and how he's held up, that even though
09:21Schlittler will only be built up for like 75 pitches and will need a piggyback like Blackburn
09:28or Yarbrough if he's going to get the home opener. Because of, you know, Boone will certainly know
09:35that he can handle a big moment without blinking. And then we'll do all of this at some point again
09:40as Carlos Rodon gets closer to coming back, who stays, who goes. It'll be quite an interesting game
09:45of Survivor. And ultimately, maybe late May, early June, knock on wood for the Yankees if that
09:49happens if they get Garrett Cole back. But long way to go to the opener. I thought it would
09:54be a fun little exercise though now to see what the roster might look like if the regular season
09:59began today.
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