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The Yankees made big strides this summer (Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, Carlos Rodon), but some unfinished business remains, and they have open competitions in left field and shortstop.
With free agents Jurickson Profar and David Peralta and talk of Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds (reportedly worth too much) and Twins trade candidate Max Kepler (“nothing serious right now”) for left field, the Yankees have veteran Aaron Hicks and youngsters Oswaldo Cabrera and Estevan They were destined to choose between Florial. At short, they didn’t find a receiver for Isiah Keener-Falefa, so last year’s rookie will try to battle highly regarded kids Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe to win that job.
The Yankees are an improved team because of what they’ve done, but they have unanswered questions at those two spots as they haven’t been able to find anyone to play left field.
“We had conversations with a lot of clubs, and those clubs couldn’t do what we wanted or we couldn’t do what they wanted,” GM Brian Cashman said.
Hicks has the experience edge, though no one should be shocked if Cabrera eventually wins the job considering Hicks’ one-year slump. Keener-Falefa may start with the small end at shortstop, but some in the organization see Perez as having a good shot. Volpe is their top prospect, but some extra spice probably wouldn’t hurt.
Keener-Falefa wasn’t the only infielder the Yankees bought, but they didn’t get any significant trades for Josh Donaldson or Gleyber Torres, leaving a logjam in the outfield where even star DJ LeMahieu appears as an everyday utility again.
Donaldson was expected to stay at third base following stellar defense (though Cashman thought he should have won the Gold Glove) but an incredibly bad offense.
“Hopefully, last year was unusual,” Cashman said.
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