TAMPA — The Yankees insist that they still hold Oswald Peraza in high regard. They pledge that he is not on the Miguel Andujar/Clint Frazier trajectory of we love him, we love him, we announce today that Oswald Peraza has been designated for assignment.
Privately, they will let it be known that it is actually symbolic of how much they still believe in him that they tried during spring training to sign Enrique Hernandez, which became public, and Amed Rosario, which is being reported here for the first time.
They believe that without injury that Anthony Volpe will, like last season, start 150-ish games and they do not want a young player they still think has upside — but needs hitting refinement — to play infrequently off the bench. So the best pathway for Peraza more and more was looking as it would begin this year in Triple A playing shortstop daily and seeing if he can reduce some of the swing and miss in his game.
And that was even before Thursday, when he went to Aaron Boone and told him that an achy shoulder that had shut him down for 10 days before he played back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday was still not right. Peraza was scheduled for imaging to determine the root cause. Boone continued to say he did not perceive the injury to be serious.
Still, the Yanks at this point probably hope that Peraza is healthy enough to just begin at Triple-A. If he is indeed removed from the competition, the Yanks do not have an obvious backup at shortstop, and really at second and third too unless they believe Oswaldo Cabrera can rebound from 2023 struggles.
Non-roster invitee Kevin Smith is still in camp. But it would come as no surprise if the Yankees backup infielder is currently on another roster and is the kind of late spring trade similar to what brought Jose Trevino to the team in 2022. For example — and this is truly an example and not something I am hearing — but a reunion with Andrew Velazquez if he does not make the Braves’ roster or a trade for Luis Guillorme if Atlanta was comfortable with some combination of Velazquez, David Fletcher and Luke Williams as its backup infielders.
To try to avoid needing a move like that in late March, Brian Cashman and his baseball operations group had sensed a free-agent backup infield market beginning to crash in late February. The dollar requests were dropping, so Cashman received permission from Hal Steinbrenner to use a few million to try to capitalize.
The Yankees were told from the outset that Hernandez’s preference was to return to the Dodgers and that he was willing to wait and see if Los Angeles could trade Manuel Margot (which it did, to Minnesota) to open the roster spot/dollars for him to sign (which he did for $4 million). The Yankees, I am told, had the same $4 million on the table for Rosario, who instead took a $1.5 million base from the Rays.
Rosario’s representative Ulises Cabrera told The Post that what Tampa Bay could provide was a clearer route to regular at-bats, including at shortstop where Tampa Bay is currently lined up to go with Jose Caballero. Wander Franco remains out of the camp as he awaits legal proceedings in the Dominican Republic on accusations of physical and sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of a minor. His status for the season is cloudy, at best. Next-in-line Taylor Walls had hip surgery last October and is not expected to be ready to begin the season. Caballero has started 13 games in the majors at shortstop; Rosario: 724.
As for Peraza, there is little internal Yankee doubt about his abilities at shortstop. That was his calling card in a battle last spring against Volpe — that and also having played more at Triple-A and also having made a nice major league cameo in 2022 — Peraza even started an ALCS game against the Astros.
But Volpe won the job last spring and, despite his offensive struggles, did enough in how he handled those combined with a Gold Glove, 21 homers and 24 steals to seal this job for a while. It is why Peraza is more likely to be part of a trade than ever become a Yankee regular — even if second base opens up after this season with Gleyber Torres headed to free agency.
In this way, there are echoes of players such as Andujar and Frazier too — the Yankees holding onto someone they rate well and then steadily seeing their value drain to DFA status. Cashman dismisses that by calling shortstop depth with the Yankees “an area of strength.” Boone said of Peraza, “You’re always weighing with young players, especially ones you feel like could be everyday [players], weighing that [bench in the majors vs. playing daily in the minors]. Where’s the give and take, the benefit of being here, being a part of things, or playing every day.”
For now, let’s take the Yankees word — that they still see Peraza as a starting major league shortstop. And check back at the conclusion of this season if he is closer to that or to the door out of New York.