ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Aaron Boone was right. Trying to predict the exact machinations the Yankees might use to reinstate Aaron Judge from the injured list was a fool’s errand. It was just Sunday morning. The decision involving their star player wouldn’t happen until Tuesday — an eon in the world of baseball roster construction.
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“A lot can happen,” Boone said, surrounded by reporters in the visitor’s dugout at Tropicana Field. “A lot can transpire. We’ll make the decision that we think is best for the team.”
The easy part, of course, will be adding Judge, one of the game’s most feared hitters who crushed an American League record 62 home runs last season and had an .863 OPS when he went on ice May 1 due to a right hip strain. The hard part? Deciding who has to go to make room for Judge.
General manager Brian Cashman and his staff will have several candidates from which to choose — and the most worthy of them all might be the most difficult (and pricey) pill to swallow. Here are the five options:
Release Aaron Hicks
On Sunday, Hicks pulled a double down the left-field line to drive in a run in the Yankees’ 8-7, series-losing defeat to the Rays. And that’s just about where the highlights end so far this season for Hicks, who has drawn such ire from Yankees fans for his lack of productivity that he even drew loud boos multiple times from fans at The Trop over the weekend. Sunday’s double was his first extra-base hit in his initial 58 plate appearances. The switch-hitter had entered the day with a -6 wRC+ — the third-worst in MLB among players with at least 50 plate appearances, behind two defense-first catchers (the Mets’ Tomás Nido and the Dodgers’ Austin Barnes). Also, Hicks’ ground ball rate (59.5 percent) was by far the highest of his career while his line drive rate (8.1 percent) was by far the lowest. Last year’s starting shortstop, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, has made more starts in center field (12) this season than Hicks (3), who was once a higher-end defender at the position.
It hasn’t been for a lack of effort for Hicks, who often takes extra-early batting practice before games and did so before the series opener Friday. The Yankees also haven’t given him many chances — likely a sign of their lack of confidence in the 33-year-old.
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On Saturday, Hicks said he feels like he’s still “grinding” at the plate.
“All I can say is I’m just waiting for opportunities,” he said. “Most of the time it’s against lefties. So I’m really just waiting for a day like this where I’m starting and then try to build toward something. Obviously, I can’t control whether I go three, four, five or six days without playing, but when I get a chance to play, just try to do something to be productive.”
Dillon Lawson, the Yankees’ primary hitting coach, said Hicks’ at-bats right-handed have been better than they have been from the left side, though the numbers aren’t encouraging. Going into Sunday, he had hit just .075 (3-for-40) as a righty and .333 (4-for-12) as a southpaw.
“But it’s something that historically he’s been good at,” Lawson said. “He’s been a good switch hitter for the big chunk of his career. But it’s still the goal. It’s still the goal that we can get him back to where he was in previous seasons.”
Then again, Hicks hasn’t been consistently productive since the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season, when he had a .793 OPS in 54 games.
There’s also the elephant in the room. At the start of this season, the Yankees still owed Hicks $30.5 million over the next three years. Would owner Hal Steinbrenner continue to be reluctant to send Hicks packing with a suitcase stuffed with cash? There is a franchise precedent. The Yankees still owed Alex Rodriguez $27 million when they cut him in 2016. They owed Jacoby Ellsbury $27 million when they released him in 2019.
Demote Oswaldo Cabrera or Oswald Peraza
The Yankees gave Cabrera the lion’s share of left field reps over Hicks coming out of spring training, and he hasn’t been able to replicate the magic he produced when he debuted last season. Cabrera has hit just .202 with one home run and a .519 OPS. He has, however, been a help on defense, covering six different positions. The Yankees could demote the switch hitter with the assignment to work on his hitting from both sides of the plate. They could also send down Peraza, their No. 2 overall prospect behind Anthony Volpe. With Volpe entrenched at shortstop, there’s not an everyday role for Peraza, who has played some third base in the majors but could also benefit from the everyday playing time at Triple A.
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Demoting either Cabrera or Peraza would also allow the beaten-up Yankees to maintain their depth in case another player gets hurt. With Judge still out, the Yankees have 12 players on the IL.
DFA Jake Bauers or Willie Calhoun
Both Bauers and Calhoun are out of minor-league options and can’t simply be sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre without being exposed to waivers. An opposing scout told The Athletic that if the Yankees were to designate Bauers for assignment, he almost definitely would get claimed by another team. Bauers was mashing at Triple A, with nine home runs and a 1.245 OPS in 21 games. The scout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said Bauers’ swing looked “cleaned up” compared to years past. Despite struggling for most of his big-league career, Bauers comes with a former top-prospect pedigree. Baseball America ranked him as the game’s No. 45 overall prospect going into 2018.
Meanwhile, the Yankees have been high on Calhoun since spring training, believing that despite his shortcomings on defense and on the bases he was a natural hitter whose 2019 breakout may not have been fueled solely by the juiced baseball. Calhoun could also continue to see DH at-bats with Stanton out. Heading into Sunday, Bauers had just eight MLB at-bats this season while Calhoun had a .682 OPS in 53 at-bats.
(Top photo of Aaron Hicks: Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
