The Yankees are set to bring up second base prospect Jose Pirela, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports on Twitter. It remains to be seen how the playing time will be sorted in the middle infield, but the club has received scant production to date at both second base (Stephen Drew and Gregorio Petit) and shortstop (Didi Gregorius). With the Yankees otherwise looking good atop the AL East, it is fair to wonder whether Pirela and/or Rob Refsnyder will get extended early looks to help inform the club’s decisionmaking over the summer.
Here’s more from the competitive AL East:
- Meanwhile, things are headed in quite a different direction at the keystone for the Blue Jays, who have received stunning production from offseason acquisition Devon Travis. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca explains, while Travis’s incredible start is obviously not sustainable, he has exhibited a series of skills — hitting the ball long and hard, and showing quality strike zone control — that bode well for his future. While Toronto obviously hoped he could become a long-term answer when it dealt for him, the club now has good reason to believe that he will be installed at second for years to come.
- Another infielder off to a surprisingly hot start is Jimmy Paredes of the Orioles. As Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes, the 26-year-old has traveled a long road through five organizations to get to this point. Still a work in progress in the field, Paredes has shown real promise at the plate this year. With Jonathan Schoop still working back from injury and Manny Machado having missed significant time in each of the last two seasons, Paredes could be an important piece for Baltimore if the team hopes to stay in the playoff hunt.
- Things have gotten bad in a hurry for the Red Sox, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Bradford opines that losing Hanley Ramirez for any significant stretch would be a huge blow for Boston; while his injury does not appear to be as serious as it looked, any loss of production could be problematic in a tough division. Of course, the club has plenty of options in the outfield, and the bigger concern remains a rotation that has struggled badly. Though it is reasonable to hope that the results will begin to better match the underlying peripherals, Bradford says that the team does not have any obviously promising internal candidates to add quality innings in the near term.
Gregorio Petit has options, so in all likelihood he’ll get sent down
He is going to be sent down. It’s either Pirela or Petit, can’t have both.
Only other option is to release Drew, but I don’t see the Yankees doing that.
Definitely won’t do that just yet. He probably will start being on the hot seat a bit though with Pirela coming up and taking some of his at bats
Agreed, as much as people haven’t liked Drew (for his obviously very low batting average), he is actually Fourth on the Yankees in ISO and it is pretty high at .202. I don’t think he should be a starter though, but then again, DiDi has done just as bad if not worse than Drew.
If Pirela (or Refsnyder, eventually) is up here, Drew at least has value as a late-inning-defensive replacement and is probably the best (maybe only, now that I think about it) back-up option the Yankees currently have for shortstop, if something were to happen to Didi that would keep him out for several weeks.
Very excited about Pirela coming up. His bat has been hot since ST, and I think getting him some ABs while Drew struggles would be a great idea, similar to how NY is using Young to get some at bats while Beltran struggles. I really hope Refsnyder isn’t rushed up just for his bat, however. If people got mad about the few mistakes Didi made early on, I can only imagine their reaction to Ref’s current output on defense. I’d also assume it’s Petit going down for Pirela tomorrow.
Paredes looks like a Cano clone when i watch him play. Not same defense and not a big ceiling like him but the swing is very very similar.
Pirela reminds me of Cano.
Cano reminds me of Cano.
Stephen Drew reminds me of Robinson Cano.
Well, maybe not, but they are seperated by 0.1 WAR, so…
So Paredes reminds you of Cano, except he isn’t as good? Jon Jay reminds me of Stan Musial, except Jon Jay isn’t as good as him.
I mean, I did say the defense and the upside are not the same but the swing mechanics is very similar.
Pirela’s defense won’t be much to write home about, but he’s much more versatile in the field and definitely will help us with his bad. Hope he gets a shot!
Jimmy Paredes is so good! He’s awesome.
Too bad he’s so bad defensively that Buck used Steve Pearce at 2B against the Rays over the weekend.
He was really solid today at second base. Made a few really nice plays.
I’m here to help :D
He played a great 2b yesterday. Made a lot of nice plays.
Chris Davis got a win as a relief pitcher 2 years ago, but no one reasonable is suggesting he can pitch at the major league level.
Bostons defense is awful, their fip will always be lower than their era
Simply not true. Hanley Ramirez is a terrible defender but everyone else is average to far above average.
Exactly. Only other person who is on the 25 man that is really poor defensively is Craig, rest of them are at least above average and that includes Holt at his normal IF utility positions.
Edit: Maybe Bogaerts.
Craig’s a little below average. He’s a passable left fielder and first baseman. Just keep him out of right.
Bogaerts would rate as average for me right now. He’s made tremendous strides since last year and looks a lot better out there now.
Napoli is quite terrible
Huh? At defense? Have you ever watched him play outside a yanks sox series??
Yup
Napoli is a very good first baseman. And to say otherwise indicates either a huge bias or a lack of knowledge of the player.
Perhaps you should investigate the player before making blanket statements. Napoli is a very capable 1st basemen.
Capable sure, but doesn’t mean he’s anything but below-average.
He’s been a well above-average defensive 1st basemen since he’s played for Boston. DRS and UZR both agree his work has been good at 1st base.
Sandoval has a negative defensive value.
Pedroia (GASP!) has a negative defensive value.
Are you seriously looking for defensive value 27 games into the season? Come on. Three years is the typical amount of data looked at when it comes to defense because those metrics aren’t perfect and fluctuate wildly in even normal sample sizes.
If Bradley could hit…Id love an outfield of Castillo, Betts and Bradley. Hanley to third or DH? Pablo to first? Maybe next year
Can they pitch though?
yea that’s a goofy statement man… sorry… talk trash about their attitude, their pitching, their in-game decisions, but most teams would kill for the defensive ability Boston has
Its a shame they made Ref’s glove out the same material they made his bat……
The wide range of opinions on Devon Travis has been surprising. Always a prospect in the Tigers org, but didn’t possess any above average tools other than off-the-charts makeup. Keith Law notably called him an org guy a few years back. I’m glad he’s seeing some success up there.
Technically the Yankees are activating Pirela off the DL.