The Yankees will deploy Gleyber Torres in roughly a “50-50” split between second base and shortstop at Triple-A this season, manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters. Torres has spent the vast majority of his four pro seasons as a shortstop but received some time at second base over the last two seasons and third base in 2017. One of the game’s top prospects, Torres is expected to make his big league debut at some point this season, and second base could be his ultimate position in New York given Didi Gregorius’ presence at short. With Gregorius slated for free agency after the 2019 season, however, Torres’ presence gives the Yankees flexibility at both middle infield positions going forward.
Here’s some more from around the AL East…
- “I felt great. I felt normal,” Drew Pomeranz told media (including the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman) after a 33-pitch simulated throwing session today. The Red Sox southpaw has missed time with a mild flexor strain and his status for the start of the season is still in question, though today’s result was a good step for Pomeranz. Between this outing and the positive updates on Steven Wright and Eduardo Rodriguez yesterday, there is a chance Boston could begin the year without having to turn to minor league depth starters Hector Velazquez or Brian Johnson.
- The Orioles optioned Austin Wynns to Triple-A today, as reported by MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli and others. Wynns had been competing with Andrew Susac and Chance Sisco for the secondary catcher role, as Caleb Joseph is in line for the bulk of playing time behind the plate. Sisco is ranked by both MLB.com and Baseball America as the third-best prospect in Baltimore’s system, and has long been considered the Orioles’ catcher of the future. With that in mind, however, the O’s may prefer to keep Sisco in the minors for now in order to give him everyday at-bats rather than limit him to a part-time role.
- As also noted in Ghiroli’s piece, Chris Davis made his return to the Orioles’ lineup today after a two-week absence due to a forearm injury. Davis is tentatively scheduled to play in a minor league game tomorrow, assuming he feels ready to go. Despite losing a good chunk of the spring to the injury, Davis is still expected to be ready for Opening Day.
- Both the Rays and Brendan McKay are intent on seeing if the top prospect can reach the big leagues as a two-way player, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times outlines how McKay and the team are preparing and managing his workload for this unique challenge. McKay, the fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft, is thus far considered to be more polished as a pitcher, according to both the Rays and rival scouts. A decision may eventually have to be made about McKay’s position at some point in the future, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards anytime soon. “This is absolutely no gimmick. This is for real,” Rays farm director Mitch Lukevics said. “This is every day, seven days a week that we’re getting Brendan McKay prepared to take on a full season and do both, as a starting pitcher and first baseman, with some DH.”
Did the O’s option Austin Hayes yet? Is he gonna make the team for opening day?
Hayes is still up. I’d be surprised if he didn’t make the team, especially in light of Trumbo’s injury. Rasmus, Hayes, and Gentry could all make the team. Santander has a shot as well.
Hays* Completely disagree with you there. Santander is a lock to make the roster. Santander, Susac, Gentry, Valencia. maybe Alvarez or flaherty once he’s relaeased from his deal from the Phillies. Hays has been bad this spring and doesn’t have a path to PT. He’s never had an AB in AAA. Rasmus will be our starting RF.
I agree, i believe Santandar will make the team but he also has to be up for atleast 6 weeks to live up to his Rule 5 selection or they will lose him. He is having a great spring. 16-40 3 Hrs and 14 RBI.
I don’t think Santander will be on the team past 6 weeks. He’d be better off getting everyday ABS in AAA. But there’s no doubt he’ll be on the opening day roster. Hays will likely be our CF next year so there’s a reasonably decent chance Santander could be our RF. Having so many guys who really should be 1B’s really hurts us though. Trumbo, Mancini, and Davis should all be splitting time between 1B/DH. Santander unfortunately falls into that category too and kind of makes it hard to ever seeing all of them co-exist in the same lineup.
Did you say Flaharty? You kept saying that he was the worst and it was good that he was gone. Hopefully the front office will not screw it up again. Sure he could hit better but he is the perfect utility guy that Buck loves.
I look at it as we have great depth lol
He isn’t good. Trumbo’s hurt and there’s a roster spot. Valencia hasn’t hit exceptionally well this spring either. Flaherty is familiar with the team and he plays a lot of positions. My stance hasn’t changed on him he’s very replaceable. Wasn’t good enough to make the Phillies either….never said it was good that he was gone I just said that Valencia should hit better and TB can cover multiple slots. That should make our team better to not have to carry a guy who can’t bat his weight when we have a perfectly capable guy in Beckham.
Also Hays has a back issue right now and is only batting .156 so from what ive read he will start the season at AAA. Same with Chance, he has a great bat but they need him to work on his glove work but he wont be down there long. I think Trumbo getting hurt was kind of a blessing for the younger guys to see what they can do. Im still mad we got rid of Christian Walker. He could be here and Trumbo gone. Once again last year he hit 32 hrs and 110 RBIs. Now he is stuck behind Goldy so you know he isnt playing there either
Walker may find his way to the waiver wire. Don’t expect the orioles to jump on him but he may wind up there.
If they are smart, he won’t. No need to start the clock. Too bad Duq/Angelos aren’t known for their intelligence.
Davis should be ready anybody can strike out
Hopefully we send Sisco down and he works on his defense. We could really use a high contact LH bat in our lineup. Don’t think it’ll be long before Joseph flops as the everyday guy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cashman makes a deal at the deadline using Torres and Andujar to get a controllable frontline starter. Yanks are in world series mode.
Just stop it please..
Why is that such a crazy idea? Yankees could go after a front line starter and Torres or Andujar could be used as a piece.
If they need pitching at the deadline they’re rich with other highly regarded prospects to use…
Controllable frontline asset? I realize it’s spring training but who would be potentially available and a likely match? Normally to acquire a controllable pitching “asset”, minor league pitching would have to be included.
Archer
It’s not a crazy idea. Realistically, what is Torres’ upside? He’s not going to hit 30+ HR’s. He’s not going to steal 30+ bases. He’s not going to be a consistent .300 hitter if he ever hits that high in MLB. Essentially his upside is not much more than Neil Walker with better defense. That still makes him a very good ballplayer, but he’s not the next Trout, Machado, or Harper. That being said, I don’t see any #1 pitcher coming available anytime soon, and Archer has lost some of his luster lately.
With all due respect… (sir or madam)
#Troll post of the Year
xabial..this guy slider started the troll stampede,the old reliable goblins scurried in down below…
Doubtful that teams in the same division would make such a major trade. That said I believe the Yankees would be looking for a higher end pitcher. Others might disagree but I look at Archer as a three at best on a championship caliper team.
Breakfast man, I don’t know about Slider’s other posts but this one wasn’t “bad” even if others don’t agree. Isn’t the idea of posting to create feedback?
I do understand your logic but the Yanks do not have a long-term answer at 2b right now and I don’t see them using Torres as a trade chip. If they were inclined then they probably would’ve done so already to get Fulmer or Cole before he was traded to the Pirates. It would have to be a completely decimated rotation to make them feel pressed and quite honestly, if the rotation is that much of a mess then 1 starter wouldn’t make a difference.
I truly feel that current management’s motto is to compete every year for a title but also keeping the future in mind.
One good thing about the Yanks now is they have a ton of trade chips. Some might loose their luster if they have a poor 2018 start but I feel that Adams, Sheffield, Frazier, Andujar, Wade, McKinney, Walker and Drury might all be available depending on how the season shapes up. I think Torres and Florial might be the only true untouchables and Sheffield close to it as well.
I do think a combo of Adams, Frazier, McKinney and Wade/Estrada/etc would be enough to get almost any pitcher that might conceivably be on the trading block this summer.
Don’t fall in love with prospects. They bust far more than they become stars.
Lol, the reasoned, tempered argument coming from the guy calling JD Martinez the greatest of all time. Not a real dig, just ironic.
Come on man, Donaldson’s the real goat
Said perfectly by a man as he looks at himself in the mirror.
I could see one of those two packaged in a deal, but not both. Perhaps Frazier. I just don’t see him trading their two top ML-ready prospects, who play positions they need filled.
That said, he’s surprised me before.
There is no starter in the majors worth both of those.
There are more than a handful of starters in the majors worth both of those.
That being said, I definitely don’t think the Yankees do it.
Kershaw Scherzer or Kluber no one else
ha! EVERYONE over-values their prospects…
The fact you even said that takes away all credibility in baseball knowledge the are untouchable as well as Floral
Thank God, the Torres third base experiment over!
It’s not that he’s not capable, but it’d do his development wonders, if he focused on as few positions as possible.
My opinion, but I felt that learning 3B was unnecessary.
Looks like Wade is gonna make the team…
Brian Johnson is out of options though. If he’s not cracking the rotation he’ll have to be Boston’s long man. I wish he’d wind up on waivers because that’s the exact kind of guy the orioles could use in the rotation. Don’t see that happening.
How about Groome, Boegarts and Johnson for Manny?
For one year of Manny? Absurd.
That’s absurd for one year of manny? You give up a spare part pitcher in Johnson, the guy who machado’s taking his job and your top pitching prospect albeit one who has Had his struggles. If you wouldn’t give that package up for manny then you certainly won’t get him.
Can’t see Johnson not making the team. While it’s ST, he’s done all he could this year to prove he’s ready. As the team is short on lefty relievers, he should make the club.
I’d totally do it. And go all in to keep him. I been saying Bogaerts and JBJ.
The Sox are a third place team this year.
McKay, Ohtani, or anybody else will never be successful in the big leagues as a 2 way player, there is not enough time to commit for this to work.
You think that,and guys like HOF John Smoltz know that,but here comes the *why not brigade*
But why don’t teams know it? They seemed to be quite content to sign Ohtani, and the Rays were fine drafting McKay. Just because one guy couldn’t do it, doesn’t mean others can’t.
They were quite content signing Ohtani because of his arm. They were *willing* to let him attempt hitting just so they could add him to their pitching staff.
Both teams are gambling on the hope that they will be good enough to do one or the other, knowing that both will not happen.
I don’t think they believe that
How could they not, no one has ever done it before, and there is good reason for thaf.
Pitchers already hit in the NL, some do it quite well. Its not like Ohtani has to spend time practicing fielding like position players. He will be a DH.
His problem is Scoscia not playing him enough either as pitcher or hitter. He needs More work not less work
Quit kidding yourself. None of them do it “quite well.” 99.99% are absolute garbage at the plate, and the “best” ones are still below league average hitters.
If you want to say some do it quite well compared to other pitchers, that’s fine, but don’t act like any of them are legitimately good hitters. If someone doesn’t understand why a player doesn’t have enough time to focus on being a legitimate MLB pitcher and hitter, they don’t understand how much work these guys actually put into their games.
Well said…2 way players will be like a jack of all trades.
I’m uncomfortable saying “never” but, it does seem very unlikely. There could be a player who could do it, but it would be a super rare talent.
But I think it makes the most sense for them to play in the NL. There are a few NL pitchers who are decent hitters, but they are still not good enough to hit in the lineup when they are not pitching (because again, that would be very hard to be good enough to be a starting MLB level hitter and pitcher). The decent NL pitchers are just good enough where it’s not an automatic out when they hit. And that is still an advantage. That’s probably as close as we’ll see to a “two way” player.
Dumb statement
I really hope the Yankees don’t go after Machado and then Didi gets pushed out. Machado is way above average at third but Didi is unbelievable at short and he is getting better every year. And his ceiling looks unbelievably high offensively. Machado although young has knee issues and after last year he seems like he may have peaked. I’d rather have a middle infield of Didi and Torres at a minimal contract than an insanely overpriced deal for Machado to play short. And Andujar needs to get some consistent time up at third this year so we know what we have for the future with him.
I agree. If Machado insists on being a SS then is Machado + $250-$300 > Didi on a more modest extension? I’d rather look at a player in terms of 5 year increments and ride out with Didi at SS.. Is Machado going to be worth his annual salary at age 33-36?
I hope the Yanks have the same opinion because I would hate to see him in the same division. And he would have to get an 11 year deal to be 36 with the same contract since he is only 25.
Starting pitching is not that important when you have a bullpen and hitting lineup like the BRONX BOOMERS… plus is their starting pitching really a concern?? No people just have to find a way to hate on the Yanks. Their rotation is top 10 in MLB ( list 10 better) with the best bullpen and battling in the league. Granted it’s all on paper but until the games start counting, it’s all we have to go on.
I want his sausage.
Sisco is the 2nd, not third best prospect per MLB and Baseball America for the Baltimore Orioles. He used to be #1.
It doesn’t look like Sisco will ever develop a whole lot of pop in his bat. If he doesn’t improve defensively it doesn’t look like he’ll be quite as impactful as I had hoped. Still has a good approach and good contact skills. Hopefully he sures up the defense and we can start seeing him everyday.