SUNDAY: Gregorius is likely to move to Triple-A Scranton on Tuesday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets. Boone is hopeful Gregorius will rejoin the Yankees in “a week or two.”
SATURDAY: The first-place Yankees have been without injured shortstop Didi Gregorius all season, but it appears he’s moving closer to a return. Gregorius is set to begin a rehab assignment with Single-A Tampa, per an announcement from New York.
Gregorius, one of the Yankees’ most valuable players dating back to the beginning of his tenure with them in 2015, has been on the mend from Tommy John surgery since last October. The 29-year-old’s injury helped lead to speculation New York would pursue Manny Machado in free agency, but the club ended up taking much cheaper routes to bolster its infield, signing DJ LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki. The addition of LeMahieu, whom the Yankees signed to a two-year, $24MM contract, looks like a shrewd pickup so far. The low-cost signing of the oft-injured Tulowitzki hasn’t been nearly as beneficial, on the other hand, as he hasn’t played since April 3 on account of a calf strain.
With Gregorius and Tulowitzki out of commission, the Yankees’ middle infield has typically consisted of rising star Gleyber Torres at short and LeMahieu at second. It’s unclear how the Yankees’ infield will align once Gregorius comes back, as they also have surprising standouts Gio Urshela and Thairo Estrada joining powerful first baseman Luke Voit in the mix, but they surely consider that a high-class problem. Manager Aaron Boone said Friday that Gregorius should return within 20 days, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News.
Once Gregorius does come back, he’ll be vying for a potentially significant offseason payday. Gregorius, who’s fresh off back-to-back seasons of at least 4.0 fWAR, stands as the majors’ most enticing soon-to-be free-agent shortstop in the wake of Xander Bogaerts’ extension with the Red Sox. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes ranks Gregorius as the game’s sixth-best impending free agent.
Yaaaaay !!!! It’s about time ! I’m guessing when he comes back it will be
DJ 1b
Torres 2b
SS di di
3B usherla
DH voit
DJ plays multiple positions too
All these injuries and still in first place by multiple games. Rest of the league should be terrified of this team getting fully healthy. Yankees haven’t even been close to 100% strength since like opening day.
Right!? So true.
But seriously though you can’t believe all of these guys (Gio Urshela in particular) will produce like this all season. It’s a good story now but I think it’s a fluke not a trend.
You should compare Urshela’s swing now and from when he was with Cleveland. He won’t hit this well all year but I also don’t think he’ll regress back to being a .240 hitter. He’s got a great approach at the plate and made a lot of adjustments (just look at the stance even). I’d be willing to bet he’s somewhere between a fluke and for real but leaning a little more towards for real.
So like a Luke Voit? (he obviously didnt keep up his pace he set at the tail end of last season but he’s still been solid)
Speaking of Urshela… how does Ottavino have a higher WAR (1.2) than Urshela (.7)? Ottavino has only pitched 24 innings… I mean, they were good innings, but Urshela has played 41 games and has well over 100 ab’s. 2 wins, 1 loss, 2 blown saves… he hasn’t been perfect.
WAR is a very deceptive stat.
WAR IS very straightforward, comparing WAR for position players & pitchers is apples and oranges though
Tomorrow’s headline will be Gregorius suffers setback on rehab assignment.
you wish
Yes you got me. I wish he gets injured worse than he is…
JDTroll
Yes, I’m the troll lol
this is good
Torres has played very well at SS in the absence of Gregorious. I think it’s possible the Yanks let him walk at the end of the year instead of signing him to an expensive free agent deal.
or they could just have both like they did last year. that worked out well. i dont see why the yankees would not want to do that again? DJ will go back to being the utility guy that plays everyday like he was brought in for. I honestly see him walking if and only if Didi asks for a lot more than he is worth. If he plays well upon return and asks for a price thats fair then I cant see the Yankees letting him walk.
Asks for more than he’s worth?
How much do you think the best free agent shortstop is worth?
Why do you think they should or would spend 100 million dollars or more for a player they have shown they don’t need at all?
Everyone loves Didi so this isn’t about anything other than the Yankees showing no signs at all of spending money they don’t have to spend and the Depth at SS is already forcing a significant log jam in the minors.
I could see them signing him if they are letting DJ go after next season but you can’t run a business in a way that wastes assets by paying 100 million dollars for a player you don’t need.
Torres is a very good shortstop. DJ is an excellent 2B. If Didi can play 3B? Maybe.
Yankees payroll is at a point where I doubt they will sign Didi. Add to the fact they’ve been able to win without him means there’s less incentive for them to lock him up.
I doubt they let Didi walk unless his demands are much more then his worth or another team offers a large overpay. They will probably prefer to go back to the original plan with LeMahieu which is to move him around the IF. Urshela is a nice story and has been great for them, but what are the odds he sustains it and continues to give good production into next year?
Estrada is still just a rookie, i’d say his long term production is just as uncertain as Urshela’s at this point. Andujar plays 3B but is still a defensive liability. When you look at it that way, there’s a good chance they’ll either need Didi back or need to acquire a replacement.
I’m not saying I want Didi to leave, I just think it’s possible the Yanks don’t re-sign him for monetary reasons. Their payroll is sky high and I believe they are going to make a push to sign Cole this winter. Not re-signing Didi at big $ would soften the blow of what they’d need to lay out for Cole.
I agree that if he doesn’t ask for ridiculous $, he could definitely be back.
I agree.
I think they’d love to have him back and I think he’d love to stay and would accept a discount but I think he’s too valuable to other teams and the gap between his value to them and to the yanks is simply too big for any responsible human to pass up.
I would say it’s more likely they trade him this season than resign him in the off season.
On a side note this is going to be a very exciting trade deadline with all of the depth the team has established this year due too injuries….assuming most of the injured guys come back of course.
Wait a second.
If you look at the fact you have two rookie infielders hitting over 300 with power and 3 or 4 guys who can play MLB shortstop there is a good chance will need to acquire a shortstop? Maybe in a decade.
What are the odds Didi signs a long term deal at his age and then outperforms it? Your best bet is getting a player who puts up numbers comparable to his contract.
They might sign him if he signs a very team friendly deal which he might consider but pretending the Yanks do or even might need help or even depth at SS is simply misinformed.
They would have let him walk already and not given him a qualifying offer if that was what they plan to do.
Morales is the obvious DFA candidate. No way DJ returns to being a part time player. Voit can DH and play first once Stanton returns.
Urshela
Didi
Torres
DJ