Luke Voit was placed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday due to a Grade 2 oblique strain, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The New York Post’s Dan Martin) today that Voit will miss “at least a few weeks” of action.
Between knee surgery and now this oblique strain, Voit has played in only 12 games this season, hitting .182/.280/.250 over 50 plate appearances. It has been a marked step down for a player who had been crushing the ball basically since the moment he came to New York in a trade with the Cardinals in July 2018, with Voit even leading the majors in home runs in 2020.
Voit’s absence (and lack of production when he has played) has been one of the many reasons why the Yankees have struggled to score runs, with just about every regular on the team is having a subpar year at the plate. First base, in particular, has been a problem area — Yankees first basemen have combined for an 82 wRC+, the fifth-worst mark of any team in baseball at the position. Besides Voit and the now-retired Jay Bruce, DJ LeMahieu, Mike Ford, and Miguel Andujar have all seen time at first base, and while LeMahieu is seemingly the best option on paper, his services have also been required at both second base and third base this season.
Since Voit may not be available until late June at the earliest, it opens the door for another option, such as minor league slugger Chris Gittens. A 12th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2014 draft, the 27-year-old Gittens isn’t considered a top-30 Yankees prospect by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline, and he had never played even at Triple-A until this season.
Gittens is something of a throwback player, a classic slugging first base/DH type with a lot of power (.476 slugging percentage, 75 homers) and a lot of swing-and miss (473 strikeouts) over his 1709 career PA in the minors. That includes a red-hot performance at Triple-A, with a .268/.464/.634 slash line and four homers over 56 plate appearances for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“He’s swinging the bat really well to start the season,’’ Boone said, adding that Gittens is “very much on our radar” given his Triple-A production.
Gittens isn’t on the 40-man roster, and the Yankees don’t yet have a 40-man spot available since a decision hasn’t yet been made about Corey Kluber’s health situation. Kluber will miss at least eight weeks recovering from a strain in his rotator cuff, so a shift to the 60-day IL could be inevitable, and such a transaction would free up a 40-man spot for Gittens or perhaps another player. Martin suggests that the Yankees might also consider veterans who can opt out of their minor league contracts on June 1.
Put Sanchez at first base
In Scranton
Unemployment
The mere thought of Sanchez having to put in effort to pick a bad throw to first should be enough for you to realize that’s a bad idea
That would be a worse decision than giving Hicks 7 years.
Yankees Gittens desperate
Way too many injuries. Guys gotta toughen up.
Medical Trainer Dingus reporting for duty.
This is a good bit, posting dumb comments with that user name. Continue your trolling
Now Dingus I can get into
Wait..what do you want to do with dingus now? We have children on this site, sir!!! >=}}
Can’t say I feel sorry for them, but I never wanna wish poor health on anyone. I’m glad Kluber signed in NY, Boston avoided that bullet.
I mentioned this in another thread but any big market contender would’ve gladly paid $11M for 10 very solid starts which is what Kluber gave. Any other positive contribution he can provide this season is just gravy on top. He’s already provided 0.9 fWAR and when you consider $/fWAR, the deal isn’t close to being terrible.
Come on, man.
Fangraphs puts his dollar value at $7.3M, and now the team is missing a key part of the rotation as they’re about to face their top two rivals in the division.
If they survive the two months (or more) that he’s out without falling out of contention, and he comes back in time to contribute significantly, then arguably it wasn’t a failed gamble. But to say “Any other positive contribution he can provide this season is just gravy on top” is kind of like saying the used car you bought to drive from New York to California wasn’t a bad deal when the engine blew in Indiana. The rotation is substantially weakened with two thirds of the season in front of us.
@Mr. Person Except that hey bought a used car expecting it to break down. Does a healthy, low-risk Kluber only command $11M with zero incentives in free agency? Never said 1.0 fWAR equals $11M.
And it’s still wrong in this thread; it is not $11m/WAR. I will agree with you that it can by no means be considered terrible, however.
10 very solid starts? 3 were considered quality starts… 4 he lasted into the 6th inning.
2 very solid starts is worth $11 mil?
An 8 inning 2 hitter and a no hitter is my definition of very solid starts. You consider a 2 and 3 inning start very solid? I guess it depends on the definition of “very solid start”
LOL
lolyanks
matt carpenter is available
Garrett Cooper back in the Bronx?
I don’t follow the Yankees closely enough but shouldn’t they give Ford a real chance? He was excellent a couple years ago.
Ford was good in his debut year in 19 but I don’t think the Yankees think too highly of him. The issue is burning another spot in the 40-man when Kluber returns. I have the feeling they’re going to let Gittens season in AAA. Ford is going play plenty now.
They have and he has not done much since then
They’ve given him a chance and outside of two months in ‘19, he’s done nothing.
Test
Voit will be back. I think the bigger problem for the Yanks is the lack of OF production.
Bird
I wonder if it’s a throwback player if more players are striking out more while selling out for power
Reggie Jackson throwback?
Reggie and the Full Effect
Can Luke Stanton trade gloves?
You mean a first basemans mitt for driving gloves?
Trade for Brandon Belt when he’s healthy. Give us an RP
You can have him. Please send back a decent BP arm.
I’m a giants fan lol. Suggested this because Belt hits 1 fly ball per game at Oracle that would be an HR at Yankee Stadium.
Throw back player? Big power and big Ks sounds like 2/3 of the current league
Gittens is something of a throwback player, a classic slugging first base/DH type with a lot of power (.476 slugging percentage, 75 homers) and a lot of swing-and miss (473 strikeouts) over his 1709 career PA in the minors. That includes a red-hot performance at Triple-A, with a .268/.464/.634 slash line and four homers over 56 plate appearances for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Maybe kind of like Bobby Dalbec? Bobby came out of the shoot looking great. but this is the major leagues. He’s still a work in progress. There are no guarantees with these guys. It’s probably worth a shot if they want to use an actual first baseman (instead of Who).
The DH narrative makes no sense and I don’t know where he got that from. From all accounts, Gittens is a plus defender at first.
He strikes out a lot so he’ll fit right in.
“. . . use an actual first baseman (instead of Who)”. Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey platoon at First? Can’t be any worse.
They’re like 80 years old and come from a country where baseball isn’t played, but it would be entertaining. They could also sing the national anthem!
I don’t know.
Third base!
It is Chute not shoot. Just trying to help.
Stanton should be taking ground balls at first. He will be injured anyway. Yanks have nothing to lose trying this option.
The problem with the Yankees offense is they have no speed in their lineup, they are like majority of baseball teams playing for the long ball to score runs, they lack contact hitters to string up hits and the defense is sloppy. The only thing that keeps them in pace is their pitching always been like that.
The Yanks problem on offense is too many ground balls. If they could hit doubles with the frequency of BOS and TB they’d be fine even with the injuries and absolutely putrid base running.
I suspect we’ll see some movement starting June 1 with minor opt outs kicking in, including Deshields. My guess is Deshields sins, Gittens is added to the MLB roster. Ford and Cortes and DFA’d. That’s short term. Long term could be Peralta and Caleb Smith from Arizona.
Hahah does Greg Bird have an opt out?
Since he was not rated a top prospect means he will succeed
Pujols will be an inexpensive option once the Dodgers get healthy and release him. I personally don’t recommend it, but desperate times…
I think Gittens will do well though Andujar would probably be my choice….I guess DJ would be if we had a good enough 2nd baseman, though Andujar in left probably costs you the gain in defense at 1st you get from DJ.
Gittens has looked good for a few years now.
They should give the Rockies a decent prospect in return for CJ Cron. Or Matt Adams if they’d prefer.
Understanding that trades between division rivals are rare, here is a crazy scenario:
With Vlad Jr now the full-time first baseman, the Blue Jays are slowly reducing the playing time of Rowdy Tellez to the point where he is basically a bench player. If Springer ever plays for this team I suspect he will DH much more upon his return which means that a player like Davis is more valuable to the team than Tellez. In short, there is no real future for Tellez in Toronto so a trade to New York for a couple of low minor league arms is logical for both clubs.
Cris Gittens should’ve won the NYY 1B job out of Spring Training. He was by far better than Bruce and Voit.