The Yankees announced a series of camp cuts today, most notably optioning outfielder Jasson Domínguez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Relievers Kervin Castro and Yerry De los Santos were also optioned out.
Domínguez opening the season in the minors has been the expectation since camp began. The Yankees retained Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham in free agency. Bellinger signed a five-year deal, while Grisham accepted a qualifying offer. They’re alongside Aaron Judge in what is probably the best outfield in the sport. Giancarlo Stanton is healthy and opening the season at designated hitter, while the Yanks will run a Ben Rice/Paul Goldschmidt platoon at first base.
There simply wasn’t a path to regular playing time for Domínguez. The Yankees are looking for a right-handed bench bat who can platoon with Grisham. Bellinger will primarily play the corners against righty pitching but can slide to center field in Grisham’s place against southpaws.
The switch-hitting Domínguez isn’t suited for that role. He’s much better from the left side, for one, and it’s hardly ideal for his development to work as a short-side platoon bat. Non-roster invitee Randal Grichuk seems the favorite for the last bench spot based on his track record against lefty pitching, even if he hasn’t hit in a minuscule spring sample.
The demotion certainly isn’t in response to Domínguez’s camp performance. He did all he could to try to win a job, batting .325 with three homers and two doubles in 45 plate appearances. He’ll get everyday playing time in Triple-A and will very likely be the first one up if Stanton or any of the regular outfielders suffers an injury.
Spencer Jones is the only other outfielder on the 40-man roster. He’s a good prospect with monster power but struck out at a 35% clip in the minors last season. Domínguez was a league average hitter in the big leagues (.257/.331/.388 over 429 plate appearances) and is a little more than two years younger.
It remains to be seen whether the move will have meaningful service time implications. Domínguez has one year and 130 days of MLB time. He only needs to be on the big league roster for 42 days this year to surpass the two-year threshold and remain on track for free agency after the 2030 season. It seems likely he’ll get there given Stanton’s injury history, in particular.
There may be a less impactful but more immediate service implication, however. If he logged a full service year this season, Domínguez would have been right on the border of the usual Super Two cutoff for early arbitration next winter. Unless he’s recalled by the middle of April, he’s unlikely to have enough time to qualify as a Super Two. That’d keep his 2027 salary close to the league minimum. This will be Domínguez’s second of three option seasons.
Outfield is full with Judge, Grisham, and Bellinger as the everyday guys. Dominguez has a shot to make himself a good 4th OF but he needs to work on stuff.
I think his ceiling higher than fourth outfielder but he definitely has things to work on.
He has 468 career MLB at-bats. Nothing has suggested that Jasson will ever become a star. But I think he can become an everyday player/starter somewhere in the next couple of years.
Offense isnt the issue, OPS+ of 101 last year suggests he was atleast average without even factoring the stolen bags.
@Samtman The problem is he was pretty exposed against LHP.
Mainly needs to fix his defense, he was pretty bad last year. Average hitting and good baserunning are useful skills. Still really young and can get on track, but in the meantime he’s not plan A.
They don’t want him to be a fourth outfielder hence the demotion.
What I’m saying is if he comes back at some point this season he’s the backup. 4th OFs do get plenty of playing time throughout the year too especially if they’re longside platoon hitters. 110-120 games and about 400+ PAs is far from wasting away on the bench. Someone will get injured, and then Dominguez is the next man up.
Fair to say the media might have overhyped this kid, and of course Cashman missed the trade window….again. Still a puppy, so he very well could still be successful in the bigs, but in won’t happen in the Bronx.
Just because the media hyped him doesn’t mean other teams agreed.
The Martian returns to his home planet of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
He didn’t appear in any minor league games last year so I’m guessing he spent entire year on the roster. This is probably his final option year unless they manipulate his time down there to also have 2027 be an option year.
Manipulating his time has nothing to do with his options. He had 2 options left, now one. Question is what do they do next year with Stanton still around?
I thought he was the next Mickey Mantle?
He’s 22. Might take him a minute.
DomingHoax was another over- hyped Cashman prospect.
There goes his baseball card value to zero
A nice reminder: ALWAYS sell those Bowman’s immediately.
Every franchise has prospect busts, but no one gets more overhyped quite like a Yankees prospect.
I bet he hates the Yankees at this point.
He’s 22. Let’s cut him a break. Still, why Grisham is here when Jasson or Jones could have played left at a fraction of the cost while the New York Yankees don’t have a third baseman or shortstop that can hit is a joke.
First of all, I will not tolerate this Jose Caballero slander! He put up a 131 wRC+ after getting traded to NY last season coupled with elite defense and baserunning. They ought to plug him in at shortstop and make Volpe the utility guy now. Second of all, we all saw that Grisham finally put together a great season with the bat, and did it against MLB pitching. Take the proven guy when you have him. Jasson hasn’t really proved much of anything.
Got this one wrong before they signed Grichuk. I thought he was staying up.
This would be so much funnier if he didn’t rake during spring training. That QO to Grisham kind of forced their hand though.
They offered the QO to Grish because JDom wasn’t ready to play everyday evidently while the offseason plan was to send him to play winter ball.
The Yankees wouldn’t have offered him the QO if they didn’t have a contingency plan already in place when he accepted it. Just so happened they built the contingency midseason last year with the Caballero and McMahon trades. McMahon is a weak bat but his defense is elite. Cabby really went on a tear after the trade and imo he has finally earned a chance to play full time.
Best outfield in the sport? Are you kidding me? Wow, total homerism. Grisham and Belliache have both had years where they couldn’t hit .200, Error in Judgement literally blows chunks in the important games. Best outfield in the sport? Maybe you’re talking about the grounds crew?
Holy cow.
Well, my homerism knows no bounds as well! Tatis, Merrill, Laureano looks dang fine to me!
“Probably” the best outfield. Meaning it’s debatable. In terms of WAR I believe they were last year.
I actually burst out laughing when I read that.
I’m always reminded as a Reds fan how the Yankees couldn’t bear to give up Volpe, Peraza, or Dominguez in 2022 when they were in discussions involving Luis Castillo.
Now it’s 2026, Dominguez still doesn’t have a full time role with the Yankees, Peraza was dumped to the Angels for garbage, and Anthony Volpe is one slow start away from being jettisoned out of the everyday lineup.
Oops?
Hindsight is 20/20, no? No guarantee prospects can handle the MLB. Castillo has 6 bWAR with the M’s in 3.5 seasons since being traded. Not exactly great value with his high salary.
Albert Pujols was passed on 401 times before getting drafted.
Looks like service time manipulation on Dominguez. He had a good spring training.