The lineup the Yankees trot out Monday night in Texas holds far less significance than the one that takes the field for the first game of the playoffs, whether the best-of-three wild-card round or the best-of-five division series.
So perhaps it is best to hold the outrage over the hierarchy’s decision not to promote Jasson Dominguez to the big squad on Sunday when clubs were permitted to expand the roster to 28 by adding one position player and one pitcher.
Because while the Yanks chose to promote 26-year-old baserunning specialist Duke Ellis, who has a career total of four major league at-bats, as their designated position player — where is Herb Washington when you need him? — the decision is hardly irrevocable. Dominguez can be summoned at any time.
“[He was] certainly in the conversation and will remain in the conversation moving forward,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday before the Yankees were beaten 14-7 by the Cardinals at the Stadium in a game so deficient of sound fundamental baseball that it resembled an inferior 10U rec league contest. “When he comes up you’re going to want to play him every day, so he’ll continue to remain in that conversation.”
If Boone and GM Brian Cashman want Dominguez to play every day, they could make that happen. This in their control. It’s not as if they are barred by decree from playing the 21-year-old as often as they choose. For the time being, though, they are choosing to stick with Alex Verdugo as the everyday left fielder, despite his sub-.550 OPS since the middle of June.
The question, unanswerable at the moment, is whether the team is sticking with Verdugo — who had two hits batting out of the nine hole — because they want him in the lineup when the playoffs commence or whether they believe Dominguez needs more preparatory work at the Triple-A level before he’s ready for the crucible.
The organization’s marquee prospect may still be recovering from the oblique injury that set him back for approximately a month earlier in the season. He has had only 151 at-bats for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — including Sunday’s 0-for-4 — and 201 overall at the minor league level on the year. There are still three weeks left on the SWB schedule.
“I feel like over the last couple of weeks he’s starting to play well coming off that oblique injury,” Boone said. “So, tough call right now but it doesn’t mean that doesn’t change in a couple of days, in a week, two weeks or whatever it is, but it’s important for him to continue to play right now.”
The Yankees typically don’t shy away from giving their prospects a chance. This likely isn’t a veteran versus youngster decision, with Verdugo, 28 years old and in his sixth full big-league season. If that’s the case, it’s kind of broken thinking, but I doubt it.
Boone has pumped up Verdugo all year as a plus-defender even though the eye-test and metrics don’t necessarily support that contention. There was a wonky one on Sunday, but in a game in which St. Louis catcher Ivan Herrera’s throw on Jazz Chisholm’s sixth inning attempted steal hit pitcher John King in the back even as he ducked, that’s pretty much a footnote.
Anthony Rizzo rejoined the lineup for the first time since he sustained a fractured right forearm on June 16 in a collision at Fenway and went 2-for-4 with a run-scoring double to the opposite field. The Yankees are at the bottom of the league in essentially every offensive category at the first-base position, so Rizzo’s return might be noteworthy.
Of course, when Rizzo left the lineup he was slashing .223/.289/.341 with a .630 OPS and a bWAR of -0.5. While dealing with post-concussion symptoms, Rizzo slashed .174/.272/.227 with a .499 OPS and a bWAR of 0.5. The Yankees need the career-model Rizzo, not the imposter.
“I think the expectations are to take it one day at a time but I fully expect to come out and just be myself. That’s the goal, just be myself,” Rizzo said. “Whenever things aren’t going well, it’s easy to look at the negative if you want, but there’s also the focus of getting back to being right. So that’s always the focus.
“There’s no shying away from it. But that’s as baseball players, you go through that and hopefully today it’s on the right track.”
Rizzo got his two hits out of the seventh spot in the order. Verdugo, who has hit eighth or ninth each of the last seven games, got his two hits batting ninth. Anthony Volpe had a hit batting eighth. That’s reflective of the “length … length,” of the order Boone cited in talking about both Rizzo and Verdugo.
The Yankees have lost four of their last five and have won only 11 of their last 23 games. They have not been able to shake the Orioles even though Baltimore has been four games under .500 over the last 10 weeks. If winning the division to avoid that first round is a priority, maybe the lineup in Texas on Monday does count.
But honestly. We all know that October is going to define this team. It will be incumbent on the Yankees to have the best version of themselves available for the run. It is almost impossible to believe that the team won’t give Dominguez a legit opportunity to be part of it.
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