Earlier this week, Brian Cashman made sure the Yankees stayed relevant in the media when they signed Troy Tulowitzki who they hope can be this year’s version of Neil Walker at a much cheaper price. The signing is one that would have been more excited five or so years ago when you could argue Tulo was the best shortstop in baseball and was on his way to being the face of the position post Derek Jeter. In fact, it was reported that Brian Cashman told Jeter five years ago that he would rather have Tulowitzki play shortstop for the Yankees instead of Jeter. I don’t want to open that can of worms but that would have been tough for me to swallow as a life long Yankee fan who idolized Derek Jeter. In fact, that may not even be the most concerning quote that we discovered from the Yankees’ General Manager this week.
As I was perusing Twitter on my train ride home Friday, I saw that Jack Curry of the YES Network tweeted that Cashman would be “very comfortable” with an infield of Andujar, Tulo, Torres, and Luke Voit to start the season. In terms of offensive production, I have little problem with that infield; although the questions of Voit, Andujar, and Torres repeating their seasons from last year are legitimate. Simply put, if that is the defense we are starting the season with in the infield, then the Yankees must be bringing in some fielding gurus for these players to work in the offseason. Andujar was one of, if not the worst, defensive third basemen in the league last season and sometimes cannot be trusted to throw a ball more than 5 feet. Gleyber had 19 errors and appeared to lose focus on routine plays. Luke Voit is not particularly elite over at first base nor is his backup Greg Bird. Then, of course we have Tulo who has not played baseball in a year and is coming off major surgeries that could inhibit his defensive ability. Obviously, he had to impress in his workouts otherwise I do not think Cashman would have pulled the trigger on the signing, but I am certainly going to be skeptical until I see a reason not to be. So, there it is, the starting infield that Brian Cashman feels comfortable with despite the numerous defensive question marks.
It is a good thing that Cashman added a qualifier that he still remains open minded to improving the team. Although, you can also say that is a pointless statement because that is literally your job as General Manager of a baseball team. However, it does mean that the Yankees still view themselves as players to make a splash with Machado or other position player options that remain on the market. I will put “In Cash we trust” on my tombstone, so I believe there will be other moves the Yankees make; I can’t believe that Cashman actually feels comfortable with that infield despite what he says publicly.
