Say It with Me (Again)…

I’ve been saying the following repeatedly for an extended period both within these pages and in the cesspools of social media. By and large, I’ve received very little, if any pushback from making the following statements (which in this day and age, no hostile back and forth generally means your audience nods in agreement.)

So – although it may be presumptuous – I’m asking for your help in amplifying the following statement for me as it continues to arise in Yankee Universe.

The manner in which the Yankees organization has mismanaged the shortstop position in recent years could be a Coen brothers movie and should be a fire able offense.

Prior to the 2022 season, in desperate need of a shortstop, the team passed on making a run at then free agent Corey Seager and instead chose to go with Isiah Kiner-Falefa as their everyday shortstop. After the most predictable outcome came true (that was a mind numbingly bad decision on both parts) the team had the opportunity to give then MLB top 60 prospect Oswald Peraza a shot at the job.

The organization passed on that as well, instead sticking with IKF through 2022, then giving the job to Anthony Volpe out of the gate in 2023. Volpe, as you likely know – in addition to being outplayed by Peraza in the minors – was clearly not ready for the job.

Now, every time Peraza makes a stellar defensive play (as he did last night), or smokes a baseball harder than Volpe ever has, despite over having 1,000 fewer PA, (as he did on March 29^th), it makes one wonder…

Imagine if prior to the 2023 season, the Yankees had given the shortstop job to Peraza, and traded Volpe for what at the time would have been a MASSIVE return. Would they be a better team than they are now?

That’s rhetorical, of course they would be. Volpe was a top 10 prospect across MLB and would have brought back at least an above average position player and starting pitcher in a trade. And, in the unlikely event that Peraza was given over 1,300 PA as Volpe has been and fell on his face, the Yankees had first round pick Trey Sweeney waiting in the wings to take over.

Instead…

• Peraza is a virtually untradeable player with no position to play.
• Sweeney is the starting shortstop for Detroit, has been better defensively than Volpe this season, and is so highly regarded, he was traded for a frontline starting pitcher.
• Since 2022, Seager has hit exactly 100 home runs, been one of the top three shortstops in baseball, one of the best overall hitters in MLB, and added a second World Series MVP award to his resume.

And the Yankees…

• Wasted a season with IKF ice skating around the infield.
• Have had one of the worst hitters in MLB in their lineup every day for three seasons now. (Literally. Among the 129 players with enough PA to qualify, Volpe’s 86 wRC+ ranks 122^nd.)

And if you’re thinking “But even with his flaws, Volpe is a plus fielder at a premium position and a plus baserunner, so he’s a 2.5 to 3 win player at worst – that’s not bad”, you’re missing the point.

The team could have had that with Peraza or Sweeney – or much, much, more with Seager – and other good players who Volpe could have brought back in a trade. What the Yankees have isn’t the worst-case scenario, but it’ll do until the worst-case scenario shows up.

Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments, or yell at me on the “My Baseball Page” on Blue Sky.

Recommended reading: “Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball”. Someone recently asked me what my favorite baseball book is – this is certainly in the discussion.

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