The Yankees’ Miguel Andujar spent 2018 at third base, where he endured his fair share of struggles. Andujar posted a horrid minus-25 Defensive Runs Saved and a similarly poor minus-16 Ultimate Zone Rating, but the doubles machine’s outstanding offensive production overshadowed his difficulties in the field. While Andujar finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in his first season, he wasn’t able to follow it up in 2019 on account of shoulder troubles that shelved him for almost the whole campaign.
In Andujar’s absence last year, the Yankees saw fill-in Gio Urshela enjoy an out-of-nowhere breakout. Urshela’s now set to enter 2020 as the Yankees’ top option at the hot corner, which could force Andujar to another position. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has told Andujar that he’ll have to learn to play first base and left field in spring training, Randy Miller of NJ.com reports.
Andujar’s no sure thing to begin 2020 with the Yankees if he’s unable to adapt to his new spots. Considering he has minor league options left, the Yankees could opt to send him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. But Andujar’s “makeup is off the chart,” general manager Brian Cashman told the YES Network, so the Yankees are still banking on him doing enough to crack their 26-man roster.
If Andujar does start the season in the majors, it’s up in the air how much playing time he’ll receive from the get-go. As mentioned, he’s now the Yankees’ No. 2 guy at third. Meanwhile, the Yankees have fellow right-handed hitter Luke Voit, who has been quite productive since he joined the club in 2018, as well as lefty Mike Ford as first base possibilities. They also boast Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier as left field choices. So, there doesn’t appear to be an easy path to early season playing time in New York for Andujar, despite the .297/.328/.527 line he recorded and the 76 extra-base hits he amassed during his rookie campaign.
leave Voit on 1st!
I’d like my cat to speak to me….
Andujar and Stanton for Arenado. Done.
The Rockies don’t want Stanton’s contract or Andujar’s defense. NL is not a good spot for either player.
They want to trade Arenado to lower the payroll so they can sign Trevor story to a huge contract. Taking on Stanton alone defeats the point!
Not a smart move. Take a player that needs to learn to play passable defense at one position, but instead they want him to try to learn two more positions when he still needs a lot of work at 3B. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Umm…I think the point is his days at 3B are over. 1B and LF are the two easiest positions to play on the field so it’s either that or DH.
Playing 3B after the labrum issue was always going to be a dicey situation. Especially since he already had throwing problems. Labrum issues can be career killers, defensively at least. While LF is not really that easy of a position to break into, definitely not read wise at least, it along with 1st are spots you can still somewhat hide guys in and live with if their bat is a plus plus. They are also not spots that require premium arm play. Andujar just seems like a fit for them at 1st. And the DH slot can still be used to revolve guys around. It doesn’t really seem like much of an issue. Probably better suited for Andujar’s strengths.
First base is perfect for Andujar. The majority of his errors were throwing errors, not with the glove.
It’s very difficult.
Yup just watch Moneyball
Left field is a far cry from being easy in Yankee Stadium.
…and the Yankees clearly value defense out in LF, which is one reason Gardner is entering his 13th season on the club, and Tauchman plays out there while Gardner is covering CF until Hicks returns. Stanton is actually a decent OFer, but probably better built for RF. I’d experiment with Andujar in LF just to see if he takes to it. In other words, check to see if he might be Alex Gordon 2.0 out there. Unlikely, but they’ll never know unless they try.
I don’t understand why the yanks put Stanton in LF instead of Judge ( when Stanton isn’t the DH ). If Judge is the better outfielder. RF at Yankee stadium is the easiest outfield position to play in the major leagues. LF has a much larger alley to cover. You’d think they’d want their worst outfielder to play RF. It’s like the Jeter/Arod situation all over again. Putting the worst defender in a higher position on the defensive spectrum. Don’t get it. Andujar-Stanton sharing RF/DH makes more sense than sharing LF/DH.
Actually your weakest defensive OFder plays LF
+Cards
But at Yankee Stadium, LF is a harder position to play than RF. Lots more ground to cover there
In a more symmetrical stadium you want the weakest arm in LF or even the weakest outfielder overall. In Yankee stadium you want the better outfielder in left compared to right. When it comes to range at least.
the weakest OF’er ALWAYS plays right field
Probably because Judge has a canon for an arm and is highly accurate. He prevents a lot of extra bases.
Judge has good range, but the Yankees fear potential wear and tear on his legs due to his large bulk. Hence, right field. To some extent, they have the same issue with Stanton; but, I believe they seen Stanton as moving toward being a part-time, and then a full-time, dH.
Yea I could see him spending some time in triple a to learn 1st.
With Ford on the roster
It means they trust Urshela more than Voit or Frazier long term.
I’m curious to see how long the leash is on Urshela and possibly LeMahieu. Say Urshela comes out the gates with a cold dead bat. How long do they give these guys. May not be a question that needs answering but I’ll intrigued if it does.
LeMahieu will have the longest leash of any hitter in that lineup.
How long of leash they give lemahieu? You kidding me dude?
Lemahieu will be playing 2nd, and isn’t a guy with a leash since he’s been a productive major leaguer for a while already
Urshela will have a short leash if Andujar is still a yankee. Cashman values offense over defense right or wrong. DJ will have an infinite leash. Torres will be a subpar SS but nobody else can play play SS if Torres moves back to 2B.
As somebody who switched from Outfield and right side of the infield to first base, it’s probably the easiest position change. I’m not saying it’s easy, especially on the MLB level, but out of all the positions 1st is the easiest followed by corner outfield.
Does your Little League experience apply to MLB?
He’s never playing 3rd again.
Ever hear of Jim Thome?
It makes perfect sense.
Miggy has been playing 3rd in the organization for 7 years. He just isn;t good at it. On the other hand, the bat is plenty good enough to hold down 1B or a corner OF spot. Urshela’s improvement at the plate looks real, and he might be the best defensive 3B in the AL, Andujar may not be a good LF or 1B either, but he hurts you less in left than 3rd.
Urshela is a good defender, but not the best in the AL.
Of the 17 players who qualified at third base last year, Urshela ranked 16th defensively overall. 16th in defensive fWAR, 16th in UZR and 13th in DRS. Only Justin Turner rated worse.
He’s the best defensive 3B in the AL if you only watch the yankees play I suppose. His .349 BABIP is not sustainable with his lack of speed, and his career .700 OPS in the minor leagues suggest he’s due for steep regression.
He was a disaster in the field. The Yankees can’t just keep letting that happen and so are forced to look for a position he can learn to play without costing the team so much.
What if andujar comes back with a over the top delivery and doesn’t make so many throwing errors tho I wonder what his defense will look like
Bruce, love how your pretty metrics reveal Vlad Jr. & Sano to be superior 3B to Gio Urshela. Next you’ll tell me Andujar is as good or better? Give it a rest.
There may indeed be regression with the bat but unless he is closer to ’17 levels than ’19 levels I’m good with Gio at 3B. Miggy is reminiscent of Butch Hobson over there.
Urshela is far better at 3B than Andujar. Still doesn’t mean he’s a plus defender. But Andujar and Torres would likely be the worst left side infield defense in the bigs. Not surprised they are trying to move Andujar off of third, or even off the roster in a trade.
@brucenewton
Clearly they aren’t trying to move him off the roster. You guys act as if there aren’t a number of bat first players getting paid serious cash because their bat is THAT good. o me, Andujar reminds me so much of Robinson Cano. A guy who will put the ball in play, may not have a high OBP his first few years but will have a good batting average and give you around 75-80 extra base hit each year and strike out less than 100 x a year.
We agree on Torres at SS,
They have looked to improve the defense. That’s why Urshela got playing time initially and will keep the job is he hits a little, Also a big part of the reason why Tauchman got the nod over Clint., who for all his speed isn’t a very good OF.
Thats not why Urshela got playing time originally. He got playing time because of Andujar’s season ending injury
Revisionist history Beg. Of course Andujar’s injury opened the door, but the reason Urshela (he of the ..225/.274/.315 career line going into 2019) got to play vs. digging up a retread or putting DJ at 3B was defense..
stick to hockey, which i’m sure you know even less about.
trade him for josh hader instead
His value doesn’t get Hader, not even close
Include Frazier and a prospect.
@kcmark. Still not enough. My scraps for your star closer? Brewers don’t even laugh Cashman just hears the call disconnect…
He should also try Pitcher
Labrum issues.
Giovanny Urshela and Miguel Andujar are both under team control until the end of the 2023 season, Luke Voit is under control until the end of the 2024 season. These players aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon, unless an injury leaves the Yankees down a serious piece to complete their World Series run and they get desperate. Andujar is plenty young to learn LF, or 1B. They wouldn’t even entertain this idea if they didn’t feel he was athletic enough. I recall a very rough middle infielder with a plus bat who learned to be an ok outfielder (Soriano anyone)? The facts are that the Yankees won over 100 games last year without virtually any contributions from Andujar, Stanton, Severino, Betances, and major time missed by Judge, and Sanchez. With additions of Cole, Severino and Stanton back and barring a fluke second year of them being Baseball’s version of a MASH unit, they will again win 100+ games. They can afford to “reinvent” Andujar.
That’s not gonna work because andujar in the field is like playing Kendrys morales in center, it just doesn’t work. Leave him be or trade him.
Leave him be? He’s already in the field…
This
Absolutely correct! Haven’t heard much sense in this thread until now lol.
Voit takes & plays a smart, sold 1st base. I’d use voit at first & try andujar as DH, pinch hitting Ford late in the game for either Miggy or Voit. Would be nice to have encaracion as well but the Cash Man didn’t budge, guess he feels solid on Stanton’s & the sockman’s health
Why not DH? If Urshella is at 3B, Stanton in LF, and Voit at 1B, wouldn’t Andujar be able to get a lot of AB at DH? He would only be competing with Clint Frazier, Ford, and Tauchman for DH ABs.
Stanton at DH
It’s not that hard. Tell him Wash.
Dugsolo – you’re right on IF they play Stanton in LF. With his injuries last year it wouldn’t surprise me if he is more DH than LF this year, especially with Andujar is the mix. But, maybe not.
if Stanton is indeed healthy, he will want to be on the field as much as possible. He can opt out and get a larger contract if he puts up monster numbers and showing average defense.
Names some guys who have opted out of nine figures.
No chance Stanton walks away from the 7/218 the yanks would owe him, for his age 31-37 seasons.
I think the Yankees would love to make him unhappy enough to opt out. With that said, looking for a huge bounce back from Stanton. More games at DH would limit his injury potential. And give more AB’s to Frazier/Tauchman
Many good opinions and positions on this thread and I can see this one from both sides. However, they’ve clearly lost confidence in his ability to play 3B and imo, they want the advantage of getting his defense, in any position, playable. Then, because of his bat, they can trade him if the right opportunity presents itself.
My impression, if they trade him, is that they will go after one of the 4 best ss in the game going to FA over the next 4 years (Lindor, Story, Baez, Semien). Gleyber played passable SS, but they need a formidable defender there. Love to hear any other opinions on the ss scenario as well.
Im not sure its that they lost all confidence in his ability to play 3B but more just realizing they have two 3B and Urshela is the better defender. I can still see Andujar manning 3B if Urshela’s bat goes back to what it use to be before last season. Doesnt hurt to have him learn other positions in case Urshelas season wasnt a fluke tho
Yes. There’s a strong reason to keep both Urshela and Andujar.
You forgot to list seager(with 2yrs of control) as one of the 4 best upcoming free agent SS’s.
FWIW…it’s hard to compare players at different stages of their careers with different levels of experience but here’s the production rate of the top 5 SS’s based on how many plate appearances it takes them to earn 1 win worth of bWAR.
Lindor = 1 win every 113.5 PA’s
Seager = 1 win every 116.2 PA’s
Story = 1 win every 128.2 PA’s
Báez = 1 win every 149.2 PA’s
Semien = 1 win every 164.3 PA’s
We can play this game all day by changing the sample size.
Semien was worth more than double what Seager was in 2019 in terms of WAR
Yeah I think Seager would be last on that list of SS’s for the 2021 FA class. Lindor, Story, Baez are all better. Seimen is after this year.
Forgot Correra too. Him and Seager are in same class with injuries
Cleveland values defense and prefers to leave the DH spot open for players to rotate through. That is why they hope Framil Reyes can play some outfield in 2020.. I don’t see the Indians trading Lindor for the available pieces that the Yankees have.
Andujar was so bad at third that Boone was pulling after 5 innings in the playoffs. He has no range at third and constantly made throwing errors with that sidearm throw of his. Don’t even get me started on the double clutches
Just trade him and Frazier and let them develop outside NY
Told my friends that would happen back at the end of last season
You are psychic.
Gardner, Hicks, judge, Stanton
And Hicks is terrible defensively. Judge is a DH and eventually Stanton will be a DH. Gardner is on a steady decline.
Do you even watch baseball? Hicks is perfectly fine defensively. Judge is an elite defender in right field. Gardner is still an elite defender in left and above average in center.
That guy has no idea. Too much time to be writing junk.
Yanks had a top 8 defensive outfield when it was Gardner, Hicks, Judge left to right. Bottom 5 infield.
Nicholas Castellanos 2.0. This is just another great bat with horrendous defense that a team is looking to hide in the field with DH taken up by Stanton/Sanchez.
Still remember Yankee fans swearing up and down he was gonna be at least passable defense at 3B cause he was working with beltre yada yada yada.
Here we are trying to get him to learn the easiest positions on the field.
Nick castellanos 2.0.
Yeah stupid Yankees fans not predicting his shoulder injury
He was bad at 3B before the shoulder injury. What I am saying is there is no guarantee that he can play LF or 1B. Thome was much better at 3B than Andujar was. If he is limited to DH only, his trade value will be limited.
Thome was much better in every respect, in agree.
Are we not supposed to want a Castellanos 2.0?
offense>defense, after all
The Yankees ignoring defense to get a bat in lineup has burned them so often in the past. Strong infield defense ( and situational type hitters ) are traits of world series teams. The yanks struggle in the playoffs from that. Works fine in the regular season against the many subpar teams in AL.
Pitching and not hitting woth RiSP was the main thing that burned them, not errors in the field.
Range in the field hurt them and hitters trying to go yard regardless of situation killed them. The roster is the same in that regard. Built for the AL regular season, not playoffs when the bad pitchers are at home in their couch.
To their detriment the yanks don’t value defense if you can hit.
Joe Girardi must be wondering: “It’s only 2 1/2 hours down the turnpike. How can the Phillies be so far away?”
Tough to navigate a playoff spot in the ultra competitive NL but all told the Phillies are more well rounded than the yanks no question.
This suspicious move may not work out well. It rarely does but teams seemingly never learn.
Urshela is gonna come back to reality. There’s no way he’s going to put does numbers again this year.
Wonder what the cost would be for the Braves to trade for him? They are so deep offensively, and if there is a weakness it’s pitching :/ but even that’s a bit of a stretch. So maybe a couple near mlb ready pitching prospect for him? Wilson Wright? Or maybe One of those guys and a younger lower rank prospect that still needs time to develop because the yanks have that time to let him develop? Seems difficult to find a trade with a team that’s already so rich in many ways
If anyone I’d going to the Braves its kris Bryant. for wilson, wright Anderson and at least one other. Fried probably.
Are you sure that’s enough? Maybe we should throw in Albies and Acuna too.
A bit steep for two years of Bryant but you have to pay to play. I think the Braves want to get Riley everyday AB’s.
They were hot on Fried last season. But it’ll take more than just him.
Arenado for Andujar. Straight up!
Cant say I blame them. Their current 1B is a DH and he either strikes out or hits a home run. It’s probably 2|10 for every 2 home runs he has 8 strike outs.
If he looks adequate at either 1b or left field, he’s the best trade chip ANY team has. What do the Yankees need? Whatever it is, he could certainly bring that in return.
Andujar does not have a body that indicates he has the potential to be a plus defensive outfielder and that applies even more to LF in Yankee Stadium.
He should/could be plus at 1st base and has enough bat. He might not have plus power for the position but I think his defense would be much better than Luke or Ford.
I’d prefer DJ at first because I think having that kind of defense and range at first, when compared to the typical statue, translates into a lot of outs. Especially at Yankee Stadium.
Now that they finally have the pitching they need to win it all its time to look at tightening the defense.
Trade Frazier and a prospect for Marte and then either trade for a high end middle infielder to pair with Torres or go with Wade or Estrada to start the season and make a move mid season if no one steps up.
DJLM is likely still the best defensive 2B’man in the game, or certainly in the top few. Why wouldn’t you want to maximize his skill at his best defensive position? Just curious.
Frazier’s concussions will keep him from being an above avg defender. I would trade him. Andujar is an outstanding young hitter. I would send to Scranton and develop in left and develop. He is too short for first and we have Voit, and DJ. Ford is an option. If it doesn’t look like he can adapt then trade.
He shouldn’t have any issues playing 1st, it’s “easy right Wash”?
There’s a non-zero chance he takes over 3B again if Gio Urshela suddenly remembers he’s, well, Gio Urshela. Seriously, maybe something permanent clicked with Gio last year, or maybe he’ll be the latest in a long history of MLB players who had a WTF season that causes us to look back years on, scratch our heads, and wonder what got into Gio in 2019.
Let Andujar play 25 games at 3B, 25 games at 1B and 25 in the OF, and DH another 60-70 games. More curious to see how he handles the OF. He’s not slow, is regarded as a good athlete and has a very strong arm. Wouldn’t be surprising if OF is his position long term.
Moving to LF from 3B worked for Ryan Braun.
I think Miggy can find a home in the OF for sure!
Yes. And as I noted elsewhere, a similar move turned a suspect 3B’man named Alex Gordon into a Gold Glove LFer. There’s been many poor defensive infielders who eventually became passable and even plus-defensive OFers.
If they do trade him, I could see the push for Hader too. I know they will continue pursuing him, but won’t do the trade at the current cost. He would be a nasty addition though. I do recognize they have other needs before strengthening their already stacked bullpen.
Guirrel in Toronto went from sub par at 2nd base to a deserving gold glove in LF. There’s hope for Andujar but his lack of speed could be an issue.
I couldn’t reply to you above when you asked but I’d put DJ at 1st because he brings that same elite defensive skill to 1st base where it’s rare to have elite defense and a 1st base worthy bat.
DJ at 2b means Torres as SS and ?? at 1B so the fact that he plays so well at 2b is only part of the defensive story.
If they dont trade for anyone id put Andujar at first and DJ at 2nd but I’d rather put DJ at 1st and get Lindor or an elite defensive SS.
The short answer is that I’d prefer plus defense at every position over one elite and one poor defender.
Andujar at 1B/LF is exactly what the doctor ordered.
I couldn’t reply to the replies to my thread, but you guys brought up excellent points. And, I forgot about Seager going to FA too. A lot of options coming open if they’re willing to spend or trade and they will have an even more complete team.
Yea I could see him spending some time in triple a to learn 1st.
With Ford on the roster
Andujar is basically a nick castelannos clone. Just DH this guy …. he should never see the field . He is a butcher
I say trade him. They need help at certain positions and they have plenty of DHs already.
He started for the Yanks 2 years ago and they won over 100 games. In fact, he was the best hitter on the team most of the year.
Yes, Slider32, you are right. If he can get the field playing down, I’m all for keeping him. If he’s going to be DH, trade him and upgrade somewhere else because they’re simply not going to have room for someone, unless the injuries repeat. But it doesn’t mean I’m right either. Just remember, they also won over 100 games last year without him. Looking forward to this season – Go Yankees!
I wish Urshela would have played like this with the Indians
Dude had a – 1 WAR in 12 games. Outstanding.
If this means Gardner sits and then gets cut in all for it. Gardner is such a waste and trash player.
Woodlawn – not saying your opinion is wrong, but Gardy did have a career year (I get it, juiced ball) but also has good clubhouse presence, is a really good LFer, and he hustles every play, which is why several teams would love to have him.
I know he has underperformed in postseasons but the Yankees are letting him finish his final year there, which is commendable and may have some mitigating effects from the whole Jacoby contract thing going on. Plus they have enough offense, really. They need the defense.
Just my impression of him though, but I’d be shocked to see him signed by the Yanks again.
Enough with this club house guy stuff. I’m tired of hearing about it and tired of seeing Gardner play in 160 games as a 4th outfielder.
And we’re tired of you commenting about Gardner… the day Louiebeans goes the way of x and bigpapi, MLBTR comment section wins 100 games.
Gardner had a 4 WAR season last year lol. Why would the yanks get rid of him?
Gardner is the only option for CF. He’s an immature hot head at times and perhaps the worst hitter in playoff history but they had to bring him back or find another CF capable player.
Makes a lot of sense, Andujar rakes!
Not that big a fan of Voit. If Andujar could provide league average defense at 1B his bat is wayyyy better than Voit’s. Less throwing at 1B which was his major issue.