The Yankees have gone without first baseman Luke Voit this season, but the slugger is progressing in his recovery from surgery on a torn left meniscus. Manager Aaron Boone said Thursday (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that Voit could make his 2021 debut in approximately two weeks.
The 7-11 Yankees have sorely missed Voit, who swatted a major league-leading 22 home runs last season and turned in a line of .277/.338/.610 (152 wRC+) in 234 plate appearances. Fill-in first basemen Jay Bruce (who retired last weekend), DJ LeMahieu and Mike Ford haven’t approached that type of production this year. New York’s offense hasn’t just sputtered at that position, though, as the unit currently ranks 26th out of 30 MLB teams in both wRC+ (84) and runs scored (65). So far this season, only three Yankees regulars – LeMahieu, right fielder Aaron Judge and third baseman Gio Urshela – have posted a wRC+ north of the league-average mark of 100.
While Voit’s bat ought to help point the Yankees’ offense in a better direction, another potential benefit is that New York should be able to primarily use LeMahieu at second – his natural position. That means the Yankees shouldn’t have to rely as much on fellow second baseman Rougned Odor, whom they acquired from the Rangers on April 6. New York took a low-risk flyer on Odor in the hopes he would rebound from back-to-back dismal seasons, but a change of scenery hasn’t led to positive results to this point. While the 27-year-old did collect a pair of singles Thursday, he’s still only hitting .167/.219/.267 over 32 PA.
Time for the Yankees to fleece the Cubs out of Anthony Rizzo!!
No they need Brandon Belt
@cars,@ Les Claypool- c’mon fellas, hopefully the Yankees pass on both, since neither are needed.
They sure need something though, eh?
That is actually pronounced Ma-tt Car-pen-ter.
belt sucks!
It took way too long for Belt’s name to come up this season.
Dominick smith.
Voit isn’t the answer. He is another right hander prone to striking out. Boon doesn’t understand agressive baseball. He is sitting on his hands 75% of the time waiting for a 2-run homerun.
The Yankees don’t have the pieces to get Rizzo. Yankees definitely need an overhaul.
@mlbnyyfan- my NL team is the Cubs. So glad we don’t have the pieces for Rizzo. We actually do. Mike Ford would definitely be the start of a package with the Cubs. The Yankees would be wise to pass on Rizzo and Belt, who both are not the answer bro.
lolyanks
LOL – Ford
Ford is going to be DFA’d when Voit comes back and no one is going to claim him.
The Cubs will take any 17 or 18 year old. Cubs already proved that in the Darvish trade.
Hey they did resign DJ. They need more players like him agreed. This is the lineup Cashman wants. Boone doesn’t get to make a lot of decisions. I hate Judge batting 2….He is a 3-4 hitter despite what the management believe.
Oh, I dunno, @Pernell.
Can’t see how dropping the ML home run leader into the middle of the lineup can possibly hurt.
Ya know?
Name a slugger who doesn’t strike out or a first baseman who hits singles/doubles and runs well.
Will Clark?
Ducky.. you disappoint me. How did you not go directly to Donnie Baseball?
It was the “runs well” part, @Joe!
Love Mattingly, but I’d be hard pressed to say he ran particularly well “even for a 1B”.
So: may I have my official Yankee Fan card back, or nah?
LOL Ducky!! All is forgiven. I didn’t take into account the running. Good call.
Either way, I wanna hear, “LUUUUUUUUUUUUKE” soon, man.
We could use him. Got 6 off a pretty good staff last night. But – in general – our offense looks abysmal. More good bats are welcome.
Keith Hernandez. But that was a long time ago.
David Segui & then I’ll stop.
Admittedly, we’re digging pretty deep on this. Which was @BleacherCreature’s point
Absolutely. The fact that we’re all cherry-picking our favorites pretty much proves the point. Hernandez is definitely an outlier.
Greg Jeffries, circa 1993.
Prime Pujols was ovbisously a big slugger and he went 7 straight seasons with a K% below 10%. Even back in the early-to-mid-2000’s that was low.
@1225 –
Prime Pujols is in a class all his own. One of the most devastating RH hitters I’ve ever seen.
All of you old folgies forgot James Loney, who was much more recent than the rest of those geriatrics. (David Segui? Steroids.)
*creak* *groan*
Might be inclined to include Hosmer on the list, but first I gotta yell at these damn kids on my yard.
They said single double hitter and good runner. Loney was slow and not a positive on the base paths at all
He was a singles/double guy tho sure, he had no power
Wes Parker and the amazing switch-hitting infield of the 1965 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rod Carew, Paul Monitor?
if we,re going this route then let’s go for lou gehrig!!!!
Paul Goldschmidt? Maybe not anymore but up until a few years ago. Always had a high amount of SBs for a 1b
also the reigning AL HR champ but okay then
Well, a stagnant, grossly underperforming offense has been issue number 1, so Voit should lengthen an underachieving line-up.
Boone was given two starters with serious health concerns who seemingly can’t make it past the fifth inning. I don’t see how putting on a hit and run or suicide squeeze would solve Cashman’s off-season whiffs.
e
What about “rookie of the year runner up” miguel andujar? When will he be tearing the cover off the ball again?
I know it’s only april, but I love watching the yankees struggle.
27. 27. 27. 27.
Andujar will be rebuilding his career at AAA in a few weeks.
“Rookie of the Year Runner – Up” to you.
MLBTRs beat that title to death. Haven’t heard it much lately.
Wait… what? Jay Bruce was a flop with the Yankees?
Wait… what? Odor hasnt been any better?
Who would have thought?
Those yankee cyber stat scout dudes are working overtime.
Who will they get next? Greg Bird?
Pretty odd rant to go on considering how much the Yankees have gotten out of under the radar signings/trades lately: Urshula, Tauchman, Voit, Maybin… they got a pretty decent track record
Pretty odd that the Yankees thought Jay Bruce and Odor were an answer.
Do they do nothing but hit and strike out? Do they barely play defense at all? Sounds like the Yankees can make a spot on the roster for them
Never thought they were the answer, you’re exaggerating… in any case, you win some, you lose some, how many teams have squeezed talent out of more low key pickups than Cashman and the Yanks? I mean, you gotta give credit where it’s due, eh?
Pretty sure nobody ever thought they were the answer but what exactly was the harm in trying? It’s not like these guys are the reason the team got off to a bad start… it’s the entire team that hasn’t been hitting. And you’re bringing up 2 guys that haven’t worked out while ignoring the other players the Yankees have acquired that were way better than expected (this article is literally written about one of them ironically).
Literally… 213 games in his 4th year with the team.
Literally.
Who was the answer? Stanton? Paxton? Hicks? Arod?
Ellsbury… he was the answer.
Too bad other teams dont get production out of players no one expected anything from… oh wait, they do. Except the media doesnt talk about it.
Hmm, trade future hall of farmer Refsnyder for Vlad Guerrero Jr.? 😉
And here I was expecting the announcement of Voits next TV ad!
LOL
The only thing better than the yankees stinking all year is watching them make the playoffs and lose. That is so much better. The media gets all giddy with excitement about the yankees… 27. 27. 27. And then some team that never wins knocks them out. You know, a team like the Ray’s or tigers or astros… those powerhouse franchises.
When the yankees stink all year all you hear are all the excuses… “oh, so and so was hurt.”
I love it when the yankees fail. Lifes been good for a long time.
Let me get off your lawn
“I love it when the Yankees fail.”
Huh.
Now – myself – I love a lot of stuff:
Almost everything about my son (even the exasperated teenager stuff). Have a blast watching him becoming his own person, playing sports, hanging out with his friends, being all awkward with his little girlfriend.
Ya know?
Love my dogs, my girlfriend, wing shooting, & fly fishing. Love building stuff which is cool because it’s what I contribute.
Lots of different stuff, uh?
“Lifes been good for a long time” [sic].
However: it’s really tough for me to see how rooting against a sports team would bring me any joy. Even the red sox & cowboys ffs. & those are important teams to detest.
Your post strikes me as quite sad.
But…have fun? With all that…I guess.
Don’t be sad… I’m not rooting against… I’m rooting for the opposing team.
“Go Other Team!!!”
LOL
if we,re going this route then let’s go for lou gehrig!!!!