Yankees fans have been a bit upset that Brian Cashman hadn’t made any moves in the first 48 hours of free agency, especially as more and more shortstops not named Correa or Story came off the board.
Now, however, we know why: on Sunday morning, during his spring training-opening press conference, manager Aaron Boone announced that the Yankees’ starting shortstop is already on the roster, at least as of right now.
“Gio (Urshela),” Boone said when asked who his starting shortstop would be as of today. “Gleyber (Torres) will have to mix in there too. “Obviously we’ve got some young guys that are knocking on the door that we’re really excited about, (Oswald) Peraza and (Oswaldo) Cabrera that are here. We’ll just let that situation shake out. I’m sure there’s still things to be done across the game and certainly with us that are going to change that landscape potentially along the way.”
As constructed now, the Yankees, with Urshela at short, would have Torres mostly at second – the team is “pretty committed” to Gleyber on the right side of the keystone – with DJ LeMahieu as the nominal third baseman but moving around the diamond as needed.
Of the Yankees’ youth, Peraza and Cabrera did reach Triple-A last season and top prospect Anthony Volpe is likely to begin 2022 at Double-A, so the team does have the future seemingly knocking on the door – a situation that led many to believe that instead of Correa, Story, or any of the other big names in the market, the Yankees would likely sign a short-term stopgap at shortstop.
Urshela, a third baseman most of his career, did play 28 games at shortstop last season, mostly down the stretch after Torres was moved to second due to defensive issues, and numbers-wise was actually better at short than at third.
However, the other issue is that when the Yankees announced their non-roster invites Sunday morning, the only other infielder in camp with any MLB experience is Jose Peraza, who signed a minor-league deal after spending 2020 with the Mets – and has played just 12 innings at short the last two seasons.
“I would say I know Cash and the front office are obviously in overdrive, evaluating and having conversations in the free agent and trade markets,” Boone said. “I know they’re working tirelessly to find something that potentially improves our club, but as of right now, our team is what it is.”
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