The Yankees, armed with sluggers like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit, boast some of the best right-handed power in all of baseball. But could that embarrassment of riches become a weakness?
Brian Cashman believes it’s a possibility.
“That’s an area of weakness, the fact that we’re so right-handed and don’t have as much mix and match there,” Cashman said when speaking to reporters on Friday. “So it’s definitely something that we’re aware of and we’ll continue to remain aware of.”
The Yankees’ projected Opening Day lineup consists of all right-handed hitters aside from center fielder Aaron Hicks, who bats from both sides of the plate and has been better from the left side, and with Hicks expected to bat third in 2021, there will be a stretch of eight straight righties by the time Hicks comes up to bat again.
“There’s gonna be lanes for other managers to navigate If they have a starter/reliever that is really difficult on right handers that could make things difficult,” Cashman said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
The Yanks were actually better against righties in 2020, posting a collective .811 OPS while compiling a .715 OPS against southpaws. Judge was better against lefties with a .921 OPS, but still but up an .881 OPS against righties, while Voit was better against righties (.960 OPS) than lefties (.906). Still, if an opportunity arises to improve the lineup while giving it more balance as the season progresses, Cashman and the Yankees would seriously consider it.
“If things present themselves that make sense to swap something out for something else, but it just has to make us better by doing so,” Cashman said. “I’m not going to do that if it makes us at least perceived better. If it makes us worse, I’m not interested in that.”
Cashman and the Yankees already made some moves to potentially get some lefties into the lineup by bringing back Brett Gardner for outfield depth, and signing lefties Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich, who were both non-roster invitees to spring training. Cashman anticipates both Bruce and Dietrich competing for an Opening Day spot, which could give the Bombers a chance to get more lefties into their righty-heavy lineup.
“They were brought in to get a legitimate shot to try and find a way to make this roster,” Cashman said. “So far, the early returns are strong. They look like they’re going to make us have decisions, and that’s what we want. We want to be in position to make tough calls.”
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