Luke Voit is still working his way back from a bone bruise in his knee, and while he was at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa getting live at-bats and running this week, there’s still no timetable for his return according to manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman.
When he does return, though, what will his role be now that Anthony Rizzo is on board?
“We’ll see, because so many things can happen obviously,” Boone said in his Friday pregame media session. “Physically he feels good and is moving around as well as he has any time this year, but we’ll see how the days unfold; things change day-to-day all the time and certainly have with us the last few years, so we’ll see how it goes. Right now it’s about getting him back up to speed and getting some game reps under his belt. We’ll see if we want to keep doing that or get him into a rehab assignment, we’ll take that day by day.”
Added Cashman later: “It was good to see that he’s healthy and trending in the right direction. It’s really just about knocking off the rust, and we’ll see what opportunity presents itself as we move forward. But that doesn’t have to be today, because obviously, he’s not a finished product in terms of the rehab side, but at least the health side’s there."
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From the sound of those answers, it seems like Voit, who was earlier this week listed as close to beginning a rehab assignment or possibly even being activated as early as this weekend, has gone from “back ASAP” to a lower priority now that Rizzo – who homered in his Yankees debut Friday – is on board.
“He and I spoke last night, as far as the trade rumors and stuff, but we know that in Luke we have a strong and impactful player working his way back,” Boone said, with Cashman adding that he hadn’t seen or spoken to Voit as of meeting the media, but did talk to his agent, Casey Close.
The GM also kept reiterating in his post-deadline availability that Rizzo, who is a free agent at the end of the season (as opposed to Voit, who is arbitration eligible three more times) is here for now, because the “cost was right” and it was a move the Yankees “couldn’t walk away from” even if first base was theoretically filled by Voit.
“We added Rizzo for this stretch drive. This is all about the 2021 effort. We haven’t really daydreamed into the future at all, and the way this trade deadline was going, with all the conversations, I don’t think anybody had time to look that much into the future on this stuff,” Cashman said. “Our intent was to try to increase our chances, give our team an improved opportunity to compete the rest of the way, and that’s really been the focus."
Yankees first basemen had a .198/.289/.323 slash line with 11 homers and 29 RBI in the Yankees’ first 101 games, so Rizzo going 2-for-3 with a walk, a solo homer, and two runs scored counts as big production in that realm.
Much of that is due to Voit playing just 27 of the first 102 games due to a trio of injuries, leading to Jay Bruce (retired after hitting .118 in 10 games) starting the season at the position, and DJ LeMahieu, himself having a down year offensively, leading what is now eight different starting first basemen with 28 starts and 33 total appearances there.
Rizzo is a rental but said in his first media availability he’s open to potentially discussing a long-term stay, and Voit was the subject of trade rumors, so anything is possible – but for now, the Yankees are happy to soon have the problem of two first baseman and a DH spot mostly blocked by Giancarlo Stanton.
"When Voit’s healthy, we know what he’s capable of. He swings a mean bat, and he obviously gets on base with his walks, and his plate discipline with power is a very attractive quality that led us to him in the first place,” Cashman said. “Unfortunately, he got derailed with this injuries this year, but it’s nice to know he’s under control as we move forward, and obviously, decisions like that will have to be made at a later date. Good thing is, he’s healthy now and now is just knocking rust out, and then see what develops here in the course of the coming weeks.”
And, of course, Cashman knows never to count his chickens before they hatch, because as he’s often fond of saying, sometimes, these “problems” take care of themselves one way or the other.
“Injuries are certainly something that all teams are gonna have to battle, and I’m sure we’ll still be battling them as we have this whole year so far,” he said. “No one wants that, but it’s nice to know that we have some powerful personnel waiting in the wings."
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