The New York Yankees have managed to have an interesting offseason despite not signing one MLB free agent. Thus far the Yankees have only made a couple of trades that have landed them Starlin Castro and Aroldis Chapman. Despite losing Greg Bird for the season and still needing someone who can play third base behind Chase Headley, they do not seem inclined to pursue anyone beyond a minor league free agent contract.
Every other team in MLB has signed at least one free agent. The Yankees, however, have stated they are not interested in adding anyone to the roster on a big league contract, and for once it appears as if GM Brian Cashman is telling the truth. There is no “Bubba Crosby is our starting center fielder” nonsense going on here. If they are staying away from free agent contracts you can forget Juan Uribe and Chris Johnson, two players who would have made a lot of sense for them because of their ability to play third base, first base and, in Uribe’s case, second base as well.
This doesn’t mean the Yankees don’t have options. In fact, they might be content with giving Ronald Torreyes a fair shot at winning the job in spring training. At age 22 last season, Torreyes split time in the systems of the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. He posted a .261/.308/.347 slash line with four home runs, 60 runs scored, 36 RBIs and played second base, third base, the outfield and shortstop. He also owns a career minor league slash line of .298/.353/.409 which is promising, especially for a utility-type player. He made his MLB debut last year, appearing in eight games with the Dodgers and hitting .333/.429/.500 across six at-bats with one double, one run scored and one RBI. That’s obviously a small sample but still worth noting.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Torreyes is his low strikeout rate. He has whiffed just 160 times in 2,758 plate appearances. He has a nice contact rate and is fairly good with the glove, and you can’t ask for much more from the 25th man on the roster. He is certainly an upgrade over Brendan Ryan at the plate and has a much better health history than Ryan does at this moment.
He might not be the sexy choice, but Torreyes just might be the Yankees’ 25th man on the roster this season. A jack-of-all-trades type who can play the middle infield and corner outfield as well as third base is just what the Yankees need. Maybe Cashman wasn’t kidding when he said he wasn’t interested in signing a MLB free agent. After all, why pay $5 million for a player who will give you similar production to what a player like Torreyes, making the minimum, would give you? The Yankees might just be serious about standing pat which may not be a bad thing.
