September 24, 2004
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This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:
What longshot candidate would you consider adding to the Yankees' roster for the post season?
Here are their replies:
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Paul Semendinger - Mike Whiteman actually brought this up on the SSTN Podcast last week, but I'd bring back Ben Rice. Rice can be the emergency catcher allowing for pinch hitting for Jose Trevino and/or pinch running for Trevino or Austin Wells. In a pinch, he could also play first base. Finally, although he didn't hit much during his big league stay, his bat could be a threat off the bench. In actuality, I don't see Rice getting any post season appearances, but having him on the playoff roster would give the Yankees some needed insurance that, to me, sounds very valuable.
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Cary Greene - Right now, the best hitter the Yankees could call up would be Ben Rice so I'm sticking by my season long opinion that he could be an extra weapon in the postseason. Rice can also catch and I think he'd be more valuable than Anthony Rizzo will be in the postseason as well. Plus, Rice has been playing well in Scranton since he was optioned in favor of the Rizz.
Scott Effross also is making a strong case to return to the Yankees bullpen so he might be a very important bridge reliever to look at. He's capable of going more than one inning too, which could really help the Yankees bullpen.
Should the Yankees add either of these players, they'll have to make a very tough to decide corresponding roster move plus, rosters will shrink down to 26 men for the playoffs.
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Ethan Semendinger - Every postseason team needs a pure speed guy off the bench. So many great moments- and winning moments- were made by taking the extra base in a pivotal moment or successfully stealing a base late in a game.
The Yankees speed guys are Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm, but they're everyday players. And even though Volpe has been struggling with the bat, I can't see the Yankees moving him into that role (which would also mean either Oswald Peraza or Jorbit Vivas becomes the 26th man). His defense at shortstop is too valuable.
Instead, I think Duke Ellis gets the call. He has 5 MLB at-bats and 5 stolen bases. He has played in 8 games with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and has 6 stolen bases. He's the guy to grab that last spot.
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26th?
surprise?
LeMahieu
C - Wells
first- Rizzo- hopefully postseason experience kicks in and the bat has at least a few big moments. personally, I think Cabrera has looked very good defensively at 1b and I would strongly consider leaving Rizzo off the roster unless he gets HOT this final week. BUT there is ZERO chance the Yankees leave him off, so he is gonna be starting at 1b
second- Gleyber- I am very happy he has made this a no brainer move!! if he plays as currently for the rest of the season, he has made the Yankees at least think about finding a way to keep him, but they want to cut payroll and have too many cheap and GOOD options
I am on the Rice Bandwagon. Since he went down to AAA, he has been sort of the "Aaron Judge of AAA". He is red hot, and that could carry over to the Yankees in the post season. Plus, the experience of being in post season games and the pressure, suspense, and "must win" nature of it will be an extremely valuable part of his development.
When Rice had been up, he didn't get a fair trial, simply because he was platooned, something you should never do with a youngster coming up from the Minor Leagues. If he played every day when he was filling in for Anthony Rizzo, we would have seen more positive results from Ben Rice.
Right…
Rice. He will be far more valuable than Ellis.