The Yankees Roster As We Approach Spring Training 2023
By James Vlietstra
January 29, 2023
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The long baseball offseason is winding down. There’s less than three weeks until players report for spring training and roughly nine weeks until Opening Day. However, at this point there’s a lot to be decided as far as who makes the Opening Day roster.
Decisions don’t happen in a bubble. The 40 man roster and the 26 man active roster both need to be constructed in a manner that offers balance and flexibility. This includes positions as well as payroll.
Typically in addition to the MLB roster, organizations stash depth pieces in AAA to be called up for short term use and then waived. Their usefulness is a quick fix for an injured player or tired bullpen. If they are lost, they are quickly replaced.
As of now, the Yankees already have three players likely to start the season on the 60-Day Injured List. Luis Gil and Scott Effross are both recovering from Tommy John Surgery. Frankie Montas had a set back from his shoulder injury recovery from last year. These three additional players that can put on the 60 Day IL and they don’t count towards the 40.
Beyond the 40 man and potentially other spring training injuries, the team is only allowed 26 active players once the regular season begins. Usually that will include 5 starting pitchers, 8 relievers, the starting nine and four bench players.
Here’s where the earlier statement about decisions not happening in a bubble comes into play. Ideally, you would roster the best 26 players. However, contracts, options, and service time all comes into play.
Infielders Josh Donaldson, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Rizzo, Isiah Kiner Falefa all have lucrative guaranteed contracts. However, it’s expected that Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, and possibly Anthony Volpe are expected to compete for an Opening Day spot. That doesn’t even take into consideration any other positions including catcher or outfield.
The following players have zero options left. That means that if they are not injured, they will be on the active roster all year or else they will be DFAd: Albert Abreu, Estevan Florial, Deivi Garcia, Domingo German, Luis Gil , Kyle Higashioka, and Clay Holmes.
The following payers have one option left: Oswald Peraza, Jimmy Cordero, Jose Trevino, Johnathon Loasiga, Ben Rortvedt, Clarke Schmidt, and Yoendrys Gomez.
These players have two options left: Gleyber Torres, Oswaldo Cabrera, Nestor Cortes, Lou Trivino, Ron Marinaccio, Michael King , and Everson Pereira.
The players with three options left are: Scott Effross, Randy Vasquez, Matt Krook, Jhony Brito, Greg Weissert.
It’s highly unlikely that each of the players without options remain on the active roster all year. It’s actually possible that only Holmes and possibly German go north with the club.
The following players are minor league depth players that will be at Major League camp and likely assigned to AAA Scranton. Each could make a cameo appearance at some point: Art Warren, Nick Ramirez, Demarcus Evans, Matt Bowman, Ryan Weber, Jake Bauers, Wilmer Difo, Rafael Ortega, Willie Calhoun, Michael Hermosillo, Billy McKinney, Tanner Tulley, Tyler Danish, and James Norwood.
There are four players on the 40 man roster that are no longer considered prospects but have played in 44 or fewer major league games: Ron Marinaccio, 40 games in 2022. Ben Rortvedt, exceeded rookie limits in 2021 with 39 games. Oswaldo Cabrera, exceeded rookie limits with 44 games in 2022. Estevan Florial, Exceeded limits in 2022 with 29 games played.
There are six players on the 40 man roster that are listed on the MLB Pipeline Top 30 Prospect list, in addition to Matt Krook, who has yet to make his debut. These prospects are Oswald Peraza (3), Everson Pereira (5), Luis Gil (10), Yoendrys Gomez (12), Jhony Brito (22), and Deivi Garcia (24).
Brian Cashman typically makes trades before he’s forced to. The Yankees farm system is one of the best in baseball. The Yankees have 121 players eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this fall. This includes 13 of their top 30 prospects. There’s also a lot of high draft picks as well former top IFA prospects.
Obviously not all of these players can be protected. Between now and the summer trade deadline, possibly as many as 20 or even more of these players could wind up on another team’s roster as the farm system is at its best when it’s used to improve the roster. It’s also quite possible that several of them at least get a cup of coffee on the Yankees.
These are some of the players that are Rule 5 eligible this year are, along with their MLB Pipeline team ranking: Anthony Volpe (1), Jasson Dominguez (2), Austin Wells (4), Clayton Beeter (9), Randy Vasquez (14), Antonio Gomez (16), Elijah Dunham (19), Josh Breaux (20), Alexander Vargas (25), Brandon Lockridge (26), Edgar Barclay (27), Juan Carela (28), and Carson Coleman (30).
Here are some other notable players that are Rule 5 eligible this fall: Sean Boyle, Nick Ernst, Brenny Escanio, Anthony Garcia, Ryder Green, Trevor Holloway, Felix Negueis, Agustin Ramirez, Jesus Rodriguez, Osiel Rodriguez, Ronny Rojas, Raimfer Salinas, Madison Santos, Matt Sauer, Anthony Seigler, Montana Semmell, Jared Serna, and Andres Chaparro.
The Yankees will use the next several weeks to piece together their roster. It’s possible that other teams have injuries and have a need where the Yankees have a glut. The players without options remaining will either make the team or will be moved. The prospects are going to play, either in the Majors or down on the farm.
The Yankees 40 man roster will possibly have a 50% turnover between now and next year. This likely means an influx of youth and athleticism and an extended window to win a championship. The road between now and then is going to be a fun ride and I’m confident in seeing the Yankees advance to the World Series for only the second time in two decades and I am hoping for their 28th Championship, their first in 14 years.
