Hour 2: How Will Yankees Build Their Postseason Lineup?

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
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**Michael Kay** (0:41)
I take pride in what I think is an ability to be rational and to figure out moves that teams might make. I'm not bright all the time, but I generally have an idea. So, as we move forward with this exercise, as we start our tube, let's just put this caveat in. An injury changes everything. All right? So, we're going to operate on the assumption that there will not be an injury. If there is, then these problems kind of evaporate and disappear.
But let's say there's not going to be an injury. So, we start with the roster when Aaron Judge returns sometime next week, barring any setback in San Diego. What are they going to do to make room on the roster? So, there are, I believe, four guys that have options left. Options meaning that they could be sent down. Position players, not pitchers. Because you don't replace, you don't take a pitcher off for Aaron Judge. They're not going to go with 12 pitchers to have 14 position players. At least I don't think they will. And in this case, it's 28 people. So, it's 14 and 14 Here are the position players that have options. Jose Caballero, surprising, right? He has options. George Lombard Jr., of course, he's 21 years old. Ben Rice has options. And Austin Wells has options. All right, so we can easily eliminate Wells and Rice. They're not going to be optioned out. Lombard, if he's healthy, is your starting shortstop. He's not going to be optioned out. Caballero is vitally important to what the Yankees do. He can play everywhere. He could spell McMahon at third base against tough left-handers. So I'm not, I don't see the easy send down there. So, and also Jones has options. And I think Jones has played himself into a position where he should be on the team. He has exceeded what I thought that he would do after I saw him the first time he was called up. This third time that he's been called up, different player. Still strikes out, but that's part of the game. That's all part of the contract with him. But he's gotten big hits. He's hit left handers very well. He has nine home runs. He runs the bases well. And I think he has trouble going back on balls in the outfield. So he's not as great an outfielder as people want to make him out to be. Now the only debate is, is he better than Grisham? Now the Yankees, according to Boone's interview with John Boyd, they still think that they're comfortable with Grisham and Setter.
So help me, everybody. What are they doing when Judge comes back? Now, the only thing that I could figure out, and I don't think it's right. So Brzezinski, I hope you're listening to me, I don't want this and I don't think it's right, but I think the only thing that they could do is to send Jones down, which is kind of think unfair because he's done everything that they would want him to do and more. He's probably been, he has been a better hitter than Grisham, but I don't think they're going to get rid of Grisham. The only other move I think that they could make, and I don't think they want to do it, is release Ahmed Rosario, who actually has been a pretty decent hitter of late, and historically is about a 290 hitter against left-handed batters. So I believe the only move that they can make, which will rattle the cages of some, but it's the one that the numbers fit, would be Jones. Because they're probably thinking, well, if Judge is playing right field, when's Jones playing anyway? I think it would be tough to tell the kid that, because he's done everything that you could possibly want him to do. All right, so that's the roster for when Judge comes back. That's the issue. But there's a bigger issue, everybody. I wonder if you thought about this as well.