The Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays have made headlines with their big free-agent signings and blockbuster deals. The Baltimore Orioles have made the news for all the wrong reasons. The Tampa Bay Rays have made some moves for the future and recently hiring a replacement for Iconic manager Joe Maddon.
Source: Gregorius going to #Yankees. Deal is done.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 5, 2014
While it appeared that the Yankees were content to sit back and watch, that all changed on December 5th. In a three-team trade the Yankees were able to acquire the talented shortstop Didi Gergorius. Let’s not mistake Didi as the second coming of Derek Jeter. Far from it. Gergorius does offer the Yankees with a major upgrade over Brandon Ryan at short and the Yankees didn’t have to mortgage the future to get him.
Here is the breakdown of the moving parts:
The Detroit Tigers sent prized shortstop prospect Domingo Leyba and left-handed starter Robbie Ray to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Didi. The Tigers then sent Didi to the Yankees, straight up, for RHP Shawn Greene.
Since this site’s main goal is to tell readers about the minor league, I will leave the heavy lifting to the big boys and focus on how this trade effects some of the Yankees prospects.
As it stands, Martin Prado appears the logical choice to start the year at second, flanked by newly acquired Didi Gorgeous to his right. This baseball fan would like Prado used in a super utility role, which would allow Robert Refsnyder, Jose Pirela, and a dark horse in Ali Castillo to compete for the second base job and time at the hot corner.
Robert Refsnyder’s bat and approach at the plate are his biggest assets. According to Baseball America’s July 2014 scouting report, Refsnyder still needed reps at second base due to the number of ground-ball pitchers now in the Yankees rotation. Robbie’s swing takes a quick path to the ball which should help him make consistent contact throughout his career. He won’t be expected to hit or steal too much, but good contact and an excellent eye should allow him to come close to his minor league OBP numbers of around .380 to .400. He should turn into a doubles machine and an average to below average defender.
Jose Pirela will most likely end up being more of Prado type player. It was amazing not to see Pirela called up last year. Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts continually pencilled in everyday. Pirela was hitting over .300/.351/.441 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for most of the year. Jose split his time in the field between second base (60 games) and the outfield (50 games). At second he posted a .979 fielding percentage and committed 6 errors in 519 innings. Not quit Chuck Knoblauch but not quit Robinson Cano either.
Everybody loves a darkhorse and Ali Castillo fits that bill. Ali is a not power, singles hitting, low walk, low strike out shortstop. Ali does a really good job of having productive at-bats, as he lets the ball travel deep in the zone before committing. This approach results in a large number of balls hit to CF and RF. Castillo will either groundout or single. In the field, Castillo produced a 4.23 RF at short in 109 games. Alexei Ramirez lead all AL shortstops with a 4.45 RF/9…FYI Didi produced the same RF/9 as Ramirez.
The Yankees have some internal options at second and short now that they have added Didi, but who do you think should start at second base?