The Yankees won their fourth game in five tries on Monday as they opened their White Sox series up with a bang, Ali Sánchez collecting his first career home run to put the game out of reach despite some late antics in the ninth making it closer than it should’ve been. Max Fried only lasted three innings, but the Yankee bullpen was largely up to the task of surviving six innings without worsening an early deficit and the team rallied for two big innings to take the game.
As fun as the outburst was to see, overall the Yankee offense has been struggling their way through most of their games and the absence of two-thirds of the starting outfield plays no small part in it. Cody Bellinger was the latest to fall victim to an injury scare, straining his hamstring on Saturday night, and Aaron Boone had an update on Monday that wasn’t promising: Bellinger sustained a grade 2 strain and will be out for four-six weeks. That means that the Yankees will be without him and Aaron Judge until the final stretch of the regular season at best, and there’s the real potential that the team will miss them both until the postseason. There’s been a heavy emphasis on upgrading at catcher to help the lineup regain some life, but now the question has to be raised whether they should look for an additional outfielder as well to help bridge the gap left behind by their All-Star bats being on the shelf.
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To start, we have to look at the current options for the Yankees. Jasson Domínguez was already slotted in with Judge’s injury as one of their starting outfielders, and he’s had a rough go of it. Domínguez has cut down on his strikeout rate by over eight percent but at the cost of his lowest walk rate of his career, a measly four percent that has brought his on-base percentage down to a terrible .261 mark. Max Schuemann has been the utility man of the outfield, playing the most games he’s ever ventured out of the infield this year with 29 of them compared to the over 200 games he’s spent across the diamond when he was with the A’s. Despite being a light-hitting backup Schuemann has held his own at the plate working walks at a 15.2 percent rate, giving him a 114 wRC+ for the year, but he’s playing out of position and it tends to show. Finally, the team called Spencer Jones back up after Bellinger went down and likely will give him some runtime if all stays the same, the rookie working his fair share of walks while also owning a gaudy 39.3 percent strikeout rate. Jones is the best defender of the three, but that’s not a high bar as he also hasn’t exactly flashed Gold Glove defense.
That’s not an outfield corps that inspires much confidence, and its emphasized by the rumors floating that the organization is willing to include Domínguez and Jones in potential deadline deals this year after holding fast on them in previous conversations. Perhaps that gets dashed now that the team is down another outfielder, but even still bringing in a stopgap solution could be the best play to revitalize the offense and keep the team as close to the top of the standings as possible. Since they only need the reinforcements for another month or two, a rental would be the best option, but with Trent Grisham on the qualifying offer deal he received over the offseason it’s not impossible for the team to consider adding a bat that could carry over into 2027 as a flexible candidate to fill the gap or slide into a fourth outfielder role. Names like Lane Thomas, Jo Adell, and Spencer Steer all carry inexpensive contracts and are playing on dead last teams looking to sell, and could be the types of outfielders the team looks into if they go this route.
The Yankees will look into every avenue available to them over the course of this next week with the deadline approaching fast, but does the outfield now shift to the top of the queue? Is the priority still getting a catcher to support Austin Wells and some bullpen arms to solidify what has quietly turned into one of the team’s strengths? Personally, I think it slots right in the middle in terms of importance, but let us know what you think of the whole situation.
Today on the site, we’ll lead off with Jeff considering a reunion with an old friend in Luke Weaver as a bullpen upgrade. Sam will be up next with the Rivalry Roundup, Jonathan reminisces on the first Yankee to ever take an at-bat in a World Series on Elmer Miller’s birthday, Michael walks us through the last week down in the minor leagues, and then Peter gives Domínguez the At-Bat of the Week treatment.
Today’s Matchup:
New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox
Time: 7:40 p.m. EST
TV: YES Network, Chicago Sports Network
Venue: Rate Field, Chicago, IL
