The Yankees have many tasks ahead of them before the start of the 2022 season, but one of them definitely has to be defining who will be the Bombers’ shortstop.
The list of candidates is succulent. I don’t know if there’s been another offseason with the number of talented shortstops who will be looking for teams after the World Series is over.
Next, I would like to analyze who are the heaviest players and who have the best chance of wearing the striped jersey in the Bronx for the following season.
Okay. Let’s talk about Correa and his bats flips. Carlos is stealing the show in these playoffs and the world is watching. A type of player like the Puerto Rican could bring to the Yankees something that is not very usual in the team: a player with an effusive personality who attracts a lot of attention. Despite the sign-stealing scandal in 2017 and 2018, Bomber fans might forget that very quickly once a Ponce, Puerto Rico-born, starts hitting the Big Apple.
The little problem: Correa has a market value according to the site Spotrac of $ 26,623,480 per season and the Yankees are going to play with an overdrawn payroll in 2022, which makes it difficult to hire a player who is going to ask for at least five to seven seasons and no less than $ 180 million in that time.
This player has the tools to change whatever franchise he reaches. His talent is undeniable but his discipline and maturity are also striking for an athlete who is just 27 years old, but who has already played seven seasons in the best baseball in the world. Its market value according to Spotrac It is also going to be high, projecting US $ 31,885,794 and that brings us back to Correa’s point. Are the Yankees willing to overshoot the luxury tax for nearly $ 50 million or more?
Here they have the Bronx Bombers the cheapest and best performing option of all the short courses available. Simmons could cost less than $ 10 million per season and he doesn’t look like he’s going to sit down and ask for a multi-year deal either, in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees offered him a year or two. Andrelton has one of the best gloves in Major League baseball and a defender of the shortstop is something of an emergency for the team.
This is the option without investing money. In the Colombian you have a player who, wherever you put him, plays well and guarantees defense and batting. When Gleyber was finally moved to second base and Urshela took over at shortstop late in the season, the Yankees saw improvement in the number of errors made at their center line.
The downside of this decision is that you are sacrificing one of the best gloves that exist among all third basemen in the majors although DJ LeMahieu could take on the role, sharing time with Rougned Odor on the days that DJ plays second or first base.
5. Andrew, Oswald or Anthony
What? Who? You are right. It is not crazy to think that Andrew Velázquez, who won the hearts of many in the Yankee world, could be one of the candidates for the position and the tasty part of the matter is that in the minors they are knocking on the door, two of the 10 best talents of the entire franchise and it is Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe.
Peraza was even included on the rotating roster of the Bombers this season and Volpe ranks at the top of all New York Yankees prospects, even above Jasson Dominguez himself.
I understand that the first two options are the most attractive, but taking into account that the team’s payroll for 2022 will be the highest of all Major Leagues with US $ 231,069,049 and remembering that the luxury tax applies from US $ 210 million onwards, more the stressful situation of having names like: Aaron Judge, Joey Gallo, Gary Sánchez, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, Jordan Montgomery, Chad Green, Domingo Germán, Clint Frazier and Jameson Taillon, all in arbitrations, makes me lean a lot for the fourth and fifth possibility that I shared with you.
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