The Yankees Are Facing a Good Problem

As unfortunate as it is for Gil, the rotation should not suffer in the slightest. Having Cole on the mound will only benefit the team, and the bullpen has not performed as well as the starting pitching. Having a weapon of a long reliever like Gil in the ‘pen will provide more stability and put less pressure on relievers like Luke Weaver and Ian Hamilton to give the Yankees multiple innings.

The Infield

There is no question as to who is playing first base and shortstop (the Anthonys have seen to that). Second and third base are up in the air, however. Gleyber Torres has not performed well this season (0.1 WAR) and although he’s likely to keep his spot at second, there is a chance that he sees some of his time taken away by Cabrera and even LeMahieu. There’s no telling if “LeMachine” will have a bounce-back year, but Cabrera has certainly been better than Torres this season. If Torres continues to struggle, Cabrera may become the better option at second.

As for third, LeMahieu will likely become the everyday starter for his defense alone (and because he’s getting paid $15 million per year). The Yanks can only hope that his bat rebounds after being an average hitter at best over the past few years.

The Outfield

It’s not even worth talking about center and right field; it would take the end of the world for someone to usurp Juan Soto or Aaron Judge (if they stay healthy). In left, Alex Verdugo has proven to be a very solid addition, which unfortunately leaves little room for when Jasson Domínguez returns from injury later this year. Everyone wants to see “The Martian” help the Yankees in their march to October, but the Yankees have few options to make that happen. They could move Judge or Soto to DH, but that also means removing Giancarlo Stanton from the lineup, who has actually helped the Yankees this year rather than burdened them.

Domínguez will likely see some playing time, but sadly not a lot. This is no rag on Domínguez though, since after all, the majority of major league outfielders would sit behind the Yanks’ lethal Verdugo-Judge-Soto combination. He’ll have plenty of years to establish himself as a regular in the outfield.

The Last Word

The question of what lineup is best for the team is often difficult to figure out in baseball. But in the Yankees’ case, it is maybe the best problem that a team could have: too many good players with too little spots to play them. This only solidifies the Yankees as one of the deeper teams in baseball, something that can be a major factor in October. The Yankees haven’t seen this much roster stability in a while, and so far this year, this team appears to be one that could win New York their 28th World Series.