TAMPA \u2014 Don\u2019t be surprised if The Martian lands at Triple-A on Opening Day.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Brian Cashman said that Jasson Dom\u00ednguez would benefit from regular playing time on Friday. As things stand, the Yankees can\u2019t offer that to the 23-year-old<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf everything stays the same, we\u2019ll be forced to determine what\u2019s our best course of action to help this team be impactful. I would concede it\u2019s in his best interest to be getting everyday reps,\u201d Cashman said during the Grapefruit League\u2019s virtual media day. \u201cSo we\u2019ll just have to wait and see how the spring shakes out, who\u2019s standing, and then we\u2019ll make the appropriate decisions when we have our meetings close to the end of the camp.\u201d<\/p>\n Dom\u00ednguez, fresh off his first full big league season after some injuries impeded his development, lost his path to a starting job this offseason when the Yankees brought back Trent Grisham to play center field and Cody Bellinger to play left.<\/a> With Aaron Judge a mainstay in right, Dom\u00ednguez shouldn\u2019t expect consistent playing time in the majors unless there\u2019s an injury to one of those three or the Bombers\u2019 designated hitter, Giancarlo Stanton.<\/p>\n While the Yankees could keep Dom\u00ednguez in the majors as their fourth outfielder, he is an imperfect fit for that role because he only plays left, and not particularly well. The switch-hitter also hasn\u2019t shown that he can be a threat from the right side<\/a>; Cashman didn\u2019t rule out the possibility of adding a righty-swinging outfielder after missing out on some over the offseason.<\/p>\n Keeping Dom\u00ednguez on the pine would also decrease the versatility of a projected bench that already includes Paul Goldschmidt, who only plays first, and J.C. Escarra, a backup catcher who can technically play other positions but is best suited staying behind the plate.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also righty-swinging utilityman Amed Rosario, a lock for the bench, and the ultra-versatile Oswaldo Cabrera. The latter could beat Dom\u00ednguez out for the last bench spot \u2014 both have minor league options \u2014 as Cabrera is positioned as the Yankees\u2019 backup shortstop with Jos\u00e9 Caballero set to start in place of the injured Anthony Volpe.<\/p>\n Rosario, Cabrera and Caballero can all play the outfield, and Bellinger can always shift to center or right as needed.<\/p>\n All of those factors are pointing to a Dom\u00ednguez demotion, though Cashman repeatedly noted that the speedster\u2019s legs offer some value off the bench. Dom\u00ednguez\u2019s bat also has the highest ceiling among the Yankees\u2019 bench candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cStay tuned, and we\u2019ll see how it all plays out,\u201d Cashman said of Dom\u00ednguez potentially being sent down.<\/p>\n The general manager previously said that he did not want to demote Dom\u00ednguez when the player found himself in a similar situation last season. Dom\u00ednguez entered the year as the Yankees\u2019 starting left fielder, but his deficiencies turned him into a seldom-used bench piece by season\u2019s end while Bellinger commanded everyday playing time and Grisham enjoyed a breakout campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were still lanes for him to contribute with us \u2014 coming off the bench, pinch run, etc. \u2014 and we were amidst a pennant race,\u201d Cashman said of not optioning Dom\u00ednguez in 2025.<\/p>\n Dom\u00ednguez, who could also be a trade chip, is not the Yankees\u2019 only young outfielder pushing for playing time and trying to avoid a Triple-A assignment this spring, as there\u2019s also Spencer Jones.<\/p>\n The prospect is turning 25 in May and is coming off a power-heavy season split between Double-A and Triple-A, but concerns over his swing-and-miss tendencies remain despite Cashman saying Jones \u201cconquered a lot of things last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Cashman added that Jones could compete for a starting gig in some other organizations but is \u201ccurrently blocked with us.\u201d He also said that Dom\u00ednguez is ahead of Jones on the Yankees\u2019 depth chart because the latter has more experience, though Cashman also said Jones can handle all three outfield positions.<\/p>\n \u201cHe really closed down a lot of things in his development that he needed to address last year,\u201d Cashman said. \u201cHe\u2019s continued at that into this winter, and I\u2019m looking forward to him having a good camp.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Don\u2019t be surprised if The Martian lands at Triple-A on Opening Day. That\u2019s because Brian Cashman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11947,22129,9,11,10,55941,57037,16301],"class_list":{"0":"post-133598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-brian-cashman","9":"tag-jasson-dominguez","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-spring-training","14":"tag-the-martian","15":"tag-yankees"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}