For Brian Cashman, the decision sounded straightforward.
With Jasson Dominguez waiting in the wings at Triple-A, the Yankees are sticking with Alex Verdugo in left field as they head down the stretch of a playoff race.
“It just comes down to, what’s best to help us win games?” Cashman said Friday at Wrigley Field. “It’s as simple as that.”
And in the Yankees’ view, that means Verdugo.
“I think he’s playing good baseball right now,” Cashman said. “He’s playing much better than he had been. Just comes down to, is that the best route to go? That’s how we’ve got it set up currently.”
After being one of the worst-qualified hitters in the big leagues from mid-June to mid-August, Verdugo has started to get more results of late.
He entered the day batting 14-for-41 (.341) with a .796 OPS over his last 11 games, then went 1-for-3 with a walk in the Yankees’ 3-0 win over the Cubs.
But overall this season, the pending free agent had posted just a .652 OPS (in 567 plate appearances), which ranked the sixth-lowest among 134 qualified hitters.
Verdugo has provided mostly strong defense in left field, though Cashman said he thinks Dominguez — a natural center fielder — is a “good defender” too.
Cashman indicated that Verdugo’s experience — as opposed to throwing a rookie into the middle of a playoff race — does not factor into the decision.
Dominguez, who has missed time this year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and then with a strained oblique, continues to be in the conversation, according to Cashman.
The 21-year-old switch-hitter entered Friday batting .313 with a .868 OPS and 15 steals in 41 games at Triple-A this season.
“Jasson is doing everything he needs to do right now and Verdugo is playing better baseball recently,” Cashman said. “The evaluations that we’re having with our field staff and player development staff, front office staff, is just what is going to give us the best chance to win. As of right now, we’re staying pat with what we’ve got.
“But we’re always in a position to change our minds at some point, too.”
The GM reiterated that if the Yankees are going to call up the top prospect, he needs to be playing every day.
“Obviously if he’s that guy, then he shouldn’t be sitting the bench,” Cashman said.
But if Dominguez is “that guy” the Yankees believe he is capable of being, then he would seemingly be able to help this roster, which entered Friday 30-38 since having the majors’ best record on June 14.
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“I think fans care about us winning,” Cashman said. “If we’re not winning, they want something that potentially could change that up. That’s the attachment. It’s no different in any other sport. If it’s not playing up to [its] capabilities and the possibility of something might be better, then of course, slamming the fists down and demanding it and wanting it and, ‘Let’s just change it up.’ I get it. I understand that.
“It doesn’t mean our conversations aren’t taking place or have already taken place or continue to take place. They do. But obviously we’re charged with deploying what we think is the best right now and that’s what we’re doing. We certainly have the right to change at some point if we felt that was in our benefit. But right now, this is what we’ve got here.”
