Yankees shortstop dilemma persists despite good options at hand

Sunday November 6, 2022

The Yankees are facing a dilemma over their shortstop choice for the last two seasons. First, they ignored top market targets hoping to promote their home-grown prospects. However, in the middle of the season, they ignore the farm to land shortstops who failed to bring rejoicing to fans. Now, the Yankees are again back to square one with questions about their shortstop choice.

At the Yankees’ end-of-season press conference on Friday at Yankee Stadium, both Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman tried to harp on the word “competition” when talking about shortstops for next year’s spring training.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa was their starting shortstop for all of 2022, even though he became infamous for bad offensive numbers and a shaky defense. That changed when Boone took Kiner-Falefa off the field in Game 5 of the American League Division Series and bring in rookie Oswaldo Cabrera instead. The Yankees beat the Guardians in that game, which was a must-win. Kiner-Falefa also only started in two games of the AL Championship Series, which the Astros won after sweeping the Yankees.

It seemed like Kiner-Falefa and highly regarded prospect Oswald Peraza would be competing for the shortstop position in Tampa in the Yankees’ spring training. Another top prospect, Anthony Volpe is also likely to be invited to the camp.

Boone praised Peraza a lot on Friday.

“Oswald had another strong season in Triple-A — essentially having a full year there. Then earned and put himself in a position to get a September call-up, essentially. I was really impressed with what I saw from him, just makeup-wise, preparation-wise, what he was able to handle, being thrown into some situations that for anyone — let alone a rookie — wouldn’t have always been easy, and I always felt like he was up to it and handled it. So, he certainly put himself in a really good position heading into the winter coming off another strong season. He’s very young but I would say obviously we were very aware of him going into this year as a top prospect and being on the roster for the first time. I think he only helped himself moving forward now.”

If the Yankees are already thinking about a shortstop competition for February in early November, it seems almost certain that they won’t bid for star free agents, such as Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, or Dansby Swanson.

Are the Yankees right over their shortstop choice or should get Correa on board? Leave your comment below.