THE YANKEES FUTURE SHORTSTOP....EDUARDO NUNEZ?

I’m not ready for a Nunez manned shortstop at all...I'm stating that now.   As you all know, the Yankees send EduardoNunez down to the minors and activated Eric Chavez the other day.  Let’s face it, this is good for Nunez, the guy needs help catching a baseball.  It’s amazing to me that he’s made it this far through the system. So far in  2012, Nunez made a team leading 4 errors in 20 games according to Bryan Hoch, HERE. He also made 20 errors in 2011, 14 of them at shortstop.  Unbelievable.  His hands must be made of stone.

But let’s face it, the Yankees are in the business of not being open to the public about their mistakes and I believe that the biggest one is never giving up Eduardo Nunez when they had an opportunity.  Maybe, just maybe that opportunity was in 2010 when the Mariners were dangling Cliff Lee. Read HERE.  It's speculation, but it's something to think about.

Sure, I love Nunez when he’s at the plate and I love his speed and more times than not there is always and error that Nunez makes that’s followed up with a corresponding RBI or big hit later in the game.  But my question is, why play catch-up?

It’s true, Nunez when to the minors and the plan is the let him play ball every day.  Of course, practice makes perfect and that’s the plan. Train Nunez in 1 single postion like shortstop and throwing in 2^nd base once in a while. Joe Girardi said he believes that Nunez can be an every day player one day.  I have trouble believing that will ever happen, at least at shortstop. We’re coming off a guy who played a shortstop position better than anyone I’ve ever seen in Derek Jeter.  How do we go from Jeet to Nunez in 2 or 3 years? Can you see that? I can’t. 

It’s funny, Girardi said something odd in his quote in Hoch’s piece though. He said: “…we’ve seen when he’s played shortstop on an everyday basis, how things seem to smooth out.” Hmm. Are we watching the same games? If he’s referring to last season when Jeter was getting back on his feet, Girardi’s sadly mistaken.  Nunez may have hit well, but it was the "Summer of the E" for Nunez. 

Whatever the case, I believe the Yankees are trying to force a square peg in the round hole…that’s Nunez at shortstop.  No, the place where Nunez needs to be is the outfield.  You train Nunez there, you utilize his wheels, and get him judged baseballs out in left or right field and I think he has a future as an everyday outfielder.  This way, you keep his bat in the lineup and you don’t waste a spot at Designted Hitter where you can slot in a big bat. Plus, you can eventually put a top defender in the shortstop role, whomever that may be, to bring stability in the infield.  That’s my solution, but let’s see how things pan out.

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