MUSICAL CHAIRS

So Mark Teixeira is down in Triple-A Scranton working out that knee in hopes to get back to the team this weekend....the keyword is 'hope'. I don't throw a lot of faith into this plan. I want to but given his track record I am hoping for the best but planning for the worst case scenario because let's face it, Tex is as fragile as the porcelain figurines my mom had in our china cabinet when I was growing up.

So in the event that he does make it back somehow....who gets to stay and who gets bumped off of the team? Some may instantly think about Ike Davis since he is the newbie on the team, others may say Refsnyder since he is the rookie with all of the options but there is one more option that I think makes more sense.

I think the Yankees should consider sending Ronald Torreyes down to AAA. No disrespect to Torreyes because he has done the job that the Yankees asked him to do but I think he is the least important piece on the team right now. He is a backup shortstop, and the Yankees have already shown that they are willing to put Starlin Castro back in that position if they feel that Didi Gregorius needs a day off.

Castro has the experience to fill in and help out. It's not ideal, but it would still work. Not only that but....I kind of forgot Torreyes existed. He has made very brief one inning appearances lately and his bat has cooled off. It's unfair to keep him up and deter his own development if he isn't getting the workload. He's still young. Let him go back down and get consistent at bats.

I can't say that I am a huge fan of Ike Davis, but I think it would be wise to keep him around at this point. He is the only true first base man and I can't believe I said that because I laughed when we picked him up....but the Yankees need the depth. It's unrealistic to think that Teixeira is going to come back from a complicated injury and just play everyday until the end. The realist in me says it's not going to happen.

Davis is the Yankees fifth first base man we have seen with Chris Parmelee and Dustin Ackley currently out. There's still so much of the season left so it wouldn't hurt to have a little more insurance so we aren't scrambling again when Tex gets a boo boo. The Yankees could choose to option Davis to AAA instead since he does have options but since he has 5 years of service time he could refuse the assignment. He has bounced back and forth between the minors and majors before but who knows if he wants to do it again.

Another option would be to send Rob Refsnyder back down to AAA, but that would be counter productive at this point. The Yankees have spent a lot of time molding him into a serviceable first baseman so sending him back down would be foolish. Not only that, the Yankees can't afford to not play him with a .300BA. They need to find a way to put his bat in the lineup whenever possible. This is his time and the Yankees need to let him prove what he can do in the majors. He may not be the most experienced at first base, but he would also give more flexibility in the field. He's played at first, second, third and right field since being recalled in May and while he may not excel at any of these he certainly isn't bad at them either. He is not a defensive liability. Based on what he has been able to do for this team I think he has earned his spot.

I don't think Tex is taking this seriously right now so the Yankees need to be serious about how they reconfigure this roster. Right now, Tex reminds me of Paul Walker's character in the movie Varsity Blues. He ill advisedly took shots to treat an injury in hopes to keep him playing. Granted his coach was irresponsible and only believed in winning at all costs. He pushed Walker's character to ignore the injury and push through the pain. In this case, Tex is a grown man and he is his own worst enemy. Hopefully Yankee brass watched that movie because in the end it cost Paul Walker's character his season and the backup quarterback had to step in.

This is all Teixeira's own doing and I can't support that. I hope the Yankees are smart enough to recognize that Refsnyder and Davis are the necessary backup quarterbacks in this scenario. For now, I will hold my breath and watch nervously. Let's hope for the best.


   
--Jeana Bellezza, 
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 








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