TYLER WADE: DEMOTED & SCREWED AGAIN!

I don't like mixed messages at all, but there seems to be some crossed signals going on between Tyler Wade and Aaron Boone. Even with some missing pieces of the story here Wade is not mincing words here. He's pissed, and he's telling everyone.

Even without knowing the full story here, I feel bad for Wade. It looked like he was finally going to get his shot in the big leagues. He worked hard all spring and did everything that the Yankees asked of him but it still wasn't enough. It must burn to be the final roster cut before the season officially starts. It looked like he won a spot until he was optioned to Triple-A before the start of Sunday's game.

It's hard to watch the guy with a .320 BA in 19 games that you are familiar with and you watched him grind out a spot for the new guy. That new guy is Mike Tauchman who was recently acquired from the Rockies and for whatever reason....Wade thinks he lost his spot to Tauchman because of his defensive skills. "Very disappointing. It blindsided me. I did everything they asked me to do this spring and I played well and now my defense isn’t good enough," read more HERE.

But interestingly enough, Boone has a different story to that. It doesn't sound like he told Wade he was being cut due to defensive concerns. "We really like his defense, all around, more so now than ever. I always envisioned him as the guy who can play everywhere, the unique guy who can play the middle of the diamond and also play the three outfield spots. I don’t have many reservations at all about that. He has only continued to grow in my eyes in his defensive versatility."

So why would Wade walk away from this thinking he lost a roster spot due to his defense if the Yankees didn't actually say that? And if Boone and the Yankees are so confident in his ability why wouldn't they give him that last spot over Tauchman?

Now Boone did say that he "didn't know" if Tauchman was a better defender than Wade but the NY Daily News had their own interesting quote from Boone HERE. "I think with us being down an outfielder, Tauchman is a guy that … We believe we were able to acquire a really good player that really hasn’t had his chance yet. With Hicks being down, we feel like he gives us a guy that can be part of that rotation. One of the things with Tyler is, when we’re whole, he actually makes a little more sense because of the versatility that we feel he now really possesses. So this could be a situation where Tyler gets his chance even as we get healthier. That’s possible."

So is Tauchman the guy because he is a designated outfielder while Wade is not? Is that what we are supposed to take from this scenario? I don't know. Or maybe the Yankees just still don't have enough faith in Wade to give him the starting role. You have to wonder why they they give the job to Tauchman who is older, and has only played in 52 games in his two-year big league career. He doesn't have a power bat. He does have a left handed bat though, which the Yankees would definitely like to have in their lineup. Can they really see more that they like in Tauchman compared to Wade? Something doesn't add up.

We can continue to list conspiracy theories here, but at the end of the day Tauchman gets to be the fourth outfielder and Wade continues to miss out. I don't know why Wade thinks he lost his job based on defense and why Boone thinks Wade can help later but not right now. It's more Boone babble that doesn't make sense. The only thing that's clear in this....Tauchman got a spot he didn't earn and Wade got screwed.

They say life isn't always fair....I guess baseball is no different. I still feel bad for Wade though.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj