On July 1st, the Yankees will begin "spring" training... take two. Before this happens, Aaron Boone will have some decisions to make. With only 60-games this season, figuring out how to run the roster is get the most wins while keeping everyone healthy is incredibly important. If he can accomplish this, the Yankees have a great shot at the World Series.
Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, and James Paxton should be all set for Opening Day. The only missing piece is Aaron Judge. On social media, Judge keeps saying how excited he is to get back to baseball, but at this point, it is safe to just be cautiously optimistic about his return. If we don't have him back at the beginning of the 60-games, we may have him by the end.
A big question is: what is Miguel Andujar's role this season? During Spring Training, Andujar was practicing to take over the left-field as Hicks was supposed to be out to the All-Star break, and Brett Gardner was going to take center-field. Now Gardner will be moving back to left-field with center-field going to Hicks. Since Stanton might be the team's DH, Andujar is left in limbo. With a great bat going to waste, Boone will have to fit him somewhere into the line-up.
It is hard to predict the 30-man roster, but with extra men, Boone will have to figure out where to put them. The bullpen is a safe bet to create more depth so they don't burn out their starting pitchers. The bench will be a good place to but Andujar in case he needs to be put into the game.
As for the fifth starter, Jordan Montgomery is looking to be the favorite but was never officially named since the Yankees were trying to figure it out still. Clark Schmidt is still in the running since he looked great at Spring Training, so it will up to Spring Training pt. 2 to decide who will win the spot.
--Missy O'Rourke
BYB Contributor
Twitter: @missy_orourke
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