Josh Donaldson suffered a calf injury on Saturday. The next morning, Oswald Peraza got on a plane, flew to Colorado and barely made the day game. Understandably, the Yankees didn’t start him, but he got into the game late and got a hit.
On Monday, Oswald Peraza was leading off and playing third. He had one of the best games for a Yankee leadoff hitter all season, going 1 for 1 with four walks and a stolen base. There isn’t a lineup yet for the Tuesday game, but my guess is that Peraza will lead off again.
This list of events makes no sense. Your leadoff hitter is the second or third best hitter in the lineup. Peraza is a strong defender, even at a position he has hardly played. To bat Peraza leadoff on Monday, you need to believe that Peraza is a better hitter than everyone in the back of the Yankee lineup: Volpe, Kiner-Falefa, Bader, Cabrera and Higashioka.
Maybe he is! He certainly showed off some serious leadoff skills on Monday. But if that’s the case, why wasn’t Peraza in the majors a long time ago?
Oswald Peraza might be the best defensive infielder in the Yankee organization. He’s been hitting at Triple-A. Meanwhile,
Anthony Volpe: 82 wRC+
Isiah Kiner-Falefa: 90 wRC+
DJ LeMahieu: 84 wRC+
Josh Donaldson: 75 wRC+
Oswaldo Cabrera: 62 wRC+
Willie Calhoun: 96 wRC+
I know that the Yankees think that Peraza is a better hitter than any of these guys, because they batted him leadoff on Monday. If that’s the case, they should have believed that he was a better major league baseball player than any of these guys long before Monday.
None of this makes any sense. We’re seeing the same dumb decision-making that led to weird chaos in the 2022 playoffs (which also involved Peraza). Who is the best shortstop to help you win this game? The Yankees had three different answers to that question in four games. Short of two injuries, that decision-making process makes no sense. If you think X shortstop is the best player on Monday, nothing that happens in one game should game that decision by Tuesday short of an injury.
I’m generally pretty warm toward Brian Cashman. It’s harder to put together a winning roster on a big budget than it looks (see: Padres, Mets, Phillies, Angels), and Cashman has done it for literally decades. But I this kind of decision-making is pure loser stuff.
EJ, what about your column a few wks ago about 5 potential unheralded players who could help. Are those players still a solution? Also, today's Athletic reports that Cashman has been very supportive of Peraza, at least on Sirius XM, and now that Donaldson is on IL for rest of season, I suspect they let him lead off just for same reasons they were slotting Volpe in leadoff....the New York Yankees are desperate. And strikeout machine Florial...you think he's only option remaining for LF, at least he is a better fielder than the others? If Peraza at third, what to do with DJ....platoon him at 1B with the struggling Rizzo?