Miguel Andujar

 

    It's hard to make any complaints about the Yankees this season as they continue their magical run, but there is one that I would like to point out. It is about Yankee third baseman/left fielder, Miguel Andujar's status as a Yankee.

    A couple of days ago Andujar told Aaron Boone that he doesn't want to be a Yankee anymore and for what he has had to go through, I don't blame him. For the past couple years he has been called up to the bigs for a brief tenure and then sent back down to Triple-A numerous times. For a player of his talent he does not deserve to be a consistent traveler, for he should have a solidified role on a major league team.

    Many other Yankee fans and baseball fans would say that there's not a spot on the team for Andujar, so he doesn't belong on this team. If the Yankees really wanted to keep him, which I think they should, they should look into moving Joey Gallo or Aaron Hicks off of this team. They have been really the only vulnerable spots on this team as they have been really disappointing this year. Both have struggled to hit the ball and they have even made a few miscues in the field. 

    Almost every game you'll hear yankee fans booing Gallo or Hicks from striking out or making a bad play. They have had ample time to get out of their slumps and start to turn it around, but this just has not been the case. Moving one of them will permit Andujar a permanent spot on this team.

    In Andujar's brief tenures, he has showed some nice highlights and other positives that the Yanks can definitely use. He has developed into a solid left fielder while just a little while ago, he had no idea how to even play the position. Not many people realize this but learning a whole new position in baseball is a very tough thing to do when you are accustomed to playing another position. 

    Many people forget but just a couple of years ago Andujar was second in voting for AL Rookie of the Year behind Shohei Ohtani. Now personally I believe Andujar should have definitely won that award over Ohtani, he was definitely the better player that year in my opinion. But, after that year things started to go downhill for Andujar as he suffered injury after injury and never really got back to playing consistently. If Andujar could stay healthy and have a similar season compared to his rookie one, he could be a great player for this Yanks team. 

    Sadly, it looks like the Yankees are probably going to move on from Andujar whether he gets traded or cut. I still believe that they should look into moving either Hicks or Gallo off of the team to make room for Andujar, but this seems very unlikely at this point. Whatever team that Andujar finds himself on in the future, he will make a solid impact and be a great player for whatever team he lands on. I feel the Yankees are making a big mistake if they do get rid of him and do not deal with the Hicks and Gallo situation accordingly.