Yankees Mailbag: Peraza’s future, Torres’ projections, and Stanton’s hope

Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

fickman asks: Is this team just about done with the Peraza/Cabrera hype?

It’s a highly unfortunate time for Oswald Peraza to be dealing with injury, as his playing time is on the line with no way to earn it now. The Yankees have been hesitant to commit to either of these players over the past year, and now luck isn’t doing Peraza any favors as continued discomfort in his shoulder will hold him out indefinitely. That may be all it takes to pin him in Triple-A again for another year, and at that point with the rest of the infield being as crowded as it is with another wave of talent coming through the system, it may make the trading block Peraza’s eventual destination.

As for Oswaldo Cabrera, there was never anywhere near as much prospect shine on him so I’d imagine the team took his 2022 emergence as a welcome surprise and his subsequent struggles in 2023 as more of a comeback to reality than a disappointment. His development and his prospect value both aren’t going to get much higher, so I can see the team opting to ride it out with him on the bench in a utility role with the hope that he figures things out being around the best of the best with little remorse if he can’t cut it. The team did also bring in a number of veteran options on minor-league deals at the end of the offseason, indicating that they’re going to push both of them to justify making it onto the roster rather than saving a seat for one or both of the infielders. They’re not done with them, but they’ve got to prove that they belong for sure.

Darth Lazarus asks: Assuming Torres hits or exceeds his ZiPS projections, what might his next contract look like? Is he a 20-25 a year player?

Well, first let’s see what ZiPS has him projected to do in 2024, shall we? There’s not much variance in what most projections think of Gleyber Torres entering his walk year, but ZiPS specifically has him at 24 homers and a .271/.342/.454 triple-slash, good for 121 wRC+ and 3.6 fWAR. Those numbers line up with Torres’ career-averages outside of his 2020-21 decline, and his WAR would tie his career-best, so it’s safe to say posting or beating that production should successfully silence the doubters of Torres’ rebound.

While that would peg Torres as among the top second baseman in the league, it probably doesn’t get him close enough to the peak to warrant a $25 million AAV on his next deal. The list of second baseman making that kind of money is Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Marcus Semien, and Jose Altuve. Only the latter two signed those deals expecting to play second base every day, and every one of them possesses better defensive skills than Torres does, even though he’s done better there than he has at shortstop. Getting to $20 million isn’t out of the question, but he’d definitely need to beat these numbers to get there and he’d probably still have to get a little lucky.

The idiot that said, “Harper is coming” asks: How long do the Yankees stick with Stanton? He’s owed big money and will be given the opportunity to show he can bounce back, but how long do they keep trotting him up there if he continues to struggle? We’re going on about 1.5 years of below average production, and he hasn’t looked good this spring yet at all. How long can he be bad and not lose his roster spot?

A lot of Stanton’s future is dependent both on how he plays this year and the team that’ll be around him in 2025 — there’s no real way to justify a pursuit of extending Soto and potentially adding to the offense while also keeping him around if he sinks for another season. As it is, Stanton’s place in the lineup eats at the flexibility that the outfield has, with Judge forced into center field where the team probably doesn’t want him long-term. Add Jasson Domínguez back into the mix, and the puzzle pieces start to not fit unless Stanton forces his way into the picture.

Three guaranteed remaining years at Stanton’s high (but not insanely high) salary would be hard to eat and even harder to convince someone else to take even a part of the responsibility for, but that’s what the Yankees have left to work with after this season. Maybe they’d punt this topic down the line another year until he’s at two remaining years and potentially has the benefit of displaying some healthy years as opposed to the injury-filled tenure he’s had so far, but that’s a dream more than it is a plan. The Yankees simply have to hope it doesn’t come to that and Stanton’s adjustments he made in the offseason pay off, because they just need him to not be an anchor to this offense.