With Spring Training quickly approaching the New York Yankees, we take a deep look at the players who have the most to lose.
Spring Training is the time that all 30 teams feel they have a chance to win the world series. For established big leaguers, it is simply a month and a half of practice but for those fighting to stay in the majors every day is critical
For the Yankees, most starting jobs and rotation slots are filled. However, there are still a small handful of roster spots up for grabs.
Here are the three players who with a lousy spring training will not only fail to make the opening day roster but risk being designated for assignment or released.
Pitcher: Luis Cessa
Luis Cessa is like the cat with nine lives. Despite horrible outings out of both the rotation and bullpen, New York continues to recall him from triple-A and give him a chance to prove himself.
With a starting rotation that already has six or more options Cessa’s only way to make the team will be as a reliever. He will have to beat out pitchers such as Stephen Tarpley and Tommy Kahnle who the Yankees are extremely high on for a roster spot.
Unless Cessa has a dominant spring training, his time with the Yankees is likely going to come to an end.
Pitcher: Domingo German
German, like Cessa, has a lot to prove in order to make a roster crowded with pitching depth.
What gives German a better chance to stay with the Yankees is he has more options left than Luis Cessa who will be one of the arms he will be fighting hardest to beat out. German showed flashes of being a quality starting pitcher during his time in the Yankee, but ultimately struggled to find consistency.
Spring training will be an important time for German to prove he can be effective each time he takes the ball. If not, there’s a good chance, he will be back in the minors with the Yankees or in someone else’s system.
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki
Despite the Yankees being seemingly content with Tulowitzki as their starting shortstop for the first few months of the season there’s a lot to lose this spring training for the former all-star potentially.
If Tulowitzki fails to perform or gets injured again, his low salary contract can easily be terminated with little loss for the Yankees.
An injury or lack of performance could either allow the Yankees to slide Gleyber Torres to shortstop and DJ Lemahieu into the starting second base role or even allow the Yankees to sign Manny Machado if he stays unsigned.
A bad spring training and Tulowitzki may be back on the free agent market.