New York Yankees: Cameron Maybin’s strong 2019 forced tough roster call

After his home run streak, Cameron Maybin has made a name for himself with the New York Yankees. His strong play combined with Aaron Judge’s return from injury made roster decisions, even tougher for management.

With Aaron Judge rejoining the New York Yankees roster, manager Aaron Boone and GM Brian Cashman will be forced to make a tough decision on who will be sent down to the minors and who will be traded. Let’s go through the thought process.

When the Yankees acquired Edwin Encarnacion last weekend, everyone assumed that meant that Cameron Maybin would be sent down to the minors to make room for the slugger who is leading the American League in home runs. Since then, Maybin has been on an absolute tear. He has smashed four home runs in four consecutive games. That being said, how could you get rid of a guy who is providing offense night after night to the roster?

You can’t, so who do you send out of town? The next name that seems like a no-brainer is Brett Gardner. Yankees fans are attached to Gardner because he is the longest tenured Yankee and is one of only two players (C.C. Sabathia being the other) who was on the 2009 team who won the World Series. That being said, Gardner provides something to the clubhouse that not many other players can because he was one of few who was around for the Yankees last championship team.

However, it is rather well known that Judge is the leader in the clubhouse, so would the Yankees be losing too much in terms of that clubhouse presence?

Also, the Yankees have multiple players who have won a World Series with other teams, including Aroldis Chapman. This means that in a sense, you’d be losing that experience and somewhat of a clubhouse leader, but it wouldn’t make a big difference at the end of the day. This season Maybin’s stats have been a bit better than Gardner’s so to me at least, it wouldn’t make a great deal of sense to go with Gardner over Maybin at the end of the day. Yet the Yankees are known for their loyalty to their tenured veterans.

Making it tough

Since joining the Yankees, Maybin holds a .309 batting average with five home runs and 12 RBIs in only 39 games. In Gardner’s 67 games this season, he holds a .233 batting average with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs.

Looking at raw stats except for batting averages, one would be inclined to say Gardner might be the better choice, but when you consider how crazy Maybin’s stats have been in the past week, you simply cannot shelf him.

However, this decision is one that won’t be made until most likely closer to the trade deadline. The conclusion that needs to be made this week is who will be sent down to the Rail Riders in AAA. The decision right now is between Maybin, seeing the Yankees would then have had five outfielders on the active roster and sending down a bullpen pitcher and hold only 12 pitchers on the active roster.

If I were Cashman making this decision, I would personally go with keeping Maybin on the roster and sending down a relief pitcher instead. Which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Modern MLB analytics call for a 13-man pitching staff and 12 hitters. If the Yankees did go this route, it would likely be contrary to current roster theory. In that case, Nestor Cortes Jr. would be sent down to Scranton Wilkes-Barre.

Going into Thursday’s game against Houston, Cortes appeared in only six games this season with a 3.79 ERA and a 1-0 record. In reality, I don’t think the New York Yankees would miss him as much as they might lose Maybin.

As it turned out, this is exactly the move Cashman made. Maybin has survived to thrill New York Yankees fans with his heroics another day.

I think keeping Maybin up and finding room for him to get at-bats here and there would be the better bet, but we will see what Boone ultimately decides in the coming days/weeks.