They might both be blocked.
Can Yorke play 3B? I'm not giving up on Casas, but I cam imagine a world where he doesn't work out and Devers moves to 1B.
Nick Yorke
- Thread starter The Gray Eagle
- Start date
Can Yorke play 3B? I'm not giving up on Casas, but I cam imagine a world where he doesn't work out and Devers moves to 1B.
I was on the "trade Yorke" wagon earlier in the year, but I now think the bat is impressive enough that I want to see what he can do in Boston. Valdez can hit, too, but he's older, he's less of an on-base guy (less consistent at it, anyway), he's similarly defensively challenged, and a team with a better record of turning prospects into useful players already cast him aside. He's not bad or anything, but I don't think I'd trade away Yorke because of him.
As far as either being "blocked," I don't think there's much of a reason to be in a rush to resolve that situation when Mayer has only just arrived at AA and Story has missed significant time in both of his seasons in Boston so far.
Having too many young cost-controlled position players seems like a rich person problem I'm comfortable letting work itself out over the next couple years. It also lets you throw all your budget on the pitching problem rather than your top prospects + your $.
There is a much more likely scenario of Yorke playing first than Devers (who is a plus defender).
Yorke cannot play third. He is barely serviceable at second and LF/1B/DH is his most likely path.
Bat will have to carry. Luckily, it looks pretty special.
I'm willing to believe that Yorke doesn't have the arm for 3B. But Devers is a plus defender at 3B? Not sure the metrics nor the eye test agree with that one.
The most valuable commodity in MLB today is high-end, cost-controlled young talent. The most valuable attribute in a position player is the hit tool. Yorke is *potentially* the kind of prospect you move other players to create room for, and given the overall trend in the game and Bloom’s evident organizational approach, it seems unlikely that he will be traded before being given every opportunity to excel here.
If Yorke is potentially that kind of prospect (and I agree that he is, maybe), than he is also an extremely valuable trade chip to bring back an equally valuable starting pitcher that this team desperately needs. It's not some pie-in-the-sky fantasy to imagine Story and Mayer locked into the middle of the infield by next August. Where does Yorke play in that scenario?
Didn't mean to characterize it as pie in the sky. You certainly could be right. I'm just saying that it seems unlikely for the reasons I mentioned. It's also not a given that Yorke can stick at second. IF he pans out, his bat looks like it could play in left, and he could also be one of those positionally flexlble players, in his case maybe 2B/LF/1B(maybe once a week?) In any case, he seems at least a year away, which should give the Sox enough time to evaluate not just his progress but also Story's post surgery.
Yoshida seems to be working out in LF; I know he's had some issues defensively, but I'd be surprised if they decided to make him a full time DH.
I'm not saying it's impossible to find a role for Yorke, or that the problem can't take care of itself somehow. But given the other MI options on the roster, trading Yorke for staring pitching is something that has to be considered as a possible efficient use of resources. Someone mentioned Jeff Bagwell, which I suppose is in the universe of possible outcomes,. But so is Yoan Moncada, Casey Kelly, Frankie Rodriguez, Carl Pavano...
Where do you project him to play in 2025?
"Unloading" makes it sound like I'm proposing they just give him away, when of course I am talking about getting comparable value in return at a position that is more of an organizational need (pitching). Nobody knows the future. But if in 2026, if Yorke is still in AAA with plummeting trade value, the cries around here that they hold on to their prospects too long will be deafening.
Yeah, I don’t see what the issue is here. Either you clear a spot/path for him, you trade him to help another area, or you keep him around for depth. You eventually have to cash in some chips.
C’mon people, Devers isn’t moving off 3B for awhile, and especially not to move the guy with arm issues (and well below average throwing velocity the last time he even threw in a game) to his position, just so we can squeeze in a AA prospect who only looks to be below average at defensively at 2B.
Yorke’s OBP sits in the .360s at the moment, which would be impressive if it hadn’t been over .400 a month ago. The K rate has climbed to 25%. So what’s up with Yorke? Is he working on some stuff? Playing through an injury? Whatever it is, I’d like to see how he works through it before bringing him to Worcester - and I was on the “fast-track him!” train not so long ago!
The soxprospects guys keep talking about his in-zone miss rate being fairly high.