Brian Cashman has a decision to make.
Well, honestly, the New York Yankees general manager has several decisions to make after the club was bounced from the playoffs last week by the Boston Red Sox in the American League Wild Card Game.
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One of the bigger issues on the table is what to do at first base. Does the club stick with injury-prone Luke Voit, who was the major-league home run leader in 2020?
Or do the Yankees give Anthony Rizzo a nine-figure contract to re-sign with the team?
SNY’s Anthony McCarron talked to an MLB scout, who thinks the path forward for the Yankees is clear.
“If I’m the Yankees, I’d bring him back. I think his lefty bat is suited for Yankee Stadium. More importantly, he gives a clubhouse presence. I think he brings something. He’s a veteran leader. And I think a lot of the younger players would look up to him. He’s a Gold Glove first baseman. There are not many first basemen who are better than him. The Yankees and their fans hadn’t seen that. He makes all these plays that everyone has trouble with. He takes a lot of balls out of the dirt, saves errors on bad throws. I know he’s getting older, but he does a lot of positive things.”
So what’s to become of Voit? The scout says “If they sign Rizzo, I’d expect Voit to be traded. There has to be some value. He was the home run champ last year. This was the wrong year for him to get hurt.”
Voit played in just 68 regular-season games this year, hitting .239 with 11 home runs. For comparison sake, Voit hit 14 home runs in 39 games in 2018 and 22 home runs in 56 games last year.
His health problems and inconsistencies in 2021 led the Yankees to acquire Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs before the July 30 trade deadline. In 49 regular-season games with New York, Rizzo hit .249 with a total of eight home runs.
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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com.
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