Jasson Dominguez is the backup quarterback. He is the answer because — if you are a Yankee fan — you have grown to hate the starter and what you don’t know is better than what you do. In this case Dominguez is better than Alex Verdugo.
I know. You think you know Dominguez because he hit four homers in eight MLB games last year and he is tearing it up in the minors. But Ben Rice hit a bunch early in the majors after tearing up the minors (.925 OPS this year in 268 plate appearances to .852 in 212 for Dominguez) and how is Rice looking these days?
If your argument is that Dominguez has way more elite-prospect pedigree than Rice, sure, but he has less than Anthony Volpe did, and how have you liked the two offensive seasons of Volpe — and what sure looks like some yippy defense recently? The majors are tough, in part because the minors have never sucked more (really, ask any evaluator) and so killing it down there is not a barometer to bet upon.
Yet, the Yankees probably should see what the backup quarterback has — hope he is Jordan Love not Trey Lance — as they face the last month and last chance to upgrade the roster. They played their final game Saturday before rosters expand from 26 to 28. Anthony Rizzo will return Sunday from a forearm fracture suffered in mid-June. The Yanks hope he can bring even close to the league-average first-base production that Rice and DJ LeMahieu notably have not. Oswaldo Cabrera started just his second game this year at first and went 0-for-4 and was called out on strikes for a clock violation to lead off the ninth in what soon became a 6-5 Cardinals victory.
Over the next few September days, the Yanks might be as physically whole as they have all year as Jon Berti, Luis Gil, Ian Hamilton and Clarke Schmidt are all nearing returns, too.
The most curious question, though, rotates around Dominguez. Recently, Brian Cashman said he did not see a path to provide the switch-hitter everyday at-bats and it does not make sense to hope Dominguez can learn on the fly to help off the bench. So, this means the Yankees would have to believe — the way a large swath of their fan base does — that Dominguez can walk into a pennant race and outperform Verdugo, who remains a strong defender, including throwing a runner out at the plate Saturday. Cashman did not return a text asking if he had changed his stance on Dominguez.
Going with Dominguez would partially be about: could he be worse than Verdugo, who has a Bronx bull’s-eye not just because he has a lowly .232 average, .292 on-base percentage and only one second-half homer, but also because he has lethargic body language from the Gary Sanchez collection that plays worse in bad times.
This is an all-in year, especially as the primes of Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge to go along with Juan Soto’s only sure season in The Bronx tick closer to the end. Aaron Boone’s calling card is a got-his-player’s-back absolutism. So he has to worry — in a way fans don’t — how removing a player who has run the whole race like Verdugo will play in his clubhouse. Plus, can he keep Verdugo engaged should he need to reverse paths if Dominguez proves not ready for this moment?
Verdugo would not only have to sit, but with a roster limit of 14 position players, the Yanks sent down Rice for Rizzo, and would have to go deeper to get both Berti and Dominguez on the roster by either demoting Cabrera — who has earned his bench status — or releasing Trent Grisham because it does not appear Hal Steinbrenner is ready to eat the two years at $30 million owed LeMahieu after this season.
“There’s obviously urgency within the day because of where we are in the standings and trying to win every day, but also trying to always have a big picture in mind,” Boone said.
But the picture is small — just 26 regular-season games remain. Sentiment has to grow shorter. Will Warren, who did not pitch well again on Saturday, also was demoted. The Yanks can bring up two placeholders in the Ron Marinaccio vein. But Schmidt has been angling to go back into the rotation now and is at most one more rehab start away. Gil is perhaps on the same time frame.
Boone and the Yanks will have to decide if they want to try Gil’s power arm in the pen or do they turn to Nestor Cortes to join Tim Hill as bullpen lefties. Imagine that conversation with Cortes. Does Boone strip all of LeMahieu’s playing time? Does he use the defensively superior Cabrera at third late in place of the still-learning Jazz Chisholm Jr.? And do he and the Yankees try to play Dominguez’s upside and move Verdugo to the bench — and hope not to lose Verdugo if Dominguez actually is not a quickie savior?
The rosters expand Sunday, the number of remaining games decreases and the Yankees and Boone must decide if it is time to turn to the backup quarterback.