The MLB trade deadline is on Friday, and teams are already completing deals before it’s too late.
Nelson Cruz was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, Rich Hill landed on the New York Mets, and Adam Frazier will play on the San Diego Padres now.
Sometimes, media and fans refrain from recommending or welcoming a specific player to a team because his position is well-covered by another star or a capable player.
But that shouldn’t happen in MLB baseball because on most occasions, these depth problems tend to work themselves out one way or another.
Positions Are Flexible
Frazier, for example, has been playing mostly second base with the Pittsburgh Pirates before being dealt to the Padres on Sunday.
Now, San Diego is talking about the possibility of using Frazier as a super-utility type.
Why?
Because his primary position is covered by fellow All-Star Jake Cronenworth, but both players will move around the diamond because manager Jayce Tingler needs their bats in the lineup and because both of them are versatile enough with the glove to handle several positions.
Trevor Story is a firm option for the New York Yankees before the deadline, but Gleyber Torres is currently manning shortstop, Story’s main position.
However, this shouldn’t (and surely won’t) prevent the Yankees from pursuing the Rockies star.
If he were to land in New York, the team could send Gleyber to second base, where he played a lot in his early MLB days, and slide over DJ LeMahieu to first base, where Luke Voit has left a void to fill with his injury.
Another potential solution is Story taking over center field, a vacant position in the Yankees ever since Aaron Hicks, the regular there, was lost for the season with a wrist ailment.
Now hearing this, it’s almost a guarantee that the Yankees are the team interested in using Trevor Story in center field https://t.co/N6hhsEEh7k
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 22, 2021
You Can’t Have Too Much Depth
The league is full of additional examples: the Mets are pursuing Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, but J.D. Davis plays there.
Bryant is a much better defensive third baseman than Davis, but if the Mets don’t want to lose Davis’ bat, they could move Bryant to the outfield and even first base, two positions he has played (even recently) in the big leagues.
he’ll get his at bats. I like villar obviously but bryant’s a pretty substantial improvement and provides versatility as someone who can play both third base and outfield well
— francisco lindor stan account (@sschreiber13) July 10, 2021
MLB teams are open to adding depth more than ever before, because depth evaporates quickly, and logjams tend to solve themselves with injuries, slumps, ineffectiveness, or position changes.
This is true for hitters, but also for pitchers: the Mets have Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Carrasco, Joey Lucchesi, David Peterson, and Jordan Yamamoto on the injured list.
Are they just going to sit there and wait for everybody to get healthy?
They can’t, because they would start falling down the standings.
What should they do?
They should add pitching (as they did with Hill) and if other injured stars get healthy, they will deal with that issue later down the road.
If they fail to bring reinforcements just because there will be a logjam when everybody is healthy enough to play, they would be giving a competitive advantage to other teams, and they are smart enough not to do that.
That’s why teams shouldn’t stop pursuing upgrades just because they have those positions covered at the moment.
If they can bring offensive upgrades, they should put the trigger, and everything will work itself out in most cases.
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