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The New York Yankees had their Monday night win against the Seattle Mariners overshadowed by a brutal loss.
Trying to reach home plate after a sacrifice fly from Aaron Judge, Yankees utility man Oswaldo Cabrera dodged a tag, planted his foot to change direction and suffered an ankle injury that saw him carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital.
The injury was clearly severe and seems likely to end Cabrera’s season. It has also made a challenging infield situation for the Yankees even worse.
“The Yankees hoped to get by with a patchwork approach,” as Alexander Wilson put it for Empire Sports Media. “Now they’re trying to plug a hole in the dam with chewing gum.”
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The team seems likely to place veteran DJ LeMahieu into the third base role as he returns from his own injury, but after batting just .204 in his last season, he seems unlikely to contribute much to the offense. And if LeMahieu plays at third, the Yankees will have to stick with a combination of Jorbit Vivas and Pablo Reyes at second.
As a result, Wilson argued the Yankees will have to pull off a trade for longtime third base target Nolan Arenado.
“General manager Brian Cashman is going to have to act sooner than he hoped,” Wilson wrote. “Championship windows are fragile. The Yankees need a fix now — not two months from now, when it might be too late.”
A deal for Arenado has seemed to make sense for the Yankees for some time now, though the $53 million he’s still owed on his $260 million contract from 2019 is surely a sticking point for Cashman and company.
But Wilson added that the salary is also likely a problem for Arenado’s current team, the St. Louis Cardinals, suggesting the Yankees could keep their best prospect talent out of a trade that brings him to the Bronx.
As the Yankees suddenly face even more urgency at the hot corner, it could be time to finalize a trade that fans have been asking for.
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