It's Time For the Yankees to Trade Miguel Andújar

The time has finally come for the New York Yankees to part ways with Miguel Andújar. After designating Andújar for assignment with Giancarlo Stanton set to return from the IL, Andújar reportedly requested a trade out of the organization after a few injury-riddled seasons bouncing between the minors and majors.

As Ken Rosenthal notes, it's not the first time Andújar has asked out. This time it feels like it'll actually happen. He's still three years away from arbitration but the Yankees simply have no room for him, especially as a contending team. Andújar's career has been all downhill after his breakout 2018 season that placed him second in Rookie of the Year voting. Injuries have plagued him, and it seems like he's always trying to come back from some malady that impacts his everyday play. In 12 games this season, Andújar is batting .268 with two doubles, three RBI, and three stolen bases. That's fine production but a far cry from what he once was, and when coupled with the fact that he's a complete minus defensively, it's easy to make a case that he should be gone.

In many ways, now is the time to get it done. The Yankees are happy with Josh Donaldson playing Andújar's old position of third. Andújar is a disaster defensively and is several times worse than Joey Gallo when he plays left field, an impressive feat in all regards. Matt Carpenter has been a pleasant surprise and he shouldn't be pushed out of the order for Andújar to figure his act out. Andújar obviously can't do much of anything about his position given his utter lack of leverage but having an unhappy player in the organization tends to cause an unpleasant trickledown effect that New York would rather avoid.

Above all, the Yankees are not only good this season-- they're great. Andújar won't fetch much but if there's any chance at all that New York could land a player who could potentially prove helpful come playoff time, they need to pull the trigger. In the likely event that they can't, addition by subtraction is a tangible concept.

It undoubtedly stings for the Yankees to be in this spot after Andújar looked like the next great slugger in pinstripes for a hot minute. And it's impossible to sell lower than right now. But Andújar is going to get no opportunities to rehabilitate his value while the Yankees are dedicated towards winning as many games as possible.

It's reasonable to argue that keeping Andújar is better than ditching him for nothing in case the injury bug strikes and they need the depth he technically provides. But that's banking on Andújar being able to find himself at the plate somehow without playing regularly at the highest level, because he isn't giving you anything defensively. The Yankees are better off getting rid of the distraction and dedicating other resources to finding potential stopgaps that at least provide some modicum of value somewhere on the field. Because right now, Andújar can't do that.