The Yankees opted to add a high-potential fillip to their troubled left field corps by promoting Jason Dominguez and mostly dropping Alex Verdugo.
There is no such potential cure at first base.
Without DJ LeMahieu on the disabled list, the Yankees' only backup is Oswaldo Cabrera.
Ben Rice has faded in the major leagues, going just two for 35 over his last 14 games, but has returned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Anthony Rizzo needs to be a consistent, solid first baseman or the Yankees will have nowhere to turn.
In his first week-plus of games back from injury, Rizzo hasn't seen the results he's seen in his first 13 major league seasons, but the quality of his at-bats has looked much better than the first few months of his 14th year.
The Yankees believe there is hope in the 35-year-old, who was out of form when he broke his right forearm on June 16 but has been in better form since returning on Sept. 1.
“I think he's in better shape than he was at the beginning of the year,” hitting coach James Rowson said before Rizzo played first base as the eighth batter in Tuesday's game against the Royals in the Bronx. “Now he's just getting used to it. [getting] Some balls will drop.
“But he's hitting the ball hard, so I think we're trending upwards.”
Rowson is right. Through Rizzo's first 70 games this season, his average exit velocity was 86.3 mph, the worst mark of his career since Statcast began tracking exit velocity in 2015.
His batting average was .224, his OPS was .630, and he had only eight home runs by mid-June, due to his poor hitting.
Despite the injury, Rizzo's production hasn't improved: In his first eight games back, he was just 5-for-27 (.185 batting average) with a .501 OPS and only two extra base hits and two doubles.
But during that time, his average exit velocity increased to 88.9 mph, and he was consistently making hard contact, especially in the Chicago series where high winds caused balls to drop, but he still wasn't getting hits.
“His at-bats have been good so far,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday at Wrigley Field. “We feel like he's in a good position to really contribute.”
Almost as encouraging has been Rizzo's defensive play, which had always been a strength until his defensive instability from April through June.
Since his return, the four-time Gold Glove winner has made some impressive plays, including preventing two infield errors against Chicago and making a diving play on Friday to block a hit by Cubs guard Michael Bush.
The Yankees see hope and they see proven results: Rizzo may not be the 2016 All-Star he was, but a league-average hitter with solid defensive potential would be welcome.
That may be the case if we see actual results at the plate, but his at-bats were promising.
“I have confidence in Rizzo, and I say that because I've watched him for a long time. He brings so much to the team,” Lawson said, praising Rizzo's influence on his teammates and his presence in batter meetings. “I think his hitting will only get better. I think he's doing the right things at the plate.”
