Aaron Boone sounded like a determined man.
But he wasn't yet ready to reveal to the world what he had decided to do about starting left field for Game 1 of the ALDS against the Royals on Saturday.
And just because Alex Verdugo or Jason Dominguez start the series opener doesn't mean he'll be locked into the lineup.
“I have my mind set on where I'm going right now, but I'm going to let it marinate for 24 hours and make sure I'm talking to the right people before I make a final decision,” Boone said Thursday. The Yankees held another mock game at the stadium. “At least for the first game, things may be fluid from there.”
The decision comes down to Verdugo's defense and experience and Dominguez's offensive upside, both in terms of power and speed.
Verdugo, a left-handed hitter, finished the year with a .647 OPS, the eighth-lowest of the 129 eligible batters.
But Boone has raved about his glove all season, and the manager has previously hinted that defense will play a big role in his final decision.
Dominguez is a natural center fielder who looked shaky at times in left field after being called up on September 9.
The switch hitter (a strong left-handed hitter) hasn't been able to play an active role offensively since being called up, but he has the potential to become even more of a threat in the batting lineup.
But in the postseason, when every out counts, it remains to be seen whether the Yankees would be comfortable starting him in left field.
General manager Brian Cashman on Thursday defended Yankees manager Dominguez's preparation. That included Dominguez starting just 11 times in left field over his final 25 games in the minors before becoming a full-fledged player.
“Obviously there are some plays that have gotten a lot of attention, and rightly so,” Cashman said. “He's a very young, talented player who was dropped in the middle of the pennant race and is playing in a position that is still developing. It's a difficult position, but the competitive element is there.”
“When we woke him up after DJ’s injury, the whole purpose of getting him up was [LeMahieu] It was about learning as much as we could, so we hope we can take all the information into account when putting together our postseason rosters. This trial will definitely be informative and everything we saw will definitely be discussed here when finalizing the list of winners for the next round. ”
Anthony Rizzo (broken finger) had yet to attempt any baseball activity as of Thursday afternoon, and it seemed unlikely he would be on the ALDS roster.
But the Yankees kept the door open for him, at least for another day.
“He's performing better than expected under those circumstances, given what he's been through, in that the pain is much less than expected and the tightening force is stronger than expected. We know that,” Cashman said. “It gave us maybe a glimmer of hope. I wouldn't say hope, but a glimmer of, 'Well, we'll discuss this further down the line as we get closer to a final official decision.' '''
Pending free agent Gleyber Torres enters what could be his last playoff appearance as a Yankee after a regular season in which he struggled mightily in the first three months and turned around in the final three months. I'm about to try.
“I changed the question to, why didn't he hit before and not now?” Cashman said. “But hopefully he saved the best for last. He was always professional and a very talented hitter. I thought about it, it was the trade deadline and he got through it. Then all of a sudden you decide to calm down and relax? There's really no answer to that.
