Clik here to view.
Who has looked really bad this spring
How the players expected to make the major league team perform in spring training isn't always that important. Sure, you want to see guys do well, but most of the time they don't get enough playing time for us to really get a sense of how well they are performing. All that matters is that they're healthy and ready to go for the regular season. The ones that receive most of the playing time are either trying to make the team or at least attempting to make an impression. Those are the ones you want to see perform well. It's too bad that a few of those players have kind of been disappointments in Yankees camp.
John Ryan Murphy: He was never going to make the team with Francisco Cervelli the favorite for the major league backup job, but he could still be their most useful trade chip. A strong spring could have gotten the Yankees an infielder, but Murphy didn't exactly do much with all the playing time he was given. Now I doubt anyone is pounding at Brian Cashman's door.
Mason Williams: Expected to start out in High-A Tampa, Williams has gotten more playing time than almost every other Yankee in camp, appearing in 15 games this spring. If he's being showcased for a potential trade, he's done nothing to help out the Yankees. There's a lot of uncertainty about his future prospect status, so a good spring would have been helpful to show that he's not completely useless.
Chase Whitley: Whitley was probably the one reliever who really needed to have a good spring if he wanted to take a roster spot. Unfortunately, he completely wasted his chance as he struggled more than any other pitching prospect in camp. He'll end up back in Triple-A and who knows when he'll have another chance to show himself off as a major league option.
Corban Joseph: With all the questions about Brian Roberts and who could fill in for him if he goes down, Corban Joseph was a quietly valuable asset for the Yankees to have in their back pocket. Scott Sizemore, Yangervis Solarte, and Zelous Wheeler might all be above him on the depth chart, but a strong spring could have changed all that. Unfortunately, he's done nothing to prove that he's a better option than any of them, so he'll have to show the Yankees something more once the season starts.
Manny Banuelos: We shouldn't have expected much from ManBan, coming off of Tommy John surgery, but it sure would have been nice to see a small flash of what he can do even after missing almost two years. It will take some time for him to get back to normal, but seeing him trounced this spring didn't make it look like he'll be much of an option for the Yankees any time soon.
Peter O`Brien: Yes, O`Brien is still at least several years away from helping the team, but given the questions surrounding his defense, it would have been nice to see that he could hit against major league-caliber pitchers. The media keeps talking about his power potential, but he hasn't gotten a single hit so far this spring.
Preston Claiborne: Going into spring training, Joe Girardi claimed that Claiborne was already one of the few relievers who definitely had a job. Now with Dellin Betances, Jim Miller, Matt Daley, among others, all having much better springs, it's possible that Claiborne could at least start the 2014 season in the minors, unseated by a miserable string of performances starting in the second half of 2013. He might not be much of a major league option after all.
