Brian Cashman doubles down on unfathomable Jasson Dominguez decision, and it won't make Yankees fans happy (2025)

The New York Yankees might be 80-60 on the season, tying them with the Cleveland Guardians for the second-best record in the American League, but let's be honest. They don't look like an 80-60 team with how they've been playing lately.

On June 12, the Yankees were 49-21 on the year, dominating seemingly anyone they faced. Since then, they've gone 31-39. In their first 70 games of the year, they were playing like the clear World Series favorites. In their most recent 70 games, they've been a .442 win percentage team, roughly where the Washington Nationals are record-wise right now.

Despite all that has gone wrong of late, the Yankees seem content with sticking with what clearly isn't working. They stuck with Clay Holmes as their undisputed closer for far too long before finally maybe considering alternatives. They've stuck with DJ LeMahieu as a starter for way too long even though it's been clear that he's not cut out for that from the moment he played a game this season. Perhaps the most unfathomable decision that they've made, though, was refusing to promote Jasson Dominguez even when rosters expanded in September because they're comfortable with Alex Verdugo as their starting left fielder.

Brian Cashman even chose to double down on this unfathomable decision on Friday, saying that Verdugo gives the Yankees "the best chance to win."

Not wanting to promote Dominguez to the majors without an everyday role in mind makes a lot of sense. He's a top prospect who should be playing every day at any level. The St. Louis Cardinals learned that the hard way with Jordan Walker.

Two of their three outfield spots are taken by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. Had the Yankees had a third starter to plug into the outfield then sure, keeping Dominguez down would be fine, but it must be asked - what has Verdugo done to give the Yankees any confidence that he should be playing regularly, if at all?

Verdugo had a strong April. He was hitting in the middle of the order, producing runs. and was even playing with an edge that hadn't really been seen by a Yankee in years. Since the start of May, though, he hasn't done much of anything.

Since May 1, Verdugo ranks 139th out of 141 qualified hitters with a 72 WRC+. He's one of eight qualified position players with a negative fWAR since the start of May according to FanGraphs. That's right - since the start of May, I have been more productive for the Yankees judging by WAR.

Verdugo has been a bit better lately as Cashman notes, recording at least one hit in five straight games and hitting .342 over his last 10 games, but even with his improvement, he hasn't been much of a factor. He has just one extra-base hit, a double, in that stretch, and has driven in two runs. That's enough to keep your star prospect swinging a red-hot bat down in the minors?

Plus, before his recent 10-game stretch, he was hitless in his previous 21 at-bats, and he has just one home run since July 6, in over 200 plate appearances.

The real question to ask after reading what Cashman had to say is why does 10 games wipe away what Verdugo had been for the five months prior?

Verdugo's one calling card was his defense, but while his arm is as valuable as it has ever been, he's been worth -1 OAA according to Baseball Savant, putting him in the 38th percentile. Is Dominguez incapable of doing that defensively?

Dominguez has had a bit of a frustrating season thanks to his time missed due to injuries, but he has an .897 OPS in the minors this season and a 1.031 OPS since the Yankees sent him down after his inexcusable one-game MLB cameo in late August. This is in addition to Dominguez providing a spark in his short MLB time last season.

Cashman admits Dominguez has done what he can do to earn the call-up, yet Verdugo hitting some singles over a 10-game span suddenly is good enough to wipe out the rest of his lackluster season gives them a better chance than the dynamic prospect that the team refuses to trade?

It's impossible to point out what the Yankees see in Verdugo. He's played slightly better over the last week and a bit, but not well enough to justify playing regularly. His defense is subpar, his bat is worse, and the Yankees have a capable replacement in Dominguez.

The worst part about this Verdugo obsession is even if the Yankees don't want to promote Dominguez for whatever reason, why not just play Trent Grisham more? He got off to a slow start, but has a .776 OPS since the start of June while playing his usual strong defense. He has, by any objective measure, been a better player than Verdugo for months now.

The Yankees will make the playoffs because of their hot start, but mismanagement like this will inevitably cost them in October. To win the World Series, they're going to have to run out the best 26 players every single day. Every day they choose to play Verdugo and keep Dominguez in the minors, they're choosing to go with a group that could be better.