Just three days after the Yankees’ season ended abruptly against the Red Sox, the news made rounds that renowned shortstop Didi Gregorius would be undergoing Tommy John surgery to address a pre-existing elbow injury which increased during the ALDS. The team’s GM Brian Cashman said that Yankees was aware of a partial ulnar collateral ligament tear in Gregorius’ elbow when they had acquired the player from Arizona before the 2015 season and that Gregorius re-aggravated the tear after making a throw from the left field from a ball played off the Green Monster in Game two.
The news was a shocking one for the team. However, despite missing out major time in this season because of a couple of unrelated injuries, Gregorius developed new career highs in home runs, walks, runs scored, stolen bases, slugging average, on-base percentage, WAR, and OPS.
Moreover, even before this horrifying news broke out, it was being said that signing Manny Machado to play in the third base would allow the team to shift Miguel Andujar to the designated hitter. Andujar comprises an impressive 4.6 offensive WAR in the year 2018 while producing an atrocious -2.2 defensive WAR. His embarrassing -25 defensive runs saved was the 2nd worst in the history of MLB out if 256 position players with at least 500 innings in the field.
Machado is a talented player who has enjoyed a career year in the year 2018. Machado, 26, drove in 107 runs while slashing .297/.367/.538 which are all career highs. Machado has matched his personal best 37 home runs as well as 70 walks, and his .905 OPS exceeded his earlier career average by 100 points. His 73 defensive runs, as well as 11.3 WAR, saved comprised across seven seasons now, stand head and shoulders right above the woeful fielding stats of Andujar.
