Looking At The Roster Expansion Call-Up Candidates

In less than 3 days the regular season will move into its final month, and with the calendar page flip will come the yearly expansion of the active rosters.  The Yankees, unsurprisingly still battling a ton of injuries and still looking to make any marginal upgrade they can to improve their playoff chances, figure to be one of the teams most likely to call up a lot of players.  At least on paper they do.  There are plenty of players who could help the Yankees in some capacity down the stretch, it's just that so many of them happen to be among the injured.  I know, ain't that a B?  There really isn't as much available on the current 40-man as you might think, so here's a quick preview of who will, may, and may not get called up to the show this Sunday.


Pitchers:

Dellin Betances- Has been up and down twice already this season, and wasn't exactly impressive in his last outing, but this is the final chance for the Yankees to see if Betances can be a real option for the 'pen next year and it's a sure bet they'll use it.  He's still striking out a ton of guys in Triple-A.  If he can tighten up his fastball command, he'll do the same in the Majors.

Preston Claiborne- The Yankees had to get creative to leave themselves the option of recalling Claiborne quicker than the usual 10-day rule allows, so they assigned him to High-A Tampa.  He'll re-assume an important middle relief role the minute he's recalled.

Brett Marshall- Has had a disastrous season, both as a starter in Triple-A (5.13 ERA/4.62 FIP in 138.2 IP) and a reliever in the Majors (5 ER allowed in 5.2 IP).  He's also been better in the last 2 months than he was in the first 3 and has allowed 1 ER or fewer in 5 of this last 7 Triple-A starts.  He'll give Joe another longman/mop-up guy option if there are blowout games.

Position Players:

David Adams- You can never have too much left infield depth when A-Rod, Jeter, and Eduardo are around, especially with Nix on the shelf.

Melky Mesa- Had been raking in Triple-A after his cup of coffee in the Majors and would have been a no-brainer call-up decision if he hadn't injured his hamstring last night.  He pulled up lame running the bases and there hasn't been a diagnosis of how serious the injury is, so maybe he'll be another who's not available.

Travis Hafner- Haven't heard much about him since he hit the DL with more shoulder problems.  According to Mark Polishuk of The Post, he just started hitting off a tee again and could start taking BP by the end of the week.  Have to think there's not much left in the tank there, but maybe he's good for a homer or 2 if (big if) he's able to make it back.

Off The 40-Man:

Chase Whitley- Righty SWB reliever and perennial call-up option who gets passed over.  He projects as a lesser pitcher than Claiborne at the Major League level, so probably only gets called up if injuries or extreme overwork necessitates it.

Cesar Cabral- Rule 5 LOOGY from last year has spent all season working his way back from his fractured elbow.  Could get a small audition for Logan's replacement next year.

Alberto Gonzalez- This team cannot have just 1 active shortstop on the roster, especially one as physically iffy as Jeter, and that may be the case if Nunez's MRI comes back bad later today.

Bobby Wilson- The Yanks need a 3rd catcher; that's a must when rosters expand.  I just don't see them pushing J.R. Murphy up to that role.  There's nothing to be gained from it.  Wilson is the perfect type of "break in case of emergency" backup catcher.

Dan Johnson- Emergency lefty bat option if Hafner can't make it back and Overbay gets hurt.

Ronnier Mustelier- The most intriguing option and the one that fans/prospect huggers would be most excited about.  Musty has been RAKING these last few weeks for the RailRiders.  He went 3-6 with 2 doubles last night after ripping off a string of 5 straight games and 6 out of 7 with at least 2 hits.  He's finally healthy and he can swing the bat.  Don't know how many chances he'd get if the team is still in playoff contention though.  Might have to wait until next Spring Training.

As you can see, there's little to no high-impact help coming from the Minors when rosters expand on Sunday.  Michael Pineda, David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, Zoilo Almonte, Mark Montgomery, Jose Ramirez, and Jayson Nix would all be better options if they weren't all hurt.  Those players aside, Yankees are as healthy as they've been all year (Cano's hand notwithstanding) and they're going to win or lose with that 25-man group they've got.  I'm sure they don't want to have to make another 40-man move to call up anybody from that last group, but if they do it should be as simple as moving Nix to the 60-day.  Wouldn't surprise me at all if that move came today to call up Gonzalez.  All in all, it's looking like it won't be a very exciting roster expansion this September.  Shame too.  Would have been fun to see guys like Montgomery, Ramirez, or even ManBan if they were healthy.