Cashman's About To Ship Out Peraza

Oswald Peraza is giving everything he has, and for that, he deserves our respect. Sure, he’s stumbled, but he’s a hard-working, dependable player and—dare I say it—a better defensive shortstop than Anthony Volpe. But let’s be real, that doesn’t matter to the Yankees. Peraza doesn’t have the “face,” he’s not the marketable golden boy they want, and that’s why his ticket out of town is practically stamped. How do I know? Because Brian Cashman drops breadcrumbs, and they’re the poisonous kind.

Cashman recently said Peraza is having a “good camp” in his eyes and admitted that the former top prospect is still in the mix to make the team. But then, when asked about Pablo Reyes, Cashman called the utility man the “predominant” right-handed bat. Translation: Peraza is already a number 2 guy on the depth chart, which is as good as a pink slip in this organization.

And right on cue, the Yankees trotted out the puppet of puppets, Aaron “No Championships” Boone, to reinforce the message. Boone, doing his best parrot impersonation, said of Peraza: “Struggled a little bit over the last week or two offensively after a good start [to camp] offensively. I think he’s been really good defensively. I’ve loved how he’s looked at third … but it’s been up and down a little bit offensively.”

You know who else is “up and down” offensively? Anthony Volpe. The golden boy batted .208 this spring in 17 games. Peraza? .174 in 19 games. Both are putting up Joey Gallo numbers, so what exactly is Boone’s point? At this stage, it’s a roll of the dice if we were choosing between those 2, but the Yankees have already decided who gets the benefit of the doubt. Spoiler alert: it’s not Peraza. Just like poor Dominic Smith, Peraza is spinning his wheels in a game that’s already been decided. Smith opted out, got the hell out of there… he knew the writing was on the wall. 

So, what happens now between Reyes and Peraza? The Yankees will pretend to let it play out, but the reality is, they’ve picked their guy. And it’s Reyes—I can feel it. If the final decision is between those two, Peraza is in trouble.

Look, I don’t want to prematurely ship Peraza off—he’s my guy. But much like Gleyber Torres before him, the Yankees hold certain players to a standard of perfection while letting others skate by because their minds are already made up. Reyes this Spring is the better player this is true, but Peraza has enormous heart and can get there. 

The truth? Peraza, the player with no options left, is probably gone. And when he succeeds elsewhere, just remember it didn’t have to be this way.