What to Du about Miguel?

For the second-straight opening day, Miguel Andujar’s name won’t be on the lineup card. It’s a fact that seemed unfathomable two years ago when the then 24-year-old was coming off a Rookie of the Year-caliber season and batting fifth against the Orioles to open the 2019 season.

From what we all thought would be a franchise cornerstone to afterthought – the fall is pretty remarkable. But maybe worse than that, does it really matter to anyone that he's not going to be in the Bronx this week?

A hand injury derailed Andujar this spring however the results prior had been disappointing at best with him hitting just .133 with two hits (both singles) in 15 at bats – a limited sample but a far cry from the extra-base machine he manifested himself as in 2018 when 44 percent of his hits were good for at least two bases.

Even before the poor performance and injury though, his role on this year’s version of the Yankees was tenuous when camp opened with no real path to regular at bats. Third base is no longer a competition – it hasn’t been since Gio Urshela Wally Pipp’d Andujar with a big 2019 and followed it up with a strong (albeit shortened) 2020. And Aaron Boone intentionally made sure to name Clint Frazier the everyday man in left as early as Feb. 21 (if left was ever a realistic option).

So what do you do with Du?

A trade is the go-to answer amongst fans. Given what Andujar has shown the ability to produce, the easy assumption is that he’d fetch a solid return on the open market. But the reality of Andujar’s value on the field is that he’s coming off, essentially, two lost years in-a-row and has not provided any indication that his 2019 performance is the expectation if healthy (or that he can even stay healthy).

The biggest asset that Andujar has going for him is his team control – and if there’s one thing that Brian Cashman values, it’s team control. The rightly will hit arbitration for the first time after this season but can’t become a free agent until 2025. So unless the trade market appears out of nowhere (it won’t), expect that the Yankees will hold onto him and roll the dice that he regains form and turns into the player they thought he was going to be. It's the right direction to go.

Best case scenario – Andujar rebounds and makes it hard for the Yankees to keep him out of the lineup and/or gives the team a valuable trade piece.

Worst case scenario – Andujar can’t stay healthy and/or doesn’t find his way to regular major league at bats, keeping his trade value low.

We know the beginning of the Andujar story, it’s going to be a little while until we know the ending.