Yankees call up George Lombard Jr., dump Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez | What it means
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — The Yankees overhauled up their roster after missing out on upgrading their bullpen and catching tandem before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline.
After new first baseman Luis Garcia Jr. went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBI in his Yankees debut, a 13-7 loss to the Cardinals, the club announced bombshell changes on social media:
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-- Shortstop George Lombard Jr., the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect, is headed to the big leagues for the first time.
-- Shortstop Anthony Volpe, outfielder Jasson Dominguez and reliever Angel Chivilli were optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Wow!
There’s a lot to unpack here.
First, this appears to be a change of the guard at shortstop with Lombard coming up and Volpe, the starter for most of the last four seasons, sent to the minors for the second time this season.
Also, the Yankees had to cut an outfielder to make room for Heliot Ramos, who was acquired in a trade with the Giants on Monday, and they opted to keep rookie Spencer Jones over Jasson Dominguez.
Chivilli had been hot since rejoining the Yankees in a July 5 call-up from Triple-A, but the right-hander was torched on Monday. He allowed six eighth-inning runs on three homers right after his club scored four in the seventh to pull ahead 7-6.
The Yankees will add a reliever to replace Chivilli before Tuesday night’s game.
Lombard’s call up was expected soon because he’s been very hot since he returned from a hand injury that had him on the injured list from June 18 to July 11.
Over Lombard’s last 16 games, he’s hitting .393 with four homers and eight RBI. On Sunday, he was 4-for-5 with a double, triple and three RBI in Scranton’s 13-3 win over the Iowa Cubs.
“I think he’s had an outstanding year,” manager Aaron Boone said of Lombard before last Saturday’s Yankees-Cubs game. “I think he’s gotten better. I think he continues to show a ton of promise. Obviously, we love the kid and the makeup.
“Any of your minor league players or prospects, you want to see them develop and get better, and I think in George’s case, obviously a high-profile one, that’s continued to happen. It’s a testament to his work ethic and just his talent.”
It will be interesting to see if Volpe only plays shortstop with Scranton. That’s been his only position in the majors, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he also starts games at second base and third base. That would make him more versatile if he gets back to the Yankees at some point and potentially increases his trade value, which isn’t much now.
In 40 games with the Yankees this season, Volpe hit .240 with one homer, 19 RBI and a .647 OPS. For his career, he’s a .224 hitter in 528 games from 2023-26.
Before Monday’s game, the Yankees optioned infielder/outfielder Max Schuemann to open up a roster spot for Garcia, who was acquired for four pitchers on Sunday. The left-handed hitter continued his breakout season in his first Yankees game, going 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his 24th in 105 games this season.
Jones is still with the Yankees because he’s contributed more than Dominguez has at the plate and in the field since left fielder Cody Bellinger joined right fielder Aaron Judge on the injured list on July 26.
Jones is hitting .228 with five homers and 13 RBI in 40 games, while Dominguez is batting .230 with six homers and 14 RBI in 53 games.
Jones is 0-for-8 in his last two games, but before that, he was 6-for-13 with three homers and five RBI in five games.
Defensively, Jones is a much better than Dominguez, whose outfield woes continued last weekend when he made a couple blunders playing right field at Wrigley Field.
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