DUNEDIN, Fla. — With one game left in their Grapefruit League season, the Yankees still have some question marks on their roster.
Opening Day starting shortstop does not appear to be one of them, even in the absence of Didi Gregorius, who is out until May with a shoulder injury.
Ronald Torreyes was there again Wednesday in a 3-1 win over the Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium and went 1-for-3, replaced later in the game by Pete Kozma.
While the Yankees have much higher hopes for 20-year-old wunderkind Gleyber Torres than for Torreyes, general manager Brian Cashman defended the decision again — while leaving the door open for Torres’ MLB debut at some point this season.
“I would never deny a player the opportunity to get to a higher level,” Cashman said by phone. “He could defy all odds, but he’s just starting his journey.”
And that journey will begin with Double-A Trenton and will no doubt soon take him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Bronx is another matter, and Cashman said he won’t let injuries dictate how quickly Torres might move up the system.
“If I wanted to use an injury as a reason to get him up higher, I would do that right now,” Cashman said, referring to the Gregorius injury. “But that’s not the plan we have for him.”
And there’s no plan in place to get Torres to the majors this season.
“If he proves he’s a man among boys, then we’ll deal with that,” Cashman said. “We’re not gonna hold him back. But there’s no timeline of how soon we want to get him up here.”
That leaves Torreyes, 24, to fill in for the next month after Tyler Wade was reassigned to minor league camp on Wednesday, with Kozma as a likely backup.
Starlin Castro remained at second against Toronto, and he continues to believe Torreyes — who had been ticketed for a utility role prior to Gregorius going down while playing for the Netherlands during the World Baseball Classic — is up for the regular job.
“He’s gonna be good out there,” Castro said of Torreyes, who started 11 games at short a year ago with the Yankees. “He’s a good player and he plays hard. I’m gonna be on top of him every day.”
While there had been a thought Castro could shift over to short until Gregorius’ return, Castro said he would prefer to stay at second.
“I like being in one spot,” Castro said. “We’ll see what happens. I’ve taken some ground balls [at short], just in case, but that’s for if we need to double-switch [during a game].”
Manager Joe Girardi simply said of Torreyes: “He’s playing a lot. He’s gonna play a lot.”
As will Torres, just not in the majors — yet.
“You never know what’s gonna happen over the course of a season,” Cashman said. “The same is true for [James] Kaprielian. We have a lot of belief in these guys, but not at the expense of putting them somewhere we’re not sure they belong just because they’ve shown some good things. We have to keep the longer view in mind.”