The Yankees had plenty on their minds Thursday after whiffing badly in their first two Bronx attempts to close out the Orioles for the AL East title. One thing they didn’t seem particularly alarmed about — at least not immediately — was continuing to play the defensively suspect Jasson Dominguez in leftfield, as he started there again for the series finale, the Yankees’ magic number still teetering at one. Manager Aaron Boone has yet to reveal what would be the tipping point for Dominguez to lose his slippery grip on the position to the incumbent Alex Verdugo.
But put it this way: The Yankees are being awfully forgiving when it comes to their highly touted outfield prospect. And that patience can’t last forever, especially with October right around the corner. For now, the Martian seems safe, and Boone didn’t dismiss the idea that the Yankees could even shuffle their outfield alignment to better accommodate Dominguez, who has the bulk of his minor-league experience in center.
That would shift Aaron Judge back to rightfield and slide Juan Soto to the other corner spot in left, where he’s made only six starts this year (but has spent more than half his career playing) When the concept was pitched to Boone before Thursday’s game, and he was asked if they had considered it, the manager replied, “Not yet.” Potentially in the near future? “We’ll see,” Boone said. That’s probably the most extreme measure to save Dominguez’s job: Uprooting Judge as he wr.