Yankees acquire Kendrys Morales to cover for injuries
The New York Yankees are desperate for warm bodies who can pop a couple home runs. To cover for their rash of injuries, the Yankees acquired designated hitter Kendrys Morales on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old Morales was designated for assignment by the Oakland Athletics on Monday. He’s hitting .204/.310/.259 over 126 plate appearances.
While Morales’ performance has left a lot to be desired, the Yankees are just looking for useful pieces at this point. The team has been decimated by injuries thus far, and has lost a lot of power because of it.
Miguel Andújar, Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — among many others — are all currently on the Injured List. The updates on both Andújar and Stanton haven’t exactly been promising, either.
With so many Yankees down, Morales should slot in as the team’s designated hitter immediately.
Given Morales’ advanced metrics, he could see his numbers rebound with New York. His contact rates are up, his strikeout rate is down and he hasn’t shown a drastic decline in hard-hit rate.
Even with improvement, Morales is unlikely to suddenly turn into an All-Star. He hit .249/.331/.438 over 471 plate appearances last season. He might be able to produce something close to that in New York.
For now, that’s good enough for the Yankees. Despite all the injuries, the team is still 24-16. They just need Morales to do enough until their big sluggers return.
Morales should be able to give them that.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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