This is your last chance, Brian.

New York Yankees v Chicago White Sox / Matt Dirksen/GettyImages

When rosters expand in September, the New York Yankees should be more focused on departures rather than additions. One can assume Jasson Dominguez is getting the call along with another pitcher, but it might be best for Brian Cashman and the front office to make meaningful personnel swaps.

Dominguez should be starting right now, but we guess for clerical purposes it won’t be until Sept. 1. At that point, there should be no debate over the Martian taking over a starting job and getting everyday reps.

Then, remember, there are players returning from injury. Jazz Chisholm, Anthony Rizzo, Jon Berti, Clarke Schmidt, Ian Hamilton, Nick Burdi, Lou Trivino and Cody Poteet are also coming back. That means a number of guys will have to go.

But guess what? It shouldn’t just be players like Oswald Peraza, Ben Rice and the obvious bullpen fodder departing the roster. In fact, we’d argue for Peraza to stay as a formidable defensive replacement.

The Yankees should do what they should’ve done at the trade deadline: get rid of underperforming players who are dragging the roster down and failing to make an impact with the final month of the season approaching. If Cashman had a semblance of the guts, he’d be purposeful here.

Yankees who should be placed on waivers if Brian Cashman actually cared at all

Honorable Mention: DJ LeMahieu

But nobody is taking on that money.

Gleyber Torres

We are quite frankly done beating the dead horse that is Gleyber Torres’ Yankees tenure. The fact of the matter is that the Yankees have given him chance after chance since 2020 and he’s let them down year after year, for the most part.

In 2024, he’s batting .235 with a .657 OPS and 84 OPS+. Not. Good. He’s rewarded the Yankees’ faith with one of the worst contract years you’ll ever see, and it’s even more depressing because he wants to re-sign in New York. But he leads all second baseman in errors and has contributed a -0.8 dWAR on top of his well-below-average offensive performance.

Send him to waivers, see if another team will pick him up for the last month of the season, save some cash, and put either Jazz Chisholm or Oswaldo Cabrera at second base if it happens. That’s an upgrade, no matter how you splice the numbers.

Alex Verdugo

Are we done here? We’re done here. Verdugo barked his way onto the scene for the first month of 2024 and then disappeared in what’s felt like wallowing in self pity. The energy is lost. The effort feels like it’s not there. The body language is terrible. The postgame responses are sad.

He’s joined the Jake Bauers/Billy McKinney/Willie Calhoun/Joey Gallo/Franchy Cordero/Estevan Florial/whoever else you can think of territory. And he’s getting paid a lot more. He was supposed to be a meaningful addition that lengthened the Yankees lineup and instead he’s on pace to put up one of the worst seasons in history an age-28 outfielder.

Ditch Verdugo, let someone pick him up to see if they can unlock something for 2025, and put Dominguez in the outfield. Jazz Chisholm and Oswaldo Cabrera can be your emergency fourth outfielders if need be because we’re sending somebody else packing, too.

Trent Grisham

Even though Trent Grisham has been serviceable, he’s barreling towards non-tender territory. So why not just … get ahead of it? He offers value as a very good defensive center fielder and solid lefty power bat. It’s not like he’ll have a nonexistent market. And again, the Yankees can save money.

Grisham has been the face of ineptitude far too many times for a backup in 2024. That should say enough. The latest incident came on Tuesday night when he was waffling around the bases during an Austin Wells double. It wasn’t totally his fault because third base coach Luis Rojas initially gave him the stop sign, but that was likely because Grisham wasn’t giving maximum effort while not paying attention to his coach around the turn.

What would’ve been the game-winning run turned into Grisham getting tagged out at the plate by a mile. He misplayed a ball on Sunday Night Baseball against the Tigers. His bat has gone quiet. His bobbling efforts against the Reds in July were honestly enough. That should’ve been “it.”

With all three of these guys out of the picture, the Yankees could go with this lineup/bench for position players:

C Austin Wells
RF Juan Soto
CF Aaron Judge
DH Giancarlo Stanton
2B Jazz Chisholm
LF Jasson Dominguez
1B Anthony Rizzo (we guess)
SS Anthony Volpe
3B Oswald Peraza

Bench: Jose Trevino (C), Oswaldo Cabrera (2B, SS, 3B, OF), Jon Berti (2B, 3B, SS) and Ben Rice (1B)

Not convinced this is an upgrade? Well, here are all the stats for you:

DJ LeMahieu — .189 AVG., .512 OPS, 45 OPS+
Gleyber Torres — .235 AVG., .657 OPS, 84 OPS+
Alex Verdugo — .230 AVG., .649 OPS, 81 OPS+
Trent Grisham — .190 AVG., .674 OPS, 88 OPS+

All far below league-average. None figure to be in the 2025 (or beyond) plans. Time for a shakeup to send a message before the most important postseason since 2009.