Early last week, with Alex Rodriguez struggling overall within his chase for
600 homers and Derek Jeter persisting in his worst season in the majors, one Yankees official turned to another and asked if the organization’s best left side of the infield was in Scranton.
It was a lighthearted crack, but not without meaning.
Third baseman Brandon Laird was promoted from Double- to Triple-A and in his first game on Monday went 4-for-4 with two homers and was 8-for-12 in his first three games. Switch-hitting shortstop Eduardo Nunez has maintained an average near .300 average all season.
Are they ever going to be the left side of the Yankees infield? Not unless there is catastrophic injury or Jeter actually leaves as a free agent, which is highly unlikely.
But that does not mean the Yankees do not see a future for the duo that extends beyond the obvious: trade bait. The Yankees already have Nunez playing second or third base two or three times a week, and Nunez has told Yankees officials that the position of his youth and the position he believes he plays best is center field.
Laird is expected to play first base, as well, and is taking balls in the pre-game in right. In addition, he may be sent to the Arizona Fall League to continue his tutorials as a multi-position player.
“For us, these players are blocked,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “Either they learn to play other positions or they cannot play for us.”
In A-Rod, Jeter, Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira, the Yankees have one of the most potent and durable infields in history. These are guys who resist days off and pretty much have to be forced to a DH day or a rest day by manager Joe Girardi. Because of that, Cashman says it is hellish trying to convince good utilitymen to sign with the Yankees in the offseason.
These utilitymen simply do not see the at-bats and worry that they will sit on the bench, rot and then not be able to get a job the following season because they have such meager stats. So the Yankees have been more open and eager to develop their own depth if possible.
Francisco Cervelli, for example, has emerged as the best backup the Yankees have had for Jorge Posada since Girardi. Ramiro Pena does not hit much, but in the thankless job of rarely used backup infielder on the Yankees, he does bring a strong glove.
During last year’s championship season, the Yankees were able to get a lot out of Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner mixing between being the third and fourth outfielders.
Moving forward, the Yankees can envision having some of the better young position players break in as multi-positional reserves with an eye on having the kind of roster flexibility that the Rays enjoy with versatile players such as Willy Aybar, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist.
In fact, the Yankees might unveil a preview in September when rosters expand. They were not able to find a better bat than Pena’s before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31 to serve notably as a backup for Rodriguez. They had been moving Nunez around in anticipation of such a possibility, and the speedy, 23-year-old switch-hitter still is viewed as the first option.
But Laird is pushing himself into consideration. The Yankees know they have to put him on the 40-man roster after the season anyway to shield him from the Rule 5 draft, so they would not be averse to promoting him in September if warranted. He already has sped up his clock. He was only promoted to Triple-A because Scranton had lost two infielders: Reegie Corona, who broke his arm, and Chad Tracy, who used an opt-out clause in his contract to become a free agent.
Laird, though, certainly had put himself on the radar. He did that first when as a 20-year-old he hit 23 homers at Low-A Charleston and then hit 23 more at Double-A Trenton before his call up to Scranton. He has the opposite reputation of his brother Gerald, a Tigers catcher known as a weak hitter and strong defender. Scouts don’t doubt Brandon’s power, but wonder about his athleticism at third base, which also would put into question his ability to move around the diamond.
The Yankees, however, think Laird has excellent baseball instincts because he grew up in a baseball family and lived in the baseball hotbed of northern Orange County. The Yankees project Nunez and Laird as major league starters, which is not the universal feeling in the industry. One scout went as far as to liken Nunez’s shortstop play to that of a young Alfonso Soriano, whose lack of concentration and instincts ultimately led him off that position and eventually to the outfield.
This is a common issue: Outside clubs say the Yankees over-hype their prospects knowing they will use most in trades for more established (expensive) players. The Yankees say that because they are the Yankees, everyone badmouths their prospects. It is clear, however, that this has been a strong year for their system, and there are scenarios in which Nunez, Laird and top prospect Jesus Montero are part of the roster next season, though the Yankees worry — like all organizations — about how prospects used to playing daily will handle a more limited role.
But the Yankees definitely wonder if they could go with Montero, Cervelli and Jorge Posada next year as a catching trio, with Montero and Posada sharing the bulk of the DH at-bats. They wonder if Nunez’s better bat/speed combo could unseat Pena, especially as A-Rod and Jeter age and need more frequent days off. They wonder if they could find 300 at-bats for Laird in the four corners plus DH, believing internally that in a full season, Laird could grow into a 25-homer producer at a time when righty power is depleted in the game.
Of course, it is not a likely scenario — the richest team breaking in three neophytes at once. Nevertheless, the Yankees expect to find few quality backups willing to join their 2011 roster, and so they will look more than ever internally to see if they can unearth answers there.
joel.sherman@nypost.com