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Adeiny Hechavarria is almost a throwback, a defense-first infielder. Whether as a Blue Jay, Marlin, Pirate or Yankee, he's turned in solid glovework. That .980 fielding percentage speaks rather loudly.

The Yankees brought him aboard late in 2018, to provide dependable late inning defense. You noticed that in both the Wild Card game and ALDS, he entered mid-game because Aaron Boone trusted his glove more than that of Miguel Andujar.

With Didi Gregorius expected to miss roughly half of 2019, there's been buzz about the Yankees looking at Manny Machado as the short term replacement. But he'll cost a mountain of money. If the Yankees expoect Didi back, even by August, wouldn't a good glove man, who can easily slide back to a utility role, be easier on the wallet?

Keep in mind, the Yankees come into 2019 with Aaron Judge, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton and hopefully, a return to form from Gary Sanchez. They'll have no trouble scoring runs in the regular season with or without Machado.

Without committing $300 million for 10 years, or even $200 mill over seven to Manny, could the Yankees save that room under the luxury tax to handle a bigger priority, such as starting pitcher or even another lefty bat?

(My image of Hechavarria is from the Yankees/Tigers game on September 1st, 2018.)


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