{"id":572970,"date":"2026-02-14T23:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/572970\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T23:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:04:13","slug":"final-roster-spot-for-the-yankees-may-be-tough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/572970\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Roster Spot for the Yankees May Be Tough"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Yankees<\/a> are rolling with pitchers and catchers down in Florida. Soon, the full operation will take place, and the rosters will become more solidified. The fight for a roster spot could prevail between Jasson Dominguez<\/a> and Oswaldo Cabrera<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Yankees return the same roster<\/a> to the field as they did in 2025, plus a few small additions. Improving the pitching staff with a signing, while the offense has stayed the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The club does have an influx of options around the field. Therefore, there will be a decision to be made by the end of spring training. Who will crack the final roster spot between Dominguez and Cabrera?<\/p>\n

Yankees Have Made Roster Additions That Affect Both Dominguez and Cabrera<\/p>\n

The few roster additions that were made speaks loud about the potential future status of certain players.\u00a0 The club retained a few roster-fillers and bench guys to be able to satisfy lineup and defensive depth. Amed Rosario<\/a> was one of them; he\u2019ll back up the outfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The big signing the Yankees completed later than they would\u2019ve liked is Cody Bellinger<\/a>. There was no shot that the team would walk away from getting one of Bellinger or Kyle Tucker<\/a> in the offseason market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brian Cashman and his office understood that they needed that offensive certainty in the lineup. Bellinger showed up above satisfactory last year and meshed in the Bronx. Hitting from the left side with consistency and power at Yankee Stadium is extremely valuable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This puts Bellinger and Aaron Judge<\/a> under the spotlight of the outfield. Who\u2019s the third guy? The Yankees decided to go back to Trent Grisham<\/a>, retaining him in the free agent market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The return of the outfielder was a bit surprising, but there may be more intent for his return. It\u2019s expected that he\u2019d be a starter.\u00a0 Who does this affect? Right now, it\u2019s not looking great for Dominguez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rosario will be on the back end, and that\u2019s almost set in stone. However, the Yankees have signed one more player who is more of a threat. Max Schuemann<\/a> was recently acquired from a trade with the Athletics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schuemann is a primary third baseman, but he\u2019s able to fill in at second base, as well as the outfield. If anything, he\u2019ll fit in more at second base. This signing will put both Cabrera and Dominguez at risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a> will continue to be the starting second baseman for the Yankees.<\/p>\n

Oswaldo Cabrera Versus Jasson Dominguez<\/p>\n

Cabrera and Dominguez could very well be fighting for that last roster spot this spring training. Both of these guys are utility type players, especially with the rise of Grisham, and the addition of Chisholm Jr and Ryan McMahon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both players could also be on the trade-block up until spring training. They hold value still and could be collateral to fill any further holes. At the end of the day, one of these players will stay. Who should that player be?<\/p>\n

Cabrera has one more year of Major League experience than Dominguez. He\u2019s been on the back-burner a lot due to the nature of the starting lineup. Cabrera brings a lot of depth to the roster, given his ability to play numerous positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cabrera had 107 at bats in 2025 with a batting average of .243, an on-base percentage of .322, and a .308 slugging percentage. He can get the job done, and perform in situational baseball, however his longevity ceiling is not there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dominguez isn\u2019t far ahead of Cabrera. He brings a stronger bat with power, and is more consistent. He also brings good defensive traits. When on base he\u2019s a menace; an effective base-stealer that puts the team in a better winning position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it comes down to the two options to fill a roster spot, Dominguez may be the better fit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Yankees are rolling with pitchers and catchers down in Florida. Soon, the full operation will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2376],"tags":[106,1348,5,1365,3289,1363,29,4,1690,62,2548,2547,1364,1494,122,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-572970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-amed-rosario","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-cody-bellinger","12":"tag-jasson-dominguez","13":"tag-jazz-chisholm-jr","14":"tag-kyle-tucker","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-yankees","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkyankees","20":"tag-oswaldo-cabrera","21":"tag-ryan-mcmahon","22":"tag-trent-grisham","23":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116071488989499057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}