New York Yankees Call Up Juan Miranda, Option Robertson

According to Chad Jennings of the Scranton Times-Tribune, the Yankees called up first baseman Juan Miranda and optioned relief pitcher David Robertson to triple-A Scranton.

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“David Robertson did his job in New York yesterday, then was sent back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for first baseman Juan Miranda, who was called up to serve as Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui insurance.

The Triple-A Yankees still haven’t officially announced the Miranda move, so I don’t know if anyone other than Robertson is coming to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. But, I’ll be at PNC Field in an hour or so. Should know more then.

There are plenty of first base options on the Triple-A roster, including Eric Duncan and Shelley Duncan, each of whom has been hitting pretty well.”

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This did not come as a surprise to me. If you are a regular reader of the blog, you know I pointed out that Miranda was the most likely candidate to get called up. Jennings is right to say that Duncan and Duncan were both options, but they weren’t realistic ones yet.

See, neither of them are on the 40-man roster which is currently full. The Yankees will have room for them on the roster a bit down the road once, or if, they put Xavier Nady on the 60-day DL (which removes him from the 40-man roster).

But with Nady unavailable, Nick Swisher is now the regular right fielder so the Yankees needed a backup first baseman anyways.

Besides, Mark Melancon is going to need a spot on the 40-man roster pretty soon because of the way he’s been pitching. He’s dominating minor leaguers to the point where it’s just unfair. In three appearances he has pitched 5.2 innings, allowed just one hit and had a whopping 11 strike outs.