Jesus Montero: Why the New York Yankees Won't Keep Him Beyond 2012

I don't think it's such a given that the New York Yankees will hold onto their best young player, Jesus Montero long term.

Montero is well-known for his offensive abilities, having shown them briefly last season, but he's also well-known for his defensive ineptitude. He figures to be the team's DH to start the season, most likely making a spot start at catcher every now and then.

It isn't known if Montero will try and learn other positions, but he might want to if he hopes to remain with the Bronx Bombers.

But where could he learn to play?

First base is already taken and will be for a long time. Mark Teixeira still has another five years left on his deal and is too good defensively to sit on the bench in favor of Montero at first base on any given day.

He certainly isn't known for having any speed or a knowledge of playing the outfield, so we can cancel that out.

And he isn't good enough defensively to take the reins full-time at catcher.

So unless the Yankees want their former top prospect to be a career DH, they must help him improve defensively at whatever position they choose for him.

It'll be difficult to keep Montero at DH full-time, which will force him to the bench because of his inability to do much defensively. It's no secret the Yankees have plenty of aging stars on their roster who will be in need of a half a day off at DH, keeping their important bats in the lineup.

Expect guys like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter to take the majority of the time at DH in 2012 with other players sprinkled in here and there along the way.

I don't believe there will be much of a future for Montero on the Yankees roster unless his defensive situation changes. The Yankees have too many needs for the DH spot in the order moving forward to have it tied up with just one player.

If I had to guess, I'd say Montero is on a trial run in 2012 to show teams that he is worth giving up a top pitcher whose salary is too rich for them to continue to keep.

Other teams will have a different situation than the Yankees unique need for the DH slot to be open for multiple players. That's not to say another team, or even the Yankees for that matter, couldn't develop Montero into a better player with the glove, but there are several other teams who can afford to have their DH wrapped up by one player.

If you want to talk about making a major trade for a major pitcher, that conversation will start with Montero's name before any other player as a throw-in for a deal that will bring in a big-time pitcher.

After all, that is the Yankees biggest need. Without Montero for the majority of 2011, the Yankees still finished among the top of the MLB in every offensive category.

The more and more you break it down, it just seems unlikely that Montero will have much of a future in pinstripes.

Besides, the Yankees never have a problem bringing in more offense if they need to. It's been their pitching that has been the most difficult to improve and Montero is the No. 1 piece the Yanks need to move to accomplish that goal.