Saturday night against the Rays, the Yankees had a ninth-inning chance to take the lead. They turned to Randal Grichuk, and he swung at the first pitch he saw and popped it to center field.
It was another empty trip for Grichuk, who is 0-for-10 to open the season and has not reached base once. The Yankees have used him in pinch-hit and pinch-run situations, but the early returns have done little to change how he is viewed: a streaky right-handed bat with pull-side power against left-handed pitching, not a player who can carry a bench role with on-base ability or bat-to-ball skill.
That matters because the Yankees do not have much room to work with on the bench, which makes Grichuk one of the first names available when a late inning opens up. Against Tampa Bay, that role came with the game on the line, and the first-pitch popup was the kind of result that can decide whether a short-term matchup piece keeps getting chances.
The alternative already exists in the system. Jasson Dominguez was hitting.347/.389/.673 through 17 games with Scranton, with four home runs, 11 RBIs and a 166 wRC+. But the Yankees have preferred to give him daily at-bats in the minors rather than a major-league bench role, and his defense in left field remains a legitimate concern.
That leaves the Yankees with a familiar tradeoff. Grichuk can be deployed in the spots that fit his profile, especially against left-handed pitching, while Dominguez keeps forcing the issue with production in Triple-A. For now, the club is choosing the player it can match up with over the one it might have to hide.
