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HOUSTON — DJ LeMahieu’s foot injury late in camp was a blow for both the Yankees and their veteran third baseman, who they believed was primed for a big season.
But the injury also created a domino effect that has the Yankees searching for bench help with the back end of their roster still unsettled heading toward Thursday’s Opening Day against the Astros.
Oswaldo Cabrera was in line to fill a super utility role, but LeMahieu’s absence — which will last at least through the Yankees’ seven-game road trip to open the season — means Cabrera is currently likely to get most of the action at third base.
The only problem with that — other than the fact that Cabrera is much more of a question mark offensively than LeMahieu, who was set to hit leadoff — is that Cabrera was going to offer the Yankees insurance at shortstop, third base and first base.
Other positions, too, but if Cabrera is holding down third base, the Yankees suddenly do not have a legitimate backup at those three positions.
“We got two more spots to fill,” Aaron Boone said Monday before the Yankees wrapped up their two-game series in Mexico City. “The final iteration isn’t done. We’ll see.”
The Yankees brought Jahmai Jones and Ben Rortvedt with them to Houston, but without the guarantee they would be on the Opening Day roster.
Boone said the Yankees are most comfortable with Jones at second base and left field and could play him at third base if they were in a pinch, but it did not sound optimal.
Rortvedt, meanwhile, would represent a third catcher behind Austin Wells and Jose Trevino.
He is out of minor league options, so it is possible the Yankees could keep him on the roster the first few days of the season before trying to sneak him through waivers for a chance to retain him at Triple-A — similar to what they did last season with Estevan Florial.
Jones and Rortvedt’s awkward potential fit as the last two bench pieces make it likely the Yankees, before Thursday, either swing a trade or sign a player who got cut or opted out elsewhere.
As the team broke camp on Monday, that was among its most pressing dilemmas.
For a club that boasts a luxury-tax payroll of around $306 million — the third-highest in the game — the Yankees still left spring training with plenty of question marks.
Among them:
Do they have enough pitching to hold down the fort without Gerrit Cole?
The reigning AL Cy Young award winner is expected to miss at least the first two months of the season with nerve inflammation in his elbow.
Without him, Luis Gil won the job for the fifth starter with an impressive spring that went beyond the Yankees’ expectations given that he has not pitched in the big leagues since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022.
But Cole’s absence really puts more of a burden on Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes to pitch like the All-Stars they have been in the past and Clarke Schmidt to take another step up.
Rodon, Stroman and Cortes passed the first test by having a healthy spring after battling injuries last year. Now they need to perform.
Spring training results can be quite deceiving, whether good or bad. So how much of a grain of salt is to be taken with Stanton, following an offseason in which he got lighter and tweaked his swing, hitting .317 with a 1.028 OPS?
The Yankees don’t need Stanton to be an MVP. They would sign up for him avoiding the IL and not being a black hole in the middle of the lineup.
Are Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo truly past their spring physical concerns?
Judge went 10 days in between games this month as he dealt with an abdominal issue that he and the Yankees said was no big deal.
That seemed to be the case based on Judge playing four of the final six games.
They took a similar approach on Rizzo’s right lat, which cost him three days before he played in Monday’s Grapefruit League finale.
The Yankees need both key bats to be in the lineup regularly to reach their potential as an offense.
