Are they still thinking Frazier is eventually going to play, or are they going to try the Andujar move regardless of Machado and Harper? How is the pipeline at 3d vs. corner OF?
I think Frazier is a "wait and see" kind of thing. As of today, their 2019 outfield is Gardner-Hicks-Judge with Stanton playing in LF or RF on days he doesn't DH. Ellsbury is still expected to contribute as well - my thing is, they're paying Ellsbury $20 million a year, Stanton $20 million a year, Sabathia will be back at mid-$10 million number, Tanaka is getting $20 million, Chapman $15 million. Are they really adding in another huge contract when Judge, Severino, Sanchez, Didi and Torres are all cheap? And they need starters?
I think Andujar will play 3B if they don't sign anyone but I expect he was told to try to learn LF or 1B to give them some options.
Pipeline at 3B is weaker than OF but Torres does have experience there if needed. After Andujar and Torres there aren't any middle infield impact players in the pipeline coming up soon (Estrada profiles as a solid utility guy, at least) so I think Machado makes a lot of sense. Plus - outfielders are way easier to find than impact SS/3B.
It's going to be really interesting to see what they do now that Boston won. They will want to make their move.
