Yankees place OF Harrison Bader on waivers: reports

As members of the media stood on the field on Aug. 1, Harrison Bader approached with a question.

“Am I still on this team?” the Yankees’ centerfielder asked roughly an hour before the trade deadline. He then jogged away laughing at his own joke.

The Yankees chose not to trade the veteran a year after acquiring him from the Cardinals. With the team still within striking distance of a Wild Card spot at the time, the Yanks didn’t do much of anything.

Now, however, the Yankees are a sub-.500 club and far out of the playoff chase. Which is why the team has placed Bader on waivers, according to Newsday’s Erik Boland.

The news came hours after the Yankees, focused on evaluating their younger players, released third baseman Josh Donaldson. However, Bader was in Tuesday’s lineup in Detroit.

The 29-year-old is an impending free agent. A playoff contender could claim Bader and pay him less than $1 million for the rest of the season. With a handful of players about to change uniforms, one must be part of an organization by 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 in order to be eligible for the postseason.

The Yankees acquired Bader in a buzzer-beating deal for Jordan Montgomery last summer. The move came as a surprise, but the Yankees wanted Bader’s elite defense in the middle of their outfield, and they didn’t think they would need Montgomery in their postseason rotation.

Since the trade, the left-handed Montgomery has been better than the middle of the rotation to backend starter he was in New York while pitching for St. Louis and Texas. The 30-year-old is also an impending free agent.

Montgomery had a 3.31 ERA over 32 starts for the Cardinals before they traded him to the Rangers on July 30. He has a 2.30 ERA over five starts for Texas.

Bader, meanwhile, gave the Yankees the defense they craved, but injuries have limited the Bronxville native’s time in pinstripes. His bat hasn’t been great, either, despite some scorching stretches that included five home runs in the 2022 playoffs.

Bader has been struggling mightily at the plate lately, as he entered Tuesday’s game hitting .207/.270/.256 since August began. Bader was slashing .242/.279/.370 with seven home runs, 37 RBI and 16 stolen bases over 82 games this season.

He’s hit .239 /.274/.358 with seven homers and 46 RBI over 96 regular-season games since joining the Yankees, the team he grew up rooting for. Bader didn’t debut for the Yankees until mid-September last year, as they acquired him while he was still recovering from plantar fasciitis.

While Bader hasn’t hit well, he has had success against southpaws this season, hitting .365 over 69 plate appearances. Any team that claims him, however, will do so for his glove and his speed, which could make a huge difference in the playoffs.

With Bader likely on his way out, the Yankees could give Everson Pereira some looks in center field, though Aaron Boone has suggested that his future is in left. They could also promote center field prospect Jasson Domínguez, who only recently arrived at Triple-A but is off to a hot start there.

Just 20 years old, Domínguez is considered the Yankees’ second-best prospect, according to MLB.com. Spencer Jones, another center fielder, is No. 1, but he just got to Double-A.

The Yankees haven’t ruled out Domínguez making his debut this year. That was before Bader hit the waiver wire, and rosters expand on Sept. 1.

Austin Wells is another candidate for a call-up, but he is a catcher.