Why recent Yankees trades are ‘terrifying,’ says announcer

There’s something about the Yankees adding three outfielders at the Winter Meetings that’s leaving YES play-by-play announcer Michael Kay worried.

After adding Juan Soto and Trent Grisham from the Padres, and Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox this week, New York suddenly has a log jam in the outfield. This scares Kay, who also hosts “The Michael Kay Show” on ESPN New York.

“There is one aspect of both deals that they made during the winter meetings that comes close to terrifying me. … I don’t feel comfortable with Aaron Judge in center field,” Kay said on Thursday.

This comes after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters on Thursday that Judge would be the team’s Opening Day center fielder if the season started tomorrow.

Former Yankees hitting coach Sean Casey also expressed trepidation over Judge playing center field on “The Mayor’s Office” podcast on Wednesday, adding that it would add too much wear and tear on the former MVP.

“I trust Brian Cashman knows it’s probably not optimum to have Aaron Judge play 100 games in center and that something is going to be done,” Kay continued. “Maybe they end up spinning Verdugo for pitching – I don’t know. Because the best setup for the Yankees defensively is to put Trent Grisham in center and Judge and Soto in whichever corner you decide to put them in.”

Grisham, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, is undoubtedly the best defensive outfielder on the team. He outranks Judge, Soto and Verdugo in outs above average and range runs above average, a stat that describes how the fielder can get to balls hit in his vicinity.

He’s also the one with the most experience at center field — he’s logged more than 4,000 innings in center, significantly more than Judge, Soto and Verdugo combined.

The problem is that he compares to someone like Joey Gallo – an elite defender with a low batting average who strikes out too much. Last season, Grisham batted .198, the second-worst batting average in MLB, with 154 strikeouts in 555 plate appearances, a 27.7 strikeout percentage.

For Cashman, the log jam is a good thing because there’s power in having choices.

“Ultimately, Aaron Boone is gonna make those calls,” Cashman said, via Max Goodman of NJ Advance Media. “I think there’s just power in numbers and we have elevated our outfield class significantly by these moves.”