Are the Yankees making a mistake with Clint Frazier?

Clint Frazier made waves through Yankees Twitter with a video of himself hitting an absolute moonshot at the Yankees' alternate site in Scranton, Penn. on Wednesday.

Frazier tweeted (and then promptly deleted) the video without any caption shortly after it was announced that Luis Cessa was called back up, though no caption was needed as Yankees fans were happy to fill in the blank. Many took it as a shot at the organization, as Frazier has not-so-discretely expressed his frustrations with being kept down in the minors in the past despite his impressive hitting prowess.

Let's not even get into the fact that the Yankees still have guys like Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia -- young exciting pitching prospects with the potential to bloom into key rotation pieces -- still waiting their turn at the alternate site while Cessa got the call. The fact that a hitter as talented as Frazier is wasting away in Scranton makes one wonder: are the Yankees making a big mistake?

Of course, the depth chart in New York is stacked to the point that there's little room for error for younger players trying to crack into the lineup. Look no further than Miguel Andujar, the third baseman who lit the league on fire as a rookie in 2018 and then was promptly replaced by Gio Urshela the following season. But is there really no way for them to find at bats for Frazier in New York? Let's break it down by each outfield position.

Aaron Judge. That's all you need to know.

Aaron Hicks has the starting spot for now. He's looked pretty lackluster to start the season, with a slash line of .182/.379/.409, one home run, three RBI and four runs scored in eight games. He might still be trying to recover from the Tommy John surgery he had back in October. The Yankees are likely hoping he can turn things around, seeing has they pretty much proclaimed him as their long-term center fielder after signing the 30-year-old to a 7-year, $70 million contract. If he can't, look for super sophomore Mike Tauchman (.333/.400/.333 in five games) to get more playing time off the bench ahead of Frazier, purely because of his glove.

When there's no DH in play, Giancarlo Stanton gets the nod in left, no questions asked. His bat is way too valuable, especially with the way he's come out the gates this year: a slash line of .296/.472/.573, two home runs, six RBI and six runs scored in nine games. When the Yankees are able to slide him into the DH role, Brett Gardner's been the primary option, though it's questionable how much longer that will last. The 36-year-old is slashing a putrid .105/.261/.421. He may be coming off a career-high 28 homers in 2019 and has hit a couple of timely homers this season thanks to the short porch in right field (as I'm editing this now, he just hit one against Philadelphia), but it's hard to see what he brings to the squad this year outside of veteran leadership and a lefty bat in a lineup full of right-handed killers. This is probably the spot that makes most sense for Frazier to find some at bats.

All of that being said, the Yankees still seem to prefer Tauchman, who's a solid defensive player hits for decent average and provides them a left-handed bat, as a backup over Frazier. That's in spite of Frazier's insanely impressive career totals of 16 home runs and 56 RBI in just 429 plate appearances. If it were up to me, I'd try to platoon the two of them, with Tauchman facing right-handers and Frazier facing left-handers. Sorry, Brett.

It's likely that Frazier might at least still be on the active roster if it weren't for the team's pitching woes. The Yankees announced that Tommy Kahnle had Tommy John surgery Tuesday and will be out for the remainder of the season. They're also still missing veteran closer Aroldis Chapman, which puts a big strain on the bullpen and forces New York to find other options in relief. If the pitching staff can get healthy, that will help free up room for Frazier.

In short: no.

First of all, as impressive as Frazier has been in short stints, I don't think he's shown enough to be the primary piece of a trade deal. So to get anything significant for him, the Yankees would likely have to throw in a couple of other assets, like fellow outfielder Estevan Florial.

If the Yankees were to make a trade, it would likely be in a move to acquire a pitcher -- either a quality starter to fill the third spot behind Gerrit Cole and Masahiro Tanaka, or another strong reliever to hold down the fort while Kahnle is out this season. Either way, I don't really see a deal in the cards. Nobody's giving up a top end starter during a 60-game season.

There's also no real rush to move Frazier along. Even though he's already had three seasons of sporadic Major League action, he'll still be under arbitration all the way through the 2024 season and won't become an unrestricted free agent until 2025. It obviously wouldn't be fair for the Yankees to keep Frazier waiting that long, but if he's patient he'll get his opportunity eventually as Gardner has to be on his last legs.