Yankees set ALCS roster versus Astros

The New York Yankees have set their ALCS roster, and two familiar faces are on while two are now off. In a surprising move, both Luke Voit and Tyler Wade were left off the roster, while Aaron Hicks and C.C. Sabathia were added.

For Sabathia, it’s not much of a surprise. He has been working his way back from a shoulder injury for weeks now and if he’s healthy enough to pitch, he should be on this roster. Hicks was a bit of a surprise because he was pretty much ruled out for the season before he tried rehabbing on his own in Arizona.

The story goes that Hicks started throwing on his own without approval of the Yankees and sent the Bombers’ brass a video of him looking good. The Yankees welcomed him back to Tampa with open arms and he’s been rehabbing ever since. Somehow, Hicks has worked his way back onto this roster with pure determination and a little bit of guts.

Wade was always going to be the odd-man out with Hicks coming back. The Yankees have plenty of speed and defense with Cameron Maybin and Aaron Hicks, and he wouldn’t be used for anything other than an infield replacement or a pinch runner. What surprises most people is that Luke Voit was also left off the ALCS roster. He didn’t play at all in the ALDS, but the Yankees are a little thin in the infield with both men out.

The most surprising part of the roster is the fact that Jonathan Loaisiga, Tyler Lyons and Luis Cessa are all still on the postseason roster. You would think that with C.C. back in the fold, one of them would have been out. However, the Yankees elected to go with 13 pitchers for whatever reason.

If the ALCS comes down to one of those three pitchers, it’s probably not a good sign for the Yankees anyway. However, it’s a bit of a head-scratching decision but clearly Aaron Boone and co. know what they’re doing. Hopefully these moves work out. The full roster release is below.

https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1183054059407847425