Yankees add utility infielder, miss out on Clayton Kershaw | What it means

On the eve of the start of the free agent signing period, the Yankees acquired infielder Hanser Alberto on Friday.

The Yankees headed into Saturday’s start of the free agent signing period with a substantial list of offseason needs to fill:

Starting pitching.

Predictions for 75 MLB free agents

Starting pitching.

More starting pitching.

They also will need bullpen reinforcements if they don’t re-sign two key bullpen pieces who are testing the free agent market, righty David Robertson and lefty Zach Britton.

Oh, and the Yankees still need to figure out what they’re going to do about shortstop with Didi Gregorius very early into recovering from Tommy John surgery, which likely will sideline him at least until June or July.

The answer to the Gregorius riddle surely won’t be Hanser Alberto, a utility infielder who was claimed off waivers from the Texas Rangers on Friday.

Alberto was added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster, but we’re thinking the 26-year-old Dominican will go into spring training as a long shot while competing with Ronald Torreyes and Tyler Wade for a bench spot.

Alberto is a career .192 hitter in 89 career big-league games, all with the Rangers since 2015. He spent most of last season in Triple-A and batted .185 (5-for-27) for the Rangers in 13 games, including three starts at shortstop, three at second base and one at third base.

Meantime, the Yankees’ quest to pair another top-of-the-rotation pitcher up with 19-game winner Luis Severino won’t include an offseason run at three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.

Friday was the deadline for Kershaw to opt out of the final two seasons of his seven-year, $215-million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and he did break it … to sign a three-year, $93-million extension that runs through 2021.

So, the Yankees can cross Kershaw off their list, if he ever was on it in the first place. After all, his career-long track record of pitching great in the regular season and then struggling in the postseason continued this year when the Dodgers lost the World Series for the second year in a row, this time to the Boston Red Sox in five games.

Starting pitching will be the Yankees’ top priority this season, GM Brian Cashman said recently, and free agent options include re-signing J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia plus Patrick Corbin, Charlie Morton, Dallas Keuchel and Nathan Eovaldi.

Free agent relievers who figure to intrigue Cashman, besides Robertson and Britton, include former Yankees standout Andrew Miller and Adam Ottavino.

As for filling Gregorius’ spot, the Yankees probably will add a shortstop or move second baseman Gleyber Torres to short for the start of 2019 and bring in a second baseman.

If the Yanks want to address that spot with an impact player, they could sign free agent Manny Machado to play short and then move to third, which would lead to a change of position or trade for 2018 rookie star third baseman Miguel Andujar. Another option is signing Daniel Murphy to play second base until Gregorius returns, then throw him into the first base and DH mix.

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.