Why Yankees called up Clint Frazier, farmed out Ronald Torreyes despite good news on Brett Gardner

Yankees explain Monday roster moves and give update on left fielder Brett Gardner’s sore right knee

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Clint Frazier was informed Sunday at 6 p.m. that he was being called up by the Yankees, who are finishing a suspended game and making up a rained-out game Monday at Nationals Park.

The outfielder figured he was returning to the big leagues to be the Yankees’ 26th man again for Monday’s second game against the Washington Nationals as he traveled with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders by bus back to Scranton on Sunday night.

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Frazier still thought that was the plan Monday morning when he traveled from Scranton to D.C. via car service to meet up with the Yankees, and he still thought that as of Monday afternoon when he talked to reporters at Nationals Park.

“I’m going for 26th man of the year,” joked Frazier, who recently was called up to be the Yankees’ extra player for a makeup doubleheader in Detroit only to be optioned right back to Triple-A after the two games.

Wrong.

Turns out reliever Giovanny Gallegos was summoned in from Triple-A to be the Yankees’ 26th man for Monday’s regular game – MLB isn’t permitting them to have a 26th player for the suspended game – and Frazier is sticking around at least for a few days.

Frazier was in the clubhouse dining room eating a pre-game meal Monday when the Yankees released surprising news that he was called up as a replacement for utility infielder Ronald Torreyes, who was farmed out for the second time in 24 days.

Why sent down Torreyes again?

Left fielder Brett Gardner has been dealing with a sore right knee, and even though he was feeling better by Monday and could be starting within a couple of days, the Yankees wanted to bring in Frazier to give them four healthy outfielders.

“Basically it comes down to Gardy to a degree being a little questionable although he’s doing a lot better and we don’t think it’s a DL situation,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “So we just felt like we needed to be covered with an extra outfielder, so that forced us to make the swap out there.

“So obviously another difficult (roster) decision, but one we felt like covers us and makes the most sense for us right now.”

Boone said Torreyes took the news well. Torreyes rejoined the Yankees on June 9 after being optioned on May 26 with a .339 average, but appeared in just two games during his second big-league stint and was 0 for 3.

“We were trying to work out something to where we didn’t have to do it,” Boone said. “He took the news like a pro and he wanted to know where Scranton was right away so he could get going.”

As for Gardner, he was encouraged after waking up Monday morning feeling much better.

“I woke up in the middle of the night Saturday night and Sunday morning (sore),” he said. “I never had any leg issues or knee issues before, so it was kind of alarming for me. So I went to get an MRI to get a good look at it to see what we’re dealing with.

Gardner was relieved after getting a precautionary MRI on Monday that just showed just inflammation.

Gardner is unlikely to play at all Monday – he pinch-hit in the first part of the suspended game on May 15 and he’s not starting the regular game – and he’ll probably be rested again Tuesday when the Yankees open a three-game series at home against the Seattle Mariners.

“I feel like I’ll be able to play within the next day or two hopefully,” Gardner said.

Boone isn’t ruling that out.

“I feel like there’s a chance he’s playing games in the Seattle series, but Clint, I think, even in that scenario for the short term will be a part of that,” the manager said.

Frazier returned with a .375 average in eight at-bats with the Yankees in two previous short stints and a .312 average with seven homers in 38 Triple-A games.

The best guess is that Torreyes spends 10 days in Triple-A and then replaces Frazier. By rule that is the quickest the Yankees can bring Torreyes back without another player going on the DL.

“I told (Torreyes) I want him back here, and hopefully that’s sooner rather than later,” Boone said.

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