Yankees Demote Thairo Estrada and Place Troy Tulowitzki on 60-Day IL to Activate Didi Gregorius

Didi is back! The Yankees will be receiving a huge boost on Friday in Cleveland with the addition of star shortstop Didi Gregorius, who has been sidelined all season due to offseason Tommy John surgery.

In a corresponding move of activating Gregorius, the Yankees have sent infielder Thairo Estrada down to Triple-A (while keeping Kendrys Morales on the big league roster), and have transferred Troy Tulowitzki to the 60-day IL.

Sending Estrada down is a perfect encapsulation of the problem the Yankees have right now, albeit a good problem to have. The Yankees simply have too many talented infielders on their roster.

Estrada was excellent in 50 at-bats, with an .841 OPS after being pushed into action due to injury. Estrada isn't the only infielder that has been great this season though, with Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu, and Gio Urshela all performing splendidly. Unfortuantely, Estrada was the odd man out with Didi's return, and will benefit from getting regular at-bats at Triple-A instead of serving as a redundancy.

Kendrys Morales could have been a DFA candidate, but the Yankees would then be left with no clear backup first baseman, though LeMahieu can mimic such things in emergencies.

This news also does not bode well for Troy Tulowitzki, who has been sidelined since early April with a calf injury. Tulowitzki was originally signed by the Yankees to fill in for Didi, but now it seems conceivable that Tulo may never play another game for the Bombers.