Yankees 'tempted' to activate Anthony Rizzo on Friday, but it doesn't happen

While Aaron Boone did not characterize Anthony Rizzo’s return as imminent, one certainly could deduce that based on his comments before Friday night’s game against the Cardinals.

Rizzo, out since June 18 with a right forearm fracture, started a rehab assignment last week with Double-A Somerset. He played in the field sooner than had been expected, leading to speculation that Rizzo would return to the Yankees by Friday night.

While that didn’t happen, it could as soon as Saturday.

“Maybe a little bit,” Boone said of the organization being “tempted” to promote Rizzo on Friday. “But also kind of wanted him to play pretty much a full game, too. So he’s going to go down there [Somerset] . . . He’ll play most of the game down there [seven to nine innings] and then we’ll see where we are after the game, if we want to do another one or bring him [up] at that point. A little bit [tempted], but missing as much time as he has and not really [having] played the field other than a few innings the last couple of days, felt like we wanted to get him one more.”

Rizzo wasn’t having a good season, hitting .223 with eight homers, 28 RBIs and a .630 OPS in 70 games before suffering the injury on a collision at first base during a game at Fenway Park. But those numbers are better than those by his replacements at first base.

DJ  LeMahieu has been mostly a mess, hitting .202 with two homers, 26 RBIs and a .526 OPS in 66 games and seeming to have lost a step on defense, where he generally has excelled in his career.

Rookie Ben Rice, in the lineup Friday night, has held his own defensively at first — Rice was drafted as a catcher — but has fallen off a cliff offensively.  After an electric start, Rice has a   .116/214/.242 slash line (11-for-95) with three homers, 11 RBIs, 12 walks and 37 strikeouts since homering three times against the Red Sox on July 6.

“That’s the constant battle everyone’s fighting, just to find consistency,” Rice said recently. "And the thing is, you’re never going to be consistent 100% of the time. You’re just trying to be consistent for as long as you can and get back to being consistent when things aren’t going your way.”

The lefthanded-hitting Rizzo’s  bat, if nothing else, has to be respected by opposing pitchers because of an overall successful career track record. Though he wasn’t off to a great start on defense, he is  a four-time Gold Glove winner at the position.

“I like where he’s at physically and [his] frame of mind,” Boone said. “He’s hungry for it, he’s chomping at the bit to get back, he’s fighting to get back. I just feel like he’s in a good place mentally to hopefully go on a good run for us, because we know how important he can be on both sides of the ball for us from a lineup standpoint. Physically, he’s been doing well now for several weeks. I feel like he’s in good shape, he’s bouncing back really well. He says he feels good, which is important. So I’m excited for what he could bring, and I really like his mindset right now.”

No call yet on Dominguez

There  hardly is organizational unanimity when it comes to the decision of promoting  or not promoting  top position prospect Jasson Dominguez on Sunday when rosters expand from 26 to 28. There is the belief by some that with Alex Verdugo’s continued inconsistency at the plate, Dominguez, 21, should be up in the hopes that he can lengthen the lineup and provide an offensive spark. The contrary view: Unless there’s a clear path for Dominguez to play every day, the prospect’s development is better served by staying in the minors for regular at-bats.

Boone reflected that behind-the-scenes back-and-forth in essentially talking around the topic Friday.

“We’ll see,” he said. “He’s certainly one of those guys that will be in conversation for that. Feel like he’s doing a good job after being a little slow coming back from the injury . . . We probably want him playing [every day], but we’ll see. We’ll see what the right timing of everything is. Circumstances and all that kind of factor into it as well . . . We haven’t made a decision yet.”