He didn’t have a lane a week ago. Now he does?

Milwaukee Brewers v New York Yankees / Rich Schultz/GettyImages

“Hey Alex Verdugo, we, the New York Yankees, believe in you. That’s why we’re not calling up Jasson Dominguez on Sept. 1.”

“Oh wow, really guys? That’s great. Thanks so much. I’ll see how I can improve my nonexistent contact and hustling capabilities.”

“Great. You have one week.”

Was that seriously the conversation that went down between the two parties? Because since Sept. 1, Verdugo has two RBI and a .292 slugging percentage, and on Sept. 9 the Yankees recalled Dominguez back to the big leagues after telling us last week that they wholeheartedly believed in Verdugo to get the team where it needs to be.

Dominguez reportedly has a locker at Yankee Stadium ahead of New York’s three-game set against the Kansas City Royals.

Yankees relenting on Jasson Dominguez promotion goes to show they have no plan

It might’ve made sense if the Yankees called up Dominguez right when the Triple-A season ended in two weeks on Sept. 22. At that point, the Yankees would’ve said that Dominguez got extra reps in the minor leagues and they wanted to get him some run in the bigs before 2024’s conclusion.

Instead, they killed the vibes when roster expanded, spoon-fed the fans a nonsensical reason why they weren’t including him in their plans, and then reversed course in a matter of eight days. If that doesn’t tell you the front office has no plan, then we’re really not sure what else might do the trick.

They kicked pinch runner Duke Ellis to the curb after the series against the Cubs and optioned him to Triple-A, so there’s space on the active roster for Dominguez to slot in … but there won’t be once the postseason arrives.

Maybe there’s a momentous corresponding roster move on the way following this? Verdugo DFA? DJ LeMahieu DFA? Trent Grisham option? It’s unclear at this point, but now the Yankees have opted to upset the apple cart even further down the stretch when they had a prime opportunity to do so long ago, and it could’ve all settled in much more seamlessly.

Well, things just got a bit clearer when the Yankees announced the moves an hour after the report broke. Here we go:

Jon Berti is back after three and a half months. LeMahieu won’t see the light of day after this fake IL stint. Anthony Misiewicz, who has the most saves at Triple-A, will either get claimed off waivers or return to Scranton. The Yankees needed that 40-man spot to reactivate Berti.

Grateful that Dominguez is here. Wish the circumstances were better and more sensible. But at least this gives the Yankees one last-ditch effort to improve the team with the season winding down.