Before the 2014 season, the Yankees signed free-agent center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year deal for $153 million, which meant Brett Gardner was being shifted to left field and out of the leadoff spot.
Before the 2016 season, the Yankees acquired Aaron Hicks from the Twins for John Ryan Murphy and projected him as an outfielder who could play all three positions.
In December 2017, a season after Ellsbury was injured and Hicks took over in center field, the Yankees traded for Giancarlo Stanton to play left field.
Each move seemingly moved Gardner away from regular playing time and when spring training ended this year, he was projected as a fourth outfielder who would play more than the garden-variety extra outfielder.