Now that Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson will both be starting the season on the DL most eyes have turned to Mark Teixeira as the most logical source of where the Yankees will need to get their missing power. And make no mistake about it, Tex has to produce. The Yankees will need him to plug that hole. But he isn’t the only source of potential power in the Yankee lineup. It doesn’t get mentioned much, but the Yankees did also add Kevin Youkilis.
Youkilis, of course, is a bittersweet addition for Yankee fans. He was probably the least popular Red Sox among the Yankee faithful, and now he’s a Yankee. That said, he has the potential to be a very good Yankee. Given his issues last season, it is easy to forget that as recently as 2010 he had a .564 SLG and a .419 wOBA. In 2011, the first season when Youkilis began demonstrating decline, he still managed a .459 SLG and a .366 wOBA. That production is welcome on any team.
The question is if he can do it in 2013. Youkilis has never been durable. Even in his prime in Boston he only averaged about 145 games a year. His injury risk is high. Furthermore, he didn’t rake with the White Sox, after he left Boston. He managed just a .236/.346/.425 line. That’s pretty mediocre. An average player in your lineup is nothing to sneeze at, especially one with Youkilis’ on-base skills, but he hasn’t been the All-World player he was for at least two years now.
Youkilis will be only 34 this season. He certainly has something left in the tank. While it seems unlikely that he will morph back into the .400 wOBA player he once was simply because he’s put on pinstripes, he should still be considered as a source of run production in the Yankee lineup. The Yankees are probably figuring they will get the .328 wOBA player Youkilis was last year, but there is a real chance he produces to a higher level. He should also be seen as a possible over achiever while the Yankees wait to get healthy.
As far as Youk being successful in pinstripes? I’ll believe when I see it.
I liked and still like the Youkilis signing, but did the Yanks have to sign him for $12M? Mark Reynolds took only half that from the Indians, Chavez a quarter of that from the Diamondbacks. Youkilis is twice as good as Reynolds and four times as good as Chavez? I don’t think so.
Why not sign Reynolds for $6M, offer Youkilis $6M, and see if Youkilis takes it? Had Youkilis taken $6M, the Yanks would’ve had a DH who could play 3B/the field in Reynolds and still had Youkilis at third/backup 1B for the same price they paid for Youkilis.
And how is Travis Hafner as valuable and much of a risk to take on as Joakim Soria, since both are making $2M in 2013? True, the Yanks would’ve had to give Soria $5.5M for 2014 with a $7M option (half a mil buyout) for 2015, but maybe not. Maybe Soria would’ve taken just $4M for 2014, $6M (half a mil buyout) to pitch with Mo for at least one year (assuming Mo retires after 2013.)
The Yanks could’ve had Reynolds at DH, a Rivera/Robertson/Soria/Aardsma/Logan/Rapada/Chamberlain bullpen, still had Youkilis at 3B/backup 1B, and two guys who could play the field in Reynolds and Youkilis for the price they paid for just Youkilis and can’t play the field Hafner. Stupid general managing by Cashman, but then again when you care more about your psycho-stalker ex-mistress, skydiving, rapelling off a building in Stamford, Connecticut, and devaluing some of your only MLB-ready expendable tradebait by publicly devaluing and badmouthing Nunez and Chamberlain, I guess you tend to panic and overpay for two guys with a history of injuries.
Reynolds/Youkilis/Soria > Youkilis/Hafner, period, end of story, case closed.
If the Yanks don’t at least make it to the 2013 World Series, they should let go of Cashman and Girardi and bring in new blood.
Trade Cano or let him walk, sign with the Dodgers. If he signed with the Dodgers, he’d be out of the league and face the Yanks in six regular season games barring injury for the rest of his career (assuming he signs with LA for eight years and the Yanks face the Dodgers twice in that time.)
@ Duh, Innings
No disagreement about the third base situation. Pretty sure Cashman himself actually admitted that they misinterpreted the market for third basemen.
But Soria would have been a waste considering all the talent we have available in the pen, especially the ones still in arbitration/pre-arbitration.