Yankees' Bench Options Starting to Disappear

The Yankees got their pitchers, they got Teixeira, and they are not getting Manny Ramirez, but what about solidifying the bench? If they don’t start soon there will be no bench options left.

Two free agents that could have significantly improved the bench, Ty Wigginton and Javier Valentin, signed contracts yesterday with the Orioles and Nationals respectively.

Wigginton was first up. He signed a two-year deal worth $6 million to play for Baltimore. This was probably a smart move by the O’s and the two-year commitment might have been what kept him out of the Bronx. Baltimore upped their offer to two-years after it became obvious that other teams were becoming more interested in Wig.

It also doesn’t shock me that Wigginton wouldn’t sign with the Yankees. As much as fans would like it and the team needs it, there just isn’t enough guaranteed playing time. Face it, he’ll probably play 200 games over the next two years for Baltimore.

With the Yankees it would be much less because Alex Rodriguez plays practically everyday and unless he’s benched Robinson Cano is nearly the same. They also have Nick Swisher to pick up starts in the outfield when Xavier Nady or Johnny Damon need a rest. Wigginton would simply pinch hit from time to time.

It’s a shame; his bat against lefties would have helped a lot.

Valentin is another story. Valentin signed a non-guaranteed minor league contract. The Yankees certainly could have matched that. On top of that there is a decent chance he would have spent time in the majors since Jorge Posada’s shoulder is far from a sure thing.

Valentin has been a decent backup catcher during his career and has provided a fair amount of pop for a backup catcher. He has a career .712 OPS and he put up a OPS of .737 last season which was much higher than Jose Molina’s .576 he put up last season.

If Posada cannot catch around 130 games this season Valentin would have been a big help and would have kept the team from putting an automatic out into the lineup.

Hopefully Brian Cashman gave this one serious consideration because this could be the one that comes back to bite the Yankees in the ass.