Even the Yankees Know How to Pinch Pennies

I read today that the Yankees only guaranteed Randy Winn $1.1 million in 2010.  He can earn another $900,000 in performance incentives.

The Yankees also signed Marcus Thames today to a minor league deal that pays him $900,000 if he makes the team.  Thames is a good, low-risk choice for the Yankees.  I suggested the Yankees should consider Thames as a platoon player back in late December, so I’ll take the opportunity to pat myself on the back for calling this one.  Lord knows, there will be plenty of times when I get it wrong.

Sometimes, I wonder how closely the sportswriters even cover the sports they write about.  In this article, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman states as the second sentence of the article that “Thames … will compete for playing time with in left field with Randy Winn and Brett Gardner.”  Does anyone really believe that the Yankees will play Winn primarily in left field so they can leave Nick Swisher in right field?  It seems highly unlikely.

Winn was the best defensive rightfielder in all of MLB in 2009 according to fangraphs’ UZR/150.  I don’t think UZR is the be-all and end-all as far as defensive stats are concerned, but one number of Nick Swisher’s really jumps out at me: as the Yankees’ starting rightfielder in 2009, Swisher registered two outfield assists.  That ranks 19th out of 19 for the “qualifying” right fielders according to fangraphs, and was tied for 41st among all rightfielders regardless of playing time, according to espn.com.

In fairness, Winn only had 5 outfield assists himself in 2009, and his value is greatest in whichever corner position has the most room to run, since his talents lie mainly in his ability to track balls down.  Still, it’s hard to imagine the Yankees would decide that Swisher is the guy they want to go with in right field next year.

It’s a little like those reports out of Boston when the Sox first signed Mike Cameron — i.e. Cameron will play left and Jacoby Ellsbury will remain in center.  It was crazy on the face of it — Cameron’s one of the best defensive centerfielders of the last twenty years, and Ellsbury was terrible in 2009 (at least according to fangraphs).  Needless to say, it didn’t take the Red Sox long to put to rest that highly unfounded report.

Although I’m not a Yankees’ fan (it’s hard for me to root for a team that outspends every other team by several basis points), I have to admit that I like the fact that the Yankees are going with a low-cost platoon to fill their last outfield spot.  The Yankees of the 1950’s spent more than any other team in baseball, just as they do today; however, they were also extremely good at filling holes in their admittedly powerhouse line-ups with reasonably priced platoon players.

When you’ve laid out as much money as the Yankees have for a core of the highest priced talent, it makes a lot of sense to fill in the holes with a few wisely selected, inexpensive platoon players.  With Winn, Thames and Gardner as their third through fifth outfielders, they get a nice combination of defense, power and veteran presence.