.422
.408
.428
.426
What are these, you may be asking yourself? Why, they’re Nick Johnson’s OBPs from his last four fully healthy seasons (2003, 2005, 2006, 2009). Can you believe the Yankees traded a .422 on-base percentage (in addition to Juan Rivera and Randy Choate) for Javier Vazquez? At the time I didn’t think much of it, but now it kinda blows me away.
OK, so Nick the Stick has had some difficulty staying healthy over the years, but given that he’s available for only money, the Yankees have a need at DH, and if you take him off the field he should be far less likely to injure himself, I am going to continue to bang the drum for an N the S return to pinstripes. Especially when Brian Cashman is quoted as saying something like the following:
As per Tyler Kepner, Brian Cashman has discussed the flood of free agent designated hitters on the market and the Yankees’ existing options at the D.H. spot.
“We have Jorge Posada, we have Mark Teixeira, we have A-Rod,” Cashman said. “We have a number of players who can swing over on their days of rest. We have people that we can play at that position, internally, right now. I’m not trying to oversell anything, but Juan Miranda will do a nice job against right-handed pitching as a D.H., if that’s what we have to do.”
No, no, no and no. The role is called designated hitter, not designated punt a spot in the lineup because you think one of your $100 million players needs a day off in the field. Brian, what happens when you play A-Rod or Posada at DH? Ramiro Pena and his .312 wOBA or Frankie Cervelli and his Molinian .283 wOBA get to start and deduct three automatic outs from you. Not to knock on Pena and Cervelli as backups, but they should never see more than a handful of at-bats per week, if that.
There were some Twitter rumblings yesterday that the Yankees are now expected to resign Hideki Matsui at some point this winter, which is more than good with me. Bill James has Matsui only shedding 12 points of wOBA next year.
But again, if Matsui doesn’t work out, I would absolutely love to see Nick Johnson, that sweet lefthanded swing tailor-made for the right field porch and his .402 career OBP plugged into the two hole.
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3 Responses to A rotating DH is simply not an acceptable option
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TIQ IQ
This an interesting post but I think to much is being made of having a so called hole in your lineup. If Arod, Tex, or Posada DH and Pena, Cervelli end up in the lineup than that days defense will be much higher. Defense is a pretty key component to winning games. Shoot we won game 6 of WS with Gardner in the lineup and the offense still put up 7 runs. The Yanks can trot out Jeter, Granderson, Tex, Arod, Posada, Cano, and Swisher before they get to the 8th spot and I can't think of another team with that many big bats in their lineup. Throw in a true DH or a rotating one and the offense is still going to be prolific.
That's a reasonable point — periodically "resting" a guy by slotting him at DH and subsequently shoring up the defense won't necessarily kill the Yankees if it's done maybe once a week.
However, the offense will take a substantial hit over the course of the season if we don't have a real bat in a slot that literally solely exists to provide runs. Punting offense might fly in the National League, but you need as much firepower as you can get in the AL during the regular season.
I don't care how many perceived runs a Pena or Cervelli might save on defense; it still doesn't make up for their sub-replacement level bats.
In no way am I saying the Yanks shouldn't pursue a full time DH and I get having Cervelli or Pena in the lineup on a regular basis isn't the best scenario. However Miranda, Hoffmann, and Swisher could all play a significant role for them this season. Hoffmann could handle the corner OF which would sure up the defense and provide Swisher more AB's at DH and I think we should find out if Hoffmann can handle the bat at the big league level. Anything close to 15 HR's would be great to have if Swish is the DH. Miranda should also see some AB's in this spot and I have been impressed so far by his power, approach, and his contact at the plate. I am just in favor of trimming payroll while still having a strong rotation and bullpen. Ultimately the lineup could have 1 weak link but within their division most teams have 2 to 3 weak links.