According to Joel Sherman on Twitter, the Yankees have come to terms with Randy Winn for one year for just about the elusive $2M Brian Cashman was dangling in front perspective free agents.Last year for the Giants, Winn was nothing short of dreadful at the plate, racking up a smooth .262/.318/.353. He's going to turn 36 this season so he's less likely than a younger player to rebound from such a poor effort.
Here is the first positive thing: he's a good defender. Winn put up some gaudy UZR totals in the corner outfield positions over the last few years so even if those are overstated, he's still likely to be quite a bit better than average.
Last year he was atrocious against left handed pitching. Like real atrocious. Which is fine because he's going to be platooning with Brett Gardner and facing primarily... wait. Fuck.
He could probably still play centerfield in a pinch, but so can Gardner and Jamie Hoffmann. What the Yankees needed was a bat and what they got a glove that's not any sort of an improvement over the two they already have.
Whatever, it's only $2M dollars - 1% of the payroll. But as Matt mentioned to me on GChat, with the power of hindsight, the Yankees could have had Jim Thome DH for $2.2M and then had enough to bring Johnny Damon back instead. Without having to go back in time, the Yanks could have just inked Reed Johnson who mashes lefties and is no defensive slouch himself. I don't really get it.
The best part about this? It will be at least a year until we have to read another article talking about Johnny Damon coming to the Yankees. That and the endless amount of puns we will be able to make using Winn's last name when he inevitably sucks.
Anyway, that just about rounds out the 2010 Yankees aside from the few bench spots that will be up for grabs in Spring Training. We'll probably have more on this tomorrow, but what do you Fackers think?
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This is probably the least exciting move ever. Randy Winn would have been a dull signing when he was in his prime nevermind coming off a season when even the Giants don't want him anymore.
ReplyDeleteIts not that big of a deal, Gardy is going to get most of the playing time and hopefully he will be better than last year.
ReplyDeleteits $2MM, not the end of the world
I smell Carl Crawford in pinstripes...
It is a big deal because its wrong
ReplyDeletewrong is never right
Let's see what guys like Reed Johnson or Tatis sign for. Seems like either of them would have been better (Tatis was respectable for the Mets, plus he can play the infield too)
ReplyDeleteYeah, good point David. Those guys might be holding out for a little more money or trying to land someplace where they might get more playing time.
ReplyDelete