Friday, December 6, 2013

Grant Balfour Is Not The Solution For The Yankees


So this week we have looked at Phil Hughes and learned that he will still be home run prone and home run friendly in Target Field much like he was in Yankee Stadium. We then learned that Brian McCann and his "left handed swing tailor made for Yankee Stadium" was overblown because he would not get any more extra base hits or home runs in Yankee Stadium over Turner Field in Atlanta. We then realized that Carlos Beltran would be a significant upgrade in Yankee Stadium over Busch Stadium but that Corey Hart would be an even bigger upgrade from his 2012 Miller Park numbers including a possible 20 home runs added to his final line. This look today shows you just how scary Grant Balfour may be if he was thrown at the end of the games in Yankee Stadium.

Information found using Katron.org

I know we are talking about a pretty small sample size obviously since Balfour only pitched in 62.2 innings but the Yankees have a vacant closer position and have been linked to Balfour this offseason. Looking at the picture above we see that the dark blue dots show all the home runs that Balfour gave up in McAfee Coliseum and see that all four of them would have gone out in Yankee Stadium by a long shot. The light blue dots signify doubles that Balfour gave up in Oakland and we see that at least two of them would have been out of Yankee Stadium bringing his total to six home runs. Finally the orange dots show us all the fly ball outs that Balfour recorded for the A's and see that if he were closing games for the Yankees at least one of them would have gone out for sure. This obviously does not factor in elevation, humidity, wind, the fans, etc but one would think that the orange dot close to the right field wall would have gone out of Yankee Stadium.

That brings Balfour's impressive four home runs given up to eight home runs in a season. In comparison Mariano Rivera had a struggle of a season in 2013, although was still dominant, and only gave up six home runs in 2013. That is a ton of home runs and RBI's to make up for in such a short sample size and would make that final line look really nasty for Balfour. He would be boo'd off the mound in New York as we have grown accustomed to dominance from the great Rivera. Either give the ball to David Robertson in the 9th next season or go get a guy like Joaquin Benoit for way too much money, just stay away from Balfour if you know what's good for you.


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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)