Mistake Passing on Omar Infante

Omar Infante has agreed to a four-year deal worth about $30 million with the Kansas City Royals. This takes a Yankees second base option off the board and the Yankees made a mistake not matching this contract. 

The Yankees offered Infante a three-year deal for $24 million. The deal that he got with the Royals is very fair, especially when you look at the lack of second base options left on the free agent market.  

Infante hit .318/.340/.450/.795 with 117 wRC+ last season for Detroit in what was a career season for him. Infante will turn 32 years old on Dec. 26, so a four-year contract is not outrageous. According to Fangraphs, Infante was worth $9.6 million in 2011, $13.1 million in 2012 and $15.4 million last season, so the Royals did not overpay at all and may have even underpaid him. 

Considering the best remaining second baseman on the market is 37-year old Mark Ellis the Yankees really dropped the ball here. Infante may not repeat his career season last year since his .333 BABIP was lucky, but he at minimum is a league average second baseman and probably a not above that. Infante is also solid defensively, as he was worth 3.8 runs above league average last year and 11.2 runs above league average in 2012. 

The Yankee infield is a mess right now and Infante would have solidified the right side of the infield along with Mark Teixeira. Now, the Yankees do not know who will be starting at second or third base currently and have players coming back from injuries at shortstop and first base. Between that and their pitching the Yankees have a lot of work left to be done and Infante could have really help.