Monday, October 13, 2014

2015 Yankees If I Were GM: The Outfield


If I were the General Manager of the New York Yankees I think the team would have 30+ World Series championships by now but I digress. Here would be my plan if I were the GM of the Yankees.

The outfield is one of the easier positions to fill theoretically because we're just looking at bench and insurance options. Brett Gardner looks to be penciled in as the team's left fielder while Jacoby Ellsbury looks to be the every day center fielder. New York is hoping that Carlos Beltran can play right field every day and honestly after the elbow surgery I believe that he can as well. That doesn't mean I am not going to bring in some insurance and bench options just in case Beltran is not as ready as we all hope.

First and foremost in my look at the infield as the GM I brought Chase Headley back as the every day third baseman. Headley has played the outfield in a much more spacious outfield out in San Diego and could easily and conceivably handle the right field or left field in Yankee Stadium as an emergency option. Ichiro Suzuki is a free agent and will need to be replaced and replaced preferably with a right handed power bat. Enter Alex Rios, maybe. 

The Texas Rangers own a club option on the 34 year old that is very likely to be declined making him a free agent. While Rios does not help the team get any younger and has lost a step or three in the power department one must keep in mind that I am banking on him being a bench option, not an every day option. If Rios is not made available I don't feel comfortable bringing back Chris Young. I feel like the team got the best of what they are going to get from Mr. Young and I don't want to fall into the trap of giving him a contract for a walk off hit or two in September while ignoring the other five months of the season. 

The right handed options for the outfield, especially the ones that would likely accept a bench role, look limited so if Rios is not made available I would probably fill the position from within. I liked what I saw out of Eury Perez in September and while he does not help the power problem he can come off the bench, steal a base, and play all three outfield positions. Perez isn't necessarily Plan A but he isn't Plan Z either.

2 comments:

  1. 1. While Rios is nothing special anymore, I don't believe he'd take a bench role.

    2. "I don't want to fall into the trap of giving him a contract for a walk off hit or two in September while ignoring the other five months of the season." Gee... I wonder if this is in reference to anybody else?

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  2. I wasn't 100% sure on Rios taking the bench role either, hence why I had backup plans in place. I reached for Rios because he was really the only semi-realistic option on the board that is right handed and could approach 10-20 home runs in a full season.

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