Chase Headley & Scott Brosius, Is There Any Comparison?

When the New York Yankees acquired Chase Headley in the summer of 2014 much of the New York Yankees fan base had flashbacks to the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when the Yankees had a third baseman named Scott Brosius. Brosius, much like Headley was advertised as at the time of the trade, was a hard-nosed defensive minded third baseman that would save about as many runs as he would save during the course of a 162-game schedule, a lot. Now that the 2015 regular season is all but over and Headley is preparing his first playoff run with the club, the same stage that Brosius truly became a Yankee with clutch hit after clutch hit, is there still a fair comparison between the two?

BROSIUS:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
1998 ★	152	603	86	159	34	19	98	11	52	97	.300	.371	.472	.843	121
1999	133	529	64	117	26	17	71	9	39	74	.247	.307	.414	.722	84
2000	135	519	57	108	20	16	64	0	45	73	.230	.299	.374	.673	70
2001	120	478	57	123	25	13	49	3	34	83	.287	.343	.446	.789	106
NYY (4 yrs)	540	2129	264	507	105	65	282	23	170	327	.267	.331	.428	.759	96

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

HEADLEY:

Year	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2014	58	224	28	50	8	6	17	3	29	49	.262	.371	.398	.768	118
2015	153	632	74	150	29	11	62	0	49	133	.262	.326	.374	.700	94
NYY (2 yrs)	211	856	102	200	37	17	79	3	78	182	.262	.338	.380	.718	100

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

As you can see by the simple number comparisons these guys actually had comparable numbers overall with New York. Brosius had a little more power than Headley both in the home run and extra base hit department but across the board they are at least comparable. Headley K's more and Brosius is probably the better defender at this point but you get the point, someone may have had this comparison right a season and a half ago. 

Numbers aren’t everything, as much as that pains me to admit out loud, but the good thing for my sake is that I have seen both play. I hate when players compare All-Stars of the present to All-Stars of the past based on numbers. It was a different game then and a different era and I personally stay away from comparing players to players if I haven’t personally seen them play. Using the eye test alone I can see why the comparisons immediately were made. Headley is a great defender down at third base much like Brosius was and both seem unfazed by the limelight and the big situation. What sets the two apart, besides Headley’s seemingly inability to throw to first base consistently this season ala Chuck Knoblauch, is

Quick Hit: Brian McClutch

Has anyone been better or more important to this Yankees club since Mark Teixeira fouled a ball off his shin? Has anyone been more important to this Yankees club all season long, especially in the clutch, than Brian McCann? In a word, no.

Bases empty: .212/.293/.418

Runners on base: .285/.368/.559

Runners in scoring position: .327/.410/.664

Runners in scoring position, two outs: .302/.439/.604

Runners at first and second: .415/.500/.927

*stats courtesy of Lohud

Numbers like that translate into good September numbers and even better October numbers.

Do The Yankees Suck When It Matters?

You have to start wondering just how clutch the Yankees are when the seasons and the games really matter. I know this sounds weird coming from a team with 27 World Series championships and five in the last 20 seasons but hear me out.

Just last season the Yankees knew Mariano Rivera was retiring early and eventually learned that Andy Pettitte would be joining him. The team responded by missing the postseason for the second time since the strike shortened 1994 season. Jorge Posada retired after the 2011 season after the Yankees had another disappointing ALDS loss in the post season.

The 2008 season was miserable for all Yankees fans as we watched Mike Mussina win 20 games and ride off into the sunset without a playoff berth. The Yankees also closed Yankee Stadium that season and celebrated by missing the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons. Before that we saw Bernie Williams essentially call it a career after the 2006 season and yet another ALDS loss in the postseason.

The Yankees all but knew that 2001 was Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius' last season and made it all the way to the World Series. 2001 was also the season the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the country and New York needed the Yankees more than ever. The Yankees had a heartbreaking loss to the 2001 World Series after giving up the lead in the 9th inning in Game 7.

It goes much farther back but the last instance in my memory is the Don Mattingly retirement party that ended after yet another heartbreaking loss in the ALDS. The Yankees were the first ever Wild Card team and were in the postseason for the first time in Mattingly's career. The Yankees took the first two games against the Seattle Mariners only to lose the next three in heartbreaking fashion to end their season.

Now we have Derek Jeter and a team that spent $500 million to be essentially a .500 team. All I know is nobody better retire next season.... or else.