Are We A Trade Match With The Cubs -- The Outfield

The Cubs have the distinct possibility of trading their entire starting outfield this trade deadline season with the Cubs far out of contention. It is no secret that the Yankees have gotten little contribution out of their outfield this season outside of Brett Gardner, a month of Vernon Wells, and spurts of Ichiro Suzuki. Do the Yankees and the Cubs match up to make a trade to improve the Yankees outfield?

The Cubs are presumably willing to trade Nate Schierholtz. It is worth noting that Nate actually received an offer from the Yankees this off season before signing a deal with the Cubs so the Yankees will probably at least kick the wheels on him. Nate is batting .288/.338/.545 in 208 plate appearances this season so he is an obvious upgrade over anyone in our outfield not named Brett Gardner. Also he is only making $2.5 million this year and is a free agent after 2013 so that makes him even more attractive to the Yankees.

Alfonso Soriano, the former Yankee, is sporting a .245/.276/.387 mark with only seven home runs in 261 at bats but still would be an upgrade over a slumping and seemingly lost Vernon Wells. Also with that huge contract he could probably be had for relatively cheap in terms of prospects. Problem with Soriano, if you still believe the 2014 luxury tax and $189 million payroll hype, is that he slated to make $18 million next season and the Cubs probably wont eat enough of that for the Yankees to bite unfortunately.

Scott Hairston was coveted by the Yankees this off season before signing with Chicago for a two year deal worth $2.5 million annually. Hairston is a right handed batter that could bring balance to the Yankees lineup but boasts a .156/.208/.344 triple slash so I cannot see the Yankees taking a waiver on him at all.

David DeJesus is currently on the 15 day DL but has put up a .260/.318/.445 triple slash and has a very nice team friendly contract. David signed a two year deal with the Cubs this off season with an option for 2015 that would make him $4.25 million in each of 2012 and 2013 with a $6.5 million club option for 2014 with a $1.5 million buy out. The Yankees have wanted David DeJesus for a long time and this may finally be the year that David is in pinstripes because it seems to be a few years too late.

Scott Hairston Comes Off Board, Signs With Cubs

The Yankees had some interest in the best right handed hitting outfielder on the market Scott Hairston but he came off the board early this morning when he signed a two year deal with the Chicago Cubs. Scott's deal is worth $6 million over two years if all his incentives are met. Last week we were told that he was choosing between only the New York teams, the Mets and the Yankees, so this signing comes as a surprise to many. The happiest people alive this morning have to be Matt Diaz and Russ Canzler because one of them is almost guaranteed a roster spot now.

Scott Hairston Choosing Between Yankees & Mets

Easily the best right handed outfield free agent on the market, Scott Hairstson, has told reporters that he is choosing between the Yankees and the Mets for where he will spend his 2013 season. The decision is likely to come in a matter of days according to agent Casey Close. Entering his age 32 season and following a season with the Mets where we saw Scott put up a triple slash of .286/.317/.550 against left handed pitching in 2012 he would have to settle for a platoon/fourth outfielder position to play with the Yankees. With the Mets Scott would likely garner an every day position in the outfield. The Yankees are more likely to make the playoffs where the Mets look like a cellar dweller in the National League East. The Mets would be more likely to offer him the multi-year deal that he covets where the Yankees are unlikely to go past one year so I do not feel confident that we will see Hairston in pinstripes next season but you never know.

Yankees Still Looking For RH Bat

Matt Diaz may bat from the right side, but his signing is not keeping the Yankees from searching for another option. According to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, the Yankees are still interested in Scott Hairston.

Although I'm interested in seeing what Diaz can do after having thumb surgery in August, the thumb which has been ailing Matt the past three seasons (he hit .313/.390/.488 in 2009), I like to hear that the team isn't done looking for better alternatives. Honestly, though, I doubt we'd hear the 100% truth anyway.

Yankees Looking At Scott Hairston

You want to know how slow things have been lately? Here's the guy I'm writing about now...

That uniform probably doesn't make Yankee fans any more excited.

According to Dan Martin of the NY Post, the Yankees have been speaking with Scott Hairston. I'm sure the Yanks are looking at Hairston to fill the hole left by Andruw Jones, which honestly isn't that difficult after Andruw put up a line of .197/.294/.408 last season, which included only .202/.294/.411 vs. left-handed pitchers.

Hairston did smack 20 home runs last season, but his batting average of .263 and on-base percentage of .299 probably doesn't excite many people in the Yankee Universe. But against lefties Scotty did hit .286/.317/.550.

Hairston is also a decent corner outfielder, while being able to fake center field in an emergency.

Are The Yankees Interested In Scott Hairston

David Lennon of Newsday, who took over for Ken Davidoff when Ken left for the NY Post, published an article a couple of days ago talking about the top free agents. Lennon makes his predictions on where the top free agents will end up, including Swisher becoming a Padre, Kuroda returning to the Yankees, Soriano going to Detroit, Ichiro putting on the pinstripes again, and the Russ Bus staying parked in New York. But it's his prediction that the Yankees sign Scott Hairston to a 2-year deal worth $6 million that caught my eye.

At first I thought "cool", remembering that Jerry Hairston was a key bench player leading to a World Series title for the Yankees (Jerry hit .237/.352/.382 in 45 games after being acquired by the Yankees mid-season, while filling in at 2B, SS, 3B, LF, and RF). So I looked at Scott's Baseball Reference page to see what he could bring to the table. I wasn't impressed.

Scott Hairston batted .263/.299/.504 with 20 home runs for the Mets last season. Don't get me wrong, 20 home runs is no small feat. The problem with that number is that I wouldn't bet anything that he replicates that power production. Hairston's career line drive percentage is 18%, and last season he put up 21%... the highest it's been since 2006 with Arizona. And that's after putting up a LD% of 13% and 11% in 2010 and 2011. Add on the fact that Hairston is a right-handed batter, and therefore won't be able to take advantage of the short porch in right field like Ibanez could. Frankly, if Hairston doesn't square up the ball as much or more than he did last season, then his home run total is going to suffer with the Yankees.

Can you hit it here?

Those looking for positives in Scott's game will point out his career-low walk percentage of 4.8% last season, after having numbers of 9.2% and 7.6% in 2010 and 2011. So perhaps that low OBP of .299 last season is not a true indication of Hairston's ability to get on base. Unfortunately he hasn't had an OBP above .313 in a season since that 2006 year I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Hairston can play any of the three outfield positions, although he mainly played in LF or RF the past two seasons with the Mets. But before you go thinking that Scott could replace Raul Ibanez on the roster, let me point out that Scott is a right-handed batter while Raul was a lefty. So we're not talking about a guy that could platoon against right-handed pitchers.

So maybe Scott could platoon against left-handed pitchers. Well, perhaps, but do we really want to give a guy a two year deal because he can hit left-handed pitchers? It's not as if the majority of pitchers are left-handed (last season the Yankees had 4,037 plate appearances vs. RHP, and 2,194 vs. LHP). But maybe Scott's numbers are just that good against lefties, so that when we do face them he'd be a big weapon. Well, last season, Hairston hit .286/.317/.550 with 11 home runs in 199 plate appearances vs. LHP. So there is value there, although I'm still not sure it's worth 2 years.

Remember when I hated on Dickerson, well that's about to change... a bit.

Even though his power falls off a cliff against left-handed pitchers (it goes from .424 against RHP to .316 against LHP), I'd rather have Chris Dickerson play before Scott Hairston versus lefties. Other than his SLG dropping significantly against same-sided pitching, Dickerson's batting average and on-base percentage remains relatively equal (BA - .269 to .253, OBP - .354 to .344). Toss in the fact that Dickerson would cost the team about $4 million less over the next two years, I see no reason to bring in Scott Hairston.