(AP; Getty Images)
NOT QUITE RIGHT: The Yankees’ lack of production from righties has forced them to consider Alex Rodriguez (right) and Alfonso Soriano. (AP; Getty Images)
At The very beginning of the Yankees’ great playoff run, they held their nose.
The Yankees had acquired Jack McDowell and John Wetteland before the 1995 season and were roundly expected to win the AL East. But they couldn’t shake .500, in part because Buck Showalter was having trouble convincing the heavily booed Danny Tartabull to get on the field, especially at home — and Tartabull was performing poorly when he did play.
So the Yankees agreed to a problem-for-problem trade 18 years ago this week, taking on someone with a far worse reputation than Tartabull. In fact, earlier in 1995, Ruben Sierra was called the “village idiot” by his then-Oakland manager Tony La Russa because Sierra — in a San Francisco Chronicle story — had responded to comments from his general manager that he should walk more by saying he wanted to throw a pitch over the general manager’s head. That GM was Sandy Alderson.
The Yankees knew Sierra was a bad act. But they needed an offensive boost. So they made a deal with the A’s — and the devil. That Yankees team — on which Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera debuted — was one game under .500 when Sierra arrived. He drove in 44 runs in his 56 games, the Yankees closed 38-23 and won the wild card, initiating a run of 17 playoffs in 18 seasons.
Now, here in Season 19, with Rivera in his final campaign, Pettitte fading and Jeter on the disabled list, the Yankees were willing to hold their nose again for their own necessary evil — Alex Rodriguez.
On a large-picture scale, the Yankees surely wish they could make Rodriguez vanish and save as much of the roughly $97 million they still owe him via an insurance claim or MLB suspension. That may or may not happen. But in the competitive short run, the Yankees were willing to cope with the circus because even a compromised Rodriguez had to be better than what the Yankees have been using from the right side.
Remember, A-Rod didn’t need to be his 2007 version, simply better than the 2013 Luis Cruz, David Adams, Jayson Nix, etc. The on-field bar had never been lower for A-Rod.
Even in his worst season in 2012, Rodriguez had a .783 overall OPS — .924 vs. lefties. With A-Rod now out indefinitely with what the team is calling a Grade 1 quad strain, the Yankees are trying to land Alfonso Soriano, who like Vernon Wells is a streaky righty hitter with a low on-base percentage, but with more power. Soriano has always hit lefties well (.861 OPS). He has six homers in 118 at-bats off southpaws this year, which might not sound like much. But that is as many as all the Yankees’ righty hitters have in 514 at-bats against lefties.
In fact, the Yankees’ right-handed hitters went into last night collectively with a .589 OPS, which is Cruz’s career mark. Against lefties, the OPS by Yankees righties fell to .564, which would be the lowest by a team’s righties vs. southpaws since the 1947 Washington Senators.
Obviously, the Yankees’ lefty hitters have not delivered like in the recent past either. But at least they still have Robinson Cano and the potential to add Curtis Granderson in a few weeks. Soriano might be too little too late, but would be a clear upgrade on the current righties if a trade could be finalized with the Cubs.
Because how could the current situation be much worse than this (statistics entering last night’s game)?
* Yankees righty hitters had gone 331 at-bats since their last homer — Jayson Nix on June 25. In that time, Soriano has 10 homers, tied with Miguel Cabrera for the most in the majors.
* The Yankees had two homers in 743 at-bats from righties — Nix and Mark Teixeira — since May 23. The last homer by a currently active Yankee was Chris Stewart on May 15. Wells hit his 10th homer earlier in that game, and had gone 172 at-bats thereafter without one.
* The Yankees had 24 homers by righty hitters, just six of those off lefties. Both were major league lows. Three of the six homers against lefties came off Toronto’s Mark Buehrle. Marlon Byrd has six homers off of lefties, so does Cano. Raul Ibanez has eight. Yankees righties have just one multi-run homer off a southpaw — Teixeira off Cleveland’s Scott Kazmir.
As you can see, something with the Yankees just isn’t right.
Pedroia deal has Cano consequences
The Red Sox and Dustin Pedroia agreed on a seven-year, $100 million extension yesterday, a few months after David Wright and the Mets reached an eight-year, $138 million pact. There were also reports the Dodgers were on the verge of giving Cuban shortstop Alexander Guerrero $32 million.
Does any of this hurt Robinson Cano’s contract leverage with the Yankees?
Cano and Wright are both 30 and their stats have great similarities: For example, in 5,103 at-bats entering last night, Wright had a .506 slugging percentage compared to .505 for Cano in 5,101 at-bats — and Cano plays in a much more favorable stadium for power. Meanwhile, Pedroia lacks Cano’s power,though advanced statistics that take the whole game into account — such as defense and base running — show Cano is superior to Pedroia, but not by a wide disparity.
And you can make the case Wright and Pedroia have at least as much on- and off-field value to their clubs as Cano and are clearly the leaders of their respective teams.
Cano, who is thought to be looking for $200 million or more for at least eight years, will argue Wright was a year from free agency, Pedroia 2 1/2 years from free agency and both were willing to leave substantial money on the table to stay where they are.
Cano is a free agent this offseason and will have to convince the Yankees he is willing to leave, unlike Pedroia and Wright. Then he will have to find a suitor willing to go in the $200 million range. The Dodgers were thought to be a likely bidder. But the scouts I talked to who had seen Guerrero say he projects as a second baseman or third baseman — assuming the Dodgers actually sign him.
That doesn’t preclude the Dodgers from still going after Cano. But remember they might have to spend $200 million or more to retain Clayton Kershaw, a free agent after next season. And opposing clubs insist dollars are a little tighter now with the Dodgers than the outside perception.
If not the Dodgers, then who will spend on Cano? The Mets? I can’t imagine them outbidding the Yankees. The Cubs? The expectation is they are going to earmark their big money for pitching. It is possible the Rangers make the most sense, but they had concerns on how Josh Hamilton would age and let him go. Cano turns 31 in October.