Invading Leisure World

The Yankees are old. I once thought last year’s Yankee team was old but this team blows them out of the water. It appears Brian Cashman visited a retirement home, gave an inspiring Braveheartesque speech, and led a mass exodus to The Bronx.

As a guy who loves to pretend to be a general manager I am puzzled by the Yankees decisions this winter. I cannot emphasize enough how qualified I am to be a general manager so my opinion clearly means a lot. Seriously, I know MLB owners read this. If you are one of them feel free to hire me. A 22 year old in his last year of college who is an shameless Orioles homer and three time World Series winner on MLB: The Show. My qualifications are clear.

So you lose arguably the best second baseman in baseball Robinson Cano. Yankee fans thought no problem. Now we have all this money to get a quality second baseman and maybe even a solid bullpen arm. Instead of getting the highly underrated Omar Infante, the Yankees raised eyebrows by signing36 year old Brian Roberts. Don’t get me wrong. As an Orioles fan I love me some Brian Roberts. The guy has been there since 2001 and is a former All Star. But he has played in 128 games the past 3 years. The Yankees will be lucky to get 120 games out of him in 2014.

The days of Brian Roberts stealing 30 bases a year and slugging .450 are over. In 2013 Roberts played in 77 games, his most since 2009 and he had an OPS+ of 89 which is 11 points below league average. Roberts also only had 3 steals in 2013 and had an OBP of .312 which is below average for second baseman. That’s what you’re getting with Roberts. A good clubhouse guy who will likely be a first base coach in the future, but will put up below average numbers and likely hit at the bottom of the order.

Out of respect I am going to refrain from poking fun at 40 year old Derek Jeter because he is a legend and first ballot hall of famer. This is tough. Michael resist! You’re better than this! Ahh!

Ok turns out my morals aren’t as good as I expected. Jeter is 40 years old. When I was little I thought 40 was ancient. I saw the Judd Apatow film “This is 40” which should have been titled “This is 40 Hours” and the characters in that movie looked old and miserable. But to be fair Jeter isn’t an ordinary 40 year old. He looks very similar to the late 90s Jeter everybody in America besides me grew to love. So let’s take an objective look at Jeter’s recent career.

Jeter has been an above league average hitter for 15 of his 18 years in the league. That is very impressive. His last full MLB season was 2012 which he posted .316/.362/.429 which is very good for a shortstop. But in 2013 Jeter was plagued with injuries. He only played in 17 games and had an OPS+ of 51, batted .190. Now Brian Kenny of MLB Network said, “If Jeter can physically walk to the plate he will be a league average at worst shortstop.” I’d like to believe that and his numbers certainly prove that he is an outstanding hitter. But can Jeter physically walk to the plate?

The Yankees did make some good moves this winter. They added Carlos Beltran whose numbers made me drool when I looked him up on Baseball Reference. In 2013 Beltran, in his age 36 season, had an OPS+ of 128 which is well over league average. He hasn’t had a slugging percentage lower than .490 since 2010 which is remarkable. He will hit at least 30 homers this season if he stays healthy and I can’t think of any way to make fun of the Yankees for this signing. Damn!

Catcher is widely regarded as the weakest offensive position in baseball but that trend is changing. The Yankees addressed their catching woes in 2013 by signing Brian McCann who is one of the top 3 offensive catchers in baseball. Pencil McCann in for 25 home runs, at least a .450 slugging percentage, and an OPS+ of at least 120.

Don’t mistake my sarcasm and hatred for the Yankees as me counting them out. We didn’t even look at their biggest signing, Jacoby Ellsbury, and they still have a solid team. It’s just fun to make fun of old athletes and I rarely miss an opportunity to do so.