Yankees Left Handed Hitting DH option: Travis Hafner

[DerekJeterDan]

I know the knock on this guy - He hasn't been able to stay healthy throughout his entire career.

For the Yankees who are in need of power, that could actually be an investment worth making.

Check out his numbers when he does play and makes his way in 90 or so games (what he would do in a platoon before flaming out) http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/.../travis-hafner

Travis Hafner when he does play still puts up big numbers. He would be a force at Yankee Stadium even if he got hurt at some point, the production he would give at a cheap price is worth considering since the market is so weak and limited in terms of available power bats.

He has a .381 Career On Base Percentage, a .507 SLG percentage, and a lifetime .278 average.

Even though he's been injured in the past three seasons he still has put up an .855 OPS against right handed pitching with 29 homeruns and 101 RBI. That .855 OPS while battling injury is pretty impressive.

If you assume he stays healthy in a platoon situation which the Yankees are known to do at DH, you could be looking at another low risk high reward investment that pays off for the Yankees like Raul Ibanez did at age 40 with the short porch in right.

He's 35 years old and when he's healthy, he is crushing the ball as his numbers suggest. At this stage in the game its an investment worth making. He won't strike out like a Carlos Pena type and if you look at his OBP numbers you would see he's the right guy to pursue given this teams needs. (2009 - .355, 2010 - .374, .2011 - .361, 2012 - .346) OBP

In a platoon situation at DH with 385 ABs(the amount Ibanez got last season) he could absolutely destroy pitching for the Yankees, with the short porch, at a steal of a price.

The more I read about Hafner coming at a discount, the more the idea of taking a chance of Pronk and his power makes sense to me. Put him in the 7th spot of the order and give it a shot. If he's not healthy we have guys internally who can take over. If he is healthy, it's a steal

[iam brett favre]

I'm all for bringing in a vet like him...usually. Not in this case though. I don't really want anything to do with him.

[DerekJeterDan]

Completely understandable since he has the injury history and that bug just keeps finding a way toward him year in and year out. I don't blame anyone who takes this side of the argument because I see it too.

Just trying to get creative here and stir the pot up a little bit. Generate new names and new ideas and Hafner to me is someone to keep an eye on.

[DerekJeterDan]

When the Yankees tried to trade AJ Burnett, they offered Cleveland a deal of AJ for Hafner which got denied.

So the Yanks have expressed interest before which is why the idea becomes that much more interesting here.

[RCSownsU]

The Yankees are looking for right handed hitting outfielders, not left handed.

All three outfielders hit left handed.(Gardner, Granderson and Ichiro)

So I'm not really sure how he would fit in.

[DerekJeterDan]

Since Scott Hairston is a RH bat linked to the Yankees I will use his name as an example

Lineup VS RHP
1. Ichiro Suzuki RF
2. Derek Jeter SS
3. Robinson Cano 2B
4. Mark Teixeira 1B
5. Curtis Granderson CF/LF
6. Kevin Youkilis 3B
7. Travis Hafner DH
8. Romine/Cervelli/Stewart C
9. Brett Gardner LF/CF

Lineup vs LHP
1. Derek Jeter SS
2. Eduardo Nunez DH
3. Robinson Cano 2B
4. Mark Teixeira 1B
5. Kevin Youkilis 3B
6. Curtis Granderson CF/LF
7. Scott Hairston RF
8. Ichiro/Gardner LF
9. Romine/Cervelli/Stewart C

Since the Yankees lost both Ibanez, Arod, and Chavez and also Andruw Jones, they need as much power as possible:

* Getting Youkilis already covers Arod's expected production theoretically (Check)

* Getting a Hafner type on the cheap would cover production lost from not having Raul Ibanez at DH (Check)

* Having Nunez balances out Eric Chavez production. He'll offer better speed and better contact than Chavez and has a better chance of staying healthy. Chavez had provided a lot more power (Check)

* We need a right handed bat in the Outfield to platoon with Ichiro, Gardner, and Granderson to give us numbers similar to what Andruw Jones gave us. Scott Hairston type is fine (Check)

With those four moves (Youkilis replaces Arod, Hafner replaces Ibanez, Nunez replaces Chavez, New OF replaces Andruw Jones) the Yankees only worry would be having to replace Russell Martin and we have 3 catchers in a competition to do so.

Moves like those would cover the expected power loses and give the Yankees a much better fighting chance in my opinion than where they stand now

[Pinstripe power]

the last thing we need is a guy who can't play the field

[LeoYankee]

Sign everyone possible to minor league deals. Let em fight it out.

[sauronthepower]

No!!!

I stand corrected from an earlier post.

The only player I can't stand worse than Vazquez, Johnson, and Drew is this clown.

Absolutely not.

[Bobshirleyrules]

I like this move. I was hoping we would do something like this last year. Hafner based on his injury history could be had for 1.5 million. Type of guy who could have a swan song year. The power is there and when considering he hit a career low .228, does not look as bad with .340 OBP. Basically he still has power and can take walks, which is to say he is not an easy out. Pending a successful physical, I make the move.

[theslick1]

On a minor league deal for 900K if he makes the ML roster, why not?

[DerekJeterDan]

Sauron - How can you not stand Travis Hafner when he's never even been a New York Yankee?

At least I'm trying to get some creative discussion on these boards. That emphatic NO! only makes you look foolish here.

Even the fans in Cleveland were sad to see him go and they know his injury history better than anyone.

Give him a 1 year deal with incentives and let him supply some power at DH. In this market he could be a diamond in the rough. You see low key signings like this pay offs all the time. Cashman is very successful at it.

The potential reward far exceeds the potential downside.

http://www.yankeeanalysts.com/2013/0...r-for-dh-47379

The blog above was posted 1 hour ago and it agrees with my idea.

[DerekJeterDan]

I like this move. I was hoping we would do something like this last year. Hafner based on his injury history could be had for 1.5 million. Type of guy who could have a swan song year. The power is there and when considering he hit a career low .228, does not look as bad with .340 OBP. Basically he still has power and can take walks, which is to say he is not an easy out. Pending a successful physical, I make the move.

Agreed

[Pinstripe power]

On a minor league deal for 900K if he makes the ML roster, why not?

because hes a wast eof a roster space. we have aneough guys who0 will be rotating in the DH spot, we dont need toa dd someone who cant play the field

[theslick1]

because hes a wast eof a roster space. we have aneough guys who0 will be rotating in the DH spot, we dont need toa dd someone who cant play the field

Who's our opening day DH?