2013 AB4AR Season Review: The Bench

(Courtesy of Robert Sabo/NY Daily News)

The Yankee bench wasn't going to be very good this year.  We knew that going in when they started scraping the bottom of the barrel to bring guys like Juan Rivera and Matt Diaz into spring camp to compete for a spot.  The whole lotta nothing that the team did to address its holes in the lineup trickled down big time to the bench, where guys who were better suited for part-time roles got forced into everyday duty and there was nobody left to replace them on the bench.  Well, nobody who could produce at a replacement level.

It was a non-stop revolving cast of characters on the Yankee bench this year, necessitated by injuries, poor performance, ownership's tight grip on the payroll, and sometimes just the need to have a warm body at a position.  If you read the "What We Thought We Knew/What We Learned" post from last week, you know this isn't going to be pretty.

2013 Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Bench)

(Jayson Nix, ladies and gentlemen.... )

The less I say about the 2013 the better.  It's just going to make me upset recapping how the Yankees took their recent "build the bench with cheap, aging veterans and a few young guys" approach to new lows this season.  It was a sorry, sadsack group of misfits, washed up has-beens, and "who the hell is that guy???"s that had to set the bar for the worst collective bench in Yankee history.  There wasn't much we didn't know about them when the season started, and there wasn't a lot of new ground broken in what we learned when it was over.

Yanks Add Ishikawa To The Bench Mix

He's not the right-handed platoon bat the Yankees could use for Lyle Overbay at first base, but Travis Ishikawa can and will be the lefty bench bat this team definitely needs right now after the Yankees claimed him off waivers from Baltimore yesterday.

Ishikawa had just 2 singles and 8 strikeouts in 18 PA for the O's this season, making him a very expendable piece for them.  His .316/.413/.525 line he was putting up in 208 Triple-A PA and career .260/.324/.399 Major League batting line are more telling about what he's capable of bringing to the Yankee bench.  Ishikawa is a useful left-handed hitter with just enough power and just enough patience to make him dangerous playing with a short porch in right.  He's also a plus defender at first base, so he can be used to rest Lyle Overbay without losing much defensively.  His primary duty will be as a left-handed pinch hitter - a role the Yankees really needed to fill with their surplus of light-hitting righty left infield bats - and his career .739 OPS and .322 wOBA against RHP makes him viable in that role.

Ishikawa is another in the long line of small, marginal upgrades the Yanks have tried to make to this roster as the season has gone on.  He likely won't be a world beater, but he will be a better late-game hitting option than Stewart or Cruz or Gonzalez if the Yankees need a run.  I'd expect David Adams to be sent down to clear a spot for Ishikawa and I expect that move will happen later today.

2013 AB4AR Season Preview: The Bench

(Relevant)

I was planning on using a picture of a bare cupboard, but I'm making an effort to be a little more positive so I thought the carousel was a better choice.  In the end, even the carousel represents the depressing feeling surrounding this year's Yankee bench just as well as the empty cupboard would have.  There's more than likely going to be a lot of people getting rotated through the open bench positions as the season progresses.  The Yankees have loaded up on cheap, downside-of-their-careers veterans to try to squeeze the last few drops of value out of them before kicking them to the curb and going to somebody else.  Eventually it might get down to the crop of young kids in Triple-A who are knocking on the big league door, and I'm sure they'll enjoy themselves when they get their turn on the carousel.  At the end of the day, though, this group probably isn't going anywhere.

2013 Season Preview: What We Know & What We Don't Know (The Bench)

(Incoming!!  Courtesy of J. Conrad Williams, Jr./Newsday)

The bench has become an increasingly more important part of the Yankee roster in the last 3-5 years as the core of their lineup has aged.  Part of what's helped them maintain top contender status has been the bench's ability to step up and contribute in minor and major roles when the situation called for it and at no time was that more apparent than last season.  Raul Ibanez, Andruw Jones, Eric Chavez.  They all contributed more than their expected share of ABs and it's a fair bet to say the Yankees wouldn't have won the division without them.  This year, things aren't shaping up to be so rosy on the bench, as the Yankees have taken their "build the bench on the cheap" method to a whole new level, a lower level.  The consistency and overall usefulness of this group in general is questionable across the board, which is not a good thing considering all the issues the Bombers have in their starting lineup.

2013 Spring Training Roster Battles: Utility Infielder

(Courtesy of Barton Silverman/NY Times)

The last real roster battle in this year's camp is definitely the least exciting of all the battles, but is one that could have more importance than people realize.  The left side of the Yankee infield is full of more health-related questions than answers thanks to A-Rod's hips, Jeter's ankle, and Youkilis' entire body.  At the very least the Yankees are going to have to lean on their utility guy more in the first month of the season to give Jeter time to get into everyday game shape and to make sure that Youkilis doesn't get too worn down from playing every day.  At most, the utility guy might have to step into an everyday role for a period of time if Jeter or Youkilis hit the DL.  The Yankees have gotten by with average-at-best production from this spot in the last few years, but average-at-best might not cut it this season now that Eric Chavez has moved on.  Without a real solid corner infield option, the utility infielder role will expand in 2013, and these are the fellas competing for the job.

Revisiting The Roster Spot Contender Rankings

(Where does this new guy fit in?  Courtesy of the AP)

After all the hard work I put into my first shot at ranking the contenders for the final 4 roster spots earlier this week, the Yankees had to go and screw it all up by signing more guys.  I'd be a little more upset, both personally and semi-professionally, if those players weren't potential upgrades over most of the others in contention.  But since they were, I guess I can get over it and move on with an updated list.  The 2 newest players added to the mix have a leg up on their competition by having more Major League experience under their belt, but I wouldn't quite say they are shoo-ins given their age and individual shortcomings as defensively useless players and injury risks.

So here's take 2 of my pre-ST rankings for the final 4 roster spots:

** UPDATE 3:21 PM- Canzler has been DFA'd to open a spot on the 40-man for Travis Hafner.  I'd say he's not a sure bet to clear waivers.  **

Yanks Sign Juan Rivera To A MiL Deal

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

As first reported by the ESPN NY comedy duo of Marchand and Matthews, the Yankees have signed Juan Rivera to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training.  No details yet on what the dollars will be if he makes the team, but Rivera will join Matt Diaz, Russ Canzler, and the litany of other internal and external candidates competing for a spot on the 2013 Yankee bench.

Rivera, now 34, started his career with the Yankees and has spent almost all of his time on the West Coast since leaving in 2003.  He's a right-handed hitting corner outfielder who can moonlight as a first baseman and has a strong platoon split against left-handed pitching.  He has a .274/.323/.443 career slash line (.331 wOBA) and a .286/.333/.489 career slash against lefties, but he hit just .244/.286/.375 in 339 PA with the Dodgers in 2012, and his offensive production has waned in the last few years as he's moved into his 30s and struggled with injuries.

Defensively he's not much, and could only be used in the outfield corners, and there isn't much else he brings to the table.  But for the purposes he would serve with the Yankees this is as good a cheap signing as any.  Rivera has a long Major League track record, a recent Major League track record, and a positive split against southpaws, which is more than you can say about some of the other guys they've brought in.  Even as a player clearly in decline, Rivera falls right smack dab in the middle of the early roster battle I laid out this afternoon.

Ranking Final Roster Spot Contenders (First Try)

(Would Eduardo Scissorhands make my roster cut?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

I commented last week on Cash's statements regarding the current Yankee roster construction, and the declaration that the team would be willing to go to Tampa with "what they've got" right now.  By my count, there are still 4 roster spots unaccounted for, almost all of them on the bench, and the group of candidates to fill those spots is uninspiring to say the least.  But it's looking more and more likely that this group, and maybe an additional cheap MiL signee or 2, are going to be the players battling it out for the final 4 spots, and that being the case we might as well start separating the real contenders from the pretenders.  Spring Training is still a few weeks away, so I'm going on nothing more than past performance and perceived team needs, but here are my early rankings for who I think should get the final 4 roster spots.

Dan Johnson, Come On Down...

You're the next contestant on "2013 New York Yankees Quad-A Bench Competition!!"



Sweeny Murti had the story via Twitter, and the Yankees now have another candidate for a spot on this year's bench.  Johnson is a 33-year-old lefty swinger who can play first base but for the Yankees' purposes would be best-suited as a lefty platoon DH.  He's bounced back and forth between the Majors and Triple-A since 2005, and has a career .237/.338/.412 Major League slash line (.329 wOBA) in over 1,500 PA, but has seen his overall production decline from '05 to present day.

Johnson brings good power to the table, and has very strong BB and K rates, but his defensive limitations and recent down trending production makes him a less-than-desirable option as a platoon/bench player.  At best, he captures some magic and gets some big hits as part of the early-season bench corps.  At worst, he's organizational depth who can continue to do what he's always done and mash at Triple-A.  Nothing to get excited about, but then again it's not like the Yankees are trying to be exciting right now.

Yanks Sign Another MiL OF; I'm Getting Bored Writing About Them

Boy the Yanks are really picking the bones of the Cleveland 40-man clean, huh?  Every casualty that gets cut to make room for a new signing pretty much has a Yankee MiL contract waiting for him when he finishes cleaning out his locker.  Maybe somebody should tell the front office that these moves don't make up for not offering Swish a contract.

The latest Quad-A warm body is Thomas Neal, a 25-year outfielder with a 7-year MiL career in 2 systems and 9 games of 2012 Major League service under his belt.  He had some pretty good years in the lower levels of the San Fran system, and even posted a .343 wOBA for their Triple-A affiliate in 2011.  But he got dropped back down to Double-A in Cleveland's system last year, so take that however you want to judge the guy's ceiling.  For what it's worth, he's got decent MiL numbers, good power, some speed, tolerable K and BB rates, and can play multiple positions.  Blah, blah, blah.

Diaz.  Canzler.  Neal.  Somehow I don't think these guys are going to be battling for a spot on Pinstriped Bible's Top 100 Yankees list.

Finding A Right-Handed Outfield Handcuff

(I wouldn't get your hopes up for this guy.  Courtesy of the AP)

The natural progression from the Ichiro Suzuki signing being made official is to nail down the now much-needed righty 4th outfielder.  For the first time in years, the Yankee outfield is a trio of left-handed hitters, all of whom are less than world beaters against their fellow southpaw slingers.  Brett Gardner has a .256/.362/.335 slash line against lefties in just a hair under 400 career PA, Curtis Granderson took a step backward in 2012 with a .218/.304/.458 line and a ghastly 32.0% K rate, and Ichiro, despite his shiny numbers in pinstripes, was still just a .284/.291/.358 hitter vs. lefties this past season.

Andruw Jones is moving on to Japan to become a real-life Mr. Baseball, and the budget doesn't provide Cash the means to go out and sign a bigger name like Cody Ross or say, Nick Swisher, so once again the Yankees will be down in the rough digging for another diamond.  The need is clearly there, but with the major portion of the offseason already passed, the supply of viable righty OF bat options is dangerously thin.

Is There Any Way I Can Talk Myself Into Vernon Wells?

(I wouldn't be smiling if I had that bad a year in 2012.  Courtesy of the AP)

One of the bigger pieces of weekend news that I touched on yesterday was Ken Rosenthal's report that the Yankees and Angels discussed a possible trade for outfielder Vernon Wells at the Winter Meetings.  The move makes sense for Anaheim, who now has a logjam in their outfield with the recent signing of Josh Hamilton, and in the loosest terms it makes sense for the Yankees, who are still heavy on left-handed hitters, many of them with significant platoon splits, and could use another right-handed power bat to take DH at-bats or spell Ichiro Suzuki in right field.

The problem is that Wells completely sucks now.  Ever since he signed his big contract in Toronto his career has been completely flushed down the toilet, evidence by a .285 wOBA/79 wRC+ season in 131 games in 2011 and a .296/88 campaign in 77 games this past season.  He doesn't walk much, his power has dipped big time in the last 3 years, and defensive metrics paint him as an inconsistent defensive outfielder at best.  Oh, and he's still owed $42 million over the next 2 seasons.  There's seemingly nothing about Wells that looks useful for the 2013 Yankees, but damnit I'm going to try to find something.