Thoughts On The Kevin Youkilis Signing

(Ahh the good old days.  Let 'em go, people)

I made it pretty clear last week which side of the fence I was on when reports of the Yankees offering Kevin Youkilis the 1-year/$12 mil deal first came out.  I had my reasons and I don't think any of them were misguided, even if my way of expressing them (which was meant to be humorous, by the way) did get me an attempted morality lesson and possible challenge to a fight in the TYA comments section.  But barring something major coming up in his physical that would negate the agreement, Kevin Youkilis is going to be a Yankee next season and he's going to be the Opening Day third baseman.

That's the reality, snd there's nothing that I or anybody else who was anti-Youkilis can do about it.  So rather than bitch and moan about how much better of an option Mark Reynolds would have been, or complain about how I can't/won't root for him because of who his former team is, I'd like to break this move down logically and calmly now that I've had a night and a day to digest it.

2012 Statistical Trends: Joba's Comeback

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

2012 was a rough year for Joba Chamberlain.  After being shut down in 2011 and undergoing Tommy John Surgery, he was in the process of working himself back to full strength to make a summer 2012 return when he suffered his now infamous trampoline accident that resulted in a dislocated ankle.  When reports first came out on that injury, it sounded potentially career-threatening, but follow-up examinations and surgery made it much less so and Joba was able to return to a Major League mound in August.  Joba pitched to a 4.35/4.01/3.55 slash line in 20.2 innings pitched this past season, a small sample size to be sure.  But within that small sample size there are some interesting splits and trends that could point to a very strong 2013 campaign for Joba.