Baseball’s Savior

I knew George Steinbrenner wouldn’t let us down. In what’s been a pretty quiet Hot Stove league for the Yankees, the owner and the Yankees’ front office pulled off quite a coup. Not only did they fill one of their glaring holes from last year, but they did it by stealing said hole filler from the hated Red Sox. Johnny Damon is a Yankee.

This solves a ton of problems. No more hearing about Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter moving out there (although Jeter heading to center might be a worth while experiment). And Hideki Matsui, who probably had his best year in left field to date, won’t have to make the switch either.

Damon’s a solid hitter. He’s a career .290 hitter and while his career .353 OBP isn’t awesome, he’s been on the north end of that the last two seasons. So while he doesn’t draw a ton of walks, he doesn’t strike out either. In fact as I look through my 2006 Hardball Times Baseball Annual, I can see that he hits more groundballs then average (which is good, as he can use his speed) and he also has a higher line drive percentage, which equates to more hits.

Depending on the metric, Damon’s also a solid fielder. Again looking at the Hardball Times Annual, Damon ranked fifth in the league amongst centerfielder in Runs Above Average. His 14.1 RAA/150 games was well ahead of the Yanks 2005 centerfielder. Bernie Williams was near the bottom of the list with -8.4/150 games Now this is a range measure, and you’d expect Damon to be up there. What he’s most criticized for is his weak arm.

If we look at Baseball Prospectus’ metrics, which I believe takes everything into account, Damon had 14 Fielding Runs Above Replacement, which was -5 Fielding Runs Above Average. That was his first FRAA in his career. Williams had 12 FRAR and a -1 FRAA, but those numbers are slightly out of whack because he only played in 100 games or so out in center.

So we get a relatively light hitting contact hitter who is an upgrade out in the field. I like it. And if you’re not convinced, take a look at this lineup

1) Johnny Damon CF
2) Derek Jeter SS
3) Alex Rodriguez 3b
4) Gary Sheffield RF
5) Jason Giambi 1b/DH
6) Hideki Matsui LF
7) Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2b
9) 1b/DH to be named later.

So if we can swing a deal for that final spot (I’m hoping they can make a deal with the Royals to pull in Mike Sweeney), the Yankees have the best lineup, from top to bottom, in the league. Now they just have to work on pitching up another arm or two to fill out the rotation.