Desert raid
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 11:33 pm by SJK
If the Yankees are in the market for a bat, then they need to look no further than the team they're currently playing. Underneath the hot Arizona sun lies a very attractive option. Ladies and gentlemen, the Yankees should trade for DBacks 1B Adam LaRoche and slot him in the DH spot.
Here's why it makes sense:
1. The Yankees could use an offensive boost. Heading into Tuesday's game, they trailed Boston in runs per game, wOBA, ISO, and OPS.
2. On June 17th, Girardi stated that he had no idea when Nick Johnson would even pick up a bat.
3. LaRoche is a proven quality major league hitter. Look at the numbers he's registered during his six+ year career:
- .272/.343/.490
- .353 wOBA
- 115 OPS+
- 116 wRC+
- .850 OPS versus RHP, .766 OPS versus LHP
4. He's a notorious 2nd half hitter, so the timing of the trade could be very good (if you believe in 1H / 2H patterns). Check out his monthly splits.
| Split | G | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April/March | 150 | 582 | .211 | .304 | .396 | .701 |
| May | 183 | 708 | .257 | .332 | .449 | .782 |
| June | 146 | 563 | .266 | .331 | .454 | .785 |
| July | 128 | 500 | .296 | .353 | .556 | .908 |
| August | 143 | 561 | .310 | .384 | .549 | .933 |
| Sept/Oct | 154 | 585 | .302 | .358 | .550 | .908 |
5. For you SABR-projection heads, ZiPS has him at a .376 wOBA for the rest of the season.
6. He's likely very available. Arizona is not making the playoffs, and GM Josh Byrnes
“We’re underachieving as a team,” LaRoche said. “When that happens, everybody knows — with the exception of maybe one or two guys — that you’re being shopped around. That’s how teams rebuild and make things happen down the road. Regardless of what your numbers are, as a team, if you’re not going getting the job done, guys will get traded. That’s baseball.
7. He has a contract that doesn't give Arizona much leverage.
According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, LaRoche is only signed through this season ($6 mil) and has a mutual option for 2011. If Arizona does not trade him, he could walk. Thus, the cost of trade should not be prohibitive.
There are many reasons why a trade for Adam LaRoche is a compelling and realistic option for the Yankees. It could only benefit the team to add a bat of his caliber.
We'd like Cashman to make a raid in the desert.
*Props to Vizzini and Marshall Seymour for also contributing to this post.
Tags: cashmoney, front office, trade
What about Adam Dunn?
Read my shitty blog: newyorksportszone.com
I throw 98MPH in meaningless 8 run lead situations
hey, over at RAB we thought it’d make sense to platoon Gardner & Gary Sheffield…
@Joba:
Hey fatty, glad to see you’re back…
Yeah but next time in a 1 run game against the Sox, I will be giving up walks and hits with my 93MPH fastball.
I like to be unpredictable, keep you guys guessing.
Fuck that. Get Adam Dunn and put him or Cano in the 2 hole. By the way, amazing photoshop
Why is everyone ignoring how shitty of a writer I am. I have no comments over at my shitty blog.
Ya niggas be wailin’
wylin’, son
no but really, good idea. just get another sally dump goin, and trade em a c level prospect. maybe then we wont get shut down bu the phillies and japanese people the mets hire to improve their penis self image
What would Arizona want in return is the question? I am sure prospects, but who would we be willing to give up?
We should just ship Miranda to the Angels for Godzilla.
We should have just re-signed Matsui.
This is all very insensitive! I’m going to go cry now!
You can probably get him for a bag of practice balls, so it certainly wouldn’t hurt. But … is he better for the DH role than Posada? Clearly Cervelli played over his head thus far this year, but he certainly appears to be the catcher of the future, despite all the amazing catching prospects we supposedly have. Honestly, he’s a better catcher than Posada right now, so why lose the flexibility of being able to DH Posada? Guys like LaRoche won’t work well (see: Hinske, Eric) only batting a few times a week.
What is with the constant yearning for Matsui on this site? Put aside his 2009, which might have been his swan song, and look at his 2010: .261/.332/.424, 9 HR. Not too respectable for a DH. Plus he wanted to play LF and wouldn’t have re-signed with the Yankees anyway.
NJ was a mistake but it makes no sense to say we should have re-signed Matsui instead. If you want to cherry pick a DH that we should have signed (ignoring whether that player wanted to a DH role on the Yankees), at least go with Vlad or Hinske.
Everybody crying for Matsui does realize that he’s essentially been replacement-level this season, right?
Re: LaRoche, he’s only an improvement over the rotating DH when Jeter uses it. Posada and Rodriguez are better hitters than LaRoche who are going to need fairly regular rest from the field, so blocking them from the DH spot doesn’t seem the wisest of moves. The Yanks would have to bring in a DH who hits better than those two (Dunn) to make the move really worthwhile.
nick johnson will be back….he’s as durable than me…
as me….for me…because of me….instead of me….in other words…..durable
Would the Yankees get a draft pick if they offered him arbitration? That’d be nifty
Isn’t Jermaine Dye still around?
I’d support this move.
Adam LaRoche…..ah……..no.
Do we really need another first baseman who can’t hit?
My friends I say no.
Your Friend,
-Lionel.
Carl Pavano: 96.1 IP, 3.64 ERA, 1.080 WHIP
I’d rather having Pavano in our rotation (on his one-year deal) than Burnett right now.
If by “Isn’t Jermaine Dye still around” you mean “Is Jermaine Dye still unemployed because no one thinks he would be a helpful additional to a team,” then yes, he is still around. Boggles my mind why anyone would consider signing Dye and waiting for him to get back into playing shape (which would take what, a month?) only to get a league-average bat at best.
Adam Dunn is out of the question because the NL East is as open of a division as the AL East… Washington might actually BUY instead of sell.
LaRoche could work… Berkman is still choice 1 for me though
Can he pitch? Because if we can find a bench player with pop and a good 7th inning fastball, I’m sold.
I would lean heavily toward Berkman, too, over LaRoche. He seems totally frustrated in Houston, and I would be willing to bet that he’d really pick it up with the Yankees. I understand wanting to keep the DH slot open for Posada and A-Rod, but in the playoffs, Francisco Cervelli ain’t playing, and neither is Kevin Russo / Ramiro Pena at third.
Do we really need another first baseman who can’t hit?
luckily we’re discussing a DH who can hit.
I didnt not work, Your awful manager Girardi for some reason hated my guts and never used me. I was even kept off the ALCS roster for some scrub pinch runner who will probably never see the majors again in his life. Meantime all I did was homer anytime that jerk off Girardi did play me.
By the way price of me and Reed Johnson = 2 mill
Price of Randy Winn = 2.2 Mill
Ha ha you fucked up “Cashmoney” and thats not even counting the 5.5 mill you gave to limp wristed Nick Johnson.
what, no cake?
didn’t this say “dessert”?
Eric Hinske is 100% correct. Why Cashman lusted over such bench garbage like Marcus Thames, Randy Winn and gave a contract to Nick Johnson is beyond me. And please don’t start with Johnson’d OBP.
Fix all the team’s offensive problems by batting Gardner leadoff and moving Jeter to 8th. Jeter is just an average player at this point.
A sea of humanity will witness Lebron James unveil his naked body at city hall upon his signing. Dolan and Walsh will masturbate to the King, along with nearly a million New Yorkers. The Knicks will defeat the Chicago Bobcats in 2014. Bobcats, Chicago, Bulls, Montreal, Marauders, I’m a moron.
By the way price of me and Reed Johnson = 2 mill
Price of Randy Winn = 2.2 Mill
if you’re going to take shots, at least get your facts straight.
Winn’s contract was incentive-based and triggered on the number of ABs he had against LHP. He obviously didn’t meet those incentives. I doubt the entire Winn experiment cost the Yankees more than $1M.
Winn was a mistake, whatever. They’ll grab someone else. Let it go.
And please stop acting like Hinske AND Reed Johnson were options. It would be one or the other.
Make your point honestly, is that too much to ask?
Sheffield would be better as DH.
My friend Steve…having a DH who can’t hit…is even worse. This Adam LaRoche is no good. He’s never really done anything…he’s a mediocre kind of player.
-Lionel.
Lionel, he’s a career .272/.343/.489 hitter. you’re using a ridiculous standard of “can’t hit”.
he also has an insane 1st half/2nd half split.
Do you guys remember when I discovered that the N word was censored in the live game chat? I spammed naughty words for a good 20 minutes trying to figure out what else was censored. I discovered NoMaas only caters to the African Americans.
In that same chat I said I hate black people. I also posted an article, http://www.newyorksportszone.com, where I predict that the Knicks will end up with Chris Paul, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh. I also predict that Steve Nash will eventually coach the Knicks and Kobe Bryant will retire a Chicago Bobcat…that’s right…a Chicago Bobcat.
I am a fucking moron.
His name sounds French. I don’t trust him. You can keep the cheese-eating frogs over in Flushing, thanks.
Steve my friend.
You have to look at where this guy has played his entire career…the NL East. The NL East for the past few years…has not been a hot bed of top level pitching. In fact it’s been quite awful.
Now he plays for the D Backs…in a horrible NL West. His numbers are a mirage my friend.
He’d be lucky to hit .230 in the AL East.
Most commenters should go back to impersonating baseball players because their baseball insights are ridiculous. Some commenters say we should have gotten X player even though that player isn’t even hitting this year. Others say we should have gotten Y player, who is hitting, even though there was a reason we couldn’t get him (Hinske, for example, wanted more of an opportunity to start than the Yankees would have given him with a Gardner-Granderson-Swisher OF).
Then there are the comments bashing a player who is actually on the Yankees but doesn’t deserve it, like Thames, who was signed primarily to hit LHP and did so, going .302/.412/.442. A platoon player is not “garbage” if he actually performs as a platoon player.
Finally there are the comments bashing a Yankee who does deserve it, but blowing the criticism out of proportion. Take Winn, who sucked. As Steve pointed out, Winn was a low-risk player who didn’t pan out. The team shrugged, got rid of him, and replaced him with minor leaguers. Not every relatively low-cost signing can turn out like Aubrey Huff (which was arguably a dumber signing at the time than Winn, notwithstanding how each player has performed).
The Yankees are the best team in baseball. There’s very little to gripe about besides Burnett pitching like crap. LaRoche isn’t a bad suggestion but I can see the Yankees going either way on adding a bat, since the DH spot is so valuable to the team right now and we surely have to see more offense from Teixeira and ARod.
Lionel, your soothing tone and musical words make it hard to argue with you. Point taken on the NL.
I just think we’re being a little hard on LaRoche. Right now, if everyone is healthy and playing their position, the DH is ??
If that situation DOES occur (everyone healthy), I think we’d want an upgrade in that spot. Doesn’t have to be LaRoche. Of course Dunn is preferable, but the Nats aren’t going to give him away.
If the Yankees do decide to grab a bat, I think LaRoche is a decent choice. That’s all, my friend.
I do fully expect Cashman to make a move for another bench player, but that will be a minor move in the vein of Hairston last year.
@Benjamin Disraeli hahaha
Hold on, guys! My rehab is going great! I was able to use the remote control without issue and I was able to lift my Mountain Dew Code Red cans to my lips practically pain free. I’ve also been intaking lots of nutrition. I had 4 hot dogs for lunch today and I ate an entire bag of beef jerky.
@Rich Mahogany
You should check out RAB… very insightful. not so funny.
By the way, who’s your favorite Yankee?
Hey Nick Johnson,
Your rehab is going about as well as mine.
Actually I wouldve signed with the Yankees in a heartbeat. Also I fail to see why Cashman couldnt have signed both myself and Reed Johnson when he did sign Thames and Winn and Winn alone cost more than mine and Reed Johnson’s contract put together.
Get YOUR facts straight, no sense of humor Steven.
Can we give Jesus a shot first? Maybe the kid makes an impact? Maybe not? What’s to lose?
The Yanks paid Winn $1.1. Hinske and Johnson are making 1.8 mil. So get YOUR facts straight, Mr. Really Cool Guy Posting As A Player.