In recent years, the Yankees have gone with part-time designated hitters due to the age of some of their other regulars. This year will be no different. We’ve already covered how the other players are projected to perform this season, and in this installment, we will look at the team’s two quasi-regulars: Travis Hafner, who will DH against right handed pitchers, and Eduardo Nunez who is listed as the backup DH on the Yankees depth chart, but will probably get most of his playing time filling in for Derek Jeter when the captain gets his semi-off days against left handed starters. The Yankees could also use Kevin Youkilis or Alex Rodriguez for the right handed bat in the DH platoon, and Nunez could potentially get the call at the hot corner on those days as well.

Here are the 2013 ZiPS projections for Hafner and Nunez:

Travis Hafner, DH: .258/.351/.452, .342 wOBA, 1.1 WAR
Eduardo Nunez, UTIL: .265/.302/.363, .292 wOBA, 0.8 WAR

Quick memo to Yankee management and fans: Eduardo Nunez sucks at baseball. ZiPS gives him less than one full win above replacement despite also giving him 430 PA. FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY. Treating Nunez as a utility infielder is fine. Or, would be fine if the your average Yankee infielder wasn’t an 83 year old who needs regular days off and gets lost driving to the ballpark at least twice a week. He should not be getting regular playing time, though. That .292 wOBA is pitiful.

Luckily, Hafner will do just fine on his side of the platoon. As we noted after he was signed, he holds a 136 wRC+ vs RHP over the past three seasons. If he’s used almost exclusively against righties, he should exceed his projected rate stats. While his overall WAR is not that impressive (he is only projected at 322 PA) his numbers against righties should make him a decent player. He is one of the few offseason moves that actually benefits this team.

Just to put him in perspective, last year’s left handed DH was Raul Ibanez. The Dark Lord picked up 425 PA for the Yankees with 323 PA coming against right handed pitchers. He hit .240/.308/.453 with a .325 wOBA and was worth 1.1 WAR. If Hafner hits his projections, he’s worth just as many wins as Ibanez in about 100 fewer PA.