Over at River Ave. Blues, contributor Steve H wonders if the Yankees will retain Austin Kearns in 2011. Has Kearns, he asked, done enough to warrant a large raise or a chance to hook on somewhere as a starter? If the answer to one of those questions is "yes" (particularly the first question), then the odds of him playing elsewhere next season increase.
The slugger has certainly impressed so far in New York, hitting .351/.415/.514 with 1 home run in 13 games. When combined with his time in Cleveland, his slash line reads .281/.360/.429 with nine homers in 97 games. Those numbers aren't too shabby for a guy making $750K this season. In fact, using his Wins Above Replacement metric, Fangraphs estimates that he would make $6.2MM in free agency with his play this year. No one would make the case for Kearns to command that kind of money on the open market this year, but the point remains that he has produced more than your average sub-$1MM player.
So, the question is..
Will Austin Kearns re-sign with the Yankees or go elsewhere?
If the Yankees opt to sign Crawford and not trade Gardner-no.
If they don’t sign Crawford and keep Gardner-I hope so.
If the Yankees keep the current OF configuration and do not sign a Crawford or Werth, then Kearns fits that group perfectly and may be resigned provided another team doesn’t offer him a starting job.
With the Yankees he starts often with the way Girardi plays people. He’s also injury insurance and if Granderson or Gardner regress, he can fill in and start.
The one reason I could see the Yankees resigning him is the system is not full of OF prospects who can fill his role who hit RH.
The Yankees have Colin Curtis in AAA, but he hits lefty and doesn’t help against LHP like Kearns does.
That said, there has to be a team out there willing to commit 1 of their 3 starting spots to him at least in the off season. As a low salary guy, he will be attractive to a lot of teams looking to fill a hole on the cheap.
The only thing Kearns has to ask himself is does he trust the organization to be patient and not make him a platoon player if he struggles.
If the other team has the potential to platoon him or make him a 4th OF, his best bet is with the Yankees where he at least gets to win and be in contention in that kind of role.
The most overlooked trade this season.
I didn’t see the answer that says “I don’t care”.
But seriously, I think that the Yanks will be much more focused on their pitching this off season than on chasing down Carl Crawford, who figures to draw more attention than any other free agent on the market.
Of course, Cliff Lee is at the top of the list, and I think that the Cash man is miffed at not getting him before the trade deadline and will pursue Lee with a vengeance. He’ll probably go after a second starting pitcher if Pettite retires, and the next best free agent option may be none other than Javier Vazquez. Well, there is Carl Pavano!
Cashman going after another starting pitcher if he gets Lee is foolish, if Pettitte retires, it would be CC, A.J., Phil Hughes, Lee, and there are plenty of solutions for the 5th starter within the team. Joba has to get another shot, his velocity has come back nicely, and he has stated his desire to be a starter again. Him and Hughes pitchig without any innings limit will make one of the most formiddable rotation that already features CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee(in the scenario where they do get him) and A.J. Is a rollercoaster but don’t forget he has no-hit stuff when he’s on.
If I were Cashman, I’d be following your logic, and give some breathing room to some of the fine prospects that they have, but they have a history of going hog wild with free agents.
I have a feeling that Pettite will be back. He doesn’t want to go out on this season. If not, the internal options including Joba look more attractive to me than bringing back a Pavano or Lilly.
I wouldn’t go past $4.5MM and 1 year with an option for a second year at $5.5MM.
Actually, if the Yankees intend on not bringing back Thames, then I wouldn’t mind but, I don’t know how that’s going to work out if Cashman gets Crawford. Austin has certainly played well during his time in NY, so I’m actually more than happy to welcome him back if it all works out.
If he was a Scott Boras client he would get it.
I’d like to see him back but i don’t think they’ll keep Kearns and Thames so they may keep one and bring up someone to replace him