Brett Gardner and the Yankees are on the verge of agreeing to terms on a four-year, $52MM extension that begins in 2015, Jack Curry of the YES Network tweets. The deal includes a $12.5MM team option with a $2MM buyout.
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I feel like this is a huge overpay, I understand wanting to keep him around, but I don’t think his play is worth this pay.
13 million a year for a guy that has been worth 14 WAR over his last three healthy years seems pretty fair and not an overpay. With his defense, speed, and career 350 OBP he seems a good bet to be worth 2-3 WAR a year for the 4 years and be worth the contract.
Agreed, but he is getting to that age where speed starts to diminish, and with that comes a loss in defense and stolen bases. That is where this money is going, and if he can’t give you that I feel it’s an overpay for an ok hitter.
Its only a 4 year deal. 29-32 is ur prime. You get 2 prime years. (30-40 steals, solid defense) and 2 slighter-less productive years (25-35 steals, solid defense) I like it, similar to Michael Bourne. Would be a win-win.
The speed has already started to drop off though, he didn’t even eclipse the 30 sb mark last year when he was healthy. I think this has potential to be win-win if he can get back up to his 30-40 sb mark, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
Hes coming off a mid-section injury which costed him most of the 2012 season. Recovery can be time-consuming for those types of injuries. He should bonus back alittle bit. 30 is very reasonable next year, 40 is possible.
And if he can get up to that 30 – 40 mark, I’d say this if for sure win-win, but if hes stuck at a sub 30 mark for the rest of his career then he definitely won.
I just think you are getting a little too caught up with counting stats. If he can provide speed in the field, on the basepaths (this does not have to be done in SB alone) and a .350 OBP this deal is a win. There is no indication he won’t be able to do that considering his past.
His speed did not diminish. Almost anyone who watched Yankee games last year knows this. I can recall plenty of times where he would fly around the bases but chose not to run in clutch situations in fear of getting thrown out.
Will this fear fix itself this year do you think? Or will he still be stuck on first base because he doesn’t want to get thrown out?
With the Yankees offense struggling like it did last year, he didn’t want to take too many chances on a team struggling to score runs.
Firstly, speed DOES NOT diminish with age more than other skills in fact it diminishes less. Look it up. Sorry that claim gets brought up a lot on here and it is false.
2nd, his final year he will be 34 not very old.
3rd, Ichiro just produced 1.5 WAR as a 39 year old and historically I think Gardner was the better defender so I doubt as a 34 year old Gardner’s floor as a 34 year old is 2 WAR worth around 10-12 million in current FA dollars.
I never said he would be old, and I would say that Ichiro is an outlier, how many other 39 year old players are still able to perform on his level?
Why? It makes no sense having both Gardner and Ellsbury long term (two aging speed guys with limited power). Could have got a draft pick for him had he became a FA and left.
Still hope he goes to FA. Would love him to join Seatle.
Nevermind… an agreement was just announced on this site. 🙁
Soriano and Ichiro are free agents in 2015, so by extending Gardner, their outfield is set for the next few years, as Beltran and Ellsbury are obviously locked up. Plenty of injury risk here, however.
Carlos Beltran isn’t going to be playing the OF for very much longer.
Probably next year, then you got him DHing, Ellsbury, Austin/FA and Gardner.
As much as I like Gardner, I wouldn’t mind giving Austin a chance to replace him in 2015. Guess that’s not happening though.
Tyler Austin doesn’t have starter upside imo
Soriano will be gone next year, leaving Beltran to DH (besides one or two courtesy RF starts a week) if Austin, Heathcott, Judge, or whoever gets the call. .
Is anyone else having a hell of a time reading the site these days with the popup ads on my computer, or it sending me to the iTunes App Store on my phone? So frustrating.
If he plays well this year this is a tradeable contract. I think that’s the idea: A little insurance for Beltran and Ellsbury, who are both injury prone, then trade him.
Yes!
Good. I like this.
Huge Gardner fan, not really sure why so many Yankee fans dislike him. Good deal, well-deserved.
What makes you think Yankee fans dislike him? I don’t know a single Yankee fan that does
MLB Network Radio, I listen way too much, but Yankees fans kill him when they call in. The Yankee web site can be a little troll-ish so I wouldn’t take that serious. But the amount of people who call in and bash him or want him gone is a bit on the absurd side.
Good chance that both Soriano and Ichiro would retire at the end of the year.
Wait!? The Yankees know about extensions?
ARod, Jeter, Posada, Rivera, CC, Kuroda.
CC was a buyout of his opt-out.
A-rod and Kuroda were new FA deals.
Jeter signed a 10 yr $189mm extension, but that was a long time ago.
I’m not sure if Rivera or Posada signed extensions when they were younger, but their most recent deals were new FA contracts, not extensions.
So…..they didn’t want to trade him because of Brandon Phillips contract. But then end up paying him nearly the exact same amount of money???
They don’t want to trade him for Phillips because Gardner is more valuable.
14 WAR up the middle is more valuable that in the corner outfield
Not only is Brandon Phillips in decline, but he is rumored to have a bad attitude/personailty, why would anyone want that over Gardner?
Would you consider a player in decline if they stole less bases and struck out more than in previous years?
Gardner’s speed is still there even if he stole less bases. He hit a career high in triples and doubles. He also had a WAR of 4.2
Pretty good indication of what the outside world thinks of Brandon Phillips as a player, huh? I’d rather have Gardner than Phillips at this price too.
52 Mil would put the Yankees over 500M of money spent this offseason. They’re currently at 471 Million.
It starts in 2015.
And just like that the Yankees agree to terms with Gardner.
With his obp, speed, defense, and the rest of their lineup its definitely worth it considering how many players with less ability are currently being paid.