Chris Young As 4th Outfielder
For the second consecutive off-season, the Yankees will be looking to fill several big holes on the roster. On the pitching side, they will need to replace impending free agents Brandon McCarthy and Hiroki Kuroda. Additionally, Ivan Nova likely won’t be ready for the start of the season and CC Sabathia‘s status is still uncertain.
In the bullpen, David Robertson will be a free agent and they need to figure out a way to resign or replace him. On the position player side, the Yankees will need to find a 2nd or 3rd baseman depending on which position Martin Prado will play and whether or not Alex Rodriguez is just a 1B/DH at this point.
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Finally, replacing Derek Jeter at shortstop is probably the biggest challenge as the off-season approaches. There is, however, one minor roster upgrade that would benefit the team. Chris Young, picked up late in the 2014 season by the Yankees on a minor league contract, would be a quality 4th outfielder for the 2015 season.
Young would replace Ichiro Suzuki, a free agent signed to fill this role the past two seasons but pressed into regular duty in 2013 with injuries. Ichiro has provided some value (1.1 fWAR in 2013, 0.4 fWAR in 2014) with most of that coming through base running and defense. Ichiro likely won’t be resigned after hitting .284/.324/.340 last year, and being redundant with two other left-handed hitting speed and defense players in center and left field. Resigning Ichiro would signal a marketing ploy to reap the rewards of his 3000 hit chase (he is at 2844 and would likely need 2 more seasons).
Young is a better option and is more of the Andruw Jones/Marcus Thames type of 4th outfielder as a right-handed hitting masher. His career line against lefties, the role he should be limited to, is a very good .254/.357/.460 (116 wRC+). He is a three true outcomes heavy player: 22.6% K rate, 9.9% BB rate, and 155 HR in 4329 PA (stats against pitchers of both handedness). The added benefit with Young is that he can actually play center field too. He has 7845.1 innings at the position in his career and has graded out well there (29 Defensive Runs Saved and 8.6 Ultimate Zone Rating).
Finally, he is a very good base runner (19.3 base running runs in his career) and base stealer (130 stolen bases at a 76% rate). Young is very similar to former Yankee Curtis Granderson when limited to just facing left-handed pitchers. That is a very valuable player for the role.
The cost for Young should not be very steep at all. He signed with the Mets prior to 2014 for 1 year and $7.2 million. They released him after 88 games due to nonperformance. 1 year at under $5 million should get it done with New York unless another team thinks he could be a starter. Young fits the roster well and could give Brett Gardner or Jacoby Ellsbury a breather against tough lefties. The Yankees have more pressing needs to fill, but adding Young is exactly the type of depth move that Brian Cashman has excelled at making over the years.