Could Colby Rasmus Be An Outfield Option For The Yankees?

As a free agent, Blue jays centerfielder Colby Rasmus offers the Yankees the ability to use one of their greatest assets (money) to get younger and stronger in the outfield. But with a roster stocked with older, defensively limited players, is there room?

Rasmus, the 28 year-old Blue Jays left-hand hitter, finished the 2014 season nursing a sore hamstring which prevented him from hitting over 20 home runs for the first time in his six year career (he finished with 18). Surely, Rasmus will be looking for a starting job and a raise from his $7 million salary somewhere, and there doesn’t seem to be one in the Yankee outfield.

However, if the Yanks get a little creative with their current albatross-like contracts (Beltran), Rasmus would offer younger, less expensive, better defender who has pop to combine with Ellsbury and Gardner as solid gloves in the outfield.

If the Yanks can persuade Rasmus into a two or three year deal with options for about $20 million plus incentives, this would provide Rasmus the ability to come back at age 30 for another run at free agency and protect the Yanks against any long-term damage.

This would mean goodbye to other OF options such as Ichiro, Chris Young, and potentially offer GM Brian Cashman the flexibility to those in the minor league system as either trade bait or more time to develop.