5* More Free Agents The Yankees Should Avoid This Winter

Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Bonus Pick-Asdrubal Cabrera, Shortstop/Second Base

In the Yankees’ quest to replace the legendary Derek Jeter, I probably didn’t do you the reader any justice by only discussing one shortstop candidate on this list with Hanley Ramirez, so I’m throwing in an extra pick with free agent infielder Asdrubal Cabrera. The recently turned 29-year-old (November 13th, Happy Belated Birthday!), was once a promising up and coming speed and power source for the Cleveland Indians, posting a pair of 17 stolen base seasons to go along with a 25-homer, 92-RBI season back in 2011. Then all of a sudden, it just went away.

His batting average went from the mid .270s, with teen power numbers, to the .240s, with next to no power whatsoever, climaxing with an awful audition for the Washington Nationals during the second half of 2014, where he posted a .229/.312/.389 slash line. And it’s not as if his defense is anything to write home about either, with under a .980 fielding percentage having spent time at both shortstop and second base. Cabrera is a switch-hitter, but it’s hard to make that a valuable commodity when you can’t reach base.

A stroke of hot temper displayed itself at an inopportune time last fall during the Nats ouster in the playoffs, and that can’t bode well for a team looking to return to October, to sign a player who comes unglued in the postseason. Asdrubal is among the few free agent options at shortstop for the Yankees, and in my estimation, they would be better off bringing back the much more mild-mannered Stephen Drew on a one or two-year deal rather than pay Cabrera in the neighborhood of $10 million, which he made this past season.