Tuesday, December 11, 2012
MLB: Yanks agree to one-year deal with Youkilis
Kevin Youkilis and the Yankees have agreed to a one-year, $12 million contract, pending a physical, according to a source.
Youkilis, who will turn 34 in March, was one of the top corner infielders available on the free-agent market. He will fill in at third base while Alex Rodriguez recovers from left hip surgery that he’s expected to undergo in January. Rodriguez is likely to be sidelined for four to six months after the operation.
Youkilis has obviously struggled with performance and health over the last two years, but he’s not far removed from being one of the better hitters in baseball. Here are his CAIRO percentile forecasts as a Yankee.
| % | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | GDP | HBP | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | BR | BRAR |
| 80% | 592 | 503 | 102 | 137 | 30 | 4 | 29 | 87 | 5 | 0 | 77 | 106 | 8 | 20 | .271 | .394 | .520 | .399 | 100 | 41 |
| 65% | 523 | 445 | 86 | 115 | 24 | 3 | 23 | 72 | 4 | 1 | 64 | 99 | 8 | 16 | .259 | .371 | .482 | .374 | 79 | 26 |
| Baseline | 455 | 387 | 70 | 95 | 19 | 2 | 18 | 59 | 3 | 1 | 52 | 91 | 9 | 12 | .246 | .349 | .444 | .348 | 61 | 15 |
| 35% | 410 | 348 | 60 | 81 | 15 | 1 | 15 | 50 | 2 | 1 | 43 | 86 | 9 | 9 | .233 | .327 | .406 | .323 | 47 | 6 |
| 20% | 364 | 310 | 50 | 68 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 41 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 81 | 9 | 7 | .221 | .304 | .368 | .297 | 35 | -1 |
BR: Linear weights batting runs
BRAR: BR above replacement level, adjusted for position
wOBA: Weighted on-base average
His BRAR are as a 3B, so assuming he sees time at 1B and DH he’d be a bit less valuable but if he can get more than those 455 baseline PAs he probably gets close to about 2 wins in value and may push the Yankees back to the top of the AL East. He projects a bit below average as a 3B and a bit better than average as a 1B defensively and has generally been about average on the bases although he was about 3 runs worse than that in 2012.
We learned to root for Wade Boggs and we learned to root for Roger Clemens. Hopefully Youkilis forces us to root for him too.
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