WasWatching.com

That's a good point, Steve. When they rest Posada, as much as possible, they should try to do it versus a lefty starter.

In their optimal lineups, the Yankees have four left-handed hitters who should not quite be full-time: Giambi at 1B, Damon in LF, Abreu in RF, and Matsui as DH. Your catcher plan plus Duncan at 1B knocks that down to two. It wouldn't be a bad thing to get one more right-handed hitter in there. Positionally, Phillips doesn't fit that. They therefore probably need a right-handed PH/OF type. Reggie Sanders would be a good cheap acquisition for that role IMO.

My position on Sanders has not changed since I last wrote about him:

http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2006/07/reggie_sanders.html

Ah, but Sanders would come as a cheap role player now -- a Chili Davis type. What you said in mid-2006 is therefore not quite relevant. Sanders has bounced around because he's injury prone, but still good enough to be appealling.

Certainly, he'd be worth a one year contract for $1.5 million. What other cheap right-handed bats are there around? You'd want someone with more power than Kevin Thompson.

Reggie Sanders??? How many DHs do the Yankees need? By my count, they already have four guys who can barely stay on the field and can't play defense worth a damn when they do: Matsui, Damon, Giambi, Duncan. Then you add Posada in as a DH when he's not catching and that makes five. Adding another broken-down slugger who adds nothing in the field doesn't seem to make any sense.

Tex,

Sanders could play a corner OF position. Do you agree that they need a right-handed hitter? To get a good role player, there would be some trade-off between hitting and fielding. I'm not sold on Sanders necessarily, but he is certainly the type of player who would be useful coming off the bench, pinch hitting, etc.

It is unfortunate that the Yankees have signed Jose Molina instead of signing the small sample size fluker who played so far over his head in a 71 plate appearance small sample size with the team. And even playing way over his head still only produced 0 RCAA.

Question--do you want a naked player with -61 RCAA in 402 career games, a career OPS .143 below the league aveage, a career OBA .058 below average, a career RC/G 2.08 below average and lifetime .286 OWP who, in the previous season had an OPS .148 below average and an OBA .064 below average, a .265 OWP and 2.08 RC/G below average?

And, if you don't want that naked player, why do you want him if, when he gets dressed, he put on a Yankees uniform?

Lee, you forget that when catchers become managers, their one blind spot typically is the "back-up catcher" or "catch and throw" guy. Molina's last three managers are Sciosia, Torre, and Girardi, two of whom couldn't hit their way out of a phone booth. But 2 of those 3 had major league careers because they were considered good defensive catchers who "called a good game." That trumps statistical analysis every time.

Johnny,

I'll concede that. But, the fans who defend this move have no similar defense.

Lee, when looking at past BUCs, Molina's the best since Jorge himself. it's easy to bash his offense but his D is still solid - who else do you want in that role?