The New York Yankees signed outfielder Andrew Jones to a one-year, $2 million deal Thursday, according to the New York Post. Add to that, their signings of veterans Mark Prior and Russell Martin, and you’ll notice that this offseason for the Bombers has not exactly been filled with blockbuster additions. Oh, I almost forgot they also brought in lefty-specialist Pedro Feliciano — huge deal. The only “big name” player the Yanks brought in is set-up man Rafael Soriano, and not everyone in the organizationwas on board with that move.
Offensively, the Yankees added guys who combined to hit .251, with 24 home runs, 74 RBI and 15 stolen bases last season in Martin and Jones. Comparatively, the additions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford to the Red Sox bring a combined .302 batting average, 50 home runs, 191 RBI and 47 bags from last season. Gonzalez and Crawford each had more RBI individually than Martin and Jones did combined. So while the Yankees brought in two former All-Stars who are far from what they were, the Red Sox brought in two superstars in their prime. This is the type of offseason New Yorkers expected from the Mets, but not the Yankees.
On the pitching side of things, the Yankees signed the bigger reliever in Soriano, but the Red Sox got Bobby Jenks for nearly a third of the price. Jenks’ numbers are not quite as good as Soriano’s, but at that price the Red Sox seem to have gotten the better deal. The Yankees’ signing of Feliciano gives them a guy who has led the majors in appearances each of the last three seasons, but faced an average of just three batters per appearance last season. He’s a guy who can get lefties out and not much else, allowing a .211 average to lefties and a .336 average to righties.
The Jones signing is just another in a long line of basically meaningless signings by the Yankees this offseason. Honestly, the biggest lift they can get is 38-year-old Andy Pettitte deciding to return, and that’s looking less and less likely. The fact that they missed out on Cliff Lee is a sign that it might not be every player’s dream to wear pinstripes anymore. It used to be the Yankees were the team everyone was chasing, but this year has them looking like the team that can’t quite keep up.
