And with a quick stroke of the pen, Yankee GM Brian Cashman seems to have brought Johnny Damon’s career with the Yankees to an end. The Yankees signed vertern outfielder Randy Winn to a one year, $2 million dollar contract.
I think Winn is a little bit of a strange choice considering his 2009 production was quite bad (.318 on base percentage, . 262 batting average, 2 home runs, 51 rbi, 97 strike outs in 538 at bats) but the Yankees don’t exactly need a major bat considering they have an all-star or a near all-star at most of their positions. Winn has always been a serviceable player who is usually good for a roughly .285 average, some speed and the occasional home run. He is a good defensive outfielder who can play all three OF positions. In the end, he’s going to be a fourth outfielder and have a chance to compete with Brett Gardner. However, since Winn is almost exactly the same from both the left and right sides, he’s not a good option for your tradional platoon scenerio which limits his effectiveness somewhat. At worst you have a bench player without much power, at best you have a slightly below average fourth outfielder who really doesn’t need to do much more than catch the ball and try not to hit into too many double plays.
Not the best move the Yankees could have made but not to worst either (Gary Matthews Jr. anyone?).
However this does pretty much put the final stamp on Damon’s farewell suitcase. I can understand the Yanks not looking to spend the money Damon wanted, but it’s a surprising end to a pretty fruitful relationship with a good player.
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