Contract makes dollars & sense for both sides
teammate Alex Rodriguez after Ryan Dempster intentionally drilled A-Rod and then delivered the game-winning hit off Dempster?
His price tag might jump at you upon f irst blush, given Gardner will never be mistaken fo r a power hitter. However, look at the market: The Indians signed free agent Michael Bourn to a four year, $48 million contract (with a vesting option for a f ifth year) in February 2012. Bourn has a career .335 on-base percentage, Gardner .352. While injuries shortened his 2009 season and destroyed his 2012, Gardner has amassed 145-plus games played in three of his f irst f ive full seasons. Ellsbury, whose seven-year, $153 million package exceeded Gardner’s by $101 million, has reached that mark three times in his first six full seasons.
While Gardner will neither play center f ield nor hit leadoff in the Yankees’ fully healthy lineup, with Ellsbury set fo r both of those gigs, the Yankees paid Gardner at a value commensurate with those skill sets. Given Ellsbury’s injury history, Gardner surely will get some time in both places.
I suggested in Sunday’s Post that Gardner could play out the season and then use free agency to f ind a team willing to play him reg ularly in center f ield. But Gardner and the Yankees kept it quiet that he already had prioritized his uniform over his position, and so the Yankees now have the athletic two-thirds of their outf ield under control through 2019 (thanks to Gardner’s club option for that season).
“It’s probably the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life,” Gardner said. “I put a lot of thought into it. At the end of the day, it’s a lot of money.”
Concerns Gardner will lose his athleticism by the time he reaches age 36 are understandable, yet such players don’t fall off a cliff as much as the stereotype asserts. Back when Ellsbury signed with the Yankees, Fan Graphs’ Dave Cameron wrote a piece pointing to the success of aging “speed players” such as Rickey Henderson, Kenny Lofton, Tim Raines, Ichiro Suzuki and others.
This marked a good day for the Yankees’ Tampa-based minor-league operations, which has been under heavy criticism for nearly a year. Gardner came aboard as the third-round pick in the 2005 draft and developed into a fine player.
“We’ve received our fair share of hits here recently,” Cashman said. “You’ve got to take those blows. But Gardy represents a player that is a success story for us. Obviously, we need more of those, but this is a good day for him. We believe it makes the future for us better.”
It marked a good day, too, for the many fans who didn’t panic when the team missed the playoffs last year and who wondered why they seemed calmer than the team’s management.
The new guys might live up to their profiles and help the Yankees return to the postseason in 2014 and beyond. To establish another dynastic run, however, the Yankees need fewer high-profile, high-risk deals like those they completed from November through January and more sensible commitments like the Gardner extension that gives them a triumphant February.