Cheaper options paying off so far
LET’S not call the election with only 2 percent of the precincts reporting results. After all, if the Yankees signed Freddie Freeman or traded for Matt Olson or inked one of the big free-agent shortstops such as Carlos Correa, the idea was to solidify that position for years, not just a few weeks in April 2022.
But in these few weeks in April, you know what is really working out for the Yankees?
Anthony Rizzo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
That would be first base and shortstop. And it is the two of them doing what they were obtained to do — namely diversifying the lineup by getting the ball in play more and improving the defense. Rizzo’s lefty bat and power have played, too.
The duo also was supposed to do something else together — not cost a lot of money in the short or (especially) long term, which would liberate the Yankees, in particular, to extend Aaron Judge.
That has not occurred. Yet, at least. What has happened, through 16 games, is the Yankees have gone 10-6 (tied for both the AL East lead and the best record in the league through the weekend) despite a poor offensive performance. They have built a strong win-loss start because of a few timely hits. The biggest of the year to date — and I wonder if it will be for the year in general considering the collective exhale it gave the Yankees — was Kiner-Falefa’s two-out, two-strike gametying double Saturday against Cleveland that preceded Gleyber Torres’ winning hit.
That is the top hit this season for the Yankees in Win Probability Added (WPA) — essentially a metric that reflects impact on a game’s outcome. Rizzo and Kiner-Falefa rank second and third, respectively, in season-long
WPA for the Yankees, trailing just DJ LeMahieu.
But the biggest reason the Yankees have a .625 winning percentage is brilliant prevention — their
2.53 ERA leads the AL by nearly half a run. That mainly reflects stellar work by hurlers defining that 2021 was no fluke, such as Nestor Cortes, Clay Holmes and Michael King.
The defense plays a part in that as well. The Yankees have removed the soap-opera drama and tension that circulated, especially among the pitchers, when Gary Sanchez caught. But the upgrade from Luke Voit and Torres at first and short, respectively, to Rizzo and Kiner-Falefa is stark.
Voit — and this is no longer unexpected — is already on the injured list with the Padres. The gap between Rizzo and Voit defensively is mammoth, plus Rizzo has five of the Yankees’ 17 homers. Freeman with the Dodgers and Olson with the Braves are off to better starts. But Freeman cost a six-year, $162 million pact, and once he got over the sting of having the door shut in Atlanta, Freeman pretty much only wanted to return to his Southern California roots.
Olson cost a four-prospect package to Oakland. The Yankees were coming off a season in which they dealt a lot of farm collateral for, among others, Rizzo, Joey Gallo and Jameson Taillon. Rizzo has a two-year, $32 million pact — but he can opt out after this season.
Kiner-Falefa’s acquisition did not cost prospects. Because the Yankees were absorbing the two years at $50 million left on Josh Donaldson’s contract, it cost Sanchez and Gio Urshela (the Yanks also obtained catcher Ben Rortvedt).
I think there are two comparisons from the Yankees’ past for Kiner-Falefa. One is Didi Gregorius, who initially played poorly on both sides of the ball in 2015 succeeding Derek Jeter. He settled down and became a key in the Yankees making the playoffs. Kiner-Falefa initially struggled on both sides of the ball, too — a few bobbles mixed with a 6-for-28, sevenstrikeout first 10 games. But as the Yankees have won five of six, KinerFalefa is 9-for-22 with just three strikeouts, and his defense has become surer and rangier.
Obviously, this is all small samples, as is noting that Kiner-Falefa’s Wins Above Replacement is currently better than that of all five members of the greatest free-agent shortstop class ever — Correa, Javier Baez, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Trevor Story (Semien and Story are playing second base).
That will certainly change with time. But my second comparison for Kiner-Falefa is with Scott Brosius. Brosius played for terrible A’s teams in the 1990s. His skill set was nuanced — he was a strong defender with a high baseball IQ so, for example, he might not have been fast, but was an excellent base runner. But on a bad team, nuance skills are less valuable — going first to third when you should while trailing 7-2 is easy to miss.
But when Brosius came to an excellent Yankees team, those skills really manifested. Plus, hitting at the bottom of a stacked lineup brought out a better version of his bat, too. On terrible Rangers clubs, Kiner-Falefa’s subtle skills were not as meaningful. But as the Yanks have played one close game after another, they have mattered greatly — and I do wonder whether the bat plays to a higher level stationed at the bottom of a lineup behind more established hitters.
Also, Brosius was brought in as a place-holder for a year until Mike Lowell was ready to assume third base. But Brosius played so well that the Yankees extended him and traded Lowell (perhaps still Brian Cashman’s worst deal as GM). Kiner-Falefa was brought in to place-hold for Oswald Peraza and, especially, Anthony Volpe, who both have started poorly this year.
Again, only 2 percent of the precincts are in. Lots of information to come. Yet, the early results are interesting.