The Yankees signed Travis Hafner to be their left-handed designated hitter:
According to sources, the Yankees and Hafner agreed to a one-year deal worth approximately $2 million, with the 35-year-old replacing Ibanez in the lineup against righties now that Ibanez is back in Seattle.
A target of the Yankees last offseason, Hafner ended up staying in Cleveland because a deal couldn’t be worked out for A.J. Burnett. After another injury-marred season, Hafner became a free agent when the Indians didn’t pick up his $13 million option and gave him a $2.75 million buyout.
Hafner has not had a good season since 2007, and a great one since 2006. He is a walk machine, however, and despite a low batting average still does a good job of getting on base. The big question is, will the Yankees get 120 games out of him?
A travis-ty of a headline.
And the answer is NO they will not get 120 games out of him
Even if he only plays 60 games he will have earned his salary if he produces at the rate he has the last 4 years (125 OPS+. 1.1 WAR).
Since he will only start against RHP’er, he would only get 110 starts over a full year anyways.
YS3 is made for him, so if he is healthy the Yankees have a pretty good bargain for 2 million + incentives.
They need guys who can work the count as they have a bunch of hackers in that lineup with Arod and Swisher gone.