Photo Credit: Kim Klement – USA Today
Over the past few seasons, the New York Yankees have gambled on a large number of veteran players who, by all accounts, were over the hill or passed their primes. The funny thing is, a good amount of these have come to the Bronx and enjoyed a career renaissance and put up their best numbers in years.
This year, it has been Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner who so far have been playing at a level that seemed like a thing of the past. Wells is currently hitting .307 with six home runs, 13 runs batted in and two stolen bases. Hafner has a .290 average, six home runs and 14 runs batted in.
To put those numbers into perspective, Wells is on pace for a season that would boast a .307 average, 39 home runs, 84 runs batted in and 13 stolen bases, while Hafner is heading towards a .290 average, 39 home runs and 91 runs batted in. Those are numbers that these guys haven’t come close to since the mid-2000s.
When you combine their revivals with similar situations over the past three years, where players like Raul Ibanez, Eric Chavez, Ichiro Suzuki, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon and Kerry Wood saw their baseball lives become reborn, it starts to become obvious that something is going on.
Whether it is that they have been healthy, that Joe Girardi managing them perfectly or if the whole thing is just a baseball mystery, you can’t deny that there is a factor helping the team get the last bit of life out of all of these players.
These type of low-risk high-reward moves are extremely valuable, and Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman has gotten awfully good at these signings. As long as the Bombers’ front office can continue to make the smart moves that they have been making, the Yankees will be in good shape for years to come.
Chris Ronca is a New York Yankees writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter; @ChrisRonca.
