Yanks sign Marcus Thames to minor league deal

By: Mike Sommer

Well, for those wondering about Randy Winn’s righty bat as far as OF platoon player goes (Winn hit .158 righty in 2009), the Yankees may have alleviated some concerns.

Brian Cashman did say he was looking for a righty-hitting OF. Today they signed Marcus Thames to a minor league deal. Thames will get his shot to make the team in spring training.

Thames, 32 (33 next month), hit .252-13-36 (OPS+ 99) last year with the Tigers. For his career, he is a .243 hitter with 101 HR and an OPS+ of 104. He hit 26 HR for the 2006 AL Champion Tigers and 25 in 2008. His 162 g. average is .243-31-81, 42 walks, 134 K. Low average, doesn’t walk much but has pop. He is mostly a LF, but has played RF and 1B.

His very first HR in the majors came as a Yankee—on the very first pitch he saw in the majors, a fastball by Randy Johnson.

Good Lord. I see other blogs advocating that Gary Sheffield be signed by the Yanks. NO, NO and NO! Sheffield is 41. If the Yanks had worries about Damon’s declining defense, why pursue someone five years older whose defense is just as bad if not worse? Granted Sheff had a decent year for a 40 year old platoon player (.276-10-43, OPS+ 119) but NO!

It’s amazing how people won’t give youngsters a chance or are impatient with them but want to keep the declining, aging ex-stars.

Check out this post over at MLBTR of free agents still available.

Funny how numbers can be “unretired.” Omar Vizquel will wear #11 for the White Sox this year. I take it Luis Aparicio gave his blessing, for he was the one it was retired for. Vizquel, like “Little Looie”, is a Venezuelan SS. Aparicio is the only Venezuelan in the HOF. A look at the numbers.

Vizquel: .273, 2704 hits, 389 SB. OPS+83. 11 Gold Gloves. 3x All Star.
Aparicio: .262, 2677 hits, 506 SB (led league 9x, each of his first 9 years), 9 Gold Gloves, ROY 1956, 2nd in MVP in 1959 to teammate Nellie Fox,  10x All Star. OPS+ 82.
   

I hate February. Too cold for me, and after the Super Bowl, ugh. There is the NBA, but my Celtics seem to be dying out. They could fall to the #4 seed in the East. They already have shown that the contenders (Orlando, Atlanta, Cleveland) have their number. Things don’t look good lately for the Celts.

This February will be a bit different sports-wise, however, because the Winter Olympics will be starting on Friday. Something to root for.  

Usually SI picks an Olympian as its “Man” or “Woman of the Year” in an Olympic year, but after yesterday, I wonder if Drew Brees already has the award locked up. Not only for what he did ON the field (and 32 of 39 was quite impressive) in delivering New Orleans its first Super Bowl Championship, but for what he has and is doing OFF the field, in helping a devastated region recover from Hurricane Katrina.

BTW, if you didn’t hear about this yet…Somewhere up there, Grandpa must be proud. For Joe Lombardi is the QB coach of the Saints. You may have heard of his Grandpa. The SB Trophy is named after him.

See any resemblance?

 

Sommer Frieze is a blog dedicated (mainly) to the Yankees. I'll touch on other things as well and the blog (as much as possible) will not only have Yankees news but also follow the Yanks' farm teams. Come visit at Sommer Frieze.

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