Yankees sign Marcus Thames
February 8, 2010, 3:30 pm by iYankees · 12 Comments
According to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees have signed 33-year old outfielder, Marcus Thames. Thames, a right-handed hitter, was originally drafted by the Yankees in 1996 and was traded to Texas for Ruben Sierra in 2003. He is a career .256/.329/.516 hitter against left-handers and appears to be the right-handed bench bat the team has been searching for (we hardly knew ye, Jamie Hoffmann). Thames hit .252/.323/.453 last year while with Detroit. This likely means that the Yankees are no longer interested in either Jonny Gomes or Rocco Baldelli.
UPDATE (4:46 pm) – Via Joel Sherman, we learn that it is a minor-league contract, and Thames, whose primary competition in the spring will be Rule 5′er, Jamie Hoffman, will earn $900K if he actually makes the team.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Is 2010 “Bring back the Old Yankees Season” First Vazques now Thames. Is Matt Nokes next????
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WOW !!..that came out of left field (nyuk, nyuk)
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He and Gomes are pretty similar, so I guess it makes sense.
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Vanilla!….Very hard to get excited about this one. A check of his numbers are unimpressive. Will Marcus strike fear into the Red Sox as a late inning pinch hitter? I don’t think so. Where is that salty, mean, veteran masher the Yanks would call on? This is so vanilla.
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.256/.329/.516 vs. left handed pitchers – with all the other options being discussed on this blog (Reed Johnson, Rocco Badelli, etc.), this is somewhat of a disappointment. These numbers seem a bit pedestrian. With all the money this team spends, it seems like they always have a week bench heading into the season, and need to make a trade to bolster the bench around the all star break. It would appear that we now have three new guys who can’t hit lefties very well.
I honestly don’t know much about Thames, but it just feels uninspiring. Is he any good in the field? Any good as a pinch hitter?
At some point, I’d like to see the Yankees trade for someone who can really pinch hit and play the field. Someone like Seth Smith with the Rockies (not that he is available, but someone like him).
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HD….Some say his glove should not see the light of day [or night] on the field. Pedestrian is a good summation.
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This wasn’t meant to be a sexy move. Its a minor lg deal to fill a niche role of RH power hitter off the bench and to give Girardi another option vs tough LHPs. A 516 SLG% is good. He has 40 HRs in 620 career ABs vs LH and has great numbers overall as a PH (.327 – .431 – .636). Thames is not a good fielder but his role on the team will be to start in place of Gardner/Granderson/NJ vs LHPs and to pinch hit. He will be removed for defense whenever necessary.
I’d say all in all, Cashman did a solid job filling out the OF bench. For the $3 million he had to spend he got a RH power hitter and an versatile 4th OF who switch-hits and has plus speed & defense.
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Forgot to add that Thames and Granderson are good friends so even though Grandy is one of the most liked people in MLB, having a close friend on the team may help his transition.
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Yes. I hope that if he works on his mechanics that he be starting left fielded becuz he got some power! Unlike winn and gardner
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