I’m not the type of person who looks back at things and wonders what could have been, but the current infield situation has me thinking about the Chase Headley–Yangervis Solarte trade from 2014. As a recap, The Yankees sent a struggling Solarte and young righty Rafael De Paula to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Chase Headley.
I didn’t understand the trade to begin with. Sure, Solarte was struggling, and badly. Almost as badly as the current second baseman for the Yankees who will remain nameless until he gets his average above .200. Before Solarte was struggling, he was arguably the team’s best player, batting just under .300, showing power and versatility in the field playing multiple positions. The best part about Solarte? He was cheap. Making just over half a million, he was young potential at a cheap price. But Brian Cashman thought Chase Headley, a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner, would provide more consistency at the plate. Don’t get me wrong, Headley instantly helped the Yankees, delivering the memorable walk off in his first game with them. But putting aside all of the glamor that Headley brought, it’s time to look at Solarte’s numbers compared to Headley’s.
As of 6/16, Solarte has a .246/.303/.344 line, compared to Headley’s .250/.297/.373 line. Those numbers look pretty similar to me. The only numbers that don’t match up are their contracts. Solarte has a one year, $516,000 contract with the Padres right now. Chase Headley’s ultra-persuasive agent landed him a four year, $52 million dollar contract. Just typing that gave me the chills. Are Headley’s better glove and added experience worth the extra $52 million? Survey says….HELL no. Not only did the Yankees spend all of that money on production that was already on their team for a cheaper price, but they also gave up one of their biggest pitching prospects in De Paula. If there’s any saving grace, it’s that De Paula has been less than stellar with the Single-A affiliate for the Padres, boasting a 4.20 ERA. As you can tell, I’m a big “Moneyball” guy. Why spend more on a player when the guy you already had was producing at the same rate? Headley supporters can only argue that he’s had better power numbers than Solarte, along with a better glove.
The next question is, what could the Yankees have done with all of that extra money during the offseason? I’m a big fan of pitching depth, and a lot of teams struck gold with some free agent signings for cheap that the Yankees could have used, especially with the starting rotation taking more hits than Pacquiao against Mayweather (I’m hilarious). The 2014 free agent class had some big names, but some smaller names definitely made an early impact in 2015. Here’s a list of pitchers who signed for much less than $52 million, and have been productive thus far in 2015:
Edinson Volquez 3.10 ERA Signed For: 2 years, $20 million
A.J. Burnett 1.89 ERA Signed For: 1 year, $8.5 million
Brett Anderson (L) 3.57 ERA Signed For: 1 year, $10 million
Jason Hammel 2.81 ERA Signed For: 2 years, $18 million
All of those guys would have helped the rotation immensely, while saving the Yankees money. And with the extra money, who knows, maybe Cashman could have come up with a better second base option, instead of HeWhoMustNotBeNamed.
Remember, hindsight is 20/20, and every team across every sport wishes they could go back and undo a transaction or two. I’m just saying the Yankees were not patient enough with Solarte, which lead them down a slippery slope, putting a high price tag on some clutch hitting from Headley late in the season, and otherwise average numbers. If they added a quality pitcher at little cost in the offseason instead of giving Headley all of that money, the Yankees would have a formidable starting rotation when healthy. When healthy. Ha.
