I Don’t Know is on third. As the timeless old Abbott and Costello bit goes, that’s something the New York Yankees have been trying to figure out the past two seasons. After a fielding a successful platoon of Alex Rodriguez and Eric Chavez, the club has trotted out the likes of Yangervis Solarte, Kelly Johnson, Jayson Nix, David Adams and Kevin Youkilis and his ski mask. Then the Yanks decided to bank with Chase.
Enter, the man on third you do know, Yankees fans. Chase Headley.
Last season New York sent Solarte and minor-league pitcher Rafael De Paula, to the San Diego Padres, to acquire Headley. What they got is a consummate grinder. Headley also represents a player with a solid on base percentage and a nice glove at the hot corner.
Right from the very start of it, Headley showed he can make it here. Making his debut against the Texas Rangers, at Yankee Stadium, Headley delivered with a walk-off lined single to left, giving his new club a 2-1 victory in 14 innings.
Headley’s heroics didn’t end there though. With the Yanks on the edge of elimination and facing the rival Boston Red Sox, Headley hammered a walk-off home run in the ninth, which resulted in a 5-4 win.
About a week later, Headley would show some mettle, getting back into the lineup, just days after getting hit on the chin, against the Tampa Bay Rays.
That toughness, grit and flair for the dramatic was exactly why the Yankees deemed it fit to reward Headley with a four-year deal, worth $52 million. In making that pact, the Yankees hope the grip that he reverted back to in July, from his breakout 2012 season, gives the team some thunder at third.
If one looks at one of the more favorable projections for Headley in 2015, it could bode very well for the Yanks. According to ZiPS, assuming Headley gets at least 500 at-bats, he projects to score 74 runs, hit 20 home runs, knock in 73 runs, bat .253 with an OBP of .340 and a slugging percentage of .427. Again, probably the most positive projection of the bunch but of the seven or so commonly utilized, they’re all within that range.
So the Yankees have a guy who wants to be in New York and is still more or less in the prime of his career, can switch hit and is a gamer. While no one knows for sure what the top and meat of the order will do, if Headley does what he’s supposed to do, the Yanks have won before with numbers like those above, at third base.
