The Yankees announced that they failed to sign Japanese infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima yesterday, in a move that didn’t seem like a big deal. The problem is, it kind of was.
The reason it is a problem is because of Alex Rodriguez. The 36-year-old slugger hasn’t even played in at least 140 games since 2007 and in that span he averaged just 124 games played per year. Derek Jeter has been much more durable, but he’ll be 38 this year and will certainly need some time off too.
That’s at least 50-60 games that a backup will need to start for the Yankees at one of those positions. Eduardo Nunez can certainly take some of those games, but with a terrible glove and a .314 career OBP he certainly shouldn’t be the Yankees only option.
Of course, they have turned their attention toward the man who filled that position last year, Eric Chavez. Chavez has a lot of problems though. One, he isn’t signed yet and is not a lock to return. The other is that the guy is...
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