Yesterday, the New York Yankees announced the signing a third right-handed-hitting outfielder in journeyman outfielder Juan Rivera.
Juan Rivera (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fans who think Rivera looks familiar, well they would be correct, as he came up as a Yankees prospect between 2001-2003 and went on to play for five other teams since.
Rivera made $4 million bucks last season with the Dodgers, but they declined his 2013 option the day after the 2012 World Series finished.
I hate that the Yankees are taking the Dodgers scraps, or any teams for that matter but that is life in the Bronx for now.
Rivera could offer a nice righty bat off the bench but this guy has no business in the outfield as his defense stinks. Rivera has spent time at first base so he can fill in for Mark Teixeira once a month to give him a day off, which is all right.
What really bugged me about this news is that it forced me to think about the Dodgers outfield of Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford.
Admittedly, I am flat-out jealous as I miss the good old days when the Dodgers were not the new Yankees.
So what does this Rivera signing do for the Yankees?
Not much, so please don’t fool yourself into believing that Rivera could be some sleeper, season changer.
Technically it makes the three-man competition for the extra outfield spot official, which is actually scary more than anything else but it is what it is.
The only real benefactors from this off-season, other than Hal Steinbrenner’s wallet, are Yankee haters.
As under the new dictatorship in the Bronx the Haters dreams are now finally coming true.
Here are the 2012 batting stats of the Yankees reserve out-fielding trio of Rivera, Matt Diaz and Russ Canzler so you can get an idea of what to expect.
All stats come courtesy of baseball-reference.com.
NYY - Reserve Outfielders 2012 StatsPlayer | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Rivera | 2012 | 33 | LAD | NL | 109 | 312 | 30 | 76 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 47 |
| Matt Diaz | 2012 | 34 | ATL | NL | 51 | 108 | 10 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| Russ Canzler | 2012 | 26 | CLE | AL | 26 | 93 | 9 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11 |
Player | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | GDP | RISP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Rivera | 1 | 18 | 35 | 0.244 | 0.286 | 0.375 | 0.661 | 117 | 15 | 0.267 |
| Matt Diaz | 0 | 9 | 21 | 0.222 | 0.280 | 0.333 | 0.613 | 36 | 4 | 0.167 |
| Russ Canzler | 0 | 4 | 22 | 0.269 | 0.299 | 0.398 | 0.697 | 37 | 0 | 0.276 |
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