Yankees Talk

I said in one of my earlier entries that the Yankees were going to go after another left fielder to platoon with Randy Winn due to his poor performance against left-handed picthing.  Today, they followed through and signed Marcus Thames to a minor league contract.  If Thames makes the team in the Spring, he will make $900,000. 

Last season, he bated .252 with 13 homeruns and 36 homeruns in only 87 games.  He has the habit of being very streaky, which is good since he will only be playing against lefties and doing some pinch hitting.  Now there is not much left to do as far as the bench.  Here is a look so far:

C- Francisco Cervelli

IF- Ramiro Pena

OF- Brett Gardner

OF- Marcus Thames

As you can see, the bench is now much deeper with the addition of Thames.  A part of the team that was full of question marks in November, is now basically full.  They have a good balance of speed and power.  However, being the perfectionist that I am, I cannot help but think that they can do more.  For example, they could use another infielder.  Rich Aurilia has expressed in interest in becoming a Yankee and I think that he could be a good route for them to take.  All I know is that they do not have much left to do and it will be interesting to see what Cashman does next.