Yankees Sign Randy Winn

Finally there was a little spark to the hot stove. Joel Sherman reported (tweeted) that they Yankees reached a 1-year $2 million deal with outfielder Randy Winn. Obviously this means so long to Johnny Damon. Winn is expected to compete for the leftfield outfield spot with Brett Gardner.

Winn is a player coming off a bad year and may be on his way out of baseball. Last year with the San Francisco Giants Winn hit .262 with 2 HR 51 RBI and a .671 OPS, 90 points below his career average and his worst since 2000 which was his third year in the league.

Before last year, Winn was always a solid player who hit around .280-.300, 10-15 HRs a year, and usually 60+ RBI.

The Yankees could be banking on him having a comeback year. It is a bit of a confusing signing because the rumor was the Yankees were looking for a righty to complement Gardner, but the understanding is that he will compete for leftfield with Gardner.

To me, Winn's numbers last year are similar to what I would project Gardner's numbers to be this year. Basically, Winn is a cheap, number 9 hitter who can play anywhere in the outfield, and he's a veteran so the Yankees decided to take a chance on him. I wouldn't get too worried over this signing.