The New York Yankees have finally struck in free agency. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reported Wednesday evening that the Yankees had signed outfielder Chris Denorfia to a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to Spring Training. In very un-Yankee-like fashion, Denorfia is just the first major league free agent the Bronx Bombers have signed this winter. Baring something completely unexpected, he will compete for a bench role behind starters Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran.
While the 35 year-old Denorfia does little to inject any youth into an aging outfield situation (all three starters are north of thirty, and Beltran is thirty-eight), he does bring experience and reliability in the event of an injury. The veteran is a career .272 hitter across ten major league seasons, and hit north of .270 in six of those ten seasons.
Denorfia first surfaced in the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 2005, and has since seen time with the Oakland Athletics, the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, and the Chicago Cubs. Last season, playing in Chicago, Denorfia batted .269 with three home runs and eighteen RBI over 103 games. He struck out fifty-six times while taking just fifteen walks.
His best years came with San Diego in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, the third of his four-and-a-half seasons with the team, he set career-highs for a full season in batting average (.293), on-base percentage (.345), slugging percentage (.451), and OPS (.796). 2013 was his best year from a WAR perspective, as he graded out at a 4.3 over 144 games, the most he’s ever played in a season. That season, he recorded career-bests in home runs, with ten, and RBI, with forty-seven.
Denorfia joins a relatively large group of veteran outfielders to sign minor league deals this off-season.
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