Oct 09
Through the years, Jay Payton has held his own against left-handed pitching. He’s now a free agent. If you were the Yankees, would you consider offering Payton a two-year deal – with the second year being a team-option? Would it be the end of the world for the Yankees to use a platoon of Brett Gardner and Jay Payton in centerfield next season – with Payton spelling Gardner against the tough-lefties – until Austin Jackson is ready for the major leagues? I don’t think that would be a terrible move…right now.
21 Responses to “Jay Payton”
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October 9th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Is he a good enough defensive player to justify clogging up the bench with a guy whose bat is that shabby?
October 9th, 2008 at 9:40 am
IIRC, he’s like Damon in the field – even at his age, he has above average range in LF, decent range in CF, but not much of an arm.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Trust me on this, Jay Payton ain’t no platoon player. Beyond that, he sucks anyway.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:56 am
~~Jay Payton ain’t no platoon player~~
Why, because he wanted more playing time in Boston? What was that, a hundred years ago?
October 9th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Yikes…I think terrible would be charitable to that idea. Payton’s OPS+ the last three seasons was: 88, 95, 94, 74 and 68. He also hasn’t really hit lefties well since 2003, settling into an OPS range around .750.
Basically, Payton’s bat has made him like the 2008 Melky, but without the glove and arm. Signing Payton would be an absolutely awful move.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:09 am
At least your jokes are improving
October 9th, 2008 at 11:54 am
LOL, the same guys who sometimes get on me about cherry picking and sample size are now doing it…
Bottom-line, Payton’s career BA/OBA/SLG line vs. LHP is: .284/.341/.457
Is that great? No. But, is it a better option that Brett Gardner against LHP in 2009? Yeah, probably…
October 9th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
It’s not cherry picking (one month is cherry picking, not five years)…it’s common sense. You don’t take statistics from a man’s prime playing years and factor them into how you think he’ll perform at 36, unless you can demsonstrate that a lot hasn’t changed over the years. With Payton, we can prove exactly the opposite. He has continued to decline with each passing year.
Besides, even Payton’s heavily skewed OPS of .798 against lefties isn’t very good.
It really doesn’t matter that Payton might hit lefties better than Gardner. The more relevant issue is there are lots of available players who hit lefties better than Payton. Simply selecting any “better” option does not make for a good choice. For someone who gets on Cashman’s moves, you are going to need to come up with much better suggestions.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
~~~The more relevant issue is there are lots of available players who hit lefties better than Payton.~~~
How many of them can play CF? How many of them can handle New York? How many of them are Free Agents who, at this stage of their career, could probably be had on a one-year deal or a two-deal where the second year was an optional one?
Many times, people play the “What would you do? Name your names..” game with me. So, allow me to spin it.
williamnyy, who are the better options, in your opinion?
October 9th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Just off the top of my head, I’d look into Marlon Byrd, Jason Werth, David DeJesus, Jody Gerut, Mike Cameron and Cody Ross.
Just because Payton is cheap/easy to acquire doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. In fact, it probably means it’s a very bad idea. Instead of scavengering the scrap heap, I’d try to be more creative.
If I was the GM, I would lock in on Jayson Werth. Maybe the Phillies might be enticed by some of the Yankees young arms? Who knows. What I wouldn’t do is settle for a bad option.
Now, if you put a gun to my head and said I had to name a FA who would come cheap, I’d rather gamble on someone like Baldelli than someone like Payton.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Yeah, Baldelli, now there’s a sound FA signing…it’s not like he has a medical condition or anything…
October 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
There’s a difference between taking a gamble on a player with a lot of talent, and wasting a roster space on a player who is awful. As I clearly referenced in the post (and yet, for some reason, you still decided to take out of context), I would only pick Baldelli from the dregs available.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
How many of them can handle New York
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Overblown. If we’re talking about a backup/platoon player, I really don’t see how this matters. This person, be it Jay Payton or someone else, wouldn’t be asked to do much more than play 1-2 games a week. I’m not sure New York is going to eat up and spit out a role player.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Yeah, Baldelli, now there’s a sound FA signing…it’s not like he has a medical condition or anything…
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Agree with Steve on this one. The guy has a rare medical disorder that seems to be both irreparable and unpredictable. Upside or no, that’s not the kind of thing that shoulder surgery or a few months of rehab can correct. And that doesn’t even take into account the litany of sports-related injuries he’s had over the years.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I’d take Baldelli on an incentive laiden deal any day over a guy like Payton who will suck up outs. Of course, that argument is a red herring. The Yankees should not really be considering either (unless Baldelli would sign a minor league deal).
October 9th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I’d take Baldelli on an incentive laiden deal any day over a guy like Payton who will suck up outs.
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Fortunately for the Yankees, the choices aren’t only Payton or Baldelli.
Neither should be on the Yanks, for different, but nonetheless legitimate reasons.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
williamnyy, just as a side note, if you keep posting comments here at this rate, you won’t be able to claim that you “rarely if ever visit the site”…as you did say the other day at another blog, discussing this one…
October 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
With the offseason, I am always interested in finding good Yankee discussion. I’ve waded here in the past and will stick around if the topics are interesting and the discussion intelligent. Of course, my presence might go along way toward preventing the latter!
October 9th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Sign Jay Payton, Burnett and Sheets and watch 2008 happen all over again. They need some offense and defense in the outfield and Payton is not really be a great upgrade. I’ve heard Kim Jones And MIke Kay trumpet the bullshit that the Yankee scouts have told them about Burnett: he plays for the big games. Whatta load of shit! He’ll be Pavano part 2. Sheets? If they lose out on CC. McClouth instead of Payton? The Pirates want something good this time and McClouth is a nice player that’s all. Imagine if the Yanks made the trade for Bay instead of Nady? We wouldn’t be talking about Payton………..
October 9th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
“What was that, a hundred years ago?”
That was 3 years ago. Is 3 years a 100 in baseball years? Regardless, if he doesn’t get enough playing time he’ll cause problems. I doubt he’s much different than he was 3 years ago. Silly not to consider that.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
And if he takes the same route out of Yankee Stadium that he did out of Fenway (abusing the manager in full view of the dugout cameras) Steve will have a nice new “Embarrassing the Stripes” post.