Baseball Musings: Henson Gone

February 02, 2004

Henson Gone

The Yankees and Drew Henson have parted ways.

Henson and the Yankees have reached a resolution that frees him from the final three seasons of the six-year, $17 million contract he signed with New York in 2001, sources close to Henson confirmed Monday for ESPN.com. Henson will receive none of the $12 million he had been contractually guaranteed between this season and 2006, and the Yankees will not seek any of the money already paid to him.

It essentially was a clean, quick divorce with no alimony involved. The settlement was negotiated by Henson's representatives from the marketing and representative giant IMG.

Money for nothing...

The big question continues to be how the Yankees will fill the gap at third base. As people have pointed out in the comments on this post, Brian Myrow may be the Yankees best option. He's older (seasonal age 27 in 2004), but he's a walk machine. Twenty seven is peak age for ballplayers, so if you are going to get a great year out of a career minor leaguer, this would be the year. Let him bat ninth, set the table for Soriano, and see what happens. If nothing else, the Yankees will save a few million dollars.

Posted by David Pinto at 07:44 PM | Players | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I'm very intrigued by Myrow, but apparently he's a hack at 3B. Can we convert him to 1B and change his name to Nick Johnson? I'm sure no one would notice. ;)

Posted by: sabernar at February 2, 2004 08:29 PM

The Yankees don't care if they save a few million dollars.

Posted by: Johnny at February 2, 2004 09:57 PM

The Yankees have already saved many millions of dollars by letting Henson go.

That said, of course the Yankees care about saving money if they can get quality play. They care less than other teams, but they care. The more money they spend on their own players, the more they have to spend on other teams' players.

I'm a big supporter of the "Myrow plan." I have to wonder if he's as bad at third base as people (most of whom haven't seen him play - not that I have) say. He did play a significant number of games at 2B last year. Are terrible fielders generally asked to handle 2B for a while, shifting over from 3B? My instinct says no.

I wish I could find breakdowns of his errors by position, errors divided between misplays and bad throws, and the GB/FB ratios of the Trenton pitching staff. Mostly, I want to see him play the field with my own eyes.

Is he a better offensive player, right now, than Enrique Wilson, Miguel Cairo and Erick Almonte? That's likely. Is he as good with the glove? I don't know. None of them are third basemen, and Wilson was particularly ugly when he tried it last year.

The only guy I'd rather see at 3B for the Yankees in the immediate future is Adrian Beltre. That's because I think they'd sign him long-term and I think he's developing into a hell of a player. I'd take Valentin, but at SS, with Jeter moving to third... which won't happen for at least a few years yet.

So for now, Brian Myrow: let's see what you can do.

Posted by: Scott at February 2, 2004 11:26 PM

Oh, and by the way... Yes, he's a walk machine. Last year, however, he also seemed to add power. I'll take that lefty bat in Yankee Stadium batting 9th.

Bryan Myrow statistics: http://tinyurl.com/25lsc

Posted by: Scott at February 2, 2004 11:31 PM

Scott,

The defensive spectrum indicates that 2nd base is a harder position to play than third base. So the fact that they were willing to play him at 2nd base indicates to me he may be a better defensive player than we think.

Posted by: David Pinto at February 3, 2004 07:08 AM

Off Topic: Scott, that tinyurl.com thing is pretty damn cool! I'm going to have to start using it!

Posted by: sabernar at February 3, 2004 09:04 AM

David, I may have worded that poorly. That's what I was trying to say.

sabernar: Yeah, it is cool. I've installed the tinyurl button on an IE toolbar and it's really convenient.

Posted by: Scott at February 3, 2004 12:42 PM