2012 Raul Ibanez Performance Thread

[YankeePride1967]

Our newest DH.

[dabomb2045]

Please hit vs RHP this year like you did in 2010 (.366 OBP, .821 OPS). K thnx.

[nnysiny]

am i the only person who thinks he looks like an older version of The Situation?

[kan_t]

He, Damon and Vlad are more or less the same against RHP so I won't complain about this move, especially given the price. Hopefully he turns out to be solid.

[ShaneTravis]

Short porch, meet Raul.

[ArodEra]

Not exactly jumping for joy

[conkermaniac]

As ESPN pointed out, Ibanez's numbers last year were about as bad as Posada's. So why again are we signing him?

[False1]

As ESPN pointed out, Ibanez's numbers last year were about as bad as Posada's. So why again are we signing him?

Against RHP Jorge was just fine last year. If Ibanez replicates Jorge's .269 / .348 / .466 line for $1.1MM guaranteed I think the Yankees would be just fine with that. Jorge's $13MM coming off the books being replaced by a $1.1MM guaranteed (and max ~$4MM with incentives) Ibanez allowed the team to sign Kuroda this year.

[conkermaniac]

Against RHP Jorge was just fine last year. If Ibanez replicates Jorge's .269 / .348 / .466 line for $1.1MM guaranteed I think the Yankees would be just fine with that. Jorge's $13MM coming off the books being replaced by a $1.1MM guaranteed (and max ~$4MM with incentives) Ibanez allowed the team to sign Kuroda this year.

You don't think we would have been able to get Jorge on a $1.1mil deal?

[dabomb2045]

Against RHP Jorge was just fine last year. If Ibanez replicates Jorge's .269 / .348 / .466 line for $1.1MM guaranteed I think the Yankees would be just fine with that. Jorge's $13MM coming off the books being replaced by a $1.1MM guaranteed (and max ~$4MM with incentives) Ibanez allowed the team to sign Kuroda this year.

Kind of ironic....Jorge would have been the perfect fit this year in that DH role vs RHP. I wonder if the Yanks made the Pineda trade a few weeks or a month earlier then they did (thus still during a time when Posada was deciding on retiring or not), if we could have gotten him to come back for another year.

[kan_t]

You don't think we would have been able to get Jorge on a $1.1mil deal?

Yes I don't think so.

[False1]

You don't think we would have been able to get Jorge on a $1.1mil deal?

I'd have been great with Jorge for $1.1MM. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a very brief discussion after the Pineda deal. But for pride alone I doubt Jorge would have come back for $1.1MM for a platoon DH even if there was interest expressed.

[SatchelPaigeYankee]

streaky as hell. this ought to be fun

[Black Sabbathia]

Last year Ibanez had a huge drop in his walkrate (10.7 to 5.7). He'd been consistently in the 9-10% range for years. His K rate was the 2nd highest of his career. He also saw a career low .268 BABIP. He saw an increase in ground balls and infield popups and decrease in fly balls, but had the 3rd best HR/FB% of his career. Oh, and his fielding metric fell off a cliff last year.

I'm not liking the picture these #'s paint, and how much normalization can you expect with a soon to be 40 yr old? At least he'll be sitting against lefties and won't be in the field too much (hopefully).

[pleasepassthesoup]

Meh. If he's terrible, he gets replaced mid-season. At his price, he's a lot easier to replace than the other options, which were also pretty likely to be terrible.

I expect him to be a Yankee for half a season or so. That said, I think it's the right choice of the available options.

[Mr Coffee]

Yeah, but is he fat?

Because I hear that is the best indicator of how well he'll play.

[justtxyank]

I'd have been great with Jorge for $1.1MM. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a very brief discussion after the Pineda deal. But for pride alone I doubt Jorge would have come back for $1.1MM for a platoon DH even if there was interest expressed.

The problem with bringing Jorge back is that if he falls on his face the Yankees aren't going to cut him. They had to let him retire. The backlash if they cut a guy like Posada would be too great.

[BxBomber44]

Raul is going to be good for a handful of meaningful homeruns - which could go a long way in the AL East & post-season.

[awy]

all. those. outs.

[TheGameEpisode2]

Apparently he hung out with Rudy Jaramillo this offseason to adjust his swing, so let's see where that gets him.

I usually trust Kevin Long, I think he can fix some problems that Ibanez had last year.

[False1]

The problem with bringing Jorge back is that if he falls on his face the Yankees aren't going to cut him. They had to let him retire. The backlash if they cut a guy like Posada would be too great.

Agree completely. I posted in one of the other dozen DH threads that a key deciding factor was likely to be "cut-ability" if the chosen DH washes out. I don't think they'd cut Damon either if he was making a few million guaranteed. Posada is a whole different ball of wax given his legacy here. They'd have to hope he took the dignified route and retired.

Which all leads to why I'm not thrilled with the Ibanez signing, but understand and support it - as long as they move quickly to replace him if it becomes evident he is truly toast.

[Yankeesfan811]

I wanted Damon initially...but oh well.

Hopefully Ibanez (Banny?) will use the short porch and hit 20 homers. Maybe even get his OBP over .300 again. LOL

[False1]

I wanted Damon initially...but oh well.

Hopefully Ibanez (Banny?) will use the short porch and hit 20 homers. Maybe even get his OBP over .300 again. LOL

It was .307 against RHP last year (.366 the prior year). Don't get me wrong, I'm an OBP whore... .307 sucks and should result in a DFA, but IMHO even a non-trivial fall off in OBP against RHP from DH is worth it if it helped us afford Kuroda this year and, combined with AJ's $8MM save in '13, helps us compete for FA in next offseason.

The key will be how the Yankees respond if he can't get that OBP up closer to his pre-'11 norms.

[groovitude]

am i the only person who thinks he looks like an older version of The Situation?

Lord Voldemort.

[BroadwayBomber55]

Raul Ibanez >>>>>> Raul Mondesi