The Futility Infielder

When the Yankees went into the season, the one position their mighty lineup lacked an All-Star-caliber player was second base. Aaron Boone's basketball misadventures provoked the Soriano-for-Rodriguez trade, shifting the most glaring Yankee offensive weakness to the middle of the diamond. But despite expectations that George Steinbrenner would throw more cash at the problem to round out his set of All-Stars, the Yanks entered the season with two players who could charitably be described as futility infielders sharing the job at second, Enrique Wilson and Miguel Cairo.

Despite some superficial similarities -- they're within a year of each other in age (Cairo is actually younger, thanks to Wilson being caught red-handed in the age-gate scandal a couple winters ago) and an inch in height -- Cairo was the far more established player coming in. Wilson entered the season with a .253/.296/.358 in parts of seven major league seasons, accumulating 1250 plate appearances but only once playing anywhere close to regularly. Cairo put up a .269/.317/.361 line in 2225 PA over eight major-league seasons, including three years as the regular second-baseman of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Since departing Tampa after the 2000 season, he's bounced around the league and the diamond, playing six different defensive positions for three teams including the Yanks.

Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system had Wilson's weighted mean projection of .238/.287/.351, a mere 1.3 runs above replacement level (VORP), while Cairo's weighted mean projection of .263/.315/.400 put him at 6.1 VORP -- a half-win gap between the two. Wilson's been his usual craptacular self with the bat thus far, putting up a .210/ .253/.336 line -- a .589 OPS -- despite a comparatively Ruthian two-week stretch which saw him go 14-for-50 with a double, five homers, and 16 RBI. Take those numbers away and you've got a guy who's hitting .172/.221/.193, numbers that would embarrass even a blind, one-legged, octagenarian lady stepping into the batter's box with a pair of knitting needles.

Cairo, on the other hand, has been a sparkplug who's shown a surprising amount of power for a number-nine hitter, racking up a .312/.368/.461 line for an .829 OPS, about 140 points higher than his career rate and 240 points higher than Wilson. He's 8-for-13 with two doubles and a triple in his last four games for a cool 1.590 OPS and is currently hitting 13.2 runs above replacement level, while Wilson is 4.0 below -- a 17.2 run difference, nearly two games. By comparison, Jason Giambi's VORP is only 13.8 and the DH/1B "platoon" of Ruben Sierra and Tony Clark are a combined 14.6. In other words, Cairo has held his own among Yankee regulars or near-regulars with the stick. Defensively, Wilson and Cairo have combined for 3.0 Fielding Win Shares, trailing only Chicago, Tampa, Oakland in the AL.

Will it be enough for Miggy to keep his job beyond the July 31 trading deadline? It's tough to say. Spring training found the blogosphere full of such something-for-nothing pipe dreams as Jose Vidro and Ray Durham. Recent rumors have Seattle's Bret Boone -- Aaron's older brother -- as a possible option. With the M's 16 games below .500 and 14 out of first in the AL West, they've all but flushed this season, and Boone has been "leading" the way by "hitting" a woeful .232/.299/.389 with 11 homers, after three monstrous seasons in which he's averaged over 30 homers and 120 RBI. He's making $8 million in the final year of his contract, and there's no way in hell the Mariners or any team is likely to pick up the 35-year-old's $9 million option. But the Yanks don't have a great deal to offer in a trade, and with Kevin Brown on the DL and Jose Contreras and Jon Lieber struggling, insurance for the starting rotation may cost the Yanks the closest things they have to blue-chip prospects.

On the starter front, Boss Steinbrenner is currently engaged in a flirtation with the Diamondbacks over ace Randy Johnson, but the Big Unit has all but sworn a blood oath that he'll never pitch for the Yanks, so that's quite unlikely. However, if a deal were consummated, it wouldn't be a stretch to see Roberto Alomar included as a throw-in. Signed by the Snakes for less than $1 million at the start of the season, Alomar put up only a .262/.333/.385 line with one homer before breaking his hand in late April, and he's since lost his job to rookie Scott Hairston. I'm not advocating him as the answer to the Yanks' middle-of-the-diamond name-recognition problem, but he does fit the profile.

Speaking of the Hairston family, brother Jerry, another second baseman, is battling for playing time on the Baltimore Orioles while hitting .310/.385/.399 and stealing 11 bases in limited use, and is rumored to be available. He's also been seeing time at third base, the corner outfield spots and even DH (bad idea there, Lee Mazzilli), making him a handy bench player to have around. But is he better than Cairo? His career line of .259/.331/.369, coupled with his base-stealing ability and his younger age (he's 28) indicate that he would be an incremental improvement; he projects at 16.8 runs above replacement via PECOTA, about a full game better than Cairo. That's hardly a shining reason for the Yanks to spend resources for such a minor gain.

Another name that may surface is one that might be familiar to Yankee fans: D'Angelo Jimenez, the now-26-year-old second baseman of the Cincinnati Reds who was traded by the Yanks during the 2001 season. At one point, the former prospect seemed a better bet for big-league success than Alfonso Soriano, hitting .327/.392/.492 in Columbus (AAA) as a 21-year-old in 1999 and being named the International League's All-Star shortstop. By comparison, that season Soriano hit .305/.363/.501 as a 23-year-old in Norwich (AA) and was overmatched in a month at Columbus (.183/.225/.341). Jimenez looked to have a shot at making the 2000 Yanks but he sustained a broken neck in a car accident in the Dominican Republic that January, setting back his progress considerably. He still looked shaky in 2001 when the Yankees, desperate for relief help, traded him to the Padres for Jay Witasick. Midsummer trades have since become an annual ritual, and after passing through the hands of the Chicago White Sox, he's now in Cincy with a .260/.364/.388 line on the year, right around his .267/.350/.384 career mark. Jimenez has a bit of a bum rap following him around -- "perceived as lazy" says Baseball Prospectus 2004, but after a slow start, he's come around (.309/.407/.412 in June) and it's possible the Reds might want to cash him in while his value is ascending. PECOTA puts him at a weighted mean of .271/.349/.404 with 18.0 VORP. That's not more than a hair ahead of Hairston, but as Aaron Boone, Gabe White, Drew Henson and others might attest, these two teams have been known to swing midsummer deals, so this could happen, especially if the Reds start to fall off of the NL Central pace. Then again, they're 7 over .500 and 5 out of first, so punting may be a ways away.

In short, while upgrade options may exist for the Yanks at second base, they've got far bigger concerns in the pitching department, both in the rotation and in the overworked bullpen. Unless they can get something for virtually nothing, they've probably got enough to stand pat at second base, at least until they sort out their more pressing needs.