Chase Headley Signs Four-Year Deal with Yankees, Leaving A-Rod Without a Position

Chase Headley is going back to the Bronx to play third base for the Yankees over the next four seasons, per Ken Rosenthal. No, this isn’t a huge, game-changing, headline-making, move of the Steinbrenner-era Yankees, rather the boring, baseball-driven moves that GM Brian Cashman apparently prefers to make. Headley will reportedly earn around $50+ million during the contract.

Obviously Headley doesn’t address the team’s fragile starting pitching rotation which currently features Adam Warren and David Phelps as the only two members without massive question marks stitched into their pinstripes. This means the Max Scherzer rumors will continue and continue … and continue until the former Cy Young winner and agent Scott Boras get their $200 million contract.

Headley posted one really good season in his eight-year career, when he drove in 115 and finished an .875 OPS with the Padres in 2012. Overall his career line is .265/.347/.404 is decidedly slightly above average. If nothing else it’s certainly the least interesting third base move in the American League East this winter, behind the Jays trade for Josh Donaldson and the Red Sox signing Pablo Sandoval. The economic reality of baseball is that a solid veteran like Headley makes over $12 million per season.

Headley and new shortstop Didi Gregorius the Yankees have a solid, if not spectacular, left side of the infield going forward. Martin Prado now moves over to second, most-likely.

Oh right, signing Headley means that Alex Rodriguez’s contributions to the 2015 Yankees (and beyond) looks like it will be limited mostly to designated hitter, unless he starts platooning at first base with Mark Teixeira at first. Then again, is it too late for A-Rod to learn how to pitch?