Travis Hafner joined the Yankees this season. Before I never really appreciated just how much a player who only plays designated hitter (DH) limits his team.
I have long had the view that Edgar Martinez, pretty much a DH only player, needed to hit like Ted Williams to be a Hall of Famer. Watching Hafner made me realize that the Yankees probably need to carry an additional player to compensate for Hafner's not playing the field.
There have been situations when the Yankees were in need of a first baseman, Hafner's natural fielding position for the 68 of 1,170 games he started there and not as DH. However, for whatever reason, the Yankees, like the Mariners with Martinez, chose to not play Hafner in the field and sometimes struggled as if the roster had only 24 players instead of 25.
That's one of the reasons I really don't like Hafner. Others include:
- generally not hitting; he seems to strike out a lot with runners on base
- after each pitch Hafner steps out, turns his back on home plate and walks far away.
What's he doing?
Does he think that's entertaining?
It doesn't seem to help. Hafner is not performing no matter how much he wanders.
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