Granderson, Beltran and continuity v. winning.

Carlos Beltran will be replacing Curtis Granderson in the Yankee outfield.  Beltran will join another new Yankee Jacoby Ellsbury who is coming from rival Boston.

What differentiates them?  Age, money and continuity.  Winners, i.e., best for the Yankees:
age:
Ellsbury: born September 11, 1983
Granderson: born March 16, 1981
Beltran: born April 24, 1977

money:
Beltran: $15 million, 3 years: $45 million
Granderson: $15 million, 4 years: $60 million cost to Mets
Ellsbury: $21.9 million, 7 years: $153 million

continuity:
Granderson played the last four seasons with the Yankees.  Had the Yankees given him the same deal that he signed with the Mets, Granderson would play eight seasons with the Yankees.  That's significant for a player who is not a star but a significant contributor and all around good guy.

One option, which would have saved the Yankees about $7 million per year for four years would have been to re-sign Granderson and sign Beltran.  The Yankees really did not need Ellsbury to play center field because they already had Brett Gardner, born August 24, 1983.

Did Yankee ownership and management consider continuity?  To me it makes about as much baseball sense for the team to have Granderson and Beltran for a total of seven seasons, than to have Ellsbury for seven seasons at significantly higher pay plus Beltran for another three seasons.

Ellsbury will achieve substantial status if he makes significant contributions and the team wins.  Beltran cannot because he is joining the team when he is too old to be much more than a rent-a-player.  It's an unfortunate way to describe such a good player but Beltran has put himself into that category by playing for too many teams.  His plate appearances:
Royals: 3,512
Mets: 3,640
Cardinals: 1,219
Astros: 399
Giants: 179

Let's look at them a little differently.  I rounded up Ellsbury's annual pay to make it easier to read.

age	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Ellsbury	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Granderson	33	34	35	36
Beltran	37	38	39
Beltran	$15	$15	$15					$45
Granderson	$15	$15	$15	$15				$60
Ellsbury	$22	$22	$22	$22	$22	$22	$22	$153

age	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39
Ellsbury	$22	$22	$22	$22	$22	$22	$22
Granderson				$15	$15	$15	$15
Beltran								$15	$15	$15

It gets a little confusing and not as easy to make what ultimately are subjective judgments, which include guessing how much a player will play and how well.

Ellsbury is not really a home run hitter.  He has double figures only once: 32 in 2011.  But both Granderson and Beltran have hit 40 homers playing center field in New York.  Duke Snider did that five consecutive seasons playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Willie Mays did it twice: 41, 51.

Among Yankee center fielders:
Joe DiMaggio: 46
Mickey Mantle: 52, 42, 40, 54
Curtis Granderson: 41, 43.

Yankee players have hit 40 homers 30 times.  The only other Yankees to hit 40 homers multiple times:
Babe Ruth: 11
Lou Gehrig: 5
Mickey Mantle: 4
Jason Giambi: 2
Alex Rodriguez: 2
Curtis Granderson: 2

The only Yankees to hit 40 homers in consecutive seasons:
Ruth
Gehrig
Mantle
Giambi
Granderson.

Granderson is in some pretty elite company but he's leaving after only four seasons.  Don't his achievements count for something other than a projection of his wins above replacement (WAR)?

Carlos Beltran is even higher in the lowly home run hierarchy of the New York Mets, the for whom Granderson will play the next four seasons.  Here is the complete list of Mets to hit 40 home runs:

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Carlos Beltran	41	2006	29	NYM	NL	140	617	510	127	140	38	1	116	95	6	99	4	1	7	6	18	3	.275	.388	.594	.982	*8/HD
2	Todd Hundley	41	1996	27	NYM	NL	153	624	540	85	140	32	1	112	79	15	146	3	0	2	9	1	3	.259	.356	.550	.906	*2H
3	Mike Piazza	40	1999	30	NYM	NL	141	593	534	100	162	25	0	124	51	11	70	1	0	7	27	2	2	.303	.361	.575	.936	*2/HD

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/8/2013.

Carlos Beltran is tied for the Met record.  Maybe Granderson will challenge that.  Has anyone even considered that?  The Yankees now have the Met home run king and the Mets have a Yankee who both equaled and exceeded the Met record.

Winning is the thing.  But when the mix of players is so arbitrary when do we value flesh and blood over laundry?  Is the current model of success used by Boston in 2013 with short term additions the immediate future?  If so, after a couple of years of that, how much will we care about the players and our team?

Sunday, December 1, 2013  M & M Boys, revolving door rosters, copy cat management and rooting for the laundry.