Get excited, Yankees fans. Brian Cashman has finally made a move in adding some production back into the outfield and into the lineup. Not just anyone, though – according to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Yankees have agreed to a trade with the San Francisco Giants for the 2013 National League MVP, 5x All-Star, 4x Silver Slugger, 1x Gold Glove veteran outfielder Andrew McCutchen in exchange for INF Abiatal Avelino and one other minor league player.
How influential is the signing of Andrew McCutchen for the Yankees?
This is huge for the Yankees. Yes, the 31-year-old may be past his prime years, but he is essentially replacing the 33-year-old Shane Robinson who doesn’t even contribute half as much as McCutchen could both offensively and defensively.
Since Aaron Judge was put on the disabled list on July 27, Robinson is posting an abysmal .143/.182/.238 slash line with a .420 OPS. Not to mention that he has not been a protector of the short porch to say the least.
McCutchen is not necessarily playing up to his career numbers of .288/.377/.481 with a .858 OPS – but rather he’s put up a .255/.357/.415 slash line this season with a .772 OPS and 15 HR, 55 RBI and 13 stolen bases.
As you can see from the numbers, he is a significant improvement from Shane Robinson. As it stands today, the Yankees are 7.5 games behind Boston and are seemingly not going to surpass them. With Didi Gregorius, Gary Sanchez, AND Aaron Judge on the disabled list, the Yankees have been struggling offensively.
With an influx of bat efficiency from McCutchen, the Bombers will have enough fire power until their star players return to the lineup. Additionally, they will need all the help they can find to fend off the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners in the Wild Card.