The Yankees have a big offseason ahead of them to try to get back on track to the franchise people were used to seeing. And what do I mean by that? I mean regaining the trust of the fans and telling them that we’re “all in” and we haven’t seen a move like that since Giancarlo Stanton in 2018 so it’s finally time for Hal to strike down on one of the most consistent hitters in all of baseball.
The Yankees do NOT have contact hitters on their roster and yeah you have DJ LeMahieu who wasn’t playing in the postseason and another guy in Andrew Benintendi. The likelihood of the Yankees bringing back Benny is probably a low chance so I have the perfect player in mind with a reasonable contract that Hal could definitely put on the table.
Brandon Nimmo has been considered one of the most underrated players in all of baseball according to his colleagues and beat reporters. On a star studded Mets squad, Nimmo gets overlooked by most even though he ranked in the top 10 in fWAR amongst all outfielders this previous season. Since 2018, Nimmo ranks 10th in fWAR while missing a good chunk of 2019 and 2021, ranks 7th in wRC+ over guys like Ronald Acuña Jr and fellow teammate Jeff McNeil.
Nimmo is the type of ballplayer the Yankees desperately need, a guy who plays great on all 5 aspects of the game, hitting, hitting with power, speed, running the bases and playing the field. Nimmo ranked in the top 91st percentile in OAA (Outs Above Average) and had ESPN Top 10 worthy plays every other night.
The slashline for Nimmo following the 2021 season was .274/.367/.433 with a .800 OPS. With a 134 wRC+ (9th) and a 5.4 fWAR (6th) has really pulled away with the title of a top ten OFer and to consider what most think his contract should be would be a must sign for Hal Steinbrener. Nimmo’s ability to spray the ball around the diamond can really be an outlier in a Yankees offense who’s mostly pull heavy with a shift on every play.
Nimmo’s K% at 17% would be the lowest amongst the qualified hitters on the Yankees and would give the Yankees a true leadoff that can be a stable everyday. Not to mention along with his K%, Nimmo ranked in the top 78th percentile in BB% so he just finds a way to get on base and that’s crucial for a Yankees team that couldn’t generate opportunities and capitalize on them.
Just finishing up his first full season since 2018 everyone knows that Nimmo has the tools to be great. It’s always been just a health problem and this year he went out and proved everyone wrong and now has the right to ask for any offer he wants. Now I don’t think the Yankees should worry about Nimmo’s injury history because it’s not all one thing. All of the injuries since 2019 have been spread out and don’t look like something that can be lingering.
Being a Scott Boras client could be a good and bad thing for the Yankees because all they have to do is offer the highest contract but Boras is gonna scrap every last penny he can get out of Hal. Realistically a Nimmo contract is gonna be sitting anywhere from $18M AAV to $25M AAV and that will be based on how much interest and I expect a lot of interest.
To wrap things up I just want to mention again how perfect of a Yankee Brandon Nimmo would be and how well that move would be appreciated by Yankee fans. A guy who’s gonna go out there everyday and do what he gets paid to do and that’s play ELITE defense wherever they can and do anything at the plate to get on base.
TheDyspatch 