Drury provides great value for the $. He looks like a great replacement for both Headley and Frazier. I loved Frazier's energy and enthusiasm too, and am sorry to lose that but in terms of production and value Drury looks like a great fit. He can also play five positions.
2016: AB XBH RBI OPS
Headley 467 33 51 .716
Frazier 590 61 98 .767
Drury 461 50 53 .786
2017: AB XBH RBI OPS
Headley 512 43 61 .758
Frazier 474 47 76 .772
Drury 445 52 63 .764
To the OPs point, looks like great value and versatility.
Not sure exactly when, but somewhere in the last 10-15 years the Yanks dove head first into data analytics...and they’ve come up with a few hidden gems that they’ve had conviction about. Aaron Hicks being exhibit A.
Of course, they had conviction about Stephen Drew too...nobody’s perfect...but hope Drury proves to be another find.
Quite right, good call.
And an interesting footnote that Cashman cited new 3B coach Phil Nevin’s recommendation of Drury as a factor in the trade, as Nevin managed Drury a couple years back for the DBack’s AAA team.
We all remember the small part Nevin played in Derek Jeter lore...Hall of Famer and former Astros scout Hal Newhouser resigned when the Astros took Nevin 1st overall instead of Jeter in the 1992 draft
But they gave up two good prospects for him, don't underestimate that, that kid Solak is a very good prospect, but he plays the same position as Glyber Torres, Tyler Wade, Ronald Torreyes, and Thairo Estrada. The other kid Taylor Widener is 23 years old, was with Tampa last season, high A ball, was 7-8 with a 3.39 ERA, he is a solid prospect also.
Nick Solak started with high A last season, hit .301 with 10 homers in about 2/3 a season, then was promoted to AA ball, hit a .772 OPS there in 132 at bats. He was a 2nd round pick in the 2016 draft, a player drafted in 2016 and playing in AA ball his first season is a very promising prospect, he went to Tampa Bay, they are a very shrewd organization.