WHY BRANYAN BRINGS BENCH STABILITY

Joe Girardi was right, we did need a lefty bat in the Yankees lineup, one with power to crank it out of, or in Russell Branyan’s case, crank it OVER that short right field deck. We got that lefty today and you can read about it here in YANKEES SIGN 1ST BASEMAN RUSSELL BRANYAN. Branyan’s deal is a minor league deal and they did it just 1 day after Bill Hall signed his minor league deal with the Yanks. Now things are starting to take shape.

Back in December I wrote WHY THE YANKEE BENCH WILL BE A FACTOR and while I’m no expert, I knew certain players would make good moves stabilize the bench. Now while Hall and Branyan were mentioned as good options, and the Yanks went for it today, it's still early. What I mean is, they still need to make the big team, which they probably will and they still would need to deliver.

Honestly, we need to assume Hall and Branyan make the big club. There is more of an incentive for them to fight for spots on the Yankee roster and being former pro ballplayers, there is no doubt they make the team, unless, they become unlucky like Ronnie Belliard of last season, read HERE.

Mixing Hall and Branyan in with guys like Eduardo Nunez offers a great bench of strength, speed and late inning defense. But now that raises a much bigger question... something Yankeeland has been shouting for for many months… do these signings impact the potential signing of Eric Chavez? After all we’ve been through with the guy, the want and need and the “interest”, is it all over now for Eric and the Yankees?

Look, it is very very possible the Yankees make a run, sign Eric Chavez to a similar contract to 2011 and just move into Spring Training with everything they wanted. That would be great. But right now they have their lefty bat (Branyan hit 31 home runs in 2009... that’s no fluke), and if you platoon him with Andruw Jones, you really have a powerful DH platoon. So, at this point, why in the world would we look at Johnny Damon, Raul Ibanez or Hideki Matsui? You see what I mean? Again, I believe the Yankees and Damon can work it out, many do, but the window’s closing fast, it’s almost Spring Training and we’re running out of money.

At the end of the day though, you need to applaud what the Yankees did the last few days, the additions of Bill Hall and Russell Branyan are smart signings, low risk and if they make the Bigs roster, that’s only a plus, trust me. One has to wonder though, are the Yankees finished shopping? Stay tuned.

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and look for the hashtag #BYB. Also, join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.