June 19, 2013

MLB News: Travis Hafner close to inking deal with New York Yankees

January 30, 2013 by 20 Comments

(Update: Hafner has reportedly signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Yankees)

While he was rumored to be in the mix for the Cleveland Indians’ vacant designated hitter job, it appears that long-time Tribe slugger Travis Hafner could be rocking a half-buttoned pinstrip jersey for 2013.

WEEI’s Rob Bradford followed up on an earlier report from CBS Jon Heyman, both with terms going undisclosed.

Hafner hit free agency after the Indians chose a $2.75MM buyout over a $13MM option earlier in the offseason. The 35-year-old provided a slash line of .228/.346/.438 with 12 home runs in 263 plate appearances for the Indians in 2012. Hafner, a left-handed hitter, has a career batting line of .287/.391/.534 against right-handed pitching. As WFNY’s Jon wrote earlier this week, outside of the 2008 season, Hafner had never had a wOBA below .340 and never slugged less than .440.

While Hafner may not come near 150 games played, his swing is perfect for the short porch at Yankee Stadium. Where this leaves the Indians with regard to the designated hitter position remains to be seen.

[Related: The Case for a Designated Hitter. Yes, That Designated Hitter]

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  • nj0

    That short porch in right will help him.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Hang in there mgbode!

  • Garry_Owen

    Half project, half Yankee. Prank!

  • nj0

    This will give him an excuse to get a new Pronk Fathead for his basement.

  • Jaker

    35 homers, 142 RBI, bats .321, third in MVP voting. That sounds about right…

    In. All seriousness, if he signs with the dreaded Yanks, I wish him the best, heck, ill even go see him play. He’s a classy guy who will rock that porch.

  • Harv 21

    And then there were two, Antonetti and Gentleman Jim, cautiously circling each other, each pretending their respective cellies were ringing off the hook.

  • architrance

    Booooooo. I hate it when things lessen my Yankees hatred. Also terrible move by the Tribe. I really hope they go out and get a DH.

  • mgbode

    we don’t have basements here in Texas, it’ll have to go in my deer blind!

    and, if you think they hate the Yanks up North, then you should see the Yank hatred down here in da South (some locals consider Texas part of the South – strange, I agree).

  • mgbode

    hey, that’s okay. we’ll just roll out a bunch of guys for DH who hit worse than Matt LaPorta’s career 92OPS+

  • nj0

    As a fellow Clevelander-turned-Texan, I feel shame for my obvious mistake.

  • @TheDeePagel

    I hear you. But over the past decade my Red Sox hate has trumped the Yankees by far.

  • mgbode

    hey, no worries. and, with Clevelanders apparent hatred of Pronk + him no longer being an Indian, think how cheap those fatheads are going to be!

  • saggy

    I’m gonna go to the stadium just to boo Hafner. The fans here in NYC are going to make him cry when he starts the season 5-45 with zero homers.

  • MeandH

    He will be able to feel just like A Rod

  • Natedawg86

    How much u think they will sign him for? Do u think we tried to restructure 1 yr deal? 2.25 more from us would be 5 to him but 5 from Yankees would be 7.75 for him

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I smell several pop-fly home runs.

  • mgbode

    that will be interesting. i’m not sure how much they are going to spend on a parttime DH, but with A-Rod shelved it may have gotten to the $5mil mark I suppose (which is more than I would have wanted to spend on him).

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Two championships will do that!

  • @TheDeePagel

    Honeslty, and I mean complete honesty, it has nothing to do with that.

  • mgbode

    Ok, so $1.1mil on a 1yr contract. So, either both sides just wanted to move on or we didn’t offer him the same contract we just gave to Johnny Damon last season!