AL East 2017 Positional Rankings: A Terrible Year For AL East DHs
By Nate Wardle
3. New York Yankees – Matt Holliday, Gary Sanchez, Chase Headley, Aaron Judge
Holliday is followed by three guys for New York who were primary starters at other positions, which is a good thing for him, because he had a bad year as well. Holliday hit .231/.316/.432 in 105 games with 19 home runs, 18 doubles, 64 runs batted in and 50 runs scored. He also struck out 114 times.
This is shocking, coming from a .299/.378/.511 hitter. But, it isn’t a far cry from what Holliday did in 2016 for St. Louis, when hit .246/.322/.461. Holliday had an offensive WAR of 0.1 and a defensive WAR of -1.0 in limited time in the field at first base.
So, what puts the Yankees here? Well, because Holliday was only DH for 90 games. And the other three on the list were an All-Star, a player who had possibly his best year in pinstripes, and a player who was second in the MVP race.
It is shocking to see that Trumbo, Ramirez and Holliday were each as bad as they were, but that’s where we are. The second slot doesn’t get much better.
Holliday is a free agent, and could retire, but will likely not be back in New York. They may be best using the position to help give guys some rest (Sanchez, Judge, Headley) or bring a power hitting free agent for the position, since they are the Yankees.