As perhaps the only person in the United States who operates a fan website dedicated around Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, I unabashedly love the thirty year old base-swiper. So, apparently, do the Yankees. Despite only modestly successful offensive statistics (.268/.352/.733 career average, OBP, OPS, and 161 career SBs), Gardner has been turned down in straight up deals this offseason for Brandon Phillips and Justin Masterson -- those are just the ones that have been reported -- even after management acquired Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran to give them a total of five quality outfielders (Ichiro and Alfonso Soriano the other two).
To be fair, there are numbers that favor Gardner, like his fielding range that's annually among the league's best and his first career 30-10 season last year (30 doubles, 10 triples; only player in the majors to do so in 2013). He also typically steals more bases than he did last year (26 compared to 49 and 46 in 2010 and 2011), when he was extra gun-shy on the first pitch possibly because it was his first year as a full time lead-off man and he might have been still handling the after-effects of a thumb injury that blew up his 2012 (hence, "the mitten.")
On Sunday, the last day of the Winter Olympics, the Yankees finally monetized their love for Gardner by extending his contract for four more years, $50 million (with the possibility of $52 million), according to ESPN. Previously, he'd been one of the biggest bargains in the majors, the Chandler Parsons (who will make less than $1 million per year through 2014-15) of the MLB, but more likeable. So humble does Gardner seem at times, you want to believe he'd play for free as long as he can get his pants stained dirt brown once per game.
"It's a demonstration from our end," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told ESPN, alluding to several things, including the Ellsbury and Beltran adds. "We don't typically do this, but it shows the level of confidence, belief and trust in the type of person and player he is, and we're excited to know he's going to be part of this thing going forward."
"We don't typically do this," refers to the Yankees and extending contracts, which they usually don't do but infamously did do with Alex Rodriguez to the effect that he'd be making nearly $30 million this year if he wasn't suspended. (He did contribute more to the 2009 World Series than any other Yankee so I'm not complaining).
"Free agency is something that, it kind of intrigued me, and it also kind of scared me," said Gardner in yet another example of his throwback nature. "It's probably the biggest decision I ever had to make in my life. I put a lot of thought into it, but at the end of the day, it's a lot of money. Where I come from, that money or twice that much money, I'm not going to change the way I live my life."
