Baseball has a long and storied history. Its vast landscape dotted with legendary figures, much the same way Middle Earth was dotted with large walking-talking tree men, and Middle America is dotted with Sonics. In the course of this great game there have been figures that stand out amongst the rest:
John: Evers, McGraw, Mize, Bench
Joe: Morgan, McGinty, Tinker, Dimaggio, Cronin, McCarthy, Kelley, Sewell
Barry: Larkin, Bonds
Ted: Lyons, Williams
Bob: Feller, Gibson, Doerr
Ed: Plank, Walsh, Barrow
Frank: Robinson, Baker, Thomas
Yangervis: Solarte
Yes, while Ted Williams is arguably the greatest Ted to ever play the game, and Johnny Bench is arguably the greatest Johnny, Yangervis Solarte is without a doubt and unequivocally the Single Greatest Yangervis to Ever Play The Game Of Baseball. Full Stop.
He is also my new favorite player, a position that had been vacant since the re-retirement of Andy Pettitte and Sam Fuld’s newly found lineptitude.
Actually, Solarte was my new favorite player. It’s hard to root for him anymore. Not because he’s done something wrong but because he is now on the Padres and the Padres are a very hard team to root for. I swear I was one day away from buying a Yangervis shirsy. One day.
Solarte, a former minor league free agent, headed west in the trade that netted the Yankees Chase Headley. Objectively, this move was brilliant by New York. They absolutely capitalized on a 4A caliber player who has already lived the first half of his life, and sold him at almost the highest possible price. They threw in a minor league reliever and turned the two into a high ceiling player who, with two good months, could end up as the Yankees thirdbasemen for the next few seasons, depending on what happens with A-Rod.
However, while the cost in baseball talent was negligible, the cost to fans of ‘Gervis was great. Solarte is now just another strangely named face in the crowd. Right up there with Yuniesky Betancourt, Coco Crisp, Shelley Duncan, Boof Bonser, Odrisamer Despaigne, Jair Jurrjens, Jordany Valdespin, Antonio Bastardo, and Stolmy Pimentel. A curiosity, but little more.
According to numberFire’s really cool player projections, Yangy is likely to hit about .267 with a .350 OBP for the rest of the season, putting him on pace to finish with a .261 average. As of today, Solarte is hitting only .258–quite a drop for someone who was batting as high has .336 as late as mid May. (If you think Solarte will find a new rhythm in Petco and his numbers will surge, you might want to try your hand at MLB baseball betting.)
Sadly, Solarte’s fall back to earth was as inevitable as the uselessness of Jim Bowden’s ‘analysis’ of a possible Chase Headley trade only hours before a completely different trade, unforeseen by Bowden, actually happened. Yangervis even spent a few days in AAA trying regain his early season mojo but it was not to be. Solarte, who carried the Yankees at points in the early part of the season, had regressed to his personal mean…. which isn’t very good.
As a Yankee fan, this is a great trade. My team got a All-Star caliber player who will likely continue his recent terrible performance but who could be spectacular for virtually nothing of value long term. As a baseball fan and a Solarte enthusiast, I’m saddened to see the Greatest Yangervis Ever fade off into the sunset of San Diego Padres anonymity, destined to play with the likes of Seth Smith and Alexi Amarista, whoever they are.
-Max Frankel
