In his first game as a member of the New York Yankees, Billy Butler has already commenced his impact on the pennant race.
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Butler will join the Yankees immediately in Boston as the team will face seven LHP in their next 11 games.
In his career, Butler has a.299/.381/.491 slash line, 54 homers and 218 RBIs in 1,372 at-bats and 666 games against lefthanders. The addition of Butler is a curious one, though the Yanks likely see him as an offensive upgrade for a club just two games out of a Wild Card spot. “To me, they’ve been pretty good”, Girardi said.
But New York turned a few heads when they signed free agent castoff Billy Butler this week, who has gained a reputation for picking on younger players.
Specifics surrounding the deal aren’t known, but Butler can be had for nothing more than the pro-rated portion of the league minimum through season’s end following his release by Oakland. After facing left-handed starters in only eight of their previous 41 games, they are set to oppose five lefties in six games, starting Thursday night against Eduardo Rodriguez. He hasn’t hit lefties particularly well this year – just a.262 average with one home run in 103 at-bats – but the Yankees are looking for a sudden surge of production, and Butler was excellent for the A’s as recently as the month of July. In August, Butler wound up on the 7-day concussion disabled list after getting into a clubhouse fight with teammate Danny Valencia.
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As Mike Axisa of River Avenue Blues points out (Twitter link), however, the Yankees started light-hitting backstop Austin Romine at designated hitter tonight against a left-handed pitcher. He hit 15 homers for Oakland previous year. Reportedly, the fight was began with Butler antagonizing Valencia during a seemingly freaky interaction with an equipment representative.
