Ivan Rodriguez Makes Impact on Yankees

AccuScore

Stephen Oh

AccuScore Analyst

The Yankees traded reliever Kyle Farnsworth for Ivan Rodriguez. With Jorge Posada out for the rest of the season the Yankees needed to upgrade their offensive production at catcher. Jose Molina was the starter and he is batting under .230. Rodriguez may be in his 18^th season and he does not have the power (5 HR in â08, 11 HR last season) of his younger days but he is batting .295.

AccuScore ran season simulations before the trade and after the trade to evaluate how much Rodriguez helps the Yankees. Before the trade the Yankees were finishing an average of 3 games behind Tampa Bay and in a virtual tie with Boston. The Yankees are given a 25 percent chance of winning the division, a 25 percent chance of winning the wildcard and a total of 50 percent chance of making the playoffs.

BEFORE TRADE	PLAYOFF	WIN DIV	WINS	LOSSES
Tampa Bay Rays	74%	49%	92	70
Boston Red Sox	51%	25%	89	73
New York Yankees	50%	25%	89	73
Toronto Blue Jays	4%	1%	82	80
Baltimore Orioles	0%	0%	77	85

With Ivan Rodriguez the Yankees are in a virtual tie with Boston to make the playoffs. Their 58 percent chance of making the playoffs is a full +8 points higher than before the trade.

AFTER TRADE	PLAYOFF	WIN DIV	WINS	LOSSES
Tampa Bay Rays	72%	45%	92	70
New York Yankees	58%	32%	90	72
Boston Red Sox	47%	18%	89	73
Toronto Blue Jays	4%	1%	82	80
Baltimore Orioles	0%	0%	77	85

Last week the Yankees improved their playoff chances by 4 percentage points after acquiring Xavier Nady. The combination of acquiring both Xavier Nady and Ivan Rodriguez has made a huge +12 percent improvement to the Yankeesâ playoff chances.

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