With the Yankees in the market for a designated hitter now that Jesus Montero is heading to Seattle, they are looking at a number of options and reportedly already reached out to Johnny Damon and Carlos Pena.
Since they already added $10 million to the payroll with the signing of Hiroki Kuroda, they don’t expect to spend a lot to sign another bat and both could be relatively low cost.
Damon, 38, made $5.25 million last year with the Rays, but since Tampa Bay doesn’t want him back, he’ll likely have to settle for less in 2012. And Pena, 33, told MLB Radio the Yankees had made contact with him, according to their twitter account.
Another former Yankee, Hideki Matsui, is also still around after spending last season in Oakland. The 37-year-old slugger hit .251 with 12 homers and 72 RBIs in his lone season with the A’s.I'm not sure how much guys like Damon, Matsui and Pena have left in the tank, but you'd have to believe their offensive numbers would get at least a little bit of a boost playing in the Bronx for 81 games.
The team could also opt to give 29-year-old Jorge Vazquez a shot.
Who would you like to see as the opening day DH?