Newsday is reporting that the Yankees are about to trade Chris Hammond to the A's.

Hammond is a lefty change-up artist who has an easier time getting right-handed batters out than lefties. He had a great year two years ago with the Braves (0.95 ERA/1.11 WHIP), but in 2003 with the Yankees, he wasn't quite so impressive: 2.86 ERA, 1.21 WHIP. Actually, when you compare stats from the two years, most stats only decline a little bit, except one: in 2002 the slugging % against him was insanely low: .261. In 2003, that jumped to .407. And that's kinda worrisome in one of the few guys left in the majors who are older than I am.

So he's a nice addition to a bullpen, but he's not a closer, either. More trade bait? I kinda hope so. If he ends up on the A's, I swear I'm gonna have The Hammond Song stuck in my head every time he warms up in the bullpen:

If you go down to Hammond
You'll never come back
In my opinion you're
On the wrong track
We'll always love you but
That's not the point.

If you go with that fella
forget about us
As far as I'm concerned
that would be just
throwing yourself away
not even trying.

Posted by: Ken / 11:06 PM |