Headley open to a Yankees sequel
NEW YORK –
Chase Headley dove to his right, flashing his typically golden glove work at third with a diving stop, then fired on a hop for the out at first. He also sent a rocket up the left-center gap for a run-scoring double.
This was a postcard from Florida Wednesday night, from Tropicana Field to be exact. The picture was a bit discolored because Headley was still playing with the bruises caused by the 96 mph fastball he took on the chin a week ago Thursday.
"This guy is a gamer," Joe Girardi said after seeing Headley's contributions to the Yankees' 3-2 win over Tampa Bay.
Headley came to the Yankees from San Diego as a rental on July 22. But the 30-year-old switch-hitting third baseman isn't ruling out a longer arrangement.
"I would certainly be open to it," Headley said Thursday, alone at his locker before the start of the final homestand, which turned out to be a 3-2 win over Toronto at Yankee Stadium thanks to a walk-off error on a ball hit by him. "I haven't given it a lot of thought. There's going to be plenty of time for that in the offseason. There's a lot of pieces to that puzzle. But I've certainly enjoyed my time here.
"This is a great organization. It would definitely be a place that would be high on the list."
There is, of course, a curveball thrown in with a potential return. Alex Rodriguez is due back at third after his year in suspension exile, although he will be starting next season at the age of 39 and could see DH work as well.
"That's just another piece of the puzzle," Headley said. "If there was interest from the Yankees, before anything got hammered out, we would have to kind of understand what both sides are thinking on role and all that stuff."
Headley's defense has ranged from steady to spectacular with diving play after diving play. His offense has been more sporadic. But overall he has made a good impression on Girardi.
"He plays tremendous defense and gives you good at-bats whenever he's up there," Girardi said. "And obviously we've seen he's a very tough kid as well. He wants to win and has just a great attitude.
"I really didn't know much about him. I hadn't seen him play very much just because we don't really play the Padres very often. So I really didn't know what to expect. He has been a real good addition."
Besides the walk-off error on a ball that eluded first baseman Adam Lind, there have been a couple of walk-off hits — a 14th-inning single against the Rangers here in his first game after the trade and a ninth-inning homer here against the Red Sox earlier this month.
But his Yankees average stands at only .253 with four homers and 14 RBI in 49 games after a 1-for-3-and-a-walk night. He batted just .229 with seven homers and 32 RBI in 77 games with the Padres before coming over. Just two years ago, though, he hit .286 with 31 homers and 115 RBI for them.
"I think it's definitely been not a typical year for me," Headley said. "I think I've swung better than it probably appears, both in San Diego and here. To me, if you watch some of these at-bats, I'm putting up good at-bats. You see hard contact."
There was hard contact last week at the Stadium, but not the kind anybody wanted to see. Jake McGee's very hard pitch KO'd Headley from the game. It resulted in two stitches in his chin and four missed games. He's still sore.
"Chewing and eating is not as easy as it has been or will be," Headley said.
Headley got back in the box Monday night at the Trop.
"For me it wasn't terrible because I've been playing this game for an awful long time and that's the first time anything like that has happened," Headley said. "There's a little bit of anxiousness, but for me it wasn't something I was overly concerned about."
Twitter: @bheyman99
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