In DH pursuit, Yanks should avoid Ibanez

In the Yankees' pursuit of a cheap designated hitter, the search appears to have come down to three choices: Raul Ibanez, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. Multiple reports seem to suggest Ibanez may be the team's leading preference.

We all know Brian Cashman has made some questionable choices this off-season, but c'mon, Raul Ibanez?

Let's take a quick look at some of these hitters' numbers from 2011:

RAUL IBANEZ

Standard: .245 batting average, .289 on-base percentage, .419 slugging percentage; 20 home runs.

Advanced: 5.7 walk percentage (8.5 career), 18.4 strikeout percentage (15.8 career), 18.7 line drive percentage (19.6 career), 46.3 ground ball percentage (42.8 career).

Salary:  $12,166,667

JOHNNY DAMON

Standard: .261, .326, .418; 16 home runs.

Advanced: 7.9 walk percentage (9.2), 14.2 strikeout percentage (11.5), 20.2 line drive percentage (20), 41.5 ground ball percentage (44.5).

Salary: $5,250,000

HIDEKI MATSUI

Standard: .251, .321, .375; 12 home runs.

Advanced: 9.6 walk percentage (10.9), 14.4 strikeout percentage (13.4), 20.6 line drive percentage (19), 42.8 ground ball percentage (44.2).

Salary: $4,250,000

Granted, Ibanez has some of the qualities the Yankees are looking for in their new DH. He did hit 20 home runs, and he performed the best of all three candidates against right-handed pitchers in 2011, suggesting the lefty swinger may be able to take advantage of that short right-field porch at Yankee Stadium.

Nearly every other number, however, suggests that going with Ibanez would not be a wise decision.

Ibanez was horrific against left-handed pitchers last season, posting a line of just .211/.232/.353 (.585 OPS). Damon (.812 OPS) and Matsui (.795 OPS) did considerably better in that area.

Additionally, 15 of Ibanez's 20 home runs came in the comfortable confines of Citizen's Bank Park, a veritable home run hitters paradise. Meanwhile, Damon smacked 16 home runs, six of them coming at Tropicana Field, a neutral park that verges on being a pitcher's advantage. Matsui's power numbers were suppressed by the vast Oakland Coliseum (four home runs at home, eight on the road).

Let's also not forget that many of Ibanez's advanced percentage stats are trending in the wrong direction. Plus, his walk rate is the lowest of the trio, his strikeout percentage is the highest, he hit the least percentage of line drives last season and hit the most ground balls -- which doesn't bode well for him putting the ball in the air enough to keep hitting home runs.

True, Damon's walk rate has also decreased and his strikeout rate is up too. But those numbers still end up far more palatable than Ibanez's. Plus, Damon's line drive rate is actually up slightly over his career average and his ground ball rate is below his career norms.

Matsui's advanced numbers last season are nearly identical with how he's produced his entire career, having fluctuated less than two percent in all of the areas we examined.

Cashman has said he'd prefer a designated hitter who can occasionally play the field. Ibanez started for Philadelphia in left field, while Matsui and Damon primarily DH'd. However, none of the three are considered good defenders, and when you have three already durable starting outfielders and a proven backup in Andruw Jones, the need for a DH who can also patrol the outfield doesn't seem all that great.

But the best argument for bringing back either Matsui or Damon comes courtesy of the “fool me once” school of thinking: at least both of those players have proven they can handle and produce in the role of designated hitter. As the Jorge Posada experiment taught us last year, you can't always just take a hitter (particularly an aging one), plug him in at DH and expect results.

Then again, maybe it's just a big fake-out. Hey, Nick Johnson's still a free agent.

Cody Derespina's “The Numbers Game” is a Newsday app-only exclusive.