Yankees Ink Slugger Billy Butler

A post from a friend of the blog:

The New York Yankees have recently agreed a deal to sign veteran hitter and first baseman Billy Butler, following his release from the Oakland Athletics. Although specific details surrounding such an agreement are still unknown at this stage, it is believed that the Yankees will have to pay in the region of $50,000 in order to add Butler to their roster, for what presumably will just be for the 2016 campaign only. Despite signing a three-year deal with the A’s, worth a reported $30 million, Butler failed to live up to expectations at in California. In the green and gold of Oakland, Butler hit a collective .258/.325/.394- particularly average when when factoring in the Athletics’ cavernous home park (99 OPS+).

With the Yankees now turning their attention towards this weekend’s series with the Red Sox in Boston, in which they are seen as the 1/1 outsiders for victory with bookmakers Betway, manager Joe Girardi will undoubtedly be pleased at the prospect of his team having another option against Southpaws for the remainder of the season. As Butler integrates himself on to the Yankees you can find more odds for Saturday at Betway’s website.

Now that the MLB has released the schedule for the 2017 regular season, some teams are really starting to shift their attention to next season. For the second consecutive year, the season will start with a Sunday tripleheader, with the Yankees up against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants, and two unconfirmed teams helping to kick the action off in style. The final day of the regular season will be Sunday, Oct. 1, with game 1 of the World Series likely to be held on Oct.24. Meanwhile, the All-Star Game will be at Miami’s Marlins Park on July 11. With plenty of action still left this year, the Chicago Cubs are unsurprisingly the current favourites for the World Series with Betway, with baseball odds of 5/2.

Meanwhile, the Yankees were handed more bad news this week, with the news that right fielder Aaron Judge would miss the remainder of the regular season thanks to an oblique injury. The rookie has struggled throughout 2016, and will have to fight for his place when Spring training begins next February. Unlike fellow rookie Gary Sanchez, Judge has not done enough to cement a starting spot for the Yankees to date.