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At this point, you know how you feel about Brett Gardner. You either believe the 38-year-old outfield staple has a place on the Yanks until he hangs up the cleats or you think it’s embarrassing that the Yanks keep bringing him back on what is ostensibly a title contender. Little will change anyone’s mind on this. I do want to offer a few fun facts about the longest-tenured Yankee, though:
- Gardner’s 44.3 career bWAR as a Yankee is good for 17th in franchise history. It’s more than Don Mattingly (42.4) and Jorge Posada (42.7), while ranking just behind Robinson Canó (44.4).
- If his career was spent entirely in Toronto instead of New York, he would be the best position player in Blue Jays history by bWAR, ranking ahead of Jose Bautista (38.3). That is also true in Arizona (Paul Goldschmidt, 39.9) and Miami (Giancarlo Stanton, 35.7). He’d even be close for the crosstown Mets (David Wright, 49.2).
- With 1,688 games played in pinstripes, just 12 other people in history have played more games for the Yankees. (With one more season under his belt, he will be in the top 10 in this category.)
- Gardner has 1,470 hits as a Yankee. Just 21 individuals have more in pinstripes.
That is just some context about Gardner, who is a much bigger part of Yankee history than you likely thought. Anyway, Gardy put up a .222/.327/.362 (93 wRC+) line in 140 games for New York as he was once again thrust into regular playing time. He often looked rough, particularly during the first half, but he rebounded in a serious way after the All-Star Break.
This is me, watching Gardner play during August and September:
Let’s break down his performance, shall we?
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