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His signing wasn't heralded. It happened rather quietly. The Cardinals declined his $17 million dollar option in November. It wasn't a dumb move. He was 36. He slashed .246/.322/.461 in 426 plate appearances and was sidelined through the second half after taking a pitch off of his right thumb. A lifetime .300 hitter, he hadn't eclipsed that mark since 2013. All signs pointed towards getting younger.

But a funny thing happened after arriving in the Bronx. Surrounded by youngsters, he took on the veteran role as role model. Maybe the youth infused him to some degree. It's still early and there's a long way to go but right now, today, it looks like the Yankees got a bargain. The Yanks gave him $13 million for 1 year. In a third of a season, he's slashing .284/.379/.541 with a .920 OPS. He's been the DH most of his time but he's also played a little first base. He's scored 30 runs, driven in 42 and has 13 homers. And he's hitting .367 with runners in scoring position. But more importantly, he's a strong veteran presence in the locker room for all the young budding talent....Judge, Sanchez, Hicks, Gregorius and even Castro.

The Yankees....those hated Yankees with all that revenue.....got Matt Holliday and Chris Carter (.203/.313./.459; 6 HR, 20 rbi) for 0.5 million less than the Cardinals were on the hook for had they exercised Holliday's option. Meanwhile the Cards are 4 games under .500 suffering from a lack of right handed production. Gyorko is hitting .312 with 8 homers and 27 rbi but beyond Jed, there's very little production. Piscotti, Fowler, Molina, Martinez, DeJong, Diaz and Grichuk are all hitting under .260 (with the exception of Martinez @ .265) with none having more than 8 homers (Fowler) or 23 rbi (Molina). In fact Grichuk has been sent down, probably because he's striking out 33% of the time. Totals for Piscotti, Fowler and Grichuk are .232/67 runs/16 HR/ 58 rbi. Holliday .284/30 runs/ 13 HR / 42 Rbi.

But this isn't the first time they lost right handed production when all it would have taken was a little more money.