The Yankees agree to a one-year, $2 million deal with Brian Roberts

“Ground ball to Jeter, he tosses it to Roberts, Roberts relays it to Teixeira and . . . oh, man. All three of them broke their hips.”

Brian Roberts and Yankees have agreement for 1-year deal worth around $2 million plus incentives, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 17, 2013

I guess you have to have someone play second base or else there’d be a lot more singles to right. But this is a pretty icky signing if you ask me. Roberts has very little durability and has been ineffective since, basically, 2009. As Aaron noted last night, Roberts has played a total of 192 games in the past four seasons. His line over that time is .246/.310/.359.

But hey, the Travis Hafner signing worked out so well last year, why not replicate the model?

There’s no two ways about it: Aristides Aquino is having a rookie year for the ages. The hot-hitting Reds outfielder tacked another item onto his already lengthy list of accomplishments on Friday, clubbing a two-run, 396-foot home run off of Adam Wainwright in the sixth inning of the Reds’ 13-4 loss to the Cardinals.

The blast came far too late in the game to upset the Cardinals’ nine-run lead, but was otherwise perfectly timed for the rookie. It marked his 10th career home run in just 16 major-league games, officially making him the fastest MLB player to 10 homers in league history. (On a less-thrilling note, it was also the first home run allowed by the Cardinals in 32 2/3 consecutive innings.)

So far in 2019, Aquino is batting a robust .353/.400/.961 with 11 extra-base hits, 19 RBI, a 1.361 OPS, and 0.8 fWAR through 55 plate appearances. Friday’s feat follows other impressive performances from the 25-year-old, who collected three homers against the Cubs last Saturday and tied Trevor Story‘s previously unbeaten record for most homers through his first 10 career games. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon adds that Aquino’s torrid home run pace also eclipsed the standing record held by the Phillies’ Rhys Hoskins, who delivered nine home runs through his first 16 career games in 2017 (per Elias).