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Grade: A-
2013 Statistics: 61 games, 39 innings, 5-2, 3.23 ERA, 126 ERA+, 7.6 H/9, 1.6 HR/9, 3.0 BB/9, 11.5 K/9
2014 Contract Status: Free Agent
Boone Logan was taken by the White Sox in the twentieth round of the 2002 draft. He broke into Chicago's bullpen 2006, and generally pitched poorly for them from 2006-08. He was traded to the Braves with Javier Vazquez prior to the 2009 season, and split the season between Atlanta and their Triple-A team, pitching poorly with the Braves. He was paired with Javier Vasquez in another trade prior to the 2010 season, coming to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino. The Yankees put him right in their bullpen, mostly as a lefty specialist, and from 2010-12 he was pretty good: 14-5 with a 3.42 ERA (126 ERA+) in 137 innings, with 10.0 K/9, averaging 65 games and 46 innings per season.
The 2013 season was more of the same for Logan. He made 61 appearances that totaled 39 innings, going 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA (126 ERA+). His H/9 and K/9 were career bests, while his BB/9 was the second best of his career. Oddly, his HR/9 was the worst of his career. Lefties hit just .221/.274/.377 against him while righties hit .251/.319/.460. He allowed three home runs to lefties in 85 plate appearances and four to righties in 74 plate appearances, so he wasn't particularly more homer prone against one side or the other. Three of the seven were hit by Prince Fielder, Josh Donaldson and Mike Napoli, and, well, they're all good hitters who are going to hit some home runs.
Going month-by-month, you can see how Logan's season went. He allowed runs in three of his nine appearances in April, in just one of 13 appearances in May, in just one of 12 appearances in June, two of nine appearances in July, and just two of 13 appearances in August. Logan had a pretty awesome stretch from April 28 through June 13, making 20 appearances and allowing just one run on 10 hits and two walks in 13.1 innings, striking out 22.The injury bug got him in September with a sore bicep and a bone spur in his elbow limiting him to just five appearances, and only one in the team's last 24 games.
Logan made $3.15 million in 2013 and will not be getting a qualifying offer. Although he's coming off elbow surgery, he's been a solid lefty reliever for the Yankees the past four years and just turned 29 this August, so I'd love to see him come back on a two-year deal. That being said, I'm sure someone will offer him three years, and the Yankees know his injury situation better than anyone, so I doubt they offer more than two. After years of wandering the post-Mike Stanton wilderness in search of a lefty specialist, navigating the likes of Chris Hammond, Mike Myers, Felix Heredia, Ron Villone and Phil Coke, Logan has been great, and I'll miss him.