And your new Yankees LF will be….
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 3:21 pm by SJK
And your new Yankees LF will be....
Curtis Granderson
We have nothing to support this theory other than our brains, and this only applies if the Yankees are done acquiring everyday position players. But......
Gardner was excellent in CF this past season, so much so, that he was one of the top defensive center fielders in baseball. If 2009 is any indication of his true defensive ability (yes, the sample size is small), then he's a better CF than Granderson.
Thus, you move Granderson to LF and you have a really good defensive OF.
Tags: gardner, granderson
He’s also almost an automatic out at the plate too. Not too excited about this idea.
A .345 OBP is “almost an automatic out”?
Are you really trying to tell me it’s not painful to watch Gardner’s at bats?
besides who are you to say that Granderson would accept playing LF? there’s no way he would.
Butcher –
It’s not like Granderson would really have a say
maybe Butcher is Curtis Granderson. He seemed very offended.
Granderson has already said he would take a move to any other spot in the outfield. But I agree.. watching Gardner’s at bats were painful. Just painful. Does anyone remember that he HAD the starting job last year and LOST it?
Not offended. I just don’t see the logic of trading for an all star, gold glove caliber CF, and playing him in LF. Especially when you’re moving him to LF for a guy who wasn’t even projected as a starter on this team until right now.
Call me crazy that you ask your best OFer to move so a guy like Gardener who’s never been as starter can step in…but hey if you guys want to give him the keys to the care you must know more than I do HA HA.
A lot of Robbie Cano’s at-bats are painful to watch too. That doesn’t mean he isn’t good at baseball.
I can’t believe people are actually lobbying for Brett Gardner to be the every day CFer.
Have I stepped into bizzaro world?
LF will be Damon. He’ll cave at $5 million with incentives, same deal at Andy did last year for 2 years. He needs the Yankees, is smart enough to know it and will be loved if he took a pay cut with the statement, “I want to be here to defend the championship, win at least 2 or 3 more and retire as a Yankee.”
I would be surprised if Damon came back. The Yankees are already at $200m, with more players to sign. I just don’t see it happening.
He was painful after his injury, but seemed to show improvement early in the season (speaking empirically). I want to love Gardy, hopefully he pulls this one out.
I pray that this is not the case. I salivate at the concept of Gardner hitting .280 and stealing 50 bases from the 9 spot in the lineup, but is that really going to happen? Or is he going to hit .250 with 1 home run and have all of us cursing his name and developing an unhealthy loathing of the entire Gardner family? Let’s be real here.
Who’s lobbying? The post was based on the current available options.
would not expect this site to support a Gardner in the outfield. Small sample size is a problem here. Most of his stats are from the minors where they can easily be inflated by weaker competition. Damon still seems like a good fit.
More moves to come… no way we go with Gardner at a power bat position. It completely negates the advantage of having a CF who can hit (something most teams don’t have). I think our 2010 LF is not yet on the team.
Gardner also has zero power and, I can say this as a fan who watches every single Yankee game, is not a very smart player. He makes bonehead decisions on the base paths. This guy is built to be a career backup — not a starter on the best team in baseball…
Why are people so upset at the idea of moving Granderson to LF and playing Gardy in center? CF is more of a defensive position than left, Gardner seems to be better defensively there than Granderson, and Granderson has the bat to play in left. Even with Gardner in the nine spot the Yanks project to have the best lineup in the game, and they’d have a much improved defensive outfield. And seriously, what did Gardner bat last year, .270? If he does that again, and can manage to squeeze out a few more hits and a few more walks he’s a legit weapon on the bases. Is he the offensive threat that Damon is? No, but he’s way better defensively, and the team has already replaced Damon’s bat with Granderson (or Johnson, however you want to look at it).
Johnny Damon makes the offense go. He was involved in almost every big Yankees rally in the playoffs. Our outfield will be about as good defensively as it was last year and our offense will be better. Gardner could be a sub in all 3 positions and a pinch runner.
Holy crap. Phil, buddy…a Granderson/Gardner OF is light years better defensively than what was there last season.
Also why are people saying Gardner is better than Granderson in CF? I don’t even believe that. Have you guys ever watched Granderson play? He’s amazing.
Frederick,
My point is that it should be a Granderson, Damon, and Swisher as the outfield with Gardner subbing when needed
I’m in complete agreement that Gardner should be the starting
CF next season. Hell turn a ton of extra base hits into line drive outs and help bridge the gap in right center that Switzer doesn’t cover. Granderson is the idea fit in left with his range and it better suits his arm strength.
Those that hate watching Garner bat don’t hate it as bad as the opposition because of the threat he poses on the base paths and the pressure he puts on the defense and pitchers. I see Gardner as a game changer, a dynamic force on the bases and in the wide open plains of CF in Yankee Stadium. He sees a lot of pitches, doesn’t strike out often. He’s an excellent defender and an accomplished bunter. He’s capable of turning a high hopper into a clean single, a long single into a stand up double and a triple into an inside the park home run. If it’s true speed kills then Gardner is one of the most deadly players in baseball. Sure this is all projecting potential, but even on the low side he provides late inning defense and prime time speed off the bench. On the high side he’s a high energy talent who reaches base consistently and makes every batter behind him a better hitter when he gets on base. In essence as a No.9 hitter he would be like the second lead off man. Jeter, Johnson and Teixera will benefit greatly fron his presence in the line up. So will CC, AJ, Andy and Javy.
It’s funny to hear the Gardner supporters wax poetic.. I used to be one, too. Don’t get me wrong, I like having Brett on the team. And speed is attractive, I’ll admit. But let’s be honest about his talent level. He’s 25-26. He is what he is, a role player. The same people defending him today will be cursing and kicking their TV sets when he’s batting .190 and stranding runners. Gardner is NOT a MLB hitter. He is scrappy, really fast and a very good defender, which has value ON THE BENCH.
I’m on the fence for Gardner. I like his grit, he is great on defense and running, and his inside the park HR was my favorite play last year. However, he may be too set in his ways at the plate, which makes him an offensive liability. He keeps slapping, trying to take pitches the other way and outrunning the throw, and big league pitchers know how to get him out with that rigid plate approach. If K Long can teach him to sit back and just hit whatever comes to him, he could increase his OBP and become more of a threat on the run. It may be too late, though.
I can see a path for Damon to return, or perhaps a stealth run at Bay/ Holliday.
Gardner is great as a pinch runner for the OBP machine that is Nick Johnson, when he draws late inning walks in close games, but as an every day option at left field? I dont see it.
if the roster remains as is, which was the point of this post, then I’d vote for Gardner in CF and C-Grand in LF.
The Yankee left fielder will be Mark De Rosa when his contract demands go down a little. He is a good player who is capable of playing alot of positions, one including left field. At 5.5 million a year, he would be the final acquisition for the Yankees in the offseason barring some GM goes insane and offers a ridiculous deal.
De Rosa, Gardner, is this the 1990 Yankees? Please get me a real LF. It’s bad enough we barely have a real RF. Gardner will never be an everyday player.
For what it’s worth, Gardner had a minor league career of .289/.389/.383 while Granderson had a minor league career (although he was about a year younger throughout) of .300/.383/.497.
As Gardner gets older, his power should come along. He’ll never be a star, but he might be a very good 9th hitter who gets on base a lot and plays well in the field.
I love Gardner but you know Ca$hmoney is gonna land Matt Holliday on new years day. Besides the Cardinals no one else is in on him. Just get him to take a lower salary this year and back load the last year of the deal (kind of like CC did with 14 mil last year) and we can easily fit him in and stay near 200 million. Next year Andy retires, let Vazquez walk for two first rounders along with Nick the Stick and use that money to sign Lee.
Gardner is my boy, but not sure if he can handle the everyday duties. I just stumbled upon another funny blog like this one. Check out matsuifan.com, it has some good postings.
Vito- No we can’t sign Holliday even to a backloaded deal and stay anywhere near 200M. We’re already basically at or possibly even above 200M. Holliday is not happening. We’re saving money for next offseason when guys like Lee, Webb, Beckett, Crawford, Werth, and even Mauer could potentially be available in free agency.
As for the LF vacancy I think Gardner will be in the mix, but we’re almost certainly bringing in competition as we need the depth anyway. We’ll probably look at guys like Reed Johnson (great against lefties, excellent defense), Ryan Church (solid bat, good defense), Hinske (has the power that Gardner doesn’t), Hairston (coulld defense, can play anywhere), or Nady (probably won’t cost much given concerns over how he’ll recover). DeRosa and Damon are unlikely but could enter the picture if they’re willing to come at a big time discount. In the end though I think we’re definitely looking at a competition and probably a platoon in LF.
As for Granderson moving to LF. I think that’s a possibility, but I probably keep him in CF as that’s where he’ll be long term. Whoever is in LF is probably only a short term solution especially with guys like Crawford and Werth in free agency next year. I’d hate for us to move Granderson to LF and decide he is better off there than CF. Let him man CF and Gardner can play LF where he can cover all the space in Yankee stadium and even allow Granderson to shade a little more toward RF. Gardner also has experience playing LF where I don’t think Granderson does.
Granderson makes unbelievably huge plays in CF look easy. I think you guys are selling Granderson short on his defense asking him to move. He’s better than Gardner in CF.
Jermaine Dye
How is Dye better than Damon? Oh, he’s not.
First time I saw Gardner was against the Sox on July 4th 2008. He played a great LF throwing out Ellsbury trying to stretch a single into a double. Why not? Granderson is a class act and an all-star cf why move him? Brent may be a flash in the pan but give him a couple of months to try.
I think Brett is an even better fielder than Granderon. However, if Brett is going to platoon with Hoffman, then the team will likely play Granderson in CF all the time, rather than switch him between CF and RF. OTOH Hoffman is also supposed to be an outstanding fielder. Maybe he’s as good or better in CF than Granderson.
Surfing the net….OVER…sweet dreams guys:)