Nice gesture by the Yanks playing Army but 2 days before Opening Day?!? Is it smart to let them face some 9-yr old kids throwing 82-83 MPH 2 days before facing Jon Lester on Opening Day?
It appears that this is going to be our regular lineup vs RHP most of the time with Boesch getting some ABs from Wells at times.
What used to make the Yankee lineups so strong were their veratility but now they have too many platoon types and ZERO Switch-hitters. Their roster comes up short right now against LHP with Jeter and Tex on the bench. The RH hitters on the bench are Nix and Francisco and they don't scare anyone. Ronny Mustelier would have been a much more valuable bench player than Francisco so hopefully they bring him up as soon as his mysterious bone bruise is healed.
TSo, right now vs LHP, I doubt they will bat 3 lefties in a row at the top of the order. So does Nunez hit 2nd? And if so, who drops down - Gardner or Ichiro? I would go like this vs LHP:
CF -Gardner SS - Nunez 2B - Cano 1B - Youkilis LF - Wells C - Cervelli 3B - Nix RF - Ichiro DH - Francisco
I keep Gardner at the top since he has a .377 OBP vs LHP over the last 3 years and Ichiro is much worse. Our big DH Hafner is pathetic vs LHP with a .240/.289/.388/.690 line the last 3 yrs. Do they play him or go with RH hitting Francisco who isn't much better at .247/.315/.408/.723? Not much to work with so the team STILL needs to find a RH bat. They will also be looking for an upgrade at 1B over Overbay....hopefully someone emerges or Musty gets a chance.
I actually think Juan Rivera made more sense to keep than Francisco. Francisco is better defensively but Riera is a better hitter vs LHP and can also play 1B. Rivera's triple slash vs LHP over the last 3 yrs is .270/.329/.434/.763 which isn't great but better than Francisco's.
This problem started with Cashman's failure to get a legit RH hitting OF in the offseason and snow-balled with the 3 big injuries. Both guys he brought in for that role (Diaz & Rivera) were cut and although Wells can fill that role when Granderson returns, they are short0handed now.
Nice gesture by the Yanks playing Army but 2 days before Opening Day?!? Is it smart to let them face some 9-yr old kids throwing 82-83 MPH 2 days before facing Jon Lester on Opening Day?
ReplyDeleteIt appears that this is going to be our regular lineup vs RHP most of the time with Boesch getting some ABs from Wells at times.
ReplyDeleteWhat used to make the Yankee lineups so strong were their veratility but now they have too many platoon types and ZERO Switch-hitters. Their roster comes up short right now against LHP with Jeter and Tex on the bench. The RH hitters on the bench are Nix and Francisco and they don't scare anyone. Ronny Mustelier would have been a much more valuable bench player than Francisco so hopefully they bring him up as soon as his mysterious bone bruise is healed.
TSo, right now vs LHP, I doubt they will bat 3 lefties in a row at the top of the order. So does Nunez hit 2nd? And if so, who drops down - Gardner or Ichiro? I would go like this vs LHP:
CF -Gardner
SS - Nunez
2B - Cano
1B - Youkilis
LF - Wells
C - Cervelli
3B - Nix
RF - Ichiro
DH - Francisco
I keep Gardner at the top since he has a .377 OBP vs LHP over the last 3 years and Ichiro is much worse. Our big DH Hafner is pathetic vs LHP with a .240/.289/.388/.690 line the last 3 yrs. Do they play him or go with RH hitting Francisco who isn't much better at .247/.315/.408/.723? Not much to work with so the team STILL needs to find a RH bat. They will also be looking for an upgrade at 1B over Overbay....hopefully someone emerges or Musty gets a chance.
I actually think Juan Rivera made more sense to keep than Francisco. Francisco is better defensively but Riera is a better hitter vs LHP and can also play 1B. Rivera's triple slash vs LHP over the last 3 yrs is .270/.329/.434/.763 which isn't great but better than Francisco's.
ReplyDeleteThis problem started with Cashman's failure to get a legit RH hitting OF in the offseason and snow-balled with the 3 big injuries. Both guys he brought in for that role (Diaz & Rivera) were cut and although Wells can fill that role when Granderson returns, they are short0handed now.