Alex Rodriguez & The Potential Lineup Shake

The Yankees have not seen the type of production out of Alex Rodriguez that they could have hoped for in the last month or so of the season, including a tiny sample size in the playoffs. With everyone healthy and overall with most clicking on all cylinders right now the name alone and the presence in the middle of the lineup is just not enough by itself anymore. The Yankees need Alex to contribute and contribute in a big way or put someone in the 3rd and 4th spot that can. Joe Girardi has hinted at being willing to shake up the lineup a little which irks me a little since I coined the twitter hashtag #JoeTorreVersion2.0 because reports like this remind me of the days where Joe Torre moved Alex down to the 7th spot in the lineup for the playoffs. He did not work here much longer after that either if memory serves so maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel but I digress.

IF, and that is a big IF in my opinion, Girardi does shake up the lineup then I am curious to see what he does with it. Alex is basically our only right handed "power threat" that is not a switch hitter and I know Girardi is a match up kind of guy so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. This is not necessarily the way I would do it but this is how I expect the lineup to look if Joe Girardi does the change tonight.

1. Derek Jeter (R)
2. Ichiro Suzuki (L)
3. Mark Teixeira (S)
4. Robinson Cano (L)
5. Alex Rodriguez (R)
6. Nick Swisher (S)
7. Russell Martin (R)
8. Curtis Granderson (L)
9. Eduardo Nunez (R)

Personally I would feel a little bit more comfortable with a guy like Swisher in the 3rd spot then Teixeira at this point but let's face it neither of them are hitting the cover off the ball. I would personally even consider batting Alex 6th if I was making out the lineup cards but then again if I was running the team we would win 162 games a year so what do I know.