One of Joe Girardi’s biggest challenges this spring will be crafting an effective lineup.
The two primary candidates for batting second this season are Nick Johnson and Curtis Granderson. While that is not at all surprising – as seen by the poll in our sidebar – according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and George King of the NY Post, the player that is not selected to bat second will most likely bat seventh. Neither Hoch nor King offer any specific explanation for this decision, therefore, I assume Girardi simply made an off the cuff comment about it that was summarily glossed over by the two writers (maybe they thought it was an unimportant blurb). It does come as surprising news, though, as many fans seemed to think that whoever did not bat second, whether it be Johnson or Granderson, would bat fifth behind Alex Rodriguez so as to avoid a logjam of lefties in the bottom half of the lineup.
If accurate, this news leads me to believe that Granderson might end up in the two-hole with Posada hitting fifth and Cano hitting sixth. Johnson, with his healthy .292/.424/.438 career line against southpaws, would then bat behind Cano, who would be followed by Nick Swisher, and presumably Brett Gardner. Then again, what would the harm be in flipping Johnson and Swisher to have Swisher hitting seventh and Johnson eighth? Granderson can only bat seventh if Cano is hitting fifth and Posada is hitting sixth, but I don’t think that Girardi is ready to install Cano behind A-Rod just yet. If one of Johnson or Granderson is, indeed, slated to hit seventh, the rest of the lineup can be pieced together.
However, the “if not second, then seventh” item seems to lack utility. Hopefully, it is not set in stone.
Photo by the AP
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7 Responses to Second or Seventh?
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TIQ IQ
I think it makes more sense to have Granderson batting in the 2-hole because of his speed so he can get on base for the heart of the order to have RBI opportunities. As for Johnson, I think that he belongs more towards the end of the order, but it is debatable. I think that Granderson in the 2-hole is the better option.
But Johnson’s on base skills are much, much better than Granderson’s. With the former in the two spot, the 3-4-5 guys are going to have a lot of RBI opportunities.
Like I said it’s debatable, and whatever will produce more RBI’s and get the job done I’m all for.
I’m expecting Cano to out-produce Posada by a significant margin in 2010. As much as i’d like for Cano to surpass last season’s .870 OPS, i’d love a repeat and I think that’s a conservative goal. Posada put together an impressive offensive season, but he didn’t accrue 400 at-bats so I expect a retreat to career averages, but more realistically, below that.
Jeter (R)
Johnson (L)
Texiera (S)
Rodriguez (R)
Posada (S)
Cano (L)
Swisher (S)
Granderson (L)
Gardner (L)
Granderson/Gardner will act as “bottom order leadoff men”
I would prefer the Yankees start the season with Johnson batting 2nd and Granderson either 7th or 8th in order to minimize the pressure on him to produce. That said, I think it’s important for the Yankees to remain fluid with the lineup, so that they can move Johnson, Granderson and others around as needed and apporpriate throughout the year.
Why would we use the guy with the lowest obp in the number 2 spot. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. It seems equially strange to bat the guy who could easily have the highest obp in front of the weakest hitters. Throw in that Johnson loves fastballs and I think this is one of the easiest decisions Giardi has.