From Joel Sherman:
Joe Girardi made a bunch of controversial decisions last year (such as three starters in the postseason, Derek Jeter at leadoff, the newest edition of the Joba Rules) and ended up a championship manager. I think this will embolden him further to go with his beliefs, and I think one of those will be to have a flexible outfield. I could see Winn, among others, being moved around the outfield and defense – especially in the late innings with a lead – emphasized……
The Yanks moved up to get the top pick in the Rule 5 draft to obtain Jamie Hoffman and recently traded for Greg Golson. They view both as above-average defenders. The think the same about Reid Gorecki, who they signed to a minor league deal. Barring injuries, Golson and Gorecki are expected to begin the year at Triple-A….
The Yankees have bought even further into the notion that we are entering a phase when defense will be more valued than in the recent juiced past. And because of that I can see times this season when the Yankees are, say, leading 3-2 in the ninth inning when Girardi boldly pulls Granderson and Nick Swisher off the field and goes with a defense of Winn in left, Gardner in center and Hoffman in right.
I do not believe that Joe would go so far as to pull both Swisher and Granderson from a game for defensive purposes, as the Yankees would then be in a bind should the game happen to go to extra innings. The marginal value that you get from one inning of improved defense may not be worth the loss of offense that you would have should the game extend, especially considering that both Swish and Grandy are solid defenders.
However, I do thing the general point holds true: the bench that the Yankees currently have is built around defense, with much of the current value of players like Hoffmann and Winn tied up in their defensive abilities. With 8 starters that you will rarely pinch hit for, this is an efficient use of roster spots for the Yankees. However, one power bat off the bench would be welcome, and I could see the Yankees extending a non-roster invite to a Johnny Gomes type of player. Other than that, the Yankee bench will likely be all about defense and speed.
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14 Responses to Sherman: Girardi Likely To Use Bench For Defense
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We already have a defense-only player for the bench – Brett Gardner…
Except, of course, that Gardner is starting in left or center.
“However, one power bat off the bench would be welcome, and I could see the Yankees extending a non-roster invite to a Johnny Gomes type of player.”
Agree that a Gomes or a Marcus Thames with their .500+ slugging percentage against left handed pitching would be useful to fill out the bench and provide some late inning thunder as a PH, occasional rest for N Johnson at DH and some OF from time to time as the situation warrants.
I do not believe that Joe would go so far as to pull both Swisher and Granderson from a game for defensive purposes
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Why don’t you believe that? I’m not complaining that we won the World Series in 2009 but anyone that watched the way Girardi managed has to know that he’s not the saber-genius out-of-the-box thinker we previously thought. I can recall more than a few instances last year when Ramiro Pena/Freddy Guzman types got AB’s when they shouldn’t have.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Girardi overmanage the back end of games like this.
I’m a big fan of Girardi’s. I concur that he makes some mistakes on the micro level (some finer strategy points), but I think he does a great job on the macro level (keeping everyone fresh and healthy, not overusing players, defining proper roles, etc). I just do not remember them bringing in, say, both Gardner and Guzman for defensive purposes, which is what Sherman is suggesting here.
I’m not saying I’m not an overall fan of Girardi’s nor am I disputing the macro-level strengths you cite above. But there’s no question in my mind that Girardi is capable of subbing in two defensive OF’ers, given what we saw him do last year (especially in the playoffs). I’m not overly worried about it but I do recall Girardi’s late-game decisions costing the Yanks 2-3 wins last year. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not such a big deal.
Fair enough. I’m not sure he made moves that other managers wouldn’t have made (not a defense, of course, just suggesting that he didn’t cost them games compared to other managers), but there were a few bouts of “overmanaging.”
I agree a solid RH bat is needed and will likely come to camp as an invite (Baldelli/Gomes/Thames). I too am a Girardi fan (which puts me in the minority). As mentioned above his strength is macro-managing which is much more important over the 162 game grind. Also, Girardi has all the Torre-”lovers” to contend with b/c he was the manager who “led” our team to multiple rings coming off our longest championship drought. But that same group looked the other way when Torre would destroyed RP after RP, compromising our chances to win in the postseason by overworking pitchers in the regular season. In fact, given Mo’s great career, what amazes me almost more than anything, is that he not only survived, but excelled under Torre for 12 years w/o having his arm fall-off.
That’s because Rivera was the only reliever Torre didn’t abuse, because he, like all other managers, followed the rule of always get your closer the save. This got annoying, like when Torre refused to put Rivera in a tied game on the road, but perhaps this underutilization of the greatest bullpen weapon ever saved Rivera’s arm so he could still be the best closer in the game at the age of 39.
If you want to talk about real defensive improvement off the bench, look squarely at Ramiro Pena.
Absolutely…good glove and not a bad hitter.
Not sure how you can say that when his career MiLB line is .255/.315/.320 over 1414 AB’s. That’s pretty darn bad.
The stupidity of this comment boggles the mind. The input is just bright enough to look up stats. Hey, Cervelli had no business hitting as well as he did, neither did Pena. I could see that it was a small sample size. But at this point we don’t know. Stats are indicators, not Holy Writ. The MiL are there for development purposes. Kids develop, grow older, stronger etc. Why would the Yankees keep this kid on the roster?
Whoa, no reason for that kind of namecalling. As to his point, most hitters do not hit significantly better in the majors than they do in the minors, although there are exceptions. Furthermore, most scouting reports see Pena as a weak hitter.