With Marcus Thames on the Yankees’ bench to start the season, despite a dreadful spring in which the 33-year old outfielder hit a dreadful .135/.182/.269 while striking out a team-leading 21 times, many were left wondering what role he would play. Would he be a late-inning pinch-hitter used only against left-handers, where his strong career numbers versus southpaws could hopefully do some damage, or, would he be used in a greater capacity, perhaps in a platoon with the gritty Brett Gardner, who has yet to prove himself, offensively, above Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Just 12 games into the season, it appears as though the latter is true, as Gardner, with his speed and defense, has started games with right-handed opponents on the mound, and Thames, with his power bat, has been used in games that feature a left-handed starter. Over that time, on the season, Gardner has hit .333/.444/.333 while Thames has hit an obviously unsustainable .500/.545/.600. To be clear, the bulk of their numbers are derived from opposite-handed matchups, with Gardner batting .308/.438/.308 as a lefty facing righties, whereas Thames is batting .556/.600/.667 as a righty facing lefties. Together, from the left field combination, the Yankees are receiving production to the tune of an .800+ OPS. Gardner provides the majority of the offense with his speed, while Thames injects a bit of power.
Manager Joe Girardi, who was, at one point, awfully cryptic with his language when discussing the situation in left field, refusing to confirm whether or not a platoon was, in fact, to be utilized, has seemingly come around after a mere handful of games and is now openly touting the idea. “Thames has swung the bat well, and I like what we’ve seen from him,” noted Joe Girardi yesterday afternoon. “Thames is going to get some time, and [the platoon] has worked pretty good,” he added. However, while the platoon has worked from an offensive standpoint, thus far, one wonders how it will unfold defensively, as the length of a full season might just exacerbate real fielding concerns.
Already, Thames has been shaky in left field, with runs plating due to his defensive woes. The Yankees have been winning, so those miscues, as memorable as they have been, have not been discussed too much, or at least we have “forgiven” them in the grand scheme of a 9-3 record. A full season of such defensive ineptitude could become a much more tangible issue, of course. Then again, given Thames’ right handedness, he will likely receive lesser playing time than Gardner this year, limiting the damage. Girardi could always sub in Gardner in the later innings of games, too, further preventing Thames’ defense from becoming a significant detriment to the team’s overall fielding.
The verdict is still out on the effectiveness of the Yankees’ left field platoon. As I have said before, its efficacy will ultimately be judged by a look at runs saved versus runs produced. But, what we do know after 12 games is that a platoon is the current plan. Marcus Thames will basically have to play himself out of the role for that to change.
Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images
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10 Responses to The Gardner-Thames platoon problem
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I’m a pretty big fan of Grdner’s, at least in the role the Yankees are asking him to play. so I wasn’t wild about the idea of platooning him with Marcus Thames originally. After a couple of weeks though, I thin that last sentence is the key; so long as Thames keeps hitting left-handers, he’s going to get his at bats. If he stops producing at the plate, he loses his usefulness. Until that happens though, he can probably stick in the lineup.
Why is it a ‘platoon problem’? It seems to be working so far, despite some pretty dire predictions made here.
Girardi’s a pretty smart guy. He built a BP the last two seasons using some guys a lot of bloggers routinely mocked. He kept the team fresh and had them prepared for the postseason and seemed to get the most out of the whole roster while winning a ton of games.
I think I’m going to go with him on this, Joba vs Phil, Granderson playing CF, and all of the other stuff bloggers are ragging on him about.
Bloggers, bloggers, blah, blah…
The platoon has worked thus far, through… 12 games—okay (even though this is questionable, as Thames has visibly given up runs). My post is about how it might turn out over a full season, and even then I didn’t make any definitive declarations either way (where in the world do you see “dire predictions”).
Turning away from your love of small sample sizes, what relievers did “bloggers” mock over the past two years that Girardi used effectively? I don’t recall anyone ever mocking Dave Robertson, a blogger darling, or even the soft-tossing Aceves, or anyone else really (last year’s bullpen was always seen as a strength). Everything you had to say is pretty bizarre, actually. Girardi is not bulletproof. If you want to blindly follow him, be my guest, but don’t act upset when others choose to ponder what he’s doing.
yeah, I dont get that either, and oldpep is typically pretty good with this stuff. Which reliever was ripped by bloggers.
If Thames hits and hit hard, it’s O.K. Gardner’s bat is a work in progress.
Historically it has been reported that left field at Yankee Stadium takes some time to get used to playing. I know that Thames has never been known for his defense, and Gardner has always had al least an average arm to go with his speed out there. Nonetheless, I would like to give Thames at least a couple months before being too critical of his defense.
Thames isn’t just not known for his defense, he is known to be a bad defender both by eyes and by metrics. We can be critical of his defense because it’s a known quantity.
I think I read once that the reason you need to look at multiple years worth of UZR for a corner outfielder is that the number of non-routine fly balls hit to them in a year can be so low as to be statistically insignificant. If that is true, doesn’t it logically follow that superior defense is much harder to leverage than superior offense from a corner outfielder?
I’m fine with the platoon as long as both continue to hit. I don’t feel that strongly about it though. I could also see giving Gardner more AB’s against non-elite lefties and seeing how he does at some point. At this stage of his career though, I think there is some merit to putting him in positions that give him the best chance to succeed and gradually increasing his role as his confidence grows and his performance warrants it.
Look at Gardneres Offensive Numbers. I think the case should be closed. As with the season so far, we have an ALL STAR Left Fielder in Gardner so far!!! He’s on pace for over 80+ SB’s, .333 Batting Avg, .444 OBP!!!
This is obviously water under the bridge by now, but the one real mistake I thought the Yankees made this offseason was letting Hoffmann go and keeping Thames. The runs Thames will allow to cross the plate are going to hurt sooner or later, and Thames’s bat isn’t such a proven asset such as would make it a clearly better option than Hoffmann’s. Thames has done extraordinarily well so far at the plate, but his batting line for 2007-2009 is .244/.298/..789. This might be better than what Hoffmann would produce, but maybe not, and it of course doesn’t count runs saved or intangibles (such as # of times he admires a ball that fails to go over the fence). But like I said, water under the bridge.
As for the platoon, I would like Gardner to have an opportunity to face lefthanded pitching when we have a favorable matchup. For example, I think he could benefit to hit against Brett Anderson because I think Yankee pitching has a good chance of shutting down the Oakland bats. However, I think Thames is the smarter choice when we face a tougher lineup–say, against Jon Lester, especially in Fenway where Thames’s power to left field would play very well.