The only remaining argument of Spring Training, aside from the back of the rotation, seems to be what to do with the leadoff spot. Granted, it’s not THAT much of a debate. Joe Girardi keeps hinting that he’d like to have Brett Gardner be the leadoff guy, but we all know it’s going to be Derek Jeter, at least for most of the season.
This annoys the hell out of me. In baseball, there should be no Golden Cows. Once a player starts to show big signs of decline like Jeter did in 2010, adjustments need to be made. Yes, Jeter’s adjusting his swing a bit and yes, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which Jeter hits worse than he did during the 2010 campaign. Still, if we objectively look at Jeter’s performance last year, his age, and his position, we find it very hard to justify keeping him in the leadoff spot. He earned it going into 2010, but I don’t think he’s earned it going in to 2011.
Brett Gardner had an absolutely fantastic season and I’m not 100% sure he can repeat it but he’s earned the right to try and repeat it from the leadoff spot in the lineup in 2011. If he can’t handle it, okay, fine, bump him back down in the order and use someone else in that spot. The Yankee lineup is good enough to handle it if Gardner doesn’t put up a .380+ OBP again. And like last year, they can survive another year of un-Jeterian performance from the Captain.
There isn’t much the Yankees can’t overcome on the offensive side of things. However, it’s always nice to put yourself in the best position possible, right? At this point, I think the Yankees would be best served letting Brett Gardner leadoff to start the 2011 season. The end result may not be much different than if Jeter had his name first on the lineup card, but I’m willing to take a shot on Gardner’s Nick Johnson-lite on base skills.
What to do, then, with Jeter becomes the question. Do you slot him back to the second spot in the order where he spent most of his career? Yeah, that’s probably what will happen. I’m not sure I’d like it, since I’d like to see Nick Swisher there, but I could definitely live with it. Batting him ninth would be taken as insulting, but like I said, I don’t care all that much. Just because he’s Derek Jeter doesn’t mean we should ignore the fact that he’s not likely to hit like he did in ’06 and ’09 again. No, he doesn’t have to hit that well to be an effective leadoff hitter, but I think his skills could serve the bottom of the lineup just as well as they could serve the top of the lineup.
P.S. Happy birthday, Dad!
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8 Responses to The Leadoff Spot
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For years, Derek Jeter was one of, if not THE best hitter the Yankees had. When he was moved to the leadoff position with Damon hitting second, it was an acknowledgement that he was hitting into too many double plays. He had an off season last year. Was it the beginning of a major drop off for him or just an off year? Probably a bit of both. Only time will tell.
As the season is 162 games long, there’s time for the Yankees to figure out where he fits best at this point in his career. Haven’t seen him play in ST, so I’m going with my gut and saying they should start the season with him batting 2nd, having Gardner lead off and be aggressive on the bases and see how that works. Sure, it’s partly sentimental, but with all he’s produced in his career, he deserves the opportunity to show he can still produce. The Yankees should keep a close eye on things and perhaps keep him on a short leash, but give him the opportunity to succeed in a role he’s performed well in during past season.
It was actually a continuation of drop off that he had started in 2007, he had one outlier year in in 2009 and everyone is surprised he picked right back up with his drop off in 2010.
I hate Jeter batting second for the reason you mentioned he was moved off originally, he hits into way too many douuble plays, that combined with the fact that Gardner takes forever to get a lead he’s comfortable stealing off of is going to really take away from Gardner’s running ability. Jeter also swings at anything near the strikezone which will also hurt Gardner in the running game and force him to run when he isn’t comfortable or lose the chance to do so because Derek will be swinging within 2 pitches in almost every AB, if on the other hand Jeter takes a bunch of pitches letting Gardner get his lead and stealing it could really mess up what Jeter does at the plate and make it even harder for him to have a good season.
Swisher and Granderson are the 2 best number 2 hole hitters we have, both bring the power to the spot in the lineup which Jeter can’t and in the case of Nick he takes a ton of pitches even with his new swing and style allowing Gardner the chance to steal bases without affecting his hitting.
Jeter needs to be batting ninth. The Yankees won’t ever do it because they’re spineless, but for as correct as hitting Gardy at the top is, batting Jeter second in conjunction with this move completely counteracts it, given that the whole point of moving Jete to the leadoff slot was to reduce the 8,000,000 double plays he hit into.
Gardy in leadoff with Jeter batting second could set an MLB record for double plays. I hereby start a grassroots movement to get Jeter into the nine-hole. Who’s with me???
I don’t think he has to hit 9th, he isn’t the worst bat on the team and I don’t see how you can put him below Martin and Montero in the order when one hasn’t been healthy in a couple years and the other is a rookie. No I would rather see Jeter bat 6-8 in the order but preferably in the 7th hole right behind Posada, he isn’t at the bottom of the order and his right handed bat breaks up Granderson and Posada so no one can turn Posada around and leave in the LHP for Grandy.
Gardner
Swisher
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Cano
Posada
Jeter
Granderson
Martin/Montero
“Jeter needs to be batting ninth”
I completely disagree that he needs to start the season batting ninth.
A quote from a later article today written by William J:
“It remains to be seen whether Jeter will rebound in 2011, but it would be foolish to begin with the assumption that he will not.”
While he may not live up to his own lofty standards and may in fact decline from last year’s performance, that should be proven before removing him from the #1 or #2 spots in the order. How long will that take? That’s not my decision, but if pressed, I’d give him about 6 to 8 weeks to show he deserves a top spot in the order.
Yeah, unfortunately Jeter wore my patience to the bone with his MLB-record 8 trillion groundouts on the first pitch to shortstop last season.
I’m not sure there’s anything anyone can say that can convince me otherwise that Jeter shouldn’t be batting ninth at this point.
This is a valid reason for him not to be hitting 1st or 2nd (to further backup your point Jeter hit into 22 DPs last year leadingoff) but it doesn’t mean he has to drop all the way to 9th, he can still produce at a level better than Russell Martin over the last 2 seasons (.681 OPS and .679 OPS) and if his bat doesn’t bounce back you don’t want him ahead of Jeter in the lineup.
At the very least Jeter can’t hit 9th until Martin proves one way or the other if he can hit and how well.
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