That's a thing of beauty. Now, if only he could do the same thing from the left side, or hit to the opposite field.
While the trade for Michael Pineda has made the 2012 Yankees a stronger team than they were before, losing Jesus Montero should not be minimized. In the end, the Yankees lost to the Tigers in the ALDS because they couldn’t score runs when they needed to, not because they couldn’t prevent them. Montero was going to bring value to the team. The issue he was supposed to address remains.
At this point, only a fool would rule out Brian Cashman making a trade for a bat. I was certain that the Yankees were going to war with the team they put on the field in 2011. I was wrong. I’m not about to make the same mistake twice in virtual ink. However, in the event that the team is set (and this time, they mean it) the Yankees don’t need to rely on external players to get an offensive boost. Players currently on the team can step up as well.
Alex Rodriguez playing healthy for 130 or more games comes to mind immediately. (How sad it is that A-Rod missing only 30 games next season would be seen by all as a rousing success.) Alex was swinging the bat well when he went down with his knee injury. Unfortunately, any graph of the number of games that Rodriguez has played each of the last three seasons points down and to the right, which is not where one wants a graph to go. Don’t bet the farm on A-Rod coming back to form.
Failing that, the Yankees could also get another impact bat in the lineup if Mark Teixeira can turn into the player that he was up until the 2010 season. Enough posts have already run highlighting the obvious, that Tex’s production, although ample, is disappointing given his contract and the expectations that came with it. There is no need to revisit that topic. However, that doesn’t mean that the Yankees and their fans should write Tex off as a hitter with lots of power and little else. Until the 2011 season Tex consistently showed superior on-base skills, in addition to his light tower power. If Teixeira can work with Kevin Long to improve his performance from the left side of the plate it can give the Yankees precisely the kind of boost so many fans were hoping the team would get from Montero. Tex has been somewhat over looked on the Yankees the past couple of seasons as players such as Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson have eclipsed his production. If he can return to form from the left-side of the plate it may be the secret ingredient to an already potent offense.
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3 Responses to The importance of Mark Teixeira
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TIQ IQ
“that doesn’t mean that the Yankees and their fans should write Tex off as a hitter”
I’m so with you on that. I don’t think this guy is finished by any means. Not saying he should be the 3rd hitter in the lineup, but I fully expect a batting average better than .248.
Tex has an uppercut swing which creates awesome homers when he connects, but makes him look like a Little Leaguer when he fails to make contact (strikes out). I assume that he has always had that swing so it would be difficult to change what has worked for him for so long. And, it’s tough to say a guy who hits 39 dingers with 111 RBI’s needs to improve; but if he just hits his career average .281 with 30 and 105 he’d be more valuable hitting in back of A-Rod (assuming Cano hits in the 3-hole). His stats indicate that the higher his BA is, the more BB’s he gets. If he could improve in both those areas, it would translate to more RBI opportunities for Swish, the DH, etc, batting behind him as well as potential lineup turnover. This would also bode well for the ever critical pitching match ups in the playoffs. His only decent playoffs was in 2008 when his season stats were .308/33/121 plus a career high 97 BBs. Let’s just hope he doesn’t put so much pressure on himself that his season turns into an Adam Dunn type. I’d settle for what he did last year rather then live through that.
Stats indicate that he’s gone more for the HR, thus putting more uppercut on the swing, from the left side since signing with the Yankees. Probably because of the short porch in right. He needs to go back to his mental approach he has had before coming to the Yankees and forget about the porch. I think he’s be more succesful just looking to make consistent contact, with his power the HRs will come on their own.