The Yankees are 6 games up on the American League East title despite having to reinvent their bullpen and starting rotation several times. They have allowed the third fewest runs in the American League, scored the fourth-most runs, and have the second best run differential in the league, behind only the Texas Rangers. And despite all of this the Yankees should be concerned; I think the Yankees need to strongly consider a lineup reshuffling.
While they have a six game lead on the division, that kind of lead is much more fragile when four legitimately good teams are chasing you than when just one is vying for the title. Injuries haven’t yet slowed down the Yankee train, but at some point we shouldn’t be surprised if they did. The Yankees can’t afford to give away runs or wins.
Brett Gardner will begin taking swings again any day now. When he returns, manager Joe Girardi should play him in center field and move Curtis Granderson to left field. Gardner has probably been the better center fielder for some time now, but Granderson may have taken a turn for the worst in center field more recently. While he graded positively in his first season with the Yankees, both UZR and DRS rated Granderson well below average in 2011 and downright horrible in 2012 (warning: small sample size). UZR/150 has him at -31.1 runs and DRS has him at -8 with half the season still left to play.
It may be my confirmation bias surfacing, but to my eye he appears to have lost a step both in the outfield and running the bases. Given that he is on the wrong side of 30, this really shouldn’t be a surprise.
I think it is hard to deny that Gardner is the better fielder. We’re not sure how much better, but I don’t think its a stretch to say that the Yankees would be better off with Brett Gardner getting more defensive opportunities than Curtis Granderson. Granderson might be slowing down too much to cover center field, but his speed should be more than enough to cover left. Gardner would likely be one of the better defensive center fielders in the game at the same time.
Granted, this is a move that the Yankees should have made when they traded for Granderson. The fundamental logic behind it hasn’t really changed since then. The only drawback, as far as I can tell, is that Curtis Granderson’s ego might get a little bruised. This is a risk that the Yankees should take. They should strive constantly to put the best possible team on the field, and worry less about the egos of individual players.
Moving Granderson sends an important message to the team: Joe Girardi will move players to different positions if need be. The message may be necessary to move Derek Jeter one day, either to a different position or down in the lineup. The latter part of the Joe Torre era was marked by a lot of declining players given privileged spots on the team due to ego and history, and I would hate the Yankees to go through that again.
One quick tiny benefit that may come out of this move, small enough that it deserves to sit at the bottom of a post: the Yankees may be reducing his eventual free agent contract with a move to left field. When Granderson hits the market, he’ll do so with doubts about his ability to handle a tougher position. This could bring his price down. Given the $189 million cap and legacy contracts sitting around, this is an important concern.
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24 Responses to Yankees Should Consider Moving Curtis Granderson to Left Field
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Swapping Gardner and Granderson makes sense for a host of reasons (which you outlined above), but to play devil’s advocate here, maybe making the switch midseason is not the best decision. Granderson probably hasn’t played left field in years, and Gardner hasn’t spent much time in center over the last year and a half. It’s possible that the Yankees might prefer to make such a switch in the offseason, to give both players time to adjust to the new position.
Honestly the hell with these defensive metrics. I don’t understand how Granderson goes from a positive defender most of his career, then all of a sudden one of the worst defensive CF in the league. I’ll stick to the eye test when it comes to defense.
Via the eye test he’s not that great. He’s not the best at coming in on balls, he has terrible route taking, and his arm is really awful. He also has a tendency to freeze on balls directly off the bat, then he uses his speed to make up for either the pause or the bad route he takes to get there.
I agree with the move although if there is a lineup change that needs to be made, it’s moving A-Rod out of the 3-4 hole and down to 6-7.
One theory why Granderson had a bad year according to UZR last year was because Gardner kept getting balls that the Granderson should have caught. I believe it was Keith Law that proposed this.
This year, there’s no Gardner and the defensive metrics show an even greater decline. This implies that if anything, Gardner inflated Granderson’s UZR last year.
Anyway, if you want to go by the “eye” test, Granderson looks Bad (capital B intentional) this year. Specifically, my “eye test” says he gets fooled a lot on balls hit in front of him, often taking a step back before running forward.
And given that Cano is a free agent the same year as Granderson, might it be wise to trade him instead of paying over 100 million for a player whose entire game relies on speed both with his feet and with his bat? He already strikes out a ton and will be 33 when he is a free agent after next year. With Mason Williams an eventual replacement in CF and Gardner a GG caliber defensive player waiting to return might now be the best time to sell? Or would you rather just lose him to free agency and collect a draft pick because theres almost no way to pay both Granderson and Cano and personally I would rather they keep Cano
I don’t think you make this type of move in the middle of a season. I wouldn’t make in any case because I just don’t view Gardner as someone that they want to build around. I think they’d trade him without thinking twice about it if they needed to make an upgrade elsewhere. I also don’t believe the defensive metrics re: Granderson. As you said, Gardner stole opportunities from him previous years and likely a handful of bad reads are hurting him this year.
I agree that by any measure, eyetest or metrics, Grandy has been very lackluster on defense this year. However, it probably doesn’t matter whether Grandy is playing center or left as long as Gardner IS playing in the outfield. Gardner’s superior range will allow him to cover large amounts of turf regardless of where he plays and allow Grandy to shade over more toward right with his lesser range. Dave Cameron can explain this better than I can…http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/granderson-and-left-field
I’ll first say that I dont see any way the Yankees make that move this year. Take Curtis’s ego out of the equation, Gardner will have missed significant time by the time he comes back and I just dont see the Yankees then moving him to a more physically demanding position, with longer throws.
In the long term it seems to make sence on many levels. Gardner is clearly the faster better outfielder. Moving Granderson to LF would concievably bring his FA value down and keep Granderson fresher.
The reason I see, that the Yankees may not do it is becasue Gardner has shown himself to be fairly injury prone playing LF on a less than fulltime basis. I just dont see Gardner holding up very well being an every day CF. I dont think the Yankees would like the prospect of moving Grandy to LF only have to move him back to CF if Gardner gets hurt. Then there is also the days Girardi wants to get better bats in the lineup and sits Gardner, he would then have to move Granderson back to CF. Thats just more stress on a player.
I’m not convinced Gardner is an every day caliber player for the Yankees that you can just stick in the lineup 150 games a year. Curtis Granderson is a great player that you stick in the lineup everyday and I’m sure he and the Yankees dont want him playing 2 positions.
I worded that pretty poorly. At the end of the day I dont see the Yankees making Gardner the full time CF anytime soon. He gives the Yankees alot of flexibilty playing LF. They can continue to sit him when they dont like the matchup or another player is hot. If he was the fulltime CF this flexibility is gone and they would be forced to play Gardner more than they would like or have Granderson play 2 positions fairly regularly.
You do realize that Gardner played 150 and 159 games in 2010 and 2011 respectively right? What else does he have to do to prove he’s an everyday player? His defense is more valuable in CF, his offense is less of a negative in CF, and the move from full time LF to full time CF does nothing but strengthen the team.
In fairness to Fin, there’s a significant chunk of those 150 and 159 games that he didn’t start but came in as a pinch runner and/or late inning defensive replacement. I do think of him as an everyday player but I don’t get the sense that the Yankees are that fully committed to him as an everyday player. He’ll sit against tough lefties and I do think they’d trade him in a heartbeat if they found an opportunity to make the team better by doing so. He’s a useful player but not core. He’s also only two years younger than Granderson and becomes a free agent one year later than Granderson.
569 and 588 PAs is enough to call you an everyday player in my book.
They do sit him against tough lefties, but Girardi was still sitting Granderson at times last year vs tough lefties. If Gardner wasn’t hurt this year I bet Granderson would still be sitting on occasion against a tough lefty. It’s just what he does.
Who wouldn’t you trade if you found a deal that made the team better? That’s sort of the reason to make trades.
This is true but he’s currently 10x the defensive player Granderson is, and he’s never going to come close to making what Granderson is going to get on his next contract.
The only way Gardner isn’t my starting CF next year would be if we signed BJ Upton.
I never said Gardner wasn’t an everyday player, just that they aren’t committed to him as an everyday player in the same sense that they are to every other regular in the lineup. I think the plan was to play him less not more this season with Jones playing LF a lot against lefties and Nunez playing all around the IF giving guys half days off as DH. I remember hearing or reading that Girardi had planned to find about 400 plate appearances for Nunez. Clearly that didn’t work out but it does say something about their feelings toward Gardner. Gardner is a good and useful player but I don’t think he’s part of their long term plans. Whether it is a good idea or not, I think they do plan to try to resign Granderson so I’d say that he is.
Of course you trade anyone if you find a deal that makes the team better, but a lot of players are untradeable because of their contracts and there would be understandably more reluctance to trade a core player or fan favorite. I’d say that they are 10X more likely to find a deal that makes the team better by trading Gardner than any other regular. There aren’t a lot of prospect close to major league ready. Betances destroyed any trade value he has and Banuelos has hurt his as well. Obviously, Sanchez, Austin, Williams and Bichette have value but a lot of teams are going to want guys who can help sooner than they can. Gardner and Nova are probably the Yankees two best trade chips and I’d imagine they’d be much more reluctant to trade Nova than Gardner.
I actually don’t see Gardner as that good a trade chip, he presents more value to us than he does to other teams. Players who are valued mostly for their defense tend to not get back their real value. Add to that to the fact that he’s 28, close to the end of his deal, not going to improve from what he is now, and has trouble making consistent contact. I don’t think you can trade him and make the team better than before.
Gardner’s a very valuable asset to the Yankees, try and trading him however doesn’t mean you’ll get that kind of value back.
I say keep him in CF this year for the simple reason of trade value. I’ve been fully on the trade him after this season bandwagon since the offseason, more so than ever now that he looks like he’ll hit 40 HRs again. The best course of action is to ride out this season, pick up his 2013 option, and then trade him for either pitching or a power bat for RF or 3B. If you keep him in CF then another team still has to bargain with you as if he’s a CFer, change it now and you just confirm what we already know and drop his trade value slightly.
You and I are in the minority on this one. Trade Granderson for prospects and use the money saved on signing him long term to sign Cole Hamels would be what I would like to do. Then with a rotation of CC, Hamels, Hughes, and Nova you go forward and let the farm filter in and actually give your prospects the job as the vets are phased out. A rotation like that with CC, Hamels, Hughes, Nova, Phelps/Warren/Mitchell, Pineda, Banuelos and others would give the Yankees a chance to compete for a WS title every year and allow the young position players to go through their growing pains.
I wouldn’t trade him for prospects… I would only trade him for a power bat in the OF or 3B, or a starting pitcher. You likely aren’t getting prospects worth the trade otherwise.
Even if you trade Granderson you aren’t turning that into Hamels. Cole is likely to get 150+ million for 7-8 years, Granderson’s contract isn’t covering that. Plus the only reason to trade Granderson would be to get a cheaper or younger bat/arm in his place. Even if you have to take a downgrade in talent to do so.
I think Hamels ends up signing with the Dodgers for 150 over 7 or 170 for 8 years.
Eh, an awful lot of hand waving in that one. I agree with TO on Hamels going to the Dodgers (or Angels I would add). Also, there’s no guarantee that Phelps/Warren/Mitchell or Banuelos will pan out the way you expect and Pineda, of course, is going to be a major question mark for at least another year.
I’m not opposed to the idea of trading Granderson but I need more than prospects coming back. For one thing you’d immediately be short a starting outfielder and a bunch of HRs. And if the Yankees are looking to sell because they think Granderson’s about to decline, become too expensive or is a defensive liability then other teams are likely to see that as well. Translation – there might not be a good enough deal out there to make up for whatever you could get out of Granderson in his walk year.
I would rather trade him then see him walk away for nothing after this year. Only problem would be finding a suitable partner. I mean if the Red want to give up Jay Bruce and Billy Hamilton and maybe another couple of guys I would be happy to do that
I truly hope that you were joking.
Why in the world would the Reds even consider that deal? They have Bruce, who is six years younger than Granderson, signed through 2017. Hamilton’s one of their top prospects and you want two more guys? Sure, they could throw in Aroldis Chapman and Devin Mesoraco as well.
I doubt the Yankees would get anything approximating fair value for Granderson given that he will be only a year away from free agency and is in his early 30s. No team is going trade top prospects for a guy in that situation. You’d need to find a win-now team that badly needs a lefty power bat in the OF and doesn’t mind losing Granderson after a year or is willing to sign him long term AND that has something the Yankees really need that won’t cost them as much as re-signing Granderson.
Good luck with that.
Yeah that’s ridiculous.
I do think you could trade Granderson for one younger outfield bat or starting arm, but you’d have to be willing to take a hit in talent.
T.O. very good, you and Michael have done a nice job pointing out the differences between fans that really watch and pay close attention to the game and those that don’t.
T.O. Chris –
For someone reason, there isn’t a reply button next to your last post. Gardner would obviously have more trade value if he were younger and had more years of team control. That said, he plays elite defense at a premium position, is still cheap, has a lot of speed (which some overvalue), has good plate discipline and good OBP. That all is worth something. I basically think the opposite that you do. The Yankees are not coming close to maximizing his value. They are playing him in left, they are batting him 9th, and they are sitting him against tough lefties. Anyone who would trade for him would play him in center, bat him leadoff, and play him every day. It is hard for me to see him not having more value to other teams than to the Yankees. That’s one reason why I half expect him to get traded in the offseason.