Monday, July 19, 2010

The Genius Maker #77

Bottom line is that we took 2 of 3 from TB! Nice work!

The concern is that both Pettitte and Burnett may have come out of the weekend series with some downtime (most assuredly Pettitte's groin will make him miss 4+ starts - I would expect Mitre to fill in).

Do you think the All Star game contributed to the poor performances by Pettitte and Price? CC didn't have good control either? I really dislike the All Star game mid season.

The Yankees did a great job coming back against Price regardless of the situation. I was extremely encouraged by ARod ripping a line drive up the middle where he was all over a high fastball and then later hitting a HR. He has not looked good at the plate and I hope he is coming out as we need him bad, especially with Jeter looking very weak at the plate. Jeter's OPS is now 719. This is simply awful for the guy who gets up more often than anyone else in your lineup. Now, I am not saying Jeter is done as people don't just drop off like he has, but we are hurting the team leaving him in the leadoff spot. What we should do (and I doubt it happens) is to swap Jeter and Gardner. It would separate Gardner and Granderson more and would give AB's to a guy who is leading the league in pitches per AB and has an 808 OPS, but in this case case more important, a .398 OBP. Another option would be to swap Jeter and Granderson in some odd attempt to jump start both of them. The fact we have the best record in baseball has allowed the poor starts for Jeter and Granderson to remain on the back burner. BTW, I don't really like Granderson in the leadoff spot because I don't think he should be playing against a lefty and swapping the leadoff guy around all the time is probably not that healthy, although probably isn't too bad. Both Granderson and Jeter have platoon splits where they each are around 250 points better against one side and maybe the answer is to platoon Granderson and Jeter in the 1 hole and then get some bench help for the player that is dropped in the lineup once in awhile. For example, let Granderson leadoff against righties and Jeter leadoff against lefties and once in awhile give each of them a blow when they are against their tougher matchup. If Pena were hitting the way I think he can, he would be a good option, but he has not hit well this year so far. Nothing has changed regarding my feelings of Granderson being a great platoon player and in fact his struggles may be that he is facing too many lefties.

I am giving ideas here, but I am not satisfied with status quo and the lineup from 2-6 should not be touched. I would make a move with Jeter (short term hopefully).

Being in 1st place with the best record in baseball is hiding the poor play of Jeter and Granderson, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking to improve.

2 comments:

  1. Steve,

    I totally agree and have thought for a few weeks that Jeter should move down in the lineup or even ride the pines for a few days but I think his legendary status will prevent either from happening. I was lucky enough to go to the game Friday night and I did a double-take when I saw on the big board that Gardner's OBP was .397. I will admit I was totally wrong about him (at least so far this season). He is not a simple punch-and-Judy hitter. He had a very impressive at bat early it the game with the Yanks down 2-0 and worked an important walk after being down 0-2 in the count. He later scored the first run for the Yanks in the game. I believe he had a similar at bat later in the game, although he didn't score. Good that Boston lost 3 of 4 this weekend. They will be getting back injured pitchers as we lose some of ours. I wouldn't count them out until mathematically eliminated.

    George

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  2. Hey George, good to hear from you...I was surprised that Gardner was leading the league in seeing the most pitches per AB, but I think the fact he takes a lot of pitches early and that he fouls off a lot of pitches contributes to this. I think as pitchers keep getting him down 0-1 he will need to swing at some 1st pitches from time to time, but they are game contingent. I agree about Boston, they are by no means out of this as they have been injured. they are going on a long road trip and I hope to increase our lead.

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