Barry Bonds had little “protection” during his career and he was able to post his numbers.

All it will mean is that Rodriguez will put up sick OBP numbers…
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A-Rod is no Bonds…partly because Bonds was on roids…and who is going to drive in A-Rod once he gets on base?

It’s not gonna matter where he hits if they don’t get him some protection he won’t see a pitch to hit all season.
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Barry Bonds had little “protection” during his career and he was able to post his numbers.

All it will mean is that Rodriguez will put up sick OBP numbers…

I’d have no problem with Rodriguez batting 3rd.
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It’s not gonna matter where he hits if they don’t get him some protection he won’t see a pitch to hit all season.

Interesting to look back at the players who’ve batted second in the order when Jeter was leading off; Cano, Bernie, Arod, Matsui, Womack (?!), among others…

Anyway, I would suspect that if Damon’s no longer an option @ leadoff, that everyone would move up a spot in the batting order. I’d have no problem with Rodriguez batting 3rd.

This is true ..leadoff is somewhat overrated but still if you take Jeter out of the 2 hole you weaken the 2 hole and then you need a capable two hitter, which to me is the value of signing Damon…because you have two hitters in front of 3-4-5 who you know will get on base at decent clip. Chances are Cano would have been the 2 hitter if they never signed Damon.

FWIW, Jeter, career…

Batting 1. .315-.389-.471
Batting 2. .316-.386-.459

Just about the same, with a bit of an increase in SLG. Even so, I would argue his production is negligible, as a leadoff hitter only leads off once per game.

Capable but better in the 2 hole.

FWIW, Jeter’s a capable leadoff hitter.

Here are all the top 25 OF’s in OPS with more than 400 games played over the last 3 seasons (since Damon signed with the Yankees):

1 Manny Ramirez .990
2 Matt Holliday .979
3 Vladimir Guerrero .925
4 Magglio Ordonez .910
5 Carlos Beltran .909
6 Brad Hawpe .902
7 Carlos Lee .901
8 Jermaine Dye .899
9 Adam Dunn .897
10 Alfonso Soriano .897
11 Pat Burrell .889
12 Grady Sizemore .879
13 Jason Bay .859
14 Nick Markakis .851
15 Curtis Granderson .848
16 Bobby Abreu .847
17 Andre Ethier .846
18 Raul Ibanez .846
19 Alexis Rios .836
20 Torii Hunter .826
21 Xavier Nady .824
22 Nick Swisher .817
23 Vernon Wells .814
24 Johnny Damon .810
25 Aaron Rowand .803

Only two leadoff hitters better than Damon: Sizemore & Granderson and the Yankees couldn’t get either one of those. I guess you could count Soriano too but they traded him away. Interesting to see Nady and Swisher just ahead of Damon on there. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad OF with those 3 if they all played to their top ability.

I already consider it a good signing, because he made it through 3 years without falling off the face of the earth and there really haven’t been any good CF and lets not forget leadoff options out there the past three years. Maybe they could have made a trade for someone, but I am happy with what the Yankees have gotten from Damon. I was worried about getting 4 seasons of .250-.270 average, but that has not been the case.