New Look To Yankees ’13 Opening Day Line-Up
Posted by Steve L. on March 7th, 2013 · Comments (13)
Al Leiter, on the MLB Network, suggested that the Yankees Opening Day line-up could now look like this:
- Brett Gardner CF
- Ichiro Suzuki RF
- Derek Jeter SS
- Robinson Cano 2B
- Kevin Youkilis 3B
- Travis Hafner DH
- Dan Johnson 1B
- Matt Diaz/Juan Rivera LF
- Chris Stewart/Francisco Cervelli C
Is this how you would do it? If not, what would be different? And, no matter how you stack them, what do you think of this starting squad?
Ugh! That what I think. If the pitching holds up and if players take time to return to form after injuries, we’re looking at an 85-win season.
Steve L. wrote:
I think the starting lineup would look better with Rodriguez, Granderson, and Teixeira. More than that, I don’t know what you want anyone to say. It’s likely that two of the aforementioned three will be back by mid-May so the lineup will look markedly better on June 1st than it will on April 1st.
In other news, the sky is blue and 2+2 still equals 4.
@ MJ Recanati:
I wouldn’t expect Tex to be back in mid-May. And, if he is, he may not be around for long. I suspect this thing is going to be an issue for him. They’re not doing anything for it now but rest. So, it’s just a matter of time before it goes again, IMHO.
@ Steve L.:
Maybe, maybe not. Wrist injuries are obviously delicate things. But my point stands that I’m not sure what kind of reaction you’re trying to elicit with your query. We all know that the Yankee lineup would look better with its regulars rather than with its backups and it’s not an unfair assumption to make that the lineup will look improved as the season progresses once players start coming back.
I’d like to see them give Melky Mesa or Ronnier a shot in LF.
baseballbob wrote:
Melky Mesa is not MLB ready by any stretch of the imagination. He hit .230/.271/.524 with a putrid 6.14/1 K/BB ratio.
Mustelier might be more ready for the big leagues but it makes sense to take it slow and to call him up if/when Rivera/Diaz need to be replaced.
MJ Recanati wrote:
I don’t know the roster rules, but, do they come into play here too?
Mustelier is not on the 40, IIRC. They could DL someone and add him, but, when the DL’ed guy comes back, then someone has to go on the 40, right? It may be easier to DL someone and then add a NRI like Rivera or Diaz and then cut one of them, if they suck, when the DL guy comes back.
If my understanding above is correct, that’s safer than adding Mustelier and then having to try and sneak him off the 40 when someone comes back.
Then again, I may be totally misunderstanding how this works…
@ Steve L.:
you’re right
baseballbob wrote:
I like Melky Mesa too, but he looks brutal at the plate. Girardi says they need to see a more consistent approach from him at the plate, and that seems like a good assessment. If Almonte keeps hitting, he may make a case, but short of something unique happening in camp, it will need to be Rivera and Diaz.
@ Steve L.:
A very good point that I missed. Mustelier’s (or someone else’s) time will come once he can be added to the 40 man roster without risk.
There’s no need for rash moves now. Saw Carlos Lee’s name mentioned as a Tex replacement today. Really?? Wally Joyner wasn’t available??
That lineup is a bad one.
However, take the 2nd, 3rd and what? 6th best regular hitters out of just about any major league lineup, and it’s a bad one.
77yankees wrote:
Carlos Lee would be a joke. I’d rather give Luke Murton a shot first.