Joe Girardi trusts his statistics. One of the lost underlying themes of the New York Yankees‘ manager’s regime compared to his predecessor has been in regards to numbers. Joe Torre was completely about trust and as a result usually destroyed bullpen arms. Girardi is all about his binder and as a result leaves himself open to second guessing when something obvious is meeting the eye and not the book.
That’s why Girardi is going to have to do his best to rely on his own strengths and maximize the Yankees’ talents this year. The farce of the offseason is believing this Yankees’ team doesn’t have the talent to win the World Series. Ichiro Suzuki and Derek Jeter are first ballot Hall of Famers. Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano are all 30/100 threats.
Brett Gardner might steal 40 bases. Travis Hafner might hit 20 home runs. CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes are more than capable of shutting down the opposition in October. In fact, we saw a good example of that last year. Mariano Rivera and Dave Robertson can end games after seven innings, and Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain, David Aardsma, Cody Eppley and company represent enough depth where the bullpen is a strength and not a flaw.
The reason many doubt the Yankees have any legitimate pennant hopes and many more doubt their chances of a postseason are because the Bronx Bombers are old. They’re old, injury prone and limited.
And to an extent it’s true.
The Yankees cannot control health and when a team is older, the risk of injury rises. That part is undeniable and it’s something all Yankees’ fans are coming to grips with as Spring Training approaches. This entire season can very well blow up in New York’s face. Kevin Youkilis, Jeter, Gardner, Rivera and Pettitte, five legitimate pieces to the puzzle, were all hurt last season.
Hafner, Aardsma, Chamberlain, whoever catches and Hughes are even bigger question marks because of both health and potential effectiveness. Granderson and Teixeira need to bring their best. It’s possible nothing works out and the Yankees do fall to third or even fourth place in the division under the worst case scenario.
It’s also possible there is enough health. It’s also possible Girardi hedges his bets the best he can to help the situation.
He can start by switching Gardner and Granderson in the outfield as has been rumored. Brett Gardner is a 21.2 UZR/150 center fielder. Curtis Granderson is 0.1. That means just by switching them, assuming both stay healthy, the Yankees can save 21 runs this season. That may compensate for the difference between Russell Martin in 2012 and all the slop the Yankees will throw into the catcher position this year.
Ichiro has undeniably the best arm and should stay in right. With his speed, Gardner, in center is the best defender on the field and with Granderson in left field and having less field to cover, the Yankees can have an elite defensive outfield. It won’t hit many home runs outside of Granderson, but it can sure save some runs on defense.
Travis Hafner should only DH against righties. That’s the only time he should play, ever. He’s too injury prone for anything else. Let Youkilis DH against lefties and Nunez play third. Also, Nunez needs to learn how to play third which means the Yankees need to commit to this. Not commit to Nunez backing up Jeter, but to learn third, a position with less range and less arm angles.
That way, if Nunez finally figures out how to play a major league caliber defensive position, Youkilis only needs to play third part time and first part time and DH against lefties. It might keep him healthy and he provides the best defensive insurance at first base behind Teixeira. Nunez can back up third and short, but he needs to focus on learning one position first.
Whoever plays the best defensive catcher should catch, period. Austin Romine, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli are all light-hitting catchers and will bat ninth regardless, so the Yankees need to maximize the position for its defensive value and call it a day.
Melky Mesa should be a super pinch-runner and the fourth outfielder. Though all three Yankees have speed in the starting outfield, Mesa represents a non-starter who can offer it off the bench.
It’s never been that the Yankees lack speed because of age or that they won’t be once again among the leaders in long balls. If this team stays relatively healthy, it can still hit upwards of 175 home runs and has 125+ SB potenial.
Joe Girardi can manage everything on the field and may need to maximize it to compensate for whoever is off the field at any given time. He needs to look in his binder and make a few simple rules and changes.
He can start by employing his defense logically.
