Who's hitting 3rd?

by Travis G on Dec 17, 2008 1:24 PM EST in Analysis Comment 16 comments

Inspired by jpoppejr -

with the losses of Giambi and Abreu, and following a season in which the Yankees were 7th in the AL in runs and haven't scored fewer runs since the strike-shortened 1995, who's going to pair with Arod to make a formidable 3-4 combination?

Two free agent options spring to mind:

Mark Teixeira would be nice, but at 8+ years, $160+ million? He's a great player, a switch-hitter, but he'll be 37 at the end of the contract. Plus, first base is probably a position we'll need as Posada and Arod age and can't play defense everyday. Posada's signed through 39, and Arod through 41. Then there's the question of Jesus Montero, who despite training as a catcher for the last two years with the Gulf Coast League Yankees and Charleston Riverdogs, will probably move to first-base at some point.

Manny Ramirez is an all-time hitter, but is 36 and comes with several trucks worth of baggage. Would he quit mid-season or mid-game because of some slight he perceives? We already have a glut of outfielders, so would he be the full-time DH?

Then we have a couple in-house options, but they pale in comparison to the aforementioned duo:

Robbie Cano has been mentioned as the potential #3 hitter for 2009. Despite having a poor 2008, the second half was far more like him: .307/.333/.482. But that's still not ideal for the #3 hitter of a title contending team. He would have to really pick it up.

Hideki Matsui is a consistently very good hitter (.295/.371/.478), and I could see him hitting behind Arod as the cleanup hitter, but he's recovering from a bad knee, so who knows how he'll rebound? And despite those hitting stats, that's still not ideal for our cleanup or #3 hitter.

Jorge Posada, see Matsui.

Xavier Nady is a 108 OPS+ career hitter. Nick Swisher is marginally better at 112.

And we really can't expect any of our hitters to improve save for Swisher, Cano, Melky and Gardner, who are all on the right side of 30.

Where does that leave us?

Not in a good situation unless one of those free agents are signed. Getting one of them is a must for a serious title run.

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I don't think it matters

Lineup order is one of those things that tends to get overblown.

Good hitters will hit, period.

by 3460kuri on Dec 17, 2008 1:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

true

we just need another very good-great hitter, wherever he hits in the lineup.

by Travis G on Dec 18, 2008 10:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

arod

by Soriano NY 12 on Dec 17, 2008 1:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

and who hits behind him?

by Travis G on Dec 18, 2008 10:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ive always

liked arod as a #3 hitter. I just dont think he has the presence of a number 4 slugger. He will hit you a ton of homeruns, but for the most part not when you need them.

I would love to see Manny behind him for 2-3 years and wait for Howard to become available or maybe trade for Fielder to man DH..

Can you imagine if we could pull off

3. A-Rod
4. Manny or Tex
5. Fielder

with the current lineup i would put Matsui in the 4 hole

by Soriano NY 12 on Dec 18, 2008 1:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i agree

with everything you wrote.

Matsui is our best #4 hitter right now, but Manny and Arod would make a monster duo.

by Travis G on Dec 18, 2008 7:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Abreu, anyone?

I’ve said it before – he’s really the ideal type of guy to hit in front of Arod. Sees a lot of pitches, gets on base, and he’s still got 20-25 HR power. If we had a better option at leadoff I would say Damon might be a good guy to slot in there, although there would be a drop in power.. but that’s moot anyway.

I kind of hope that the Yanks miss out on on Tex and Manny, and consider making an offer to Bobby, maybe two years with a vested option. Call me crazy.

The Jayfiss Report ...one fan's rants

by NumberSeven on Dec 17, 2008 2:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

He

might not agree to that deal. He probally wants more years. also his defense really does hurt us

"Hey Derek do you actually drive the Edge?","I don't drive that piece of crap!"

by Da Shiz on Dec 17, 2008 3:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Texeira at 37? What's the big deal

There’s a very good chance he could still be a high level hitter at that age. Stupidity is signing Arod thru 41 when he came crawling back and signing your catcher thru 39. This lineup needs another major bat for the long term. Why is that so hard to see.

by RealityCheck09 on Dec 17, 2008 3:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Tex

Cashman needs to get Tex and give Hughes a chance at #5. Don’t waste money on Lowe, Pettite or Sheets. No more old pitchers.
Tex is the kind of hitter we need. If the Sox get him, he’ll be a yankee killer for 8 years. He won’t be like Giambi, he works really hard and stays in great shape and plays great defense. They messed up last year by passing on Johan, they need to get a game changer like TEX.

by DD10 on Dec 17, 2008 3:48 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Messed up?

If we hadn’t “messed up” last year, we wouldn’t now be able to give Hughes a chance at a rotation spot this year or any year in the future. And we’d probably be without a few other key prospects as well, including one of Kennedy and Cano.

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Dec 18, 2008 12:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Michael Kay

Off topic I know, but I just saw this over at another blog and can’t believe what an elitist shill Michael Kay is

http://www.metspolice.com/2008/12/michael-kay-greatest-ever-or-elitist.html

by DPT on Dec 17, 2008 4:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Let me clear everything up

The reason why we can’t sign Mark is for 2 reasons.

1) Signing him costs us(obviously) lots of money, and a goal of the front office this season it to lower the payroll and allow for some flexibility. We already signed CC and AJ, so we cant give out too much more $$.

2) We cant clog up 1stbase giving him a 8 yr deal. We might have to stash Posada,Jeter or ARod in the upcoming years, and Mark playing 1st clogs it up, and it creates problems. You can’t just let Derek Jeter leave.

I agree that you should let Phil Hughes/Other developing pitchers have the 5 spot, and don’t bother with old pitchers(Andy) If he really wants, he can come back midseason and pull a Rodger Clemons.(w/o the steroid hopefully)

Our offense is going to be fine this season. Hideki and Posada were out most of the season, and we now have Nady and Siwsher. If those 4 guys can’t make up for Abreu and Giambi leaving, we have other problems.

On the other side, its nto a question if we can produce offensivly at the same level as we did last season, its wither or not we can improve on last season, because last season wasnt good enough.(hitting wise) The Yankees are probally going to end up trading for Mike Cameron, who adds some speed,great D and hes a excelent clubhouse guy. Yes,he has tons of Ks and a low avg, but instead of having Gardner/Melky in there hitting .250, why not have Camercon batting .250 instead?

"Hey Derek do you actually drive the Edge?","I don't drive that piece of crap!"

by Da Shiz on Dec 17, 2008 6:26 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Cameron deal

Sounds like it’s dead. It’s at least on the backburner.

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Dec 18, 2008 12:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

here ya go

our offense wont be fine the way it is now. like i wrote above, we haven’t score fewer runs since the 145-game 1995 season.

i understand we’ll get back Matsui and Posada, but so what? 1) They’re coming back from injuries, so who knows how well they will bounce back, and 2) they almost certainly wont top Abreu and Giambi’s production from this year, at best they’ll match it. so lets call that a wash.

i dont know why you’re expecting so much out of Nady. he hit .268/..320/.474 with us, nice but hardly worthy of a corner OFer. his career OPS+ of 108 again, isnt special for a corner OFer.

we’re hoping for a bounce back year from Swisher, but shouldn’t expect too much.

then there’s the problem that every regular outside of Swisher, Cano and Melky/Gardner is on the wrong side of 30, so historically speaking their production should only decrease from this point on.

imo, we’re looking at another average to slightly above offensive year with the lineup as is.

by Travis G on Dec 18, 2008 11:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs