I know it's December.  I know the offseason isn't over.  I know that there have already been 370 projected starting lineups for 2010.  Here are my thoughts anyway.

My opinions: Holliday is to be too expensive, Bay can't hit sliders.  If I were a bettin' man, I'd put it at about 60% odds that we see Johnny Damon back in the Bronx, probably with a 2 year deal (with a 1 year player option because Scott Boras is his agent). As such, I've thought up a possible starting lineup that includes Johnny.  If that doesn't happen, we get to roundly mock Omar Minaya for giving him a 4 year deal.

1. Derek Jeter - (Righty) SS. You may have heard of him.  I loved the move last year of putting Jeter in the lead off spot.  Jeter increased his stolen base total from 11 in 2008 to 30 in 2009, while being caught only 5 times in both years.  I don't have the number for GIDP, but I would imagine that it also less.  Get the guy as many at-bats as possible.

2. Johnny Damon -  (Lefty) DH.  Yeah so he's still fast enough to make up for his bad jumps, stone hands, and female arm, but if he comes back, he will most likely DH a fair amount of times.  The beautiful new qualities of Yankee stadium have added greatly to his power value, meaning that keeping him in the 2 hole is a no-brainer.  Jeter opens up the hole on the right side and is on base for the sky high pop that reaches the first row.  (This is not stadium bashing by the way, New Yankee Stadium is beautiful and both teams have to play in the same field.)

3. Alex Rodriguez - (Righty) 3B.  I've been on the rooftop to move Alex to 3rd in the order for a while now.  ARod is a guess hitter who loves to extend his arms.  The scouting report that EVERY team has for him is to bust him inside with fastballs and throw him breaking balls low and away.  The reason that he sometimes looks bad on breaking pitches low and away is that he guessed fastball and started his swing early.  Putting him in front of Tex probably ups the number of fastballs that he sees.  Also, I'm of the belief that the 3-hole is where you put your best all around hitter, and that's A-Rod.  He could put up MVP numbers in this spot.  My only question about this is does anyone have the balls to ask him to give up the glory of being the "clean-up hitter", and does he have the balls to do it?

4. Mark Teixeira - (Switch) 1B.  A switch hitter with a perfect swing for Yankee Stadium who led the American League in home runs and RBI last year.  I don't think anyone is going to cry their eyes out about seeing him batting clean-up.  Also, hitting behind A-Rod's .402 OBP instead of Damon's .365 OBP means it is less likely he will see a defensive shift.

5. Curtis Granderson - (Lefty) CF.  And here's where I put the new guy.  Another hitter with a perfect New Yankee Stadium swing.  Definitely has the potential to have a 35-20 year.  I think that Granderson's power threat will be enough to keep pitchers from throwing Tex nothing but junk; however, this is probably the biggest question mark of my lineup: whether or not Granderson can perform up to the task of batting 5th.  I think he can.  Oh and there is the idea that putting him in between slow runners will create a "log jam" and that he won't be able to steal or get an extra base.  I will gladly give up the few bases that might be lost to get his bat in the middle of the lineup.  He will have plenty of chances to run.

6. Jorge Posada - (Switch) C.  I like Jorge in this spot to stagger the switch-hitters.  A lot has been said on this site about Granderson's inability to hit lefties.  There aren't a lot of great left handed starters in the AL East not named Sabathia or Lester.  Although the right side is definitely Jorge's weaker side, and we can expect regression from last season's numbers, I think that an opposing manager is less likely to call in a lefty to face Granderson if Posada is batting behind him instead of Cano.

7. Nick Swisher - (Switch) RF.  Swish had a great year last year.  He is an OBP machine, has plenty of pop, and the amount of walks that he draws would probably help a station-to-station runner like Posada.  I know that he struggled in the World Series and I know that this was Cano's spot for a lot of the playoffs, but I think that Swisher is better suited for it.  Also, with the glut of switch hitters that we can put in the middle of our lineup, this becomes an impossible task for an opposing manager to negotiate around by changing relievers.

8. Robinson Cano - (Lefty) 2B.  OK, I don't hate on Cano.  I'm not going to quote you his batting average with runners in scoring position.  I'm not demoting him.  I LOVE Cano at the bottom of the lineup.  I think that when pitchers bear down (with runners on base, for example), they are less likely to begin at-bats with good pitches to hit.  However, at the bottom of the lineup, pitchers tend to try and pump through strikes one and two to get ahead.  Cano devours that type of pitching.  The year that he hit .342 was done primarily from the 9-spot in the lineup.  Batting Cano here would be huge in starting rallies and turning the lineup over.

9. Melky Cabrera - (Switch) LF.  Melky is faster, a better base stealer, and a better bunter than Cano, and for those reasons, gets the honor of batting last.  Cano getting on, Melky moving him over, and Jeter slapping through a single to get him in could be something I could get VERY used to seeing.  Also, Melky is arguably the weakest hitter in the lineup, so it makes sense to drop him down to 9th.  As a caveat, I am also of the opinion that every single game that Brett Gardner starts should see him in the 9-hole for similar reasons.

Your thoughts Pinstripe Alley?