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Welcome to another meaningless game as Andy Pettitte makes the final start of his career. Joe Girardi has decided to throw out his "A" lineup, likely in order to get a win for Andy.
Desperado Lineup: Granderson 8, Nunez 5, Cano 4, Soriano 7, Overbay 3, Almonte 9, Suzuki DH, Ryan 6, Stewart 2, Pettitte 1.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) September 28, 2013
Curtis Granderson hits leadoff with Eduardo Nunez at third base and Robinson Cano back out at second. Alfonso Soriano hits cleanup and Lyle Overbay is back out at first base. Zoilo Almonte gets another star in right field as Ichiro Suzuki is the DH. Brendan Ryan and Chris Stewart hit at the bottom of the order.
It's nice that Girardi wants to get Andy a win today, but is Ichiro really going to help? Will Stewart improve his game any more than if J.R. Murphy caught him? Is Eduardo Nunez over David Adams really that much of an improvement, especially after Adams had such an important hit last night and has shown to be an adequate defender this season? It's obvious that Girardi is simply going with name recognition here rather than have his best, or even his hottest, hitters out on the field. If this is the way he's going to be managing I'm not sure I want him back next season.
It has been heard through the grapevine that the Dodgers have no interest in signing Robinson Cano in the offseason. This is the second time a rumor about their offseason intentions has surfaced this season. After the first time I dismissed it as simple tactics, but now that it's out again it might be possible that they really won't be looking into him. That can only help the Yankees in their effort to retain their best player for the near future, but there will likely be other teams throwing their hats in.