Yes
No
Right now the 2009 lineup looks to be
Damon
Jeter
A-Rod
Matsui
Nady
Swisher
Posada
Cano
Gardner
Not necessarily in this oder. Is anyone else worried that this lineup will be good enough to compete with the excellent pitchers they will see from Boston, Tampa and Toronto in the AL East? I know our pitching will be improved next year but can we still outslug opponents with this lineup?
If you listen to the fans you’ll be sitting with them soon enough.- Brian Cashman
I can't tell you if it's good enough until I see our pitching staff.
If Matsui stays healthy and hits, Posada can play catcher and hit, and Cano proves that 2008 is the anomaly, then it could be good enough. That's a lot of if's though, and it would be pretty foolish to think they will all go our way. Personally, no, I do not think it is good enough.
the Yankees still need a #3 hitter who can hit in the clutch
Providing everyone on that list stays healthy, it's not a bad lineup. It all comes down to the fact that there are some sluggers still on the market (Mark, Manny, Adam, etc) which make us think the line-up sucks.
Originally Posted by THEBOSS84
That is precisely what I was going to say.
3 4 5 7 8 10 16 37
they need teixeira, doesn't matter they got swisher.
it's a necessity.
I believe that DeJesus is the man for the job and offers an upgrade in CF as well. I like to think of him as Abreu-lite offensively. He won't smack 30+ homers, but he is a known quality and quantity in the AL with a get the job done approach.
http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_...t=1&splitSet=2
"If you are falling off a cliff, you might as well try to fly"....JS
I dont mind letting Abreu and Giambi go but my concern there is that Im not sure if Nady and Swisher can even come close to the run production those 2 provided over the last 2 and a half years. Giambi stunk in the clutch but you cant discount the 30 homers and 90+RBI's he provided when healthy. Abreu was the most consistent hitter in the lineup. To replace the production of those 2 we need a big bat in the middle of the lineup and thats Texeira.
If you listen to the fans you’ll be sitting with them soon enough.- Brian Cashman
We need at least one big bat to protect A-Rod
Depends on our rotation. Tampa proved last year that you dont need to score a ton of runs to be a success.
"Owning the Yankees," Steinbrenner once said, "is like owning the Mona Lisa."
^This.
Right now, a lot stands on Matsui and Posada. If they can stay healthy and not drop off too much, we'd be fine. That's a big if, though. At worst, we're looking pretty okay. Especially with the anticipated upgrade coming on the mound.
DeJesus is nothing close to a Yankees #3 hitter. they need a hitter better than Abreu, not a considerably worse one
I like DeJesus a lot, but there's no way he's a #3 hitter. It's also unlikely that you'd be able to get him in a trade.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
NO!! Matsui can't bat 4th all year.. ARod needs better protection than that.. The Yankees need Teixeira.. more importantly ARod needs Teixeira. Put Swisher in LF.. Trade Damon.. Put Gardner at the top.
Definitely not good enough, I'd look to trade Matsui or Nady and sign Manny or Tex.
Calmer than you are.
Trade Matsui; sign Tex.
If Posada can't handle the everyday grind of catching, he can DH.
"meet the new Boss...same as the old Boss.." - Pete Townshend/Roger Daltrey - The Who (1971)
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
It would be pretty reckless to assume that Gardner will hit well enough to bat leadoff.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
Until Gardner can establish that he can produce a .360+ OBP, he's going to be banished to the #9 slot as he should.
"meet the new Boss...same as the old Boss.." - Pete Townshend/Roger Daltrey - The Who (1971)
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
We'd better come up with a better lineup than that.
When you take away Abreu and Giambi, you are taking away a lot of fire power. We need at least one more bat to replace the 50 plus homeruns the tandem Giambi-Abreu provided in 2008.
I also don't think that Posada can be counted on everyday any more. He needs to split the DH duty with Matsui who is also in the twilight of his career.
I don't know if we really need Tex but he certainly would be a nice addition.
If he plays like he did at the end of last year he'll have an OBP of around .340
Which would make a lousy leadoff hitter.
And it still remains to be seen whether he can even do that much over the course of a season.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
Agreed.
Until I see his defense in a larger sample size, however, I won't speak about his overall value.
Is it good enough?
If we sign Sabathia and one other pitcher, and we get decent health from Wang and Joba, yes, it's plenty good.
That said, I'd like to do the above and get one of the big bats, then I am ready!
Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way
-George Steinbrenner, 1930-2010
CF isn't good enough and Swisher ain't that great either but if you have a CC/Wang/AJ/Joba/Muss type pitching staff with a nice bullpen then this lineup is certainly good enough, just compare some of these guys productions to the production of the 90s Yankees.
He may not slug like the quintissential #3 hitter, but he will get the job done more times than not because he has a sound approach to hitting. He hits the ball where it is pitched. He doesn't try to play beyond his abilities and he looks to move runners over and get them home. Give DeJesus the opportunity to bat in front of Arod and I'm guessing that his numbers improve.
"If you are falling off a cliff, you might as well try to fly"....JS
We need a rebound season from Cano and that flyweight in CF to vanish.
Leadoff hitters are overhyped.. just like batting coaches.. They leadoff once a game.. with the likes of Jeter, ARod and hopefully Teixeira.. Gardner can bat leadoff and nobody will notice.
Except that the leadoff hitter gets a lot more plate appearances. Last year the Yankees had 762 PA in the leadoff spot, 622 in the 9th spot. You don't want to give 140 extra PA to a guy who can't hit.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
Of course not if it were do you think I'd want Tex or Manny this badly if it were?
Still and will always be a New England Patriots fan.
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NO! First of all I would change that lineup to this:
1. Damon
2. Jeter
3. Matsui
4. ARod
5. Posada
6. Nady
7. Cano
8. Swisher
9. Gardner
We'd still need a big bat for the #5 slot to back up ARod. I, personally, favor signing Manny and putting him in the #5 slot after ARod. I'd like to see if Matsui could play RF or 1st base along with Nady.
Last edited by DON'T KNOCK THE ROCK; 11-17-08 at 11:03 AM.
Rocky Colavito was a colorful ballplayer that I would love to see in the Hall of Fame. He had a rifle of an arm and hit 374 lifetime home runs, none of them with a corked bat, either. He finished his career as a member of the New York Yankees and retired the same year as Mickey Mantle.
at least one bat away
True.. but looking at the overall picture.. you rather have Teixeira at first protecting ARod or Damon in left leading off? Gardner with 140 extra AB's doesn't seem so bad to me when you got Teixeira.
No. This team needs Teixeira. It just makes too much sense. The Swisher signing was just for leverage for negotiations and as a fall back solution. The Yanks didn't want to wait until January for Teixeira to sign and then miss out on other bats. I would be very surprised if the Yanks are not hot after Teixeira.
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, Lt. Col., USMC
I agree that Tex makes sense, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade for a big bat -- they may not want to go with two huge long-term contracts in one year (I imagine they see CC as their most important target this offseason). Of course, they may also try to pursue Tex in more of a stealth mode (a la Damon) because they feel there will be more competition for him and they don't want to just be there to drive the bidding up. I guess we'll see.
"Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late" -- Branch Rickey
I heard one reason to not go after Tex is that Jeter and Posada may need to play it and wanted to give them opportunity at first. But, let's say Jeter and Posada do play first is there any reason Tex can't DH?
Still and will always be a New England Patriots fan.
Gardner absolutely can't bat first. I'd put anyone else first before him. As far as the current line-up goes, I'm not as bothered as everyone else. If we could put that line-up out for the entire season with the pitching we'll have this year, we'd be fine. Problem is that our bench is weak and injuries are likely somewhere. Texeira is really the only impact bat that would work right into our needs (CF/1B). I guess we could sign Dunn but that would mean Swisher would be our 1B anyways and that Dunn would just be another Matsui for us (in the sense that he can't really play D). We'd have to move someone to sign Dunn to make it work.
As mentioned, I'm completely behind getting DeJesus but I'm not sure what it would take to get him or if we could. If we could trade Nady or Matsui for a young CF, that would be the best situation. I'm assuming Nady is more movable. So, hypothetically, if we could move Nady and whatever for Dejesus, we could also sign Dunn and not have it be that big of a deal.
LF - Damon
SS - Jeter
3B - A-Rod
RF - Dunn
DH - Matsui
C - Posada
2B - Cano
1B - Swisher
CF - DeJesus
DeJesus could be moved up. It'd be a lefty-heavy lineup but that works for Yankee Stadium (The Sox do the same thing for Fenway by having a bunch of right-hitting bats) and there's more starting righties to face anyways. I doubt this could be pulled off but I think this lineup would be league best.
Well, I've seen speculation about avoiding multiple mega-contracts as well. But if you had Tex, why wouldn't you DH Jeter or Posada? Tex is going to be a much better 1B than either of those guys
"Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late" -- Branch Rickey
1B should not be a throw-away position to use for our aging veterans.
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, Lt. Col., USMC
his numbers might improve, but the team wont be better off than when Abreu was third. opposing pitchers will pitch right to him then pitch around ARod since DeJesus doesnt have 30-40 HR power. the #3 hitter needed would be along the lines of Tex/Holliday/Manny/Fielder
Garrett Atkins could be had in a trade. We'd still have to trade someone to make room for him but he plays 1B and pretty well. I wouldn't even mind penciling Johnny Damon (or Swisher) in center field if we got Atkins.
Have to watch out for those Rockies. Outside Coors, Atkins is a .260/.328/.424 career hitter.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
Atkins is basically Xavier Nady. in fact, they have the same career 108 OPS+
Or the other way around. Jeter or Jorge could DH.
I can see Jeter ending up in LF in the future.
too early to say...lots of offseason left. i expect a trade for a young impact bat.
Listen to the bell Grossbard, it tolls for thee.
I want to make a package including Matsui for a good CFer - it frees up a DH spot aswell that Manny ramirez can fill.
Sign Teixiera, IMMEDIATELY.
Here's who we get:
FREE AGENTS WE NEED TO SIGN:
Manny
Teixiera
CC
AJ
TRADES:
Peavy
Dejesus/good CFer
let go of Petitte and Moose (or sign petitte and put him in the bullpen, or a 6th starter in case AJ gets hurt)
Of course that'll cost us a lot of cash and prospects but here's what you get, and it's not THAT unrealistic:
Damon
Jeter
Teixiera
A-Rod
Manny
Cano
Nady
Posada
Dejesus/Gardner
CC
Peavy
Wang
Burnett
Joba
Petitte
-
END RESULT: 100+ wins.
Nah, I'd prefer signing Holliday for that after the 2009 season. And LWA nice rotation and roster. Tell me how they get it done and I'm all aboard for it.
Still and will always be a New England Patriots fan.
Am I the only one who's seriously alarmed here?
Every one of our hitters are over the age of 30 except Cano, Swisher and the tandem of Melky/Gardner. Jeter had his worst slugging percentage since '97. Matsui's knees, Posada's shoulder and Damon's (body) are red flags.
Furthermore, can we really expect Nady to duplicate '08? Can Cano figure it out? Will Swisher turn it around? And are we REALLY planning on going into '09 with Gardner or Melky as our starting center fielder?
Lots of question marks. Too many if you ask me. And the only person above A ball that may be ready to contribute in the next two years is Jackson. (Montero could POSSIBLY do it if they abandon keeping him a catcher.)
I pray '09 isn't the year that we finally get the pitching, but the hitting falls off the map.
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