Yankees in the Outfield

With the new look outfield the Yankees have put together this offseason, many are wondering what will the Yankees be like with Curtis Granderson instead of Johnny Damon. If you ask me, I am not sure why the Yankees chose Randy Winn over Johnny Damon and why the "Bankees" all of a sudden have a budget. But baseball is a business, like any other sport, and it is what it is.

The Yankees outfield for the 2010 season is as follows: Brett Gardner, Randy Winn, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Rule 5 draft pick Jamie Hoffman, and Ramiro Pena. You could make the argument that this plays out as a strong group, but then again an outfield of Johnny Damon, Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Ramiro Pena is MUCH better.

I still think Nick Swisher should be a fourth outfielder, but that's why Joe Girardi makes those choices and not me. I just don't get the Winn signing. The Yanks could have had a better option for the one year with Damon and still able to sign Carl Crawford next offseason.

Winn is getting old and while he might still project very well as a corner outfielder, he cannot hit lefties. While I don't think he is the .158 hitter he was against lefties last season, I do think he is closer to, or maybe a little lower, than his career .280 average against left handed pitching. Either way, he only hit two home runs and his batting average dipped to .262 last season.

I still think that if the Yankees were serious about not re-signing Johnny Damon, they should have looked for better options to play leftfield in 2010. My top choice was Reed Johnson because he plays excellent defense with his all-out attitude and he is a good enough hitter to hold his own at the number nine slot in the batting order, but clearly the Yankees did not feel the same way.

Winn will be able to hit in the ninth slot for the Yankees and not lose too much from the order. Granderson should be a good number two hitter against right handed pitchers and a good number seven hitter against lefties, with Nick Johnson hitting second against lefties and seventh against right handers.

The big deal seems to now be who plays where. The best defensive alignment I think the Yankees could go out onto the field with is Winn in left, Granderson in center and Swisher in right. However, since Gardner and Winn will most likely platoon, when Gardner is in the game he is a better defensive center fielder than Granderson. Granderson should be in left, Gardner in center and Swisher in right in those cases. That is just my opinion, but hopefully the Yankees decide that those two routes are the best for their team. I guess Spring Training will tell us.