New York Yankees Should Go with a More Versatile Lineup
April 4, 2012 · Peter Alfano · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
So much of the spring has revolved around the New York Yankees pitching staff that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that these are the Bronx Bombers.
The Yankees are built for the long ball. Six players hit 16 home runs or more in 2011, and that doesn’t count the 14 homers hit by Jorge Posada and 13 by Andruw Jones as a part-time designated hitter.
And this season, Raul Ibanez, another 20-homer-plus addition to the lineup, makes the Yankees more imposing.
This kind of power makes pitchers pay for their mistakes. But the downside is that the Yankees are one-dimensional on offense. Robinson Cano (.328) is the only .300 hitter in the lineup.
The Joe Girardi Yankees are not as diverse as the teams managed by Joe Torre that could beat opponents with the long ball or small ball.
Girardi doesn’t figure to stray from what worked last season, when the Yankees won 97 games.
That means a top-heavy lineup with Curtis Granderson batting second.
We understand that Girardi gets paid big bucks for his expertise on these matters, but our Yankees lineup would have a different look.
With the era of performance-enhancing drugs dormant for now and pitching making a comeback, we are offering a more versatile lineup that would give the Yankees the ability to manufacture runs and not have to rely so much on the three-run homer.
This is our opening-day lineup:
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
