Career 256/329/516 against lefties, 234/291/474 against righties. Against lefties his tremendous power gives him value as he slugged over 580 in 2007 and 2008. Against righties, the power in lessened and his OBP falls under 300. That is unplayable for a guy with little defensive skill.
So are you saying it’s a good signing or a bad signing?
Depends how they plan on using him. If they’re slotting him for full time work, it’s probably not going to help them.
However, with Gardner available, the plan appears to be to mostly use Thames against lefties.
Platoon Thames and Granderson. Problem solved.
You know better than that. That’s a mighty big defensive liability you have against lefties.
Gardner can shift to center when Thames is in. Alternately the Yankees can DH Thames and sit N Johnson.
Jeff Francoeur? Fernando Tatís? John Maine when his arm’s not in a sling?
I agree with you about the best team in the NL thing for 2007 and 2008 though. I definitely thought the same thing. But now…
Thames bat against lefties and Grandersons hitting 180 with a million strikeouts, makes platooning logical. You would have to have a center fielder when Granderson sits though.
Besides Baseball Prospectus, what else should I read? My 2010 Baseball Prospectus will be here on Tuesday!
http://www.hardballtimes.com/ All the stats you can possibly stand with endless ratings of players.
Fernando Tatis only belongs in that discussion if the Mets will be facing Chan Ho Park 162 times this year.
Let’s see who gets that one.
Yanks are pretty well set, Gardner is better than you think and better defensively then Melky. His off season program has been all about really learning to bunt which is 100% the right thing for him. He could easily hit .290 with a .360 OBA and be a terror on the base paths.
Granderson is a perfect fit for Yankee Stadium and now we need to see if they can close his hole vs. Lefties.
Swisher really improved defensively and he has a damn good bat and plenty of patience.
Thames may or may not make the team. Wynn is probably more likely and the Rule 5 Kid will have to fail for Thames to make it. Thames is expected to start in Scranton AAA.
Overall the Yanks should do great. The pitching is better and A-Rod should be there from the start. Nick Swisher will be on base whenever healthy and the team will hit, pitch and field. They have to be the favorites to win the AL. The Red Sox are dangerous with plenty of pitching. Their catching is a bad joke though. We’ll see how much this hurts. Tampa can compete and it should be another fun race in the east.
I think Seattle could overtake the Angels this year. They made a lot of good moves though Bradley may well backfire badly.
I expect the Royals to repeat in the Central. Detroit will fall back and the WhiteSox will be the only team really giving the Royals a race.
Agreed.
Granderson has speed in the outfield, but he does not have a great eye. He freezes on balls straight at him. Generally he has the legs to compensate. He also strikes out a lot a hell of a lot. His k ratio is about 1 in 4. He leaves runners in scoring position because of it. Me fell in love with home runs last year. If they can get him back on hitting doubles and triples, he can be valuable. He has speed but does not steal bases well. Damon steals as many as he does.
Then the .180 against lefties is a big problem. How do you deal with that?
The hole against lefties is big. His defense has generally been better than you are describing though he did clearly have issues in the second half. He should be able to relax and stop swinging for the fences as a Yankee and the fence of course is in a much better place for him in NY vs. Detroit.
I think it comes down to his serious problem against lefties. As to defense, it is already being discussed about him in Left and Gardner in Center. So that might be the solution.
BTW: Damon was a worse fielder than Granderson and Gardner is better than Melky except for the arm. So overall the Yanks OF defense is improved this year.
That rule 5 kid, Jamie Hoffmann might make an impact. He is suppose to be a good fielder with a right fielder’s arm and borderline CF speed.
Damon is not contracted to field. He is the kind of guy who DH is perfect for. Can he play 1st base.?
Granderson has been CF for a long time. I wonder if he can switch to LF seamlessly?
Damon was a liability for the Yanks last year in the field though his hitting more than made up for it.
BIG NEWS!
The Mets have signed Mike Jacobs. Either he or Daniel Murphy will start the season as the everyday first baseman. They won’t platoon, because both are left-handed. Omar’s so clever!
Repeat last? I assume you me the Twins.
I believe he means “repeat finishing in the basement”.
Wow, what a brain fart. My apologies. I meant the Twins. :smack: