This I believe:
5. God, where would we be without Hiroki Kuroda? He's started 22 games, and kept us in all but a few. I cannot help but think we would have lost 15 to 20 of those games. (He's 11-6.) Spin eight wins into eight losses, and we would be with Minnesota, Chicago and Houston, among the worst teams in baseball. This would have been the year of Chris Bootcheck. Instead, we're just three games out from chasing Bud's fake carrot.
6. Once this A-Rod thing finally passes through the snake, I'd really like to see David Adams get another shot at playing 3B every day. Considering the backwash of tackling dummies we have thrown into that black hole, he's the only one with a ceiling that might actually make it in the long haul. Yeah, I know he was only hitting .198, but seriously, folks, was there ever any point to Luis Cruz. Brent Lillbridge and Alberto Gonzalez? Do they really expect us to get giddy about the return of Jayson Nix?
Yu know, there are female Yankee fans too and we love J-Nix. who speaks for them? I do!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't exactly be giddy about Grandy, but as River Ave. Blues points out, he'll be a welcome addition:
ReplyDeleteAs a team, the Yankees have hit just 28 homers in 53 games since the calendar flipped to June, including a recent eight-game homer-less streak that was their longest since going ten straight in April 1984. That’s where Granderson, a flawed hitter who won’t hit for much average and will strike out a bunch, figures to give the team a big boost. They need someone who can put a run(s) on the board with one swing, and few hitters in the world can do that as well as Curtis. That his left hand was broken and not the right (front hand) bodes well for retaining that power after the injury.
There’s also this: the Yankees have become a very impatient team. They rank 19th in baseball with a 7.5% walk rate, their lowest since 1990 and their first time below 8.5% since 2001. Outside of Brett Gardner, who is seventh in baseball with an average of 4.24 pitches per plate appearance, not a single regular sees more than 3.75 pitches per plate appearance. That’s awful and leads to a lot of quick outs, as you may have noticed. In addition to hitting for power, one of Granderson’s strengths is drawing walks (11.0% in 2012, 10.1 % career) [Suzuki's 2013 walk rate is 5%] and seeing pitches (4.27 P/PA in 2012, 4.16 career). That will be a welcome addition to the offense.
Although the Yankees are lefty-heavy, it won’t be tough to squeeze Granderson’s bat back into the lineup.... Granderson should play left field every day, pushing Alfonso Soriano into the DH role. Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells will have to duke it out for playing time in right.
Hey John M! who do you choose? Ichiro or Wells? :-)
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