Morning Bits: Beckett vs. Lee, Batting Order, Curtis Granderson
February 10, 2010, 9:00 am by iYankees · 11 Comments
Here are a few quick items on the morning:
READERS CHOOSE LEE OVER BECKETT
- In our latest poll, readers made it quite clear that they want the Yanks to pursue Cliff Lee over Josh Beckett next winter (assuming both are free agents). 85% (267) of the votes were in favor of Lee while only 15% (47) wanted Beckett. To be honest, I was surprised by the lopsided results given the differences in age and raw stuff.
WHAT SHOULD THE BATTING ORDER BE THIS SEASON?
- Using a framework provided by sabermetric guru, Tom Tango (who parlayed his “geeky” love of stats into a gig with the Seattle Mariners), Vizzini over at the infamous NoMaas takes a look at various lineup ideas for 2010. None of the proposals are likely to stick of course, but they are interesting to debate in terms of their underlying reasoning. One of Tom Tango’s points regarding lineup optimization that Vizzini wants us to remember, in particular, is that “in attempting to optimize the batting order, any single lineup alteration is likely to result in a only a very small gain.” Basically, most lineups can juggled a bit with little value gained or lost. The Yankees have an extremely good offensive group, too, so, regardless of what Joe Girardi chooses to do with it, the Yankees will score runs.
GRANDERSON HELPS ANTI-CHILDHOOD OBESITY EFFORT
- Boy, that Curtis Granderson sure is a busy guy, huh? Yesterday, the Yankees’ new center fielder had the honor of representing Major League Baseball, as well as the Yankees, in a new cause, led by First Lady Michelle Obama, that intends to help curb childhood obesity. The nationwide program is called “Let’s Move,” and should be right up Granderson’s alley, as he is the son of a physical education teacher (you just can’t make this stuff up, folks).
That’s it for now. As always, I’ll be back a bit later..
Photo by the AP
The reason Lee was picked over Beckett is because of 3 reasons.
1.Cliff Lee is a lefty.
2.Cliff Lee does great in the postseason.
3.Cliff Lee does not have the temper/bad history Beckett has with the Yankees.
I would like to say though that Josh Beckett is a much better pitcher, stat wise at least.
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Lee & Sabathia would give us the two of the premier lefties in baseball.
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Your right Basil and in Yankee stadium its neccessary to have great lefty pitching and lefty power at the plate.
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I’m a little surprised by your last caption/headline:
“GRANDERSON HELPS ANTI-CHILDHOOD OBESITY EFFORT”
Anti-childhood? Do you mean anti-obesity?
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The headline is correct. He is fighting against childhood obesity not obesity in general.
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Ha, I thought about that when I wrote it but it is, indeed, correctly worded.
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As others already have said, Cliff Lee is a Left-handed pitcher.
Those types of pitchers with excellent skills are rare and not often on The Yankees.
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The lineup article was pretty fun. I really liked the picture of Joe G. I’d like to see Grandson get an opportunity to bat second (good speed, good power, low GIDP). This is a no brainer against righties, and let’s see what Kevin Long can do with him vs. lefties. Johnson is too slow and hits into too many double plays to bat second. I’d put him in the 5 spot.
Jeter
Granderson
Tex
ARod
Johnson
Posada
Cano
Swisher
Gardner/Winn
That would be my regular lineup.
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HD, I agree thats the way I two would start the lineup this year,and if GRANDERSON does struggle against LHP flip flop him with Swish.I like your reasoning.
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HD…..Love that lineup also. While we are watching that group 162 times, we can daydream of Cliff Lee trying on his Yankee jersey for the first time.
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I like your lineup HD…my only suggestion would be to flip Johnson and Posada. Posada behind A-Rod gives A-Rod better pitches to hit, as Posada is a better deep threat than Johnson. Johnson and Posada’s on-base percentage is similar, but Posada’s power numbers are much better than Johnson’s…I like Tex/A-Rod/Posada better. Otherwise, looks pretty good to me.
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