Girardi: Gardner is our centerfielder
Brett Gardner has beaten out Melky Cabrera in the battle to be the Yankees’ Opening Day centerfielder.
“Both of them played great,” Joe Girardi said. “Melky had a tough year last year, but he came into camp and was ready to go and played very well. Gardy finished up strong and had a great camp. We’re just going to go with Gardy.”
The plan is that Melky will be on the team as a backup. No final decisions on the bullpen or the utility job yet … one thing at a time, I guess.
“The thing about Melky is, Melky is still a young player,” Girardi said. “He’s only 24 years old. If he continues on what he did this spring and the work that he put in, Melky can be a force too.”
Many people wanted to call this race early in camp, but Melky really did put together a late charge. Here are the side-by-side comparisons as of this moment:
CABRERA: .340 BA (18-for-53), 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBIs, 6 BB, 2 K, 2-for-3 SB, .417 OBP
GARDNER: .385 BA (20-for-52), 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 6 RBIs, 6 BB, 7 K, 5-for-7 SB, .448 OBP
Bryan Hoch
Sorry to hear of the passing of Lou Saban.
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
You beat me to the punch Bryan. So, we will carry Melky and Swisher as backups and perhaps no Utility?
Alba is fools gold he’s another Britton.
Aceves is a solid pitcher but he can go to AAA and develop more as a starter.
Robbie,
your correct is Coke better than that guy?
12 pitchers:
Rivera
Burnett
Sabathia
Pettitte
Wang
Joba
Marte
Veras
Ramirez
Bruney
Coke
Aceves
I’m going with
5 starters and:
Mo
Bruney
Marte
Coke
Veras
Ramirez
Albaladejo
I think Girardi will go with that too.
When is Jackson coming up?
shortporch http://shortporch.mlblogs.com
The Yankees are smart not to trade Melky right away. They have to wait and see if Gardner really can hit at the Major League level.
http://thisfanslife.mlblogs.com
Interestingly, there is no mention of Swisher in Bryan’s article when Bryan states Melky will backup all 3 OF positions.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spyanks306089195mar30,0,18532.story?track=rss
BP,
I’m surprised with Albaladejo over Robertson, but I hear he translates as more capable of three or four innings and his fastball has a few more MPH than last year! We’re handicapped this year by the lack of televised games!!! I still envision Giese being waived to add another UI until A-Rod is back!!!
Interesting comment about whether Giese would be waived. My candidate for waiver would be Stephen Jackson & it’s looking unlikely he’ll ever be part of the plan. I know he allegedly has good stuff & he’s had injuries and all that, but he’s already 27 and needs 1-2 yrs more seasoning to be, well, what exactly? Dan Giese can do more things than Jackson and do them now.
If it were me, Jackson would be a snap-on in a deal (with Melky?) & I’d go for the immediate insurance of Giese at AAA. That would clear a slot when A-Rod comes back. The Yanks have got to do something with Melky for the simple reason that they need to carry an extra pitcher more than another OF. Plus Austin Jackson is almost ready.