About Tonight's Yankee Lineup

For a while we've speculated on NYaT what would happen with the Yankees lineup when they faced a lefthander. Tonight we get an idea of just that, with Jon Lester on the mound for the Red Sox:

Brett Gardner is out of the lineup in favor of Marcus Thames who is batting 8th. Curtis Granderson has been dropped down to 9th.

Joe Girardi has said that he wants Thames in there vs. lefties but that it won't be a strict platoon with Gardner and that others will be out of the lineup as well. Since Nick Johnson actually hits lefties better and Nick Swisher is a switch hitter, I would assume this means that Granderson would lose some playing time against lefties with Gardner moving over to center.

So what does this mean for Randy Winn? It seems like he's going to be a late-inning pinch runner or defensive replacement for the time being. And he probably will get some starts vs righties to rest the other OFs. But if you had Winn getting more ABs than Thames, you may be disappointed.

My one concern is that, while Thames is much better vs. lefties with his bat than Gardner, is it enough to put him in the field with as poor a fielder as he is? If the Yankees get him three PAs vs. the lefty and lift him for a defensive replacement, it should minimize the damage.

But for a team which has done a great job of improving the team defense, letting Thames roam around the outfield too much may be detrimental. With everyone healthy, this won't be an issue. But when the inevitable injury occurs, the use of Thames in the outfield may have to be tempered.

Tonight doesn't show a ton, but for those of us that wondered how Girardi would adjust his lineup vs. lefties, we now have a good idea. Oh, and Posada is catching Burnett. So you can put an end to that talk as well.


-Andrew