News broke this afternoon that Joe Girardi is considering using two different lineups, one for righties and one for lefties. If he goes through with this idea, Brett Gardner would likely see time as leadoff man against righties (with Derek Jeter hitting second) and Jeter would hit first against lefties (with Gardner hitting ninth).
Either way, Gardner would hit in front of Jeter. Like so:
| Yankees vs. Righties | Yankees vs. Lefties |
| Brett Gardner LF | Derek Jeter SS |
| Derek Jeter SS | Nick Swisher RF |
| Mark Teixeira 1B | Mark Teixeira 1B |
| Alex Rodriguez 3B | Alex Rodriguez 3B |
| Robinson Cano 2B | Robinson Cano 2B |
| Nick Swisher RF | Jorge Posada DH |
| Jorge Posada DH | Curtis Granderson CF |
| Curtis Granderson CF | Russell Martin C |
| Russell Martin C | Brett Gardner LF |
I would be OK with Girardi implementing this dual lineup idea, but I’d make a couple changes.
- Switch Tex and Cano in both lineups. Cano earned it last year.
- Switch Swisher and Jeter in lineup vs. righties. Again, Swisher earned it.
Here’s a quick road map for you readers for the rest of the week:
- Wednesday: My rotation projection
- Thursday: My bullpen projection
- Friday: My bench projection
- Next Wednesday: Preseason predictions
- Next Thursday (for perspective): Opening Day at Yankee Stadium vs. Tigers.
