Monday, August 1, 2011

What to do with the bench Outfield spot.

The Yankees started this year their only backup Outfielder being Andruw Jones who despite his 6 Home Runs is hitting a dismal .204 in 98 AB. I wrote about Jones in an earlier post, obviously Jones hasn't been the Lefty smasher than Thames was last year and has only hit .240 against Lefties this year. As I said in my earlier post despite his poor numbers Jones is a useful bench bat because he is a right handed with some pop and can play the field well and so he was the only backup outfielder that they needed. Last year the Yankees started with Marucs Thames and Randy Winn but Winn was DFA in May and the Yankees used a combination of several AAA outfielders. This year the Yankees decided to mess up my post about the 5th Outfielder by not having a 5th Outfielder and their primary AAA Outfielder is Chris Dickerson who has the most major league experience. Even with injuries to Justin Maxwell and Colin Curtis the Yankees have good outfield depth but none with any real offensive ability. Jones hasn't really been needed this year because both Gardner and Granderson have been hitting lefties well and despite his early struggles Swisher has been solid. The problem with a guy being a good bench bat is that if he is a good enough bench bat then somebody will give him a starting job and even Andruw Jones could sign with a team that gives him more playing time. Next year the Yankees will likely do without a full time DH and will probably use a rotating DH and one or more Veteran bench bats who can DH and play the field. They could look to retain Jones and Chavez next year or they could try and acquire a new fourth outfielder this year or during the coming off-season. However Jones will likely be the Yankees only real option for this year as I doubt that the Yankees can pick up anybody on waivers and with their lack of action on the trade market I assume that they are okay with Jones. If Jones goes into a prolonged slump the Yankees could always call up Marcus Thames, but more likely they would simply give Montero more time at DH and use either Jones, Golson or Dickerson in the outfield occasionally. If Jones can keep playing decently well the Yankees will probably try and keep him for next year, but like I said he could end up on a team where he would get more playing time.

No comments:

Post a Comment