People dismiss Brett Gardner all the time, the little guy
that only slaps at the ball and just offers speed. I hate the dismissal of this guy. He’s valuable. It was so evident to me first when we lost
him in the outfield and the Yankees scrambled to fill the hole with guys like
Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez, then converted infielder Jayson Nix into a left
fielder. They even called up and stuck Dewayne Wise out there…great
defensively, but can’t hit a lick.
To me, it’s simple.
You lose Gardy, you lose energy on the ball club. I don’t just mean in
the field, I mean with the bat as well.
Gardner has speed out of the box, he has the ability to slap the ball to
the left side, he can bunt, he “sparks” a rally. It makes no difference that he’s batting 9th,
he’s considered the second lead off guy at the back end of the lineup. People don’t appreciate that, or should I
say, they didn’t…until now.
The Yankee bats are flat and having Gardy on base only
provides Derek Jeter to knock him home.
That’s a runner in score position that with his legs, we can get him
home. People don’t think about speed as
a valuable trait…I do and I always did, since Rickey Henderson and before that
with guys like Lou Brock or even someone like Tim Raines, with the Expos and even later with the Yankees.
(In Photo: Tim Raines)
Speed gets the runs home. Think about what the Yankees have accomplished
without it… not too much…
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