WHY THE YANKEES BATTING ORDER NEEDS TWEAKING

I’ve bit my tongue long enough, and I can’t be quiet any longer...Mr. Girardi, with all due respect, do not let Alex Rodriguez be our cleanup hitter any longer.

I have an idea for the Yankees batting order that I think will be a success. If the same players are with us next Spring, I would suggest the batting order looks like this:

1-Derek Jeter
2-Curtis Granderson
3-Robinson Cano
4-Mark Teixeira
5-Jesus Montero
6-Alex Rodriguez
7-Nick Swisher
8-Russell Martin
9-Brett Gardner

Now, as much as we all begged Joe to let Brett Gardner lead off, the experiment failed in my opinion, and Jeter’s OBP leading off a game is significantly better than Gardner’s, so there’s no reason to change that. I’ve heard it suggested that Curtis Granderson be moved to cleanup or 5th to better take advantage of his power. However, he drove in 119 runs out of the two hole, so really there’s no reason he has to be moved. Moving him down would however negate his base stealing abilities, so keep him right where he is.

It took Girardi forever, but Robinson Cano is finally in the 3 hole. I don’t know why it was such a complicated choice; Cano is a free swinger with a batting average consistently over .300. Putting him between Granderson and Mark Teixeira offers him major protection. Protection leads to more pitches to hit, and if Cano can hit over .300 without pitches to hit, he’ll be looking at a batting title with them.

Teixeira may have had his struggles, but he was still more productive than Alex Rodriguez down the stretch and I don’t know who else we’d give this spot too, so he gets to bat right there. Jesus Montero may be young, but he’s already proven he can handle a core of the order role. In my opinion, there’s no reason to deny him it to preserve Alex’s pride. If ARod wants his spot back, he has to earn it.

Realistically, Alex will continue batting cleanup and Teixeira will stay as the 5th hitter, but in my opinion Girardi is doing the team a great disservice by keeping it that way. Maybe ARod can still hit .300-30-100, but I want him to show me that he can do it before I reward him with a core of the order spot.
Cashman, Randy Levine, the Steinbrenner’s, and, to a lesser extent, Girardi obviously have final say on all of this, so it seems almost trivial to be making suggestions, but I truly believe these moves give the Yankees the best chance to come roaring back next year and take home the elusive 28th championship. Do you agree or disagree? Comment and let me know what you think?

--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer

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