When the Wild Card game is decided, the Yankees will need to construct their playoff roster. The rosters are trimmed back down to 25, and that sort of sucks, at least in my opinion. I’m not saying there should be 40-man rosters like there were in September and early October, but maybe a 30-man roster. That isn’t too much, is it? Anyhow, here’s the predicted 25-man, ALDS roster for your New York Yankees…
The lineup:
SS. Derek Jeter
LF. Ichiro Suzuki
3B. Alex Rodriguez
2B. Robinson Cano
RF. Nick Swisher
1B. Mark Teixeira
The lineup is pretty straight forward. I like how Joe Girardi batted Swisher, who is in a groove, ahead of Teixeira, who is still getting his feet wet, in Game 162. Perhaps he moves Tex higher in the lineup if he gets hot, we’ll see. I also have Ibanez DHing against right handed pitching while Nunez DHs against lefties. Oh, and the Yankees’ seventh place hitter has hit 43 homers this season. If that’s not awesome I don’t know what is.
The bench:
OF/SS. Ibanez/Nunez
OF. Brett Gardner
3B. Eric Chavez
INF. Casey McGehee
I know people are going to be disappointed to not see Chris Dickerson in there, but not everyone can make it. Gardner provides just about everything Dickerson does (minus power), and is better defensively as well as on the base paths. Also, Gardner being able to bat is a huge factor. Joe Girardi can be creative in that he can have Chavez play third against righties and DH ARod if he wants to, but who knows if he’ll even do that. I also have Casey McGehee in there as a right handed, power bat to oppose a tough lefty coming out of the ‘pen.
The rotation:
1. CC Sabathia
4. Phil Hughes
CC starting Game 1 is a no-brainer. He’s been fantastic his last three starts, which is hopefully the start of a huge run for him. I like Pettitte in Game 2 because there aren’t many pitchers out there who’d I want over Pettitte if I fell behind 0-1 in a series. Plus, potential Game 3 starter, Hiroki Kuroda, is better at home than he is on the road, and with the 2-3 division format, Hiroki would be pitching at home in this scenario. Finally, I have Hughes pitching Game 4. You can make a case for David Phelps, but I just don’t see Girardi making a change like that. We’ll see. However, this could all be moot as I could definitely see the skipper starting CC in Game 4 if they’re down 2-1 in the series.
The bullpen:
Closer: Rafael Soriano
Set-up: David Robertson
Seventh inning: Joba Chamberlain
Lefty specialist: Boone Logan
Lefty specialist: Clay Rapada
Multi-inning/swing man: David Phelps
Long-man/mop-up man: Derek Lowe
It’s tough to predict the bullpen after the no-brainers since there are so many candidates, though you can eliminate some guys based on how they were used down the stretch. Freddy Garcia is behind Derek Lowe in the bullpen pecking order, and Ivan Nova was pulled from the rotation in favor of David Phelps the other day, so those guys probably won’t make it. Cody Eppley not making it may be a surprise, though it’s not entirely out of the question. Girardi could have Eppley in place of Rapada, or if he really wanted to he could replace him with Casey McGehee, but that may be pushing it.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Yankees construct the playoff roster. It goes without saying that these games are imperative, and with rosters being trimmed back down to 25 we need to have the best players for the best situations. I think this current roster has a legit shot to win it all, they just need to go out and do it.
--Jesse Schindler, BYB Lead Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @SchindlerJesse
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