New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi moved team captain Derek Jeter to second in the teams batting order this past Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, promoting Brett Gardner to the role thanks to his .621 on-base percentage since the All-Star break. Girardi has hinted that he may keep the batting order against right handed pitchers where Gardner has the upper hand.
“I’ve thought about it,” Girardi said. “I’ve thought about the pieces we have every day. I could hit Gardy first, Jeet second, Grandy third. There’s some things I could do.”
The move also allowed Girardi to rest No. 2 hitter Curtis Granderson who had a bad series at Tropicana Field, striking out twice and then taking a foul ball off his shin and then getting hit twice, once in the ankle and once in the upper back.
Girardi won’t say how the lineup would have formed had Granderson been healthy, however there’s a chance that he would have slid to the third spot to bring power to the middle of the lineup with Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano getting the bump.
“I would have looked at all the parts and wrote them on a piece of paper and then put them all together,” Girardi said. “But I knew I didn’t have that part today.”
What type of lineup would you like to see from the Yankees?
