MLB

Granderson’s return will force Yankees outfield changes

TAKING A SEAT: Ichiro Suzuki and Brett Gardner, who were off to slow starts before last night’s game, could find themselves benched after Curtis Granderson returns. (EPA)

TAKING A SEAT: Ichiro Suzuki (pictured) and Brett Gardner, who were off to slow starts before last night’s game, could find themselves benched after Curtis Granderson returns. (EPA)

It was a strange experiment from the outset.

The team with the short right field porch decided to have a pair of lefty hitters who might combine for 10 homers make up two-thirds of its outfield. The hope was that what Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki lacked in power they would compensate for with speed, defense, on-base acumen by Gardner and batting average by Suzuki.

Well, the duo is going to need more games like last night’s to prove Gardner and Ichiro can bring enough regularly to the table or else one is probably losing a starting job.

Because when Curtis Granderson returns — likely around May 1 — the Yankees could be overcrowded in the outfield. Now, this presumes Vernon Wells remains a productive player, which obviously is dubious.

Wells has not been very good the past two years and is going to need more than a strong week or two to validate a revival. But Wells’ impressive opening act is yet another reminder that — like it or not — the Yankees’ DNA is to be a homer-hitting team.

So far, despite all the concerns about lost power caused by defections and injuries, the Yanks have an AL-high 15 homers in eight games — seven more than during the same period in 2012. Still no one should expect a repeat of last season’s franchise record 245.

But the early work of Wells, Travis Hafner and Kevin Youkilis — each has two homers — suggests the Yanks still might hit 180-ish or more if Granderson and Mark Teixeira do return in May. But a lineup that has those five can only have Gardner or Suzuki, not both.

Now, Brian Cashman gladly would sign up for too many options, considering he seemed to be bringing aboard a veteran castoff each day late in spring training to attempt to weather the injuries. As the general manager said, “We are still about a month away from having [Granderson] back. It is not something I am thinking about. I just want him back.”

In the coming weeks, there could be more injuries or Wells could retreat to his 2011-12 version, which might reduce him to the kind of play-against-lefties piece Andruw Jones was the past two years.

But it is hard to ignore that Wells’ bat speed does appear to be back, and if he hits well enough, he will probably keep playing near full time because of the power element. That could put Gardner and Suzuki into a battle for playing time.

After a brutal first week (0-for-2 in steals, .242 on-base percentage), Gardner broke out with four hits, three runs, two RBIs and a walk in a 14-1 shellacking of the Indians last night. This is yet another leadoff audition for Gardner, who before yesterday had a .335 career on-base percentage in that spot compared to .360 elsewhere.

Meanwhile, even with a homer last night, Suzuki is hitting just .185 without a steal. We should remember in his first 41 games with the Yankees last year, Ichiro hit just .271 with a .298 on-base percentage — similar to the falling star he was with Seattle. In his final 16 games, Suzuki hit .394. He followed that with a strong Division Series and adoration from the fans, moving the top of the Yankees hierarchy to demand his re-signing.

Maybe Wells is simply having two weeks now like Ichiro had late last season. Maybe Ichiro is just having a bad week en route to a good year. Maybe Gardner awoke last night and will be the star the Yankees’ front office keeps forecasting.

But it is clear when Granderson returns that all of them will be unable to play regularly. Are the Yanks –- the Bronx Bombers — really going to let two-thirds of their outfield be comprised of slap-hitting speedsters, especially if Wells continues to offer power?

Martin’s early-season struggles won’t settle offseason argument

There was not unanimity in the Yankees front office about bringing back Ichiro Suzuki, specifically on a two-year contract. In fact, there were executives who would have preferred to see that money (two years at $12 million) directed to Russell Martin instead.

For the one area where it felt like the Yanks were taking the greatest dip in production was exchanging Martin for Francisco Cervelli/Chris Stewart. But Martin actually went into last night hitless in 17 at-bats, tied with Dodgers third baseman Luis Cruz for the worst oh-for to open this season. Cervelli, meanwhile, has a 1.064 OPS.

Look, over a long season players are what they are. For example, no one should expect Vernon Wells, deposed from the Angel roster because of the addition of Josh Hamilton, to outperform Hamilton for 26 weeks as he did in Week 1.

Still, those Yankees officials opposed to spending on Martin felt his offense was overstated and inflated as much by a strong finish as Ichiro’s. So it will be interesting to see if Martin really does badly outperform the Yankee catchers this year.

* Hamilton’s Angels may actually have set off more bells of concerns early this season than even the Yankees. It is goes way beyond Hamilton’s strikeout-machine, .160 batting-average performance in the first week.

For the concern with this club was always pitching. In fact, the Angels scrambled late in spring training to fix their bullpen the way the Yanks did with their lineup. And their rotation always was viewed as dubious behind Jered Weaver.

Weaver raised red flags with the continuing decrease of his fastball in his first two starts (down to an 85 mph average) and, in start two on Sunday, he suffered a fractured elbow in his left (non-pitching arm). The team announced the injury yesterday and that its ace will miss four-to-six weeks.

The Angels essentially lost a chance to make the playoffs in April last year by opening 7-15 before promoting Mike Trout. They don’t have a Trout card to play this year, particularly to fill in for Weaver. They were going to have to be carried by their offense led by Hamilton, Trout and Albert Pujols anyway. Now, that is even truer.

Meet the first crisis team of 2013: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.