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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Joe Girardi doesn’t subscribe to the theory that if Brett Gardner is the center fielder, it means he will be an every-day player.
Though the Yankees manager would like to be able to put Gardner in the lineup against right-handers and left-handers, he isn’t opposed to returning Curtis Granderson to center field if Gardner has to sit.
That could hinder Granderson getting comfortable in left, but everything seems to be in play when it comes to Girardi’s experiment, which will be on display for the first time today.
When the Yankees host the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field this afternoon, Gardner will be in center field and Granderson in left.
Girardi is using exhibition games to see if that alignment will provide better defense and help the Yankees save runs now that they are expected to score less than the 804 they did a year ago after watching roughly 100 home runs vanish.
“I want him to be an every-day player and I want to be able to rotate that fourth outfielder so each guy can get a day [off],’’ Girardi said of the yet-to-be named right-handed hitting outfielder. “If I was to [rest Gardner] I would bump Curtis right back to center for the day.’’
On the scale of experiments, the Yankees manager isn’t reinventing baseball here. But players often say the hardest thing to do in the big leagues is learn a new position. So this becomes a significant deal because Granderson hasn’t played a big league game in left since 2007 when he appeared in one for the Tigers.
The Yankees insist Gardner has the ability to be an every-day player, though other teams view him as a valuable fourth outfielder with speed and solid on-base percentage.
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Working in his favor to play every day is that lefties don’t make him look ill. A career .266 hitter against all pitchers, Gardner is a .256 hitter versus lefties and has a better on-base percentage (.362) against lefties than righties (.352).
“What you are looking for there is a guy putting together good at-bats,’’ hitting coach Kevin Long said.”If the quality of the at-bat is good the production will be there. Is he having good at-bats or is he overmatched?’’
With Ichiro Suzuki, Gardner and Granderson all left-handed hitters, the Yankees are looking for a right-handed hitter to be the fourth outfielder.
It’s possible that player will come in a deal later in the spring since none of the camp candidates are a lock.
Non-roster invites Matt Diaz and former Yankee Juan Rivera have the most experience. In 12 big league seasons, Rivera has a .274 average. He hit .244 last year with the Dodgers. Diaz’ career average across 10 seasons is .291 and he batted .222 for the Braves a year ago.
Melky Mesa, who is on the 40-man roster, is an above-average outfielder with a strong arm and hit 23 homers and drove in 67 runs for Trenton (Double-A) and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A). However, he fanned 118 times in 458 at-bats last year.
The Yankees are high on switch-hitter Zoilo Almonte, who homered in yesterday’s exhibition season opener against the Braves, Austin Tyler and Adonis Garcia, but none have played above Double-A.