Jeter to bat leadoff for Bombers
By Phil Allard ~ March 26th, 2009. Filed under: Phil Allard.
According to Newsday, Manager Joe Girardi plans to bat Derek Jeter leadoff this year, and drop Johnny Damon to the 2-hole. Girardi indicates that he is impressed with Damon as a 2, but as Kat O’Brien speculates, this also likely means that Brett Gardner has indeed won the CF spot from Melky Cabrera. Girardi may be trying to avoid two lefties back-to-back in the #9 and #1 spots. This should also help with Jeter’s penchant for grounding into double plays. As least he can’t do that in the 1st inning.
Melky has been the subject of trade rumors this week, but his stock is quite low now. He is also out of options, so they most likely scenario is he sticks, for a while, as a reserve.
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