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Thursday, July 19, 2012

1 comment:

Brian said...

I completely agree. I think Ichiro was a great pick-up for many reasons in addition to those stated in your blog. The Yankees currently have 4 guys who can hit 4th on any team (A-rod, Cabo, Tex, Granderson). They then have players like Ibanez, Swisher, and Jones who have been great additions and like how Giradi is using them, are power hitters. I believe this is one of the reasons why the Yankees have hit so poorly with Runners in Scoring Position and have relied so much on the long ball this year. That is 7 players who hit home runs not necessarily hit for average (besides Cano).

Ichiro will bring a different style of play into the mix. He can run and more importantly bunt! Outside of Jeter and Gardner (injured), bunting is a lost art. Ichiro is be able to move players over and move himself over when given the chance.

Another thing this does for the Yankees is it gets Jeter (or at least should) out of the lead off role. I love Jeter but I do not think he is a lead off hitter. Too often he swings at the first pitch, and that is not a good trait for a lead off hitter. I miss the days in which he was in the 2 hole and you can hit and run because Jeter is great at putting the ball in play. This also moves Granderson down in the order which only makes our line-up that much stronger, and it will help to move him down with the injury to A-rod.

Also, Jeter went 3-4 with a homerun and 2 runs in the 2 hole yesterday. Hopefully a sign of good things to come!

Keep writing!