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IN PRAISE OF GIRARDI/HERE COME THE RED SOX
In our last entry, I went on at great length about the untimely manifestation of Coffee Joe earlier this week. I meant to provide perspective by also mentioning some praiseworthy things that Joe Girardi has done this year. In the heat of the moment, I lost track of that goal and didn’t go beyond my indictment of Coffee Joe. I want to correct that now. He has, within certain limitations, constructed an excellent batting order this year. The main innovation has been batting Nick Swisher second. This is an untraditional choice, since nine times out of ten managers will still bat a banjo-hitting middle infielder second instead of a power bat. Swisher has completely changed his approach this year. He’s walking less but hitting for a higher

WISHCASTING
If the Mariners trade Cliff Lee in the next 24 hours, the Yankees wouldn’t have to face him on Friday.

A FINE KETTLE OF FISH
Yesterday, I wrote about the Marlins making right-handed outfielder Cody Ross available to potential trading partners. Subsequently, it was reported that the Fish might also make 26-year-old closer Leo Nunez available as well. Nunez isn’t expensive by the standards of most teams, but he’s arbitration eligible and the Marlins don’t do arbitration unless literally forced to by the Commissioner and the players’ union. It’s a bit odd that their owner thinks they can win a pennant while not actually paying anyone but Hanley Ramirez, but that’s the way his mind apparently works -- hence the firing of Fredi Gonzalez.

Nunez,

YOUKILIS VS. SWISHER
As I write this, Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox first baseman, has overtaken Nick Swisher in the fan vote for the All-Star game. With all due respect to Swisher’s boosters and the manhood issues inherent in any my-player-is-better-than-yours tilt with Boston fans, Swisher isn’t having the season Youkilis is. The All-Star selections this year have been painful -- Omar Infante? -- and Youkilis’s exclusion was a mistake that needs correction. You can’t say the same thing about Swisher.

Let’s look at the players on the ballot, not just Youk and Swish but the other three players as well:

                 PA      AVG    OBP    SLG  

WHADDYA EXPECT?
Sure, Justin Verlander is an excellent pitcher, but as CC Sabathia showed today, excellent pitchers can be beaten. It helps if you face that pitcher with a real lineup, but the Yankees were about a third short of one today with Juan Miranda, Randy Winn, and Greg Golson at the bottom of the order. This trio of light hitters stranded nine baserunners today, contributing to a 1-3 finish for the Yankees in their long series at Detroit.

At the risk of repeating yesterday’s entry, it’s quite confusing as to why the Yankees are prepared to tolerate their current roster when they have alternatives beyond Golson, a pinch-runner/defensive substitute, Winn, a player who needs to hit .300 to be productive and won’t, and the ageless Miranda, who just might -- maybe

1: BUT I WAS HIGH ON JOHN-FORD GRIFFIN…
"he’s not a top offensive performer and almost certainly isn’t going to be one."

This is your most typical description of almost all young Yankee players, irrespective of position. Cano's OBP and his penchant for not coming up clutch have been widely discussed and over-analyzed. However, to come out and say that a player will never attain what is within his potential is crazy. Cano might never have a .400 OBP and a RISP Avg. that matches his career Avg., but to write him off at 27 when he is entering his prime is foolish. The Yankees want to give Cano the chance to succeed in the 5 spot because he is a huge part of their future. The Yankees can't rely on the potential of Montero, Posada's age-defying consistency and Swisher's career-ambiguity.

In 1989, Rangers manager Bobby Valentine employed an unorthodox batting order. He led off centerfielder Cecil Espy, whose main skill was being fast. His second hitter was usually shortstop Scott Fletcher, who was an exemplar of the traditional number-two type. He didn’t hit much, but he drew a few walks, was tough to strike out, and if he wasn’t fast, he wasn’t slow either. Rafael Palmiero, not yet a power-hitter (he would hit eight home runs that year) batted third until Harold Baines came over at the trade deadline. Ruben Sierra, then 23, batted fourth every day and had the best season of his career.

In the fifth spot, you might have expected that Valentine would have used Pete Incaviglia, his 25-year-old, slugging leftfielder. Sure, Pete struck out like crazy; having

IT’S NOT EVEN TRIVIA
When I saw that the Rays had signed Cuban defector Leslie Anderson, I was all set to tell you about how he would be one of the few Leslies ever to play ball, not counting slugging first baseman/pinch-hitter Sam Leslie of the Dodgers and Giants (.332/.409/.456 playing every day in 1934). It turns out I was Leslie-naive; there have been a ton of them, headed up by Yankees hurler Bullet Joe Bush, whose real name was Leslie Ambrose Bush. Bush was a Yankee for just three years, and he wasn’t exactly beloved by management given some of his postseason pitching, but he had solid, A.J. Burnett-style seasons that helped the Yankees to two pennants.  

GOODBYE, BRIAN GILES
Possibly not a great human being, but a hitter whose true worth will never be fully appreciated

Here’s an argument I never expected to be making: as the Yankees consider recasting their batting order to reflect their new acquisitions this offseason, the chronically impatient Robinson Cano should be batting higher in the order, perhaps as high as the second spot. It’s not an argument that I make with much enthusiasm, and as we proceed you will see that there are other moves that would be more optimal, but with Cano we have the problem of trying to put an oddly shaped set of skills to good use.

Before we get to Cano’s specific qualities, let’s acknowledge a couple of key factors about the Yankees’ batting order. First, many studies suggest that the difference between the optimal batting order and the least-optimal batting order is quite small. That said,