Robinson Cano emerged as the best offensive player on the Yankees in 2010.
The series on team offense begins with the New York Yankees. I’ll go through the teams bases on their rank in runs scored per game for 2010, highest to lowest. The Yankees led the majors in offense last season, scoring 5.30 runs per game.
The CBSSportsline probable batting order gives us a feel for the type of lineup Joe Girardi is likely to use. The OBP and slugging percentage used come from the Marcel the Monkey forecast system. Plugging those numbers in the Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) produces the following results:
- Best lineup: 5.30 runs per game
- Probable lineup: 5.25 runs per game
- Worst lineup: 5.03 runs per game
- Regressed lineup: 4.79 runs per game
Interestingly, the best lineup is predicted to score at exactly the same rate as the 2010 team. With the possibility of bounce back from Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, the younger core of Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner could afford to regress a bit and still have the team do well.
The LAT likes Brett Gardner leading off, and if his OBP remains high this year I can see Girardi making that move eventually. Right now, he serves as a good second leadoff man in the ninth spot. I also like that the starting nine are all projected to post OBPs over the 2010 AL average.
The Yankees are so good, that even Joe’s worst choice for a lineup is pretty good. If the older players can stay healthy, offense won’t be a problem for New York in 2011. On top of that, they have Jesus Montero waiting in the wings, and with the injury to Francisco Cervelli, Jesus may rise sooner than expected.
You can see the results of all the teams on this Google spreadsheet as the series progresses.
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