Revisiting The Early-Season Platoon Lineups

Platoons were going to be a part of the Yankee lineup decision-making process one way or another this season.  They've become an even bigger part for the month of April as Cash has signed or traded for a variety of platoon-worthy players to fill in for the injured everyday guys.  Whether the collection of new players has regular or reverse platoon splits, the fact that other teams were willing to give them up already gives insight into their offensive production potential.  All the Yankees are really trying to do in this first month is find a formula to get the most out of those players' potential, including the ones we already know need a platoon partner, and score enough wins to support their strong pitching.  Now that we know who's on the Opening Day roster, let's take a quick look at the two versions of the starting lineup we're likely to see.

Vs. RHP

1) Brett Gardner- CF
2) Ichiro Suzuki- RF
3) Robinson Cano- 2B
4) Kevin Youkilis- 3B
5) Travis Hafner- DH
6) Vernon Wells- LF
7) Lyle Overbay- 1B
8) Eduardo Nunez- SS
9) Chrisisco Stewvelli- C

Vs. LHP

1) Gardner- CF
2) Nunez- SS
3) Cano- 2B
4) Youkilis- 1B
5) Wells- LF/DH
6) Ben Francisco- LF/DH
7) Ichiro- RF
8) Jayson Nix- 3B
9) Stewvelli- C

I'm still a supporter of the idea of batting Nunez 2nd in both lineups just to keep from stacking the lefties for later innings, but Ichiro will probably get the nod to start the year based on his career body of work, and honestly, if we're talking about Ichiro vs. Nunez for the 2-spot, we're already splitting hairs that aren't worth splitting.

That lineup against lefties, though?  Yeesh.  That's ugly.  Joe has to be hoping that Overbay or Brennan Boesch prove to be capable of hitting lefties at a decent clip so he can use one of them in the 6 or 7-spot.  That would probably be an upgrade over Francisco and Ichiro in those places, even if it is a small one.  Guess we'll just have to see what they roll out against Jon Lester later today to start getting an idea of who Joe has confidence in against southpaws.