Curtis Granderson
All in all, considering he finished the 2010 season by duplicating his disappointing BA and OBP from 2009, Curtis Granderson wound up leaving a good impression on the Yankees and their fan base. After having a dreadful start to the season, and then missing a month with a groin injury, Curtis would eventually go on to belt 24 homers and knock in 67 RBI. Curtis also wound up hitting forty one points higher against south paws than he did last season. After making a few adjustments with hitting coach Kevin Long during the last month of the season, he finished strong and was also one of the few Yankees to hit in the postseason.
Any new member of the Yankees deserves a one year grace period to adjust. Curtis will turn thirty during spring training and Brian Cashman believes he obtained Granderson during the prime of his career. It appears Granderson is poised for a comfortable and productive 2011 campaign for the bombers.
Brett Gardner
Brett Gardner had a break out year in 2010 and proved he could produce as an everyday player batting .277 with a .383 OBP and 47 stolen bases. The Yankees had seen positive things from Brett in 2009 where he hit .270 with 6 triples and 26 stolen bases as a part-time player. They certainly thought enough of Gardner to have no qualms about letting Johnny Damon walk, but I still think they were pleasantly surprised at how good he wound up being this season. In fact, we are hearing less and less about Carl Crawford being a potential target this offseason for Brian Cashman and the Yankees and that’s because of the emergence of Brett Gardner, and rightfully so.
All Brett needs to do is perfect the drag bunt in 2011. If he can continue to make pitchers work by not swinging at anything he doesn’t think he can handle and hanging in there with two strikes the way he did this past season, he could be the leadoff hitter the Yankees have been waiting years for.
A.J. Burnett
Three years at 16.5 Million per left on A.J Burnett’s contract seems awfully daunting at this point, no question. Perhaps we can chalk up 2010 to a bad year. One positive assessment on A.J. is that he has shown no signs of any of the injury troubles from his past. Another is that his velocity and overall stuff appear to be there, he just hasn’t been able to execute. Burnett will work hard this off season with his new pitching coach Larry Rothschild. No one has ever doubted his competitive integrity. He shall look to rebound big time in 2011 and he’s certainly capable. Lets not forgot A.J. did help the Yankees win a World Series in 2009, but it is beginning to look like the team may have been better off with the more consistent craftier veteran Derek Lowe, for less years and less money, when they had their choice.
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