Happy Easter everyone! Last week on Nate’s Takes I predicted the Yankees would take four out of five games in the week. Well the Yankees had yet another rainout, but managed to take three out of four (It could have been all four if not for a shaky week from Mariano Rivera).
If you also remember I predicted that Rivera would allow his first run of the season. I didn’t do a very good job predicting hockey and basketball so I think I will stick to baseball from now one. Hopefully now that the week is over Rivera can go back to being his own self. Here is what I have for the week.
Am I the only one who doesn’t like Curtis Granderson hitting second? I want the top of the Yankees order to have OBP. Curtis is currently sitting around .320. I would keep him down at the bottom of the order and let high OBP guys like Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher sit at the top.
I know Gardner is struggling, but his defense alone makes him an asset. He is constantly at the top of all fielding metrics and really should be in center field over Granderson. My guess is that Gardner will turn it around and finish the year batting around .260 with an OBP over .350. Combine that with his defense and the amount of pitches that he sees you have one of the best bargains in baseball.
Joba Chamberlin may not be long for the seventh inning. It really is a sad story how this guy went from future No. 1 starter to a middle reliever that can’t keep his ERA under four.
The Yankees are a home run machine … and the weather hasn’t even gotten nice yet!
Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia keep proving me wrong. I am very surprised at what these two have done. Our starters still do not go deep into games which could be a problem as the Yankees have less and less off days.
The Yankees missed a huge opportunity to beat Boston earlier this year. The Red Sox stuck around and now look like one of the hottest teams in baseball. Look for them to be right there with the Yankees in another month.
The Yankees play the White Sox for four and the Blue Jays for three this week. I predict they’ll go 5-2. I would not be surprised if our pitching has some problems against the White Sox. As for my individual predictions for the week, I only have one. Nick Swisher hits his long awaited first home run of the year this week and it will come against his former team.
Talk to you guys next week!
