During Joe Girardi’s remarks to the press Monday morning, he asserted that he planned on Derek Jeter hitting leadoff in 2011. Rob Neyer picked up on this and notes that Girardi is at least saying the right thing both politically and also in anticipation of Jeter hitting better in 2011 (given his pre-2010 performances). Still, Neyer, like many who pay attention to the Yankees, can’t help but wonder if there isn’t a bit of a lost opportunity here with to Brett Gardner:

Would it make sense to lead off Brett Gardner, at least against right-handed pitchers? Yeah, probably…. It is a shame that Gardner winds up batting ninth, because he really is the prototypical leadoff man. There are so few of those guys, and the Yankees are sort of wasting theirs.

Gardner’s low-power, high-on-base, high-speed offensive profile does fit the profile of what one would expect from a “prototypical leadoff man.” However, I wonder whether speed on the bases is something that the Yankees need to be looking to make a priority at the top of their batting order.

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There are several issues complicating Jose Bautista’s impending arbitration status. For starters, there’s the fact that last season was a career year for him, something that was completely out of line with his previous statistics. This brings up the career vs. platform year debate in full force. A five-plus hearing (and four-plus as well) is supposed to focus almost solely on the platform season, but given the circumstances surrounding Bautista, you would be hard pressed not to point out his past failures. In addition, there are not a lot of good comps for five-plus corner outfielders in the pay range Bautista is going to occupy, making the case even murkier. Given these factors, it’s not surprising that the Jays and Bautista made the nearly unprecedented move of postponing their hearing.

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Two years ago the Red Sox made a good situation better. They had a young left-hander, Jon Lester, who, after helping the team during its 2007 World Series run, turned in a stellar 2008 campaign. After the season Lester had just two full years of service time, meaning he’d pitch in 2009 for relative peanuts. That is, until the Red Sox stepped in with a five-year, $30 million extension, which included a sixth year option at $13 million. The deal upped Lester’s 2009 salary to $1 million, but more importantly it promised to keep him in Boston for a reasonable price through at least the 2013 season.

Now the Sox have a similar opportunity on the table with right-handed Clay Buchholz. We’re not quite to the two-year anniversary of the Lester extension, but by then the Sox could have another young pitcher locked up for the forseeable future.

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Play the player-profile game every day this week at 11:30am ET. Each day, we’re giving away a free copy of the 2011 Second Opinion to the first reader who guesses correctly the identity of that day’s mystery player. (Limit one copy per customer).

As announced recently, FanGraphs will once again be offering to the public its fantasy companion guide, The Second Opinion.

In the meantime, we’re playing the player-profile game that I intoduced in these pages last offseason.

The game is easy: one person (me, in this case) offers the text of single player profile, being careful to omit any proper names that might reveal the identity of the player in question. The other person (you, the reader) attempts to identify the player using only the details provided in the profile.

First reader to guess correctly (in the comments section below) gets a free copy of this year’s Second Opinion — approximately a $1000 value!

Today’s entry comes to us courtesy of Malcolm Gladwell Look-Alike and Fantasy Expert Eno Sarris.

The numbers are clues, but you probably don’t have time to look them up.

Who is it?

Looking back through [BLANK’S] minor-league history, it’s hard to find a harbinger for last year’s double-digit strikeout rate. He only once struck out as many as one batter per inning on the farm. But [BLANK] was a starter for most of that time, and his move to the pen played up his velocity (his fastball averaged 98.8 MPH) and simplified his repertoire down to that booming fastball and a useful slider. An above-average swinging-strike rate (13.3%) seems to suggest that he can continue to strike Major League batters out, but for fantasy uses, the real question is his proximity to the closer’s role. With [TEAMMATE #1], [TEAMMATE #2] and [TEAMMATE #3] in the pen around him, though, [BLANK] has too many veterans to pass to be considered a real sleeper for saves in 2011. [BLANK’S COACH] likes his veterans, as mediocre as some of his other options might be. [BLANK] is best used for strikeouts and holds out of the pen.

Albert Pujols is up for the biggest contract in baseball history. The St. Louis Cardinals and their fans are getting antsier by the minute, petrified their franchise player will bolt at the end of the season. Twenty-nine other teams and their fans fantasize about penciling one of the 10 greatest hitters in the game’s history into their lineup. Pujols’ fate is the biggest story around right now. Nothing else is even close.

How could Tony La Russa not get involved?

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Speaking at the beginning of spring training on Tuesday, Rays manager Joe Maddon reiterated the idea that the team will use a bullpen committee to close out games this season. There’s a lively debate about how this has worked in the past, but let’s focus on why this could work well for this team now.

First, here are the relevant arms, with some key pieces of information for you visual learners. Click to embiggen.

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While I commend the team of Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi for thinking outside the box, I’d like to offer one simple image as to why the Cardinals should not swap Albert Pujols for Mark Teixeira.

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Episode Sixty-Three
In which the guest is a real-live baseball player.

Headlines
Some Notes on Plate Discipline
The Case of the Declining BABIP
The Art of Blogging
Matt Antonelli: Real or Olive-Garden Italian?
… and other super-serious matters!

Featuring
Matt Antonelli, Baller and Blogger

Finally, you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 40 min play time.)

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One of the coolest things about ottoneu Fantasy Baseball is that it is a game that runs all year.  Plenty of other fantasy baseball league sites will shut down once the MLB regular season is over, but at ottoneu that is where the fun begins.

Arbitration

As soon as the MLB regular season is over and a league winner is crowned, owners have to begin evaluating rosters for next season.  The first step is to send players to arbitration, a unique ottoneu experience that helps both long-term competitive balance and represents player interests.  Each owner can vote to determine who they believe is the lowest paid, highest production player on each team.  These players by definition are being paid too little, and deserve the opportunity to go back to auction to receive a more fair salary. 

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