Left-handed first baseman/designated hitter Juan Miranda will be called up to the New York Yankees today, giving the team another lefty power bat for its lineup. Since the loss of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, coupled with the recent injuries to Curtis Granderson and Nick (DL) Johnson, the Yankees are short on left-handed bats.
I have always been a fan of Juan Miranda. Before they signed Mark Teixeira, I thought they should give him the first base job.
A corresponding move has yet to be announced, but the team is carrying 13 pitchers, and I am hopeful the departed is lefty reliever Boone Logan, who stinks, quite frankly. Logan has faced 26 batters this season and allowed a whopping 11 of them to reach base, including six of the 12 lefties he has faced.
I always thought it would be much better if the Yankees went without a second lefty in the pen.
I would keep on the parent club the recently recalled Kevin Russo, who can play infield and outfield and maybe can be used in a pinch when Girardi eventually pinch-hits for Randy Winn.
Miranda is hitting .260/.371/.438 (.809 OPS) with five homers and 15 RBI at Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre in 2010.
While Miranda did not hit very well versus left-handed pitchers in 2007 and 2008, he improved his splits and hit better versus southpaws last season (.291/367/.507), continuing the trend thus far in 2010 (.313/.389/.563).
In his brief time in the major leagues, he does have one home run, a monster shot at Tampa last year.
Many think he will serve in a platoon with Marcus Thames, but the numbers show he can hit lefties, too. It might be better to let Miranda be the permanent DH and use Marcus as a pinch-hitter.
But General Joe, perhaps the most "by the book" manager of all time, will platoon them.
And he will probably keep Logan on the roster to face the lefties upcoming from the Minnesota Twins.
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