Girardi Thinks A Set Lineup "Works Best"

From Ken Davidoff:

"I prefer to have a set lineup. I think it works best," Girardi said yesterday after a second straight relatively tranquil practice that was light on the A-Rod. "But sometimes, similar to some of the teams that I was on, you're better if there's some platoon situations, or your bench is extremely strong, or everyone's in the mix, or everyone's healthy. We just have to see how it shakes out."

...

The Yankees used 130 lineups last year, and they used their Opening Day lineup - Damon in leftfield, Derek Jeter at shortstop, Bobby Abreu in rightfield, Alex Rodriguez at third base, Jason Giambi at first base, Robinson Cano at second base, Posada at catcher, Hideki Matsui at designated hitter and Melky Cabrera in centerfield - only on April 1.

"I think he wants the Opening Day lineup to be used five out of seven times," hitting coach Kevin Long said of Girardi. "If we can do that, we're going to be a much better team."

Injuries were obviously a major factor in Girardi's frequent lineup changes last year, but as Davidoff points out in the article he made some mistakes he could have avoided as well. Davidoff brings up benching Johnny Damon in Minnesota on August 11th as a prime example of this.

I don't think the unforced errors will be that big of a deal this year. Girardi seems to be learning from his mistakes. So if this team can stay healthy there's no reason why, as Kevin Long says, they can't play the opening day lineup "five out of seven times."

The two question marks remain center and right field. I can see right field being a platoon situation with Nady and Swisher, and I would start Gardner is center.