Can Hideki Matsui Help the New York Yankees?

Reading today's headlines, we hear that Hideki Matsui is to play in a rehab game in Florida and may be ready to come back soon. The question is: Where is he going to play? 

With Girardi changing the lineup literally every day, and with three of the current five outfielders all hitting very well, where does Matsui fit in?

Xavier Nady has been stellar since coming from the Bucs. He is hitting for average and with power and has driven in runs. And he plays well in left. If Girardi would leave him there and stop having him play some games in right, we would be stable in left.

The same should be true for right field. Abreu is hitting very well right now. And he is more than adequate in right. While he doesn't like walls, he gets to most balls down the line and in the gap and has a superior arm. Again, Girardi, should leave him alone in right and stop this nonsense of giving him a half-day off once a week. 

Damon has been leading the league in hitting and probably is a better offensive player when he is just the DH. Girardi insists on mixing this up, using Johnny as the DH, in left, and in center. It is clear that Damon does not have the range that he had three or four years ago, and even that far back he had no arm left. 

He can't throw, everyone in the league knows that, and the Yankees are taken advantage of when he is anywhere in the outfield.

Melky Cabrera is obviously in the doghouse and maybe he should be. His bonehead play, when he waived to the bleacher creatures while a groundball was bounding to him, resulted in an error and an extra base for the hitter. That was bush league, and he should have known better. 

And since May 1, he just hasn't produced. But you have to believe that he is at least as effective on offense as Betemit, who Girardi seems to prefer over Melky right now. Melky played yesterday in Minnesota by default because Betemit had to fill in for Jeter at shortstop. But Girardi seems determined to keep Cabrera out of the lineup at any cost.

If you consider Justin Christian, the only place he is better than Melky is on the bases, and he should be held out to use in critical situations late in a game where a pinch runner is needed, the way Homer Bush used to be used.

But with Melky in the lineup, the Yankees are a better team overall than with the mixed lineups we have seen over the past two weeks. He is a much better defensive player than any of the other options in center. And the offensive production between Melky and Betemit is a wash. 

And Betemit has hurt the Bombers on defense. He did so in the final game in Anaheim, and he did so again yesterday filling in for Jeter. Lack of communication with Cano on who was supposed to cover on a steal cost the Yankees. And failure to communicate with Cabrera on a flyball cost the Yankees. 

How Girardi can expect these players to work well together when they are playing in different positions all the time, or working with different players at other positions, is highly questionable.

Girardi said yesterday after the game that the players had played with each other long enough that these mistakes should not be happening. But they truly have not been playing in the same positions in relation to each other consistently, and these kinds of mistakes are almost a given with the situation the skipper has created.

The bottom line is, we have five outfielders now, and if Matsui is to be the full-time DH when he comes back, that means you have to play Damon in center field.

And that is going to really hurt the defense, especially against the two teams we are chasing in the East, who are going to take advantage of his arm. They have players who are going to take the extra base on any outfielder, much less one with a deficient left wing.