Will Cabrera or Gardner start in Centerfield for New York Yankees?

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)

Looks like the Yankees will be going into Spring Training with both Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera competing for the job. Which one deserves the job more? 

If I were to choose right now..I would go with Gardner, but things can change. Gardner has great speed, a good glove, and draws a lot of walks. If he can keep his average up and get on base, then he can be a real threat.

Melky Cabrera showed last year that he only had a glove. His offensive numbers were horrendous. Gardner’s statistics in the minor leagues were pretty good. He had a .290+ career average down in the minors. I think you only saw a very small sample of Gardner, and he is really much better that.

Jayson Stark’s Q&A with Bud Selig: The Yankees:

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The Yankees

Stark: On the other hand, the Yankees have spent nearly half a billion dollars on three free agents. So the kind of talk you hear these days from owners is: “The Yankees are bad for baseball … we need a salary cap.” It sounds a lot like the talk you heard 10 years ago. Do you think the Yankees’ actions this winter represent a serious problem for the sport?

Selig: I’m not going to comment on individual clubs. I haven’t in the past, and I won’t now. Every club has to do what they have to do, and I’m very comfortable saying that. I’m proud of the system we have. I think we’ve had more competitive balance than we’ve ever had. And we have labor peace now through 2011. So I’ll continue to watch what happens in the system and make my judgments at the appropriate time.

Stark: Well, taking the Yankees out of it, are you concerned that some teams can’t afford to pay their star players or keep their players, to the point where you would need some sort of salary cap?

Selig: I’m not going to make that kind of judgment. The fact of the matter is, we’ve had, up till now, more competitive balance than we’ve ever had. So I want to continue to watch things. And I’ll make very strong judgments, but at the appropriate time. And now is not the appropriate time.

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Yankees’ center stage lacks star  /  The House That Gardner Built?

Q&A with Joba Chamberlain