What's the New York Yankees' Best Outfield Combination?

The news as of Dec. 18 is that the deal between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers that would have sent Mike Cameron to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera and Kei Igawa is dead.

There is also speculation that the failure of that swap of center fielders may give the Yankees renewed interest in signing free agent Manny Ramirez.

The question posed by the possibility of signing Ramriez is whether the Yankees then would be required to play Johnny Damon in centerfield and Ramirez in left.

Most of the commentary about the Yankee prospects for the outfield have concentrated on offensive production from these positions.

In considering the possibilities for the Yankee outfield, and leaving open for the moment the chance that talks between the Yanks and Brewers will revive, here is a look at the offensive production of six players who have been discussed.

In doing this analysis, the total number of games for each player has been divided by 162 to get a season long average in runs scored and runs batted in. The players actual batting average and on base percentage has been used.

These four statistics have been used to get a snapshot of offensive production for the players being considered.

                             Avg.             OBP              Runs              RBI

Melky Cabrera         .267               .329              72                63

Brett Gardner          .291               .389             130               55

Mike Cameron          .250               .340             90                83

Johnny Damon         .289               .354             112               74

Manny Ramirez         .314               .411             111              132

Austin Jackson         .284               .356             106               70

Admittedly, in looking at these raw stats, certain subjective criteria must also be considered.

There has been speculation that if the Yanks bring in Mike Cameron it will only be for one year because Austin Jackson is expected to be ready for the major leagues by 2010.

But Jackson, playing entirely in the minors has shown numbers barely better than Melky Cabrera has shown during his major league career.

Can Jackson be expected at this time to come to the majors and put up better numbers than he has in the minor leagues? That would seem to be expecting a lot.

Johnny Damon's career numbers are a little better across the board than either Cabrera, Gardner, or Cameron.

But Damon is older, has had trouble with his legs, and it is uncertain whether to expect that he will be as productive in the future as he has been over the course of his career.

Without question Ramirez is the biggest producer offensively by far. He hits for average, hits for power, scores runs and runs the bases pretty well.

Cameron hits more home runs excepting Manny, but also strikes out more and does not fit the patient profile of Yankee hitters of the past few years.

On defense, Cabrera has been an excellent defensive centerfielder as has Gardner in the limited time he has played in New York.  Either of those choices would make the Yankees better on defense.

Mike Cameron is better than average on defense, but he does not have the speed of either Cabrera or Gardner.

The other option, if the Yankees sign Manny Ramirez and put him in left field and assign Damon to center, is the worst possible scenario defensively.

Ramirez is very bad on defense and will be worse in New York than he was in Boston.  In Boston, he was playing in a very small left field and learned to play the Green Monster adequately.

But he still was often seen making bizarre plays in the outfield.

Putting Ramirez in the enormous left field in Yankee Stadium (keep in mind that the new Stadium will have the same dimensions as the old field) could court disaster.

And moving Johnny Damon back to center field would seem to be out of the question.  If Damon were truly a viable option in center, the Yankees would have had no need to consider the trade for Cameron.

Damon is not as fast as he once was in the outfield. He has no arm as evidenced by the fact that every team would take extra bases any time a ball was hit to him last year.

Even on medium depth flyballs to left field, base runners were tagging up and moving from second to third. Everyone knows that Damon cannot throw any more.

Those were the reasons Damon was relegated to primary duty as DH last year and the thought that he would really be the starting centerfielder is questionable.

When you consider playing Ramirez and Damon together, reprising their roles in Boston, but in the much bigger Yankee Stadium, there will be a great many balls that drop or roll to the wall.

The Yankees need another big bat in their offense, having lost Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu who between them drove in 200 runs last year and accounted for a major part of the production for the Bombers.

Nick Swisher at first base is no guarantee of increased production. Hitting .219 for the White Sox last year leaves an amazing confidence gap.

Also, Swisher is not a true first baseman. His defense may prove to be adequate there and a slight upgrade from Giambi. But the Yankees will suffer from replacing Giambi with Swisher.

The obvious answer to all this is to sign Mark Teixeira to play first base and replace the run production the Yankees have lost.

If Teixeira were signed, there would be no need to seek Manny Ramirez for offense.  

That would leave Damon in left, where he is still questionable defensively. But that would certainly be more palatable than playing him in center.

Center field would then be left to Cameron, Gardner, or Cabrera, depending on what happens with the trade. 

On balance, it would seem better statistically and considering defense as well as offense to forget Cameron, let Cabrera and Gardner compete for center. 

The one who does not start would probably be the fourth outfielder and would be a mid game replacement for Damon in left.

If Ramirez comes, there is no room for Cameron. 

If Cameron does not come, but the Yankees sign Ramirez, the Yankees are left with a fifth wheel, another young outfielder who will be relegated to the minors to compete with Jackson at Triple-A.

Whether this is Cabrera or Gardner, there will be too many outfielders in the system.

Ramirez will not be signed for one year. After 2009 with Damon and Hideki Matsui's contracts expiring Ramirez may become the DH with the younger outfielders taking over at that point.

But having Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez in the outfield along side Xavier Nady could make it a long year for Yankee fans.

As Casey Stengel once said, "I hate those fellas that drive in two runs and let in three."

Yankee fans possibly should get used to some defensive frustration if the outfield includes Damon and Ramirez.