The best Left Fielders in New York Yankee history

The Yankees have had a number of good outfielders in franchise history, with many playing more than one spot. But who are the best left fielders? I took a look at who played the most games at the position, and put up good offensive as well as defensive numbers. Contribution to championship teams was also taken into consideration when ranking the players. Here are the top five Yankee Left Fielders of all time:

5) Lou Piniella: Playing in over 450 games in left field during his eleven seasons from 1974-1984, Piniella was a decent fielder with a strong arm. He was a .295 hitter during his time with the Yankees and produced a number of key hits in crucial games while contributing to World Series titles in 1977 and 1978.

4) Hideki Matsui: Matsui manned left field in over 550 games for New York from 2003-2009. He was steady defensively, and averaged .284 while driving in over 100 runs in four seasons during his seven years with the Yanks. Matsui was named the MVP of the 2009 World Series.

3) Bob Meusel: Playing 626 games in left field from 1920 to 1929 (he also played right field and third base for a total of 1,294 games in his Yankee career), Meusel contributed to three World Series titles. He ranks eighth all time on the Yankees with a .311 batting average; is tenth with 338 doubles; and twelfth 1,005 RBI.

2) Charlie Keller: Keller played in 870 games in left field during eleven seasons with the Yankees, from 1939-1949. His on-base percentage of .410 ranks fourth in team history, behind only Ruth, Gehrig, and Mantle. He is also eighth in slugging percentage with a .518 average, and his .982 fielding percentage in left is higher than the league average of .974 at the time. Keller also drove in 18 runs in 19 World Series games, contributing to three titles.

1) Roy White: Appearing in 1,521 games in left field during his fifteen years with the team from 1965-1979, White delivered a number of key hits throughout his career and was an important contributor to the Yankees' championship teams of 1976, 1977, and 1978. While he didn't have a great arm his .987 fielding percentage was higher than the American League left fielders average of .978 at the time. On the all-time records' lists for the Yankees White ranks seventh in games played with 1,881, eighth in walks with 934, fifth in stolen bases with 233, second in sacrifice flies with 69, and fourth in the power-speed category with a number of 189.7, behind only Jeter, Mantle, and Williams. White's steady play makes him the best Left Fielder in Yankees history.

Of the 40 Yankees from their roster in September 2013, only 9 remain

Of the 40 Yankees listed on their roster in September 2013, only 9 remain on the spring 2015 40 man roster.

In less than a year and a half, 78% of the players have disappeared from the team's employ.

The 9 survivors are: catcher John Ryan Murphy, first baseman Mark Teixeira, shortstop Brendan Ryan, thirdbaseman Alex Rodriguez, outfielder Brett Gardner, and pitchers CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Dellin Betances, and Adam Warren.

The high turnover doesn't say much about Brian Cashman's abilities as general manager, in terms of identifying talented prospects or serviceable major leaguers.

If the Yankees end up losing 90 or more games this year, Cashman and his subordinates ought to be the ones fired - not manager Joe Girardi.

Yankees Girardi might as well throw away his binder

Yankees' manager Joe Girardi might not be using his trusty binder as much these days.

The numbers were impossible to ignore, but for the second time in five games Girardi refused to be seduced by them and didn’t start Ichiro Suzuki against Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester.

“I looked at possibly sitting down one of the other lefty hitters against Lester,’’ Girardi told reporters. “You look at Ellsbury and he has had success and you look at Brett Gardner and he has been playing extremely well and important at the top of our lineup.  Soriano has had a double and homer in two games he has played against him this year. Part of it is, possibly you would like to give one of your lefties a day off and I am going to play the guys we have been playing every day.’’

So, Ichiro took a seat despite having a .340 (18-for-53) average against Lester. That came after Ichiro wasn’t in the lineup Tuesday night in Toronto against lefty Mark Buehrle, against whom he was batting .421 (24-for-57).  I know the game has a heartbeat, but even I would have made sure Suzuki was in the lineup against Lester and Buehrle.

Soriano went 0-for-3 and is now hitting .273 (6-for-22) against Lester.

Girardi was correct saying Gardner has been very important to the top of the lineup, but he is 3-for-13 (.231) against Lester after going 1-for-2 with a walk. Ellsbury went 1-for-3 and is 4-for-9 (.444) against his former teammate.

A regular player in the big leagues since 2001, Soriano has had trouble adjusting to not playing every day. His last homer was May 17 and he is without a homer in 62 at-bats. His skills have eroded, and this is likely his last year in the majors.  The Yankees are unlikely to get any significant production out of him for the remainder of the season.

Yanks' Gardner not making a difference in centerfield so far

Baseball's sabermatricians often talk about range factor, zone fielding, and runs saved when calculating defensive statistics. I'm not sure if any of it actually translates into wins on the field for a team, but if it does matter, it doesn't seem like the Yankees made the right decision about moving Brett Gardner to centerfield and shifting Curtis Granderson to left field this season.

While it's somewhat of moot point being that Granderson has missed the first month of the season due to a broken arm and Gardner has had to play centerfield, since the Yanks have no one else who could really do it everyday, taking a look at Gardner's defensive stats seem to show that he hasn't made much of a difference.

In 19 games and 172 innings to date Gardner has been minus 6 in runs above or below average that a fielder is worth based on the number of plays made. Over the course of a 162 game season that means he would cost the Yankees 40 runs.  Hardly the type of stat that you would want from your regular centerfielder. His current range factor is 2.30, only slightly above the league average of 2.26.

While it's obvious Gardner's speed allows him to cover a lot of ground and get to balls that other fielders would not, at the moment the statistics don't support the idea that he is an outstanding defensive centerfielder.  On the other hand, it could mean that sabermetrics don't mean all that much. As long as the fielder doesn't make any obvious errors on fly balls or throws, perhaps the .04 percentage difference in range factor isn't going to translate into a championship for a baseball team.