A lot can happen between January and April, but if you are establishing a line as to how the Yankees’ left field situation will shake out, install the entry of Chad Curtis and Ricky Ledee as the early-morning favorite.
“If it’s a platoon of Curtis and Ricky, it could work,” manager Joe Torre said of his undecided left-field spot, a position that Darryl Strawberry and Shane Spencer also have designs on.
Admitting that he is clueless how the picture will come into focus, Torre is hoping that the ultra-intense Curtis can rebound from a miserable second half.
“I would like to see Curtis have a good spring,” Torre said of the right-handed batter who hit .270 in the first three months and .215 across the final three to finish at .243. Thanks to the emergence of Spencer and Ledee, Curtis was limited to seven post-season at-bats (two hits) and didn’t get off the bench in the World Series.
102 . 0000.00As for Ledee, it’s time people see the potential they have heard about.
“He has been talked about and I would like to see him realize it,” Torre said of the 25-year-old, left-handed hitting outfielder who hit .241 in 42 regular season games and went 6-for-10 (.600) with four RBIs in the World Series after taking Strawberry’s spot on the roster.
Then there are Spencer and Strawberry.
“He gets hot and he can carry a club,” Torre said of the 27-year-old Spencer who hit .373 (25-67) with 10 homers and 27 RBIs in 27 games. Eight of the homers and 21 of the RBIs came in September.
That brings us to Strawberry, 102 . 0000.00who will be 37 in March and won’t be finished with chemotherapy treatments until April.
“I talked to him at Christmas and he sounded great,” Torre said of Strawberry, who was diagnosed with colon cancer last October. “He sounded enthused. Everything seems to be fine. The best part of it is that he gets his money ($2 million). That takes the pressure off. If he can play, that’s great.”
Should there be no room in left, chances are good Torre could use Strawberry’s lethal left-handed bat (24 homers, 57 RBIs in 295 at-bats) in conjunction with the switch-hitting Chili Davis in the DH spot. Davis, 39, is coming off an injury-plagued season in which he played in just 35 games.
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