32-year old lefty swinging outfielder Curtis Granderson is almost ready to return to the Bronx, so someone is going to get bumped out of the starting lineup.  Granderson has played in 4 games in AAA-ball on his rehab assignment so far and he is 7 for 17 (.412 avg, 1.000 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBIs.  I would have a hard time seeing righty swinging Vernon Wells getting bumped to the bench as he has been one of the Yankees’ most productive players so far this year.  He has played in 34 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 39 for 132 (.295 avg, .873 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 9 homers, 20 RBIs and 4 stolen bases.  Wells is likely to move to RF when Granderson returns to action.  Granderson will likely play either CF or LF when he returns to action.  Lefty swinging Brett Gardner or lefty swinging Ichiro Suzuki is likely going to find some bench in the near future.  Gardner has played in 36 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 36 for 139 (.259 avg, .732 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 3 homers, 14 RBIs and 5 stolen bases.  Ichiro has played in 33 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 31 for 118 (.263 avg, .671 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 2 homers, 8 RBIs and 5 stolen bases.  I don’t see lefty swinging DH Travis Hafner losing any ABs with the way he is hitting so far this year.  He has played in 31 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 25 of 93 (.269 avg, .914 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 6 homers, 18 RBIs and 1 stolen base.  Despite being a certain Hall of Fame player, I see Ichiro losing P.T. when Granderson returns to action.  The Yankees could look into dealing Ichiro in the near future.

35-year old lefty swinging DH Travis Hafner has been a godsend so far this year for the Yankees.  Hafner has played in 23 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 21 for 69 (.304 avg, 1.066 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 6 homers, 17 RBIs and 1 stolen base.  The Yankees have to be careful with how much they play Hafner, as he has been very injury prone lately.  In his last five years, Hafner has only played in more than 100 games 1 time (2010 with the Indians (118 games)).  Despite being desperate for all the offensive help that the Yankees need, they still will need to monitor Hafner’s playing time.

30-year old lefty swinging 2B Robinson Cano continues to be a hitting machine for the Yankees so far in 2013.  He has played in 19 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 27 for 79 (.342 avg, 1.041 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 6 homers, 14 RBIs and 1 stolen base.  He has now played in 1,233 games in his first 9 years with the Yankees and he is 1,486 of 4,810 (.309 avg, .858 OPS) with 732 runs scored, 183 homers, 729 RBIs and 32 stolen bases.  The Yankees are going to have to bite the bullet next winter and re-sign Cano to a long term contract, as he is the one player the Yankees’ couldn’t replace.

27-year old righty swinging Francisco Cervelli is separating from 31-year old righty swinging Chris Stewart in the competition to start behind the plate for the Yankees.  Cervelli has played in 9 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 9 for 25 (.360 avg, 1.020 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBIs.  He has also walked 7 times while only whiffing 1 time so far this year as he is locked in at the plate.  Stewart has played in 4 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 2 for 10 (.200 avg, .400 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 stolen base.  The Yankees hope that Cervelli keeps up the good work as catcher looked like it was going to be a Black Hole for them in 2013.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t so sure that signing 34-year old righty swinging 3B/1B Kevin Youkilis to a big 1-year deal was a smart thing for the Yankees.  After all, he played in 122 games for the Red Sox and White Sox last year in which he was 103 of 438 (.235 avg, .745 OPS) with 72 runs scored, 19 homers and 60 RBIs.  Complicating matters was the fact that the Red Sox (Kevin Youkilis’ old team) were willing to deal him to the Pale Hose for essentially nothing last summer, just to get rid of him.  But, Youkilis is off to a good start this year for the Yankees.  He has played in 8 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 11 for 30 (.367 avg, 1.141 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 6 RBIs.  The Yankees hope that Youkilis keeps up the good work in 2013 as they need all of the help they can get until they get back to full strength.

34-year old righty swinging LF Vernon Wells and 35-year old lefty swinging DH Travis Hafner are off to good starts with the bat for the Yankees.  Wells has played in 2 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 3 for 7 (.429 avg, 1.357 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBIs.  Hafner has played in 2 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 2 for 6 (.333 avg, 1.167 OPS) with a solo homer.  With all of the injuries the Yankees have suffered this year, they really need guys like Wells and Hafner to step up.

Sure, 31-year old lefty swinging CF Curtis Granderson isn’t hitting for a hit batting average (.229) and he has whiffed a lot (188 times so far this year), but that is a small price to pay for his big time power. Granderson has played in 133 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 130 of 568 (.229 avg, .802 OPS) with 96 runs scored, 40 homers, 97 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. This is the second consecutive year that Granderson has hit at least 40 homers in a season. Granderson has now played in 445 games in his first three years with the Yankees and he is 398 for 1,617 (.246 avg, .841 OPS) with 308 runs scored, 105 homers, 283 RBIs and 46 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if the Yankees decide to pick up Granderson’s option for the 2013 season, valued at $15 million bucks with a $2 million dollar buyout.

38-year old Ichiro Suzuki has been red hot with the bat so far in September for the Yankees with the bat in his hands. He has played in 18 games for the Yankees so far this month and he is 19 for 46 (.413 avg, .991 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer, 8 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Ichiro has now played in 54 games so far for the Yankees and he is 54 of 168 (.321 avg, .805 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 4 homers, 22 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Ichiro has played in 149 games overall this year for the Mariners and Yankees in which he is 159 of 570 (.279 avg, .690 OPS) with 67 runs scored, 8 homers, 50 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. Ichiro’s hot bat has been helping the Yankees hold on over the Orioles in the A.L. East and they hope it continues to help them all the way through the World Series.

38-year old righty swinging shortstop Derek Jeter is having an incredible year for the Yankees in 2012. He has played in 138 games for the Yankees so far this year and he is 191 of 590 (.324 avg, .816 OPS) with 89 runs scored, 15 homers, 50 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Jeter is leading the major leagues with his 191 hits so far this year. Jeter has now played in 2,564 games in his first 18 years with the Yankees and he is 3,279 of 10,458 (.314 avg, .831 OPS) with 1,858 runs scored, 255 homers, 1,246 RBIs and 348 stolen bases. Jeter is now #14 in major league history in runs scored (1,858) and he is also #12 in hits with 3,279 of them….just four behind Willie Mays for the #11 spot. There is no reason to think that Jeter isn’t going to finish the 2012 season very strongly.

29-year old righty swinging catcher Russell Martin is off to a good start in September with the bat for the Yankees. He has played in 5 games so far this month for the Yankees and he is 5 for 16 (.313 avg, .984 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer, 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Yankees hope that Martin keeps up the good work with the bat the rest of this year, as he hit like he was in a trance the first four months of the 2012 season. Martin has played in 112 games overall this year for the Yankees and he is 71 of 349 (.203 avg, .682 OPS) with 37 runs scored, 15 homers, 40 RBIs and 5 stolen bases.