26-year old lefty swinging Brett Gardner will likely get the call against all righty starting pitchers with either 35-year old switch hitting Randy Winn or 33-year old righty swinging Marcus Thames starting against lefty starters in left field for the Yankees in 2010. Gardner played in 108 games for the Yankees last season in which he was 67 of 248 (.270 avg, .724 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 3 homers, 23 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. Gardner should be a great left fielder defensively as he was a above average CF and he is by far the fastest baserunner on the team so look for him to approach 30 steals for the Yankees in 2010.

35-year old switch hitting Randy Winn played in 149 games for the Giants last season in which he was 141 of 538 (.262 avg, .671 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 2 homers, 51 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. The Yankees expect him to hit better in 2010 as he has a career batting average of .286 with a .762 OPS in 1,601 major league games. Winn didn’t make any errors in 54 games in LF last season while showing good range. If Gardner were to struggle in 2010, Winn could bump him for the starting job in LF.

33-year old righty swinging Marcus Thames would be the perfect platoon partner for Brett Gardner as he pounds lefty pitching. Thames played in 87 games for the Tigers last season and he was 65 of 258 (.252 avg, .777 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 13 homers and 36 RBIs. Thames didn’t make any errors in 20 games in LF last season while showing poor range.

25-year old righty swinging Jamie Hoffman is the Yankees’ #30 rated prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America. The Yankees snagged Hoffman in the Rule 5 Draft from the Dodgers so they have to keep him on the 25-man roster all year in 2010 or offer him back for half price. Hoffman played in 14 games for the Dodgers last season in which he was 4 of 22 (.182 avg, .576 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. He also played in 97 games in AA+AAA ball last season in which he was 104 of 358 (.291 avg, .856 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 10 homers, 64 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Hoffman didn’t play any games in LF for the Dodgers last season but he’s a more than capable defender there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE LF IN 2010: C+