Believe Brett Gardner as Starting Outfielder When You See It

Too soon to say what Yankees will do in left field

Ah, the majesties of the Internets. If this were the dark days of 1995, it would take a trip to a library, an affinity for microfiche and several hours to find evidence of why it isn't such a good idea to assume Brett Gardner will be a starting outfielder for the Yankees on Opening Day.

Thanks to the magic of search engines, though, it takes a matter of seconds to call up a Post article from December 19th of last year and learn that the Yankees weren't the team that outbid the Red Sox for the services of a free agent named Mark Teixeira.

"Not us," G.M. Brian Cashman told The Post late last night.

It was, of course, exactly a year ago that the Yankees announced that they had, in fact, outbid the Sox and everyone else for Teixeira's services. That's why we advise at least one grain of salt be added to Cashman's attempt to shoot down the notion that trading Melky Cabrera is a precursor to a move to bring another left fielder into the fold.

We know the Yankees like Gardner a lot. They tried to hand him the center field job last season, only to see Cabrera wrest it away because Gardner's speed didn't make him all that good a fielder or hitter. He's a nice complementary player in that he's helpful if used judiciously but potentially harmful if he's in the lineup every day for an entire season.

Cashman's denials would seem more believable if it were late February, but it is still 2009 and Jason Bay, Johnny Damon and Matt Holliday are still out there for anyone who wants to sign them. The G.M. has been far too savvy and far too bold over the last few seasons to think that he's just going to take two months off and not, at the very least, kick the tires on deals that would help the team going forward. 

While announcing the trade for Javier Vazquez on Tuesday, Cashman said it "would be inappropriate" to suggest that the Yankees wouldn't be starting Brett Gardner come April. It says here that it is just as inappropriate to suggest that Cashman would publicly divulge the Yankees' actual position on any personnel matters. History agrees, so it looks like we'll just have to agree to disagree.  

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.

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