I think a lot of people place way too much emphasis on homeruns and “power numbers” in general….I try and look at a player as to how is he as an all around baseball player, his hitting, fielding, running, all of it…..Ryan Howard is one guy that comes immediately to mind…He is considered so great because of his HRs and RBIs and he is awesome in those categories, no doubt, but he is a horrible fielder (lead MLB with 19 errors) that is a defensive liability and cant help the team at all on the bases…Plus, in the past two years he has struck out 398 times, that’s a lot of times he isn’t moving runners over, isn’t getting runners home from third, etc….In fact Ryan Howard has struck out more times in the past two years then Joe DiMaggio did in his ENTIRE career, that is brutal!

He had better learn to hit first. I also don't think he has Melky's arm either. We'll see...

Ellsbury was so good over the last month of 2007 and then in the post-season that people got this unrealistic idea that he was going to jump right into the MLs and hit .330, with 80 SBs and score 130. And incredibly he actually got off to a start through the couple of months or so that would have put him close to later two numbers. He was near the league lead in runs scored at that point.

But as usually happens word got around about some holes in his strike zone, mainly jamming him, and he also hurt his left wrist making a diving catch and had a very bad middle of the season. Then he got hot again at the end, probably making some adjustments to how he was being pitched, lifting his average 13 points in the month of September. In all it was a very streaky year for him, great at the beginning, lousy in the middle, then great again at the end. But overall it was a very good rookie season. He nearly broke the RS single season SB record (54, I think) in spite of the terrible middle of the season, when he went something like a month with barely one steal.

Gardner will be good in CF he has great range and will save some runs plus he brings some elements that the yankee teams have been missing over the last few years.

Ells was scary to face most of the year. When he led off, you had to get him out because you had tha pesky little dud hitting right behind him. He went into a slump late. I'll trade hime for Gabe Gross even up :-P

I think one thing that could really help him would be to work more on his bunting and do it more often. With his speed he could easily beat out mediocre bunts. It's a good way to avoid big hitting slumps too.

I would agree. The Rays need their speed guys to bunt more but they don't want to or can't.

"Gardner is Going to Rock!"

On guitar hero?

well he is a guy in his mid-twenties so I am guessing that is a strong possiblity....

Sometimes it's hard to convince leadoff hitters that their job is to just GET ON, no matter how they do it, not try to hit HRs.

I totally agree. He will be an asset. He will do average this season, but from 2010 on, i believe he will be THE BOMB.

I hope so.

One of these three wont be in pinstripes opening day: Nady, Swisher, or Melky....

Team needs patience with Gardner, until he develops his hitting.
He has to get on base to cause any damage.
The hitting problems should be resolved this year. Probably see a great combination of long bombs and small ball.