UPDATE: Jacoby Ellsbury is not in the starting lineup tonight for the New York Yankees.
It's official: Ellsbury, $153M man, is benched. Gardner 8, Young 7, Beltran 9, ARod DH, McCann 2, Headley 5, Bird, 3, Refnsyder 4, Didi 6.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) October 6, 2015
The blueprint for Yankees is to get a lead and remove Young, Beltran and Refsnyder for defensive replacements. (Ellsbury, Heathcott, Ryan).
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) October 6, 2015
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Much of the success for the New York Yankees at the beginning of the year could have been attributed to the duo of Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner atop the lineup as well as catcher Brian McCann's ability to help keep the ailing pitching staff on the right track.
However, those three might not play in tonight's AL Wild Card Game against the Houston Astros, according to the latest rumors.
"What the Yankees talked about internally yesterday was the possibility of starting Chris Young in the outfield, and if that happens, that means Brett Gardner, who is hitting .206 since the All-Star break, would be sat down, or Jacoby Ellsbury, who is hitting .220," ESPN Insider Buster Olney said on Mike and Mike in the Morning.
"To me, maybe the more interesting one, they also talked about starting John Ryan Murphy at catcher instead of Brian McCann. Masahiro Tanaka has 45 starts in the big leagues and 40 of those are with McCann catching. McCann has really struggled of late, hitting .177 in the month of September, and this would be an effort to get another right-handed bat in the lineup."
Tanaka has a 2.83 ERA in five starts with Murphy behind the plate, Olney added.
Here are all three of these hitters' stats against left-handed pitching in 2015:
Gardner - .276/.361/.400 with 25 run scored, 3 home runs and 22 RBIs (200 plate appearances)
Ellsbury - .253/.327/.325 with 15 runs scored, 2 home runs and 11 RBIs (173 plate apperances)
McCann - .241/.331/.422 with 19 runs scored, 6 home runs and 26 RBIs (133 plate appearances)
On the other hand, Young has had much more success against lefties while Murphy has had a much better second half than McCann.
Young - .327/.397/.575 with 31 runs scored, 7 home runs and 24 RBIs (175 plate appearances)
Murphy (second half of season) - .308/.368/.487 with 14 runs scored, 3 home runs and 9 RBIs (87 plate appearances)
And here are Dallas Keuchel's stats against left-handed hitters (181 at-bats) in 2015:
Batting average: .177
On-base percentage: .201
Slugging percentage: .260
OPS: .461
Strikeout-to-Walk ratio - 8.33
Will Girardi go through with this plan or at least some variation of it? Who knows. Either way there's a good possibility at least Gardner or Ellsbury sit tonight due to their recent struggles. He'd arguably be hard-pressed to sit Ellsbury and McCann at the same time, considering both are veteran with much postseason experience.
"I'll have a lineup [Tuesday]," Girardi tersely told Dan Martin of the New York Post.
Ellsbury and McCann have yet to appear in a postseason game with New York, but there's a chance they may have to wait until later this week - or next year.
