The Yankees finally DFA'd Randy Winn who was as usless as tits on a bowl.
When Granderson was reactivated it came down to Winn or Russo, and the Yankees decided to keep the more versatile Russo and eat the $1,100,000 they are paying Winn. Winn admitted in his final interview that he was "terrible", and he was, both offensively and defensively. The Yankees had signed him as insurance in case Gardner was not ready to be an every day player, but Gardner has shown himself to be ready as an every day player. At best Gardner is the every day left fielder, at worst, Gardner can be platooned very occasionally with Russo. From what we have seen of Thames in the field, he should only see grass in an emergency situation and should be a part time DH, against lefties.
Ironically, Russo reminds me a lot of what Girardi was like as a hitter, tough out, not too much power. He and Cervelli are both in the mold of Girardi as hitters so it should hardly be a surprise that Girardi is fond of them. Russo is also defensively versatile as he can play both the infield and the outfield without embarassing himself. He is actually decent with the glove in left field, though he occasionally makes mistakes with his throws. He appears to be another mentally tough young kid, like Cervelli.
I feel badly for Winn who is a classy guy, but the tits on a bull analysis of Joe.T basically is a correct summary of what he currently brings to the table to a major league team. Even in his younger days he was, at best, a poor man's Bernie Williams with no power at all. He was signed as insurance on Gardner and the insurance is not needed at this time.
