Yankees need a lefty bat: Kyle Schwarber DH against righties.

Giancarlo Stanton adds to a Yankee batting order in 2018 in more than one way. Stanton is another righty batter in a righty dominant lineup led by Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.

Yankee lefty batters in 2017 were about league average:

Rk	Player	OPS+	AB	HR	PA	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Didi Gregorius	106	534	25	570	2017	27	NYY	AL	136	73	153	27	0	87	25	1	70	3	0	7	7	3	1	.287	.318	.478	.796	*6/HD
2	Brett Gardner	104	594	21	682	2017	33	NYY	AL	151	96	157	26	4	63	72	2	122	8	5	3	4	23	5	.264	.350	.428	.778	*78H/D
3	Jacoby Ellsbury	97	356	7	409	2017	33	NYY	AL	112	65	94	20	4	39	41	3	63	5	2	0	7	22	3	.264	.348	.402	.750	*8H/D
4	Greg Bird	84	147	9	170	2017	24	NYY	AL	48	20	28	7	0	28	19	0	42	2	0	2	2	0	0	.190	.288	.422	.710	*3/HD

First baseman Greg Bird was injured most of the 2017 season but hit well in the 2017 tournament as he did in the 2015 wild card game, which the Yankees lost. In 57 tournament plate appearances (PA) Bird has three homers and .921 OPS. Ironically, in 2017 Bird hit much better against lefty pitchers:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
vs RHP	48		138	119	16	20	6	0	6	20	0	0	16	35	.168	.275	.370	.645	44	2	2	0	1	0	3	.177	83	71
vs LHP	20		32	28	4	8	1	0	3	8	0	0	3	7	.286	.344	.643	.987	18	0	0	0	1	0	2	.263	172	159

Ellsbury is likely to be phased out. And despite initial talk about where Stanton will play, including DH, in 2018 what makes the most sense is for Stanton to remain a right fielder and for Judge to move to left. Stanton is the one who will be in an unfamiliar situation and he's never played left. Plus, Judge covers more ground and left in Yankee Stadium is much bigger than right. Forget about either spending much time at DH unless there's an injury.

2017 splits:
Gregorius:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
vs RHP	129		415	390	53	115	23	0	22	70	2	1	19	47	.295	.325	.523	.848	204	5	1	0	5	1	7	.285	112	123
vs LHP	77		155	144	20	38	4	0	3	17	1	0	6	23	.264	.299	.354	.653	51	2	2	0	2	0	6	.292	68	76

Gardner:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
vs RHP	143		513	446	83	126	22	3	19	51	23	5	57	94	.283	.367	.473	.840	211	3	4	3	3	2	4	.318	115	124
vs LHP	83		169	148	13	31	4	1	2	12	0	0	15	28	.209	.299	.291	.590	43	1	4	2	0	0	6	.246	53	61

Aaron Hicks, switch hitter:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
vs RHP	81		235	192	39	46	11	0	10	33	7	5	37	45	.240	.363	.453	.816	87	4	2	1	3	0	0	.257	93	118
vs LHP	50		126	109	15	34	7	0	5	19	3	0	14	22	.312	.389	.514	.903	56	4	1	0	2	0	0	.345	113	142

Among those three only switch hitter Hicks hit well against lefty pitchers but he was on the DL twice and had never hit that well overall in any previous season. So while Hicks may get ample consideration for playing center field along with Gardner, Hicks is not likely to be DH very often.

Well before there was any indication that Stanton might come to the Yankees I had been telling friends that it made sense for the Yankees to trade for Cub lefty batter Kyle Schwarber to be the Yankee DH in 2018.

Schwarber started 2017 so badly that he was sent to the minors. But he returned and rebounded and hit 30 home runs in only 422 at bats (AB). Here are his 2017 splits:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
vs RHP	121		388	340	58	75	13	0	27	51	1	1	43	116	.221	.317	.497	.814	169	6	5	0	0	1	2	.244	107	114
vs LHP	62		98	82	9	14	3	1	3	8	0	0	16	34	.171	.306	.341	.648	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	.244	70	75

Schwarber can't hit lefties but he hits quite well against righties, who throw at least 70% of the pitches. With the Yankees best hitters being righty, they are likely to face a lot of righty pitchers. The Yankees need more balance in their lineup in order to put even more pressure on opposing pitchers to wear them down.

There are these added benefits:
1. Catcher Gary Sanchez takes most of the remaining DH games against lefty starting pitchers.
2. Sanchez gets ample rest and catches no more than about 120 games.
3. Schwarber, who had been a catcher and is now a weak left fielder, can be the Yankees emergency catcher, giving new Yankee manager Aaron Boone more latitude in using Sanchez as DH.

The Cubs would consider a reasonable offer, maybe young righty hitting outfielder Clint Frazier, who is now expendable with the addition of Stanton. Schwarber is a fielding liability for the Cubs and he only hits righties. But Schwarber would be a valuable asset for the 2018 Yankees.

What do you think?