Remington: Can Granderson solve his lefty pitcher problems?

Future Waldling: “100 Granderson Bar now has 48 HR’s this season at Yankee Stadium! Isn’t that amazing, Suzyn!?”

Granderson will be 29 in a month, and is in his physical prime. The odds are good that he’ll have a field day with that short right field wall. He wasn’t overly lucky last year, according to Hit Tracker Online, which means that he’s not due for the kind of rude awakening Jimmy Rollins received after he hit 30 homers. He has legitimate 25-30 homer power in his bat and he’s moving to a park that will make it easier for him to hit them.

The Forecast for 2010: Last year, Granderson showed two things: he could murder right-handers and hit a ton of homers off them, and he couldn’t hit lefties if you gave him a bat the size of John Kruk. The new Yankee Stadium likely won’t help him hit lefties — the short porch in right field will only help him if he can pull the ball, and he can’t get around on lefties. What’s more, the Yankees have a homegrown solution to the problem: Brett Gardner is defensively similar to Granderson, and has an OPS over .700 against southpaws in the majors and in the minors. Any time a lefty’s on the mound, they can rest Granderson and let him lurk as a potent pinch-hitting weapon any time a right-handed reliever comes in. Granderson doesn’t seem like a platoon player, but the more often the Yankees realize it, the better.