Should the Yankees be more aggressive on the bases?

Whenever you think of the Yankees, stolen bases aren’t exactly something that jumps to mind. They’re a power and patience club build around extra base hits and working counts, and they’ve been immensely successful with that approach. And yet, you might be surprised to learn that they’ve stolen at least 100 bases as a team every year dating back to 2005. They’ve swiped 594 bags during the last five full seasons, the third most in the AL and the fifth most in baseball overall. For a team that often gets criticized for being one-dimensional, they really aren’t.

The 2011 Yankees have a number of stolen base threats, led by Brett Gardner. His 47 SB last year were the most by a Yankee since Rickey Henderson stole 93 bags way back in 1988. That’s his game, that’s what he’s supposed to do. Derek Jeter has stolen double-digit bases in every full season of his career while Curtis Granderson has done it every year since 2007. Alex Rodriguez is usually good for double-digit steals as well, though last year he fell well short of that mark (just four). Russell Martin showed off his skills by stealing third in the first game of the season, and his 57 SB from 2007-2010 are 27 more than any other catcher. They certainly have enough players capable of wreaking havoc on the basepaths, and now Joe Girardi wants them to really force the issue.

“That was one of the things we talked about during Spring Training that one of the things we wanted to focus on was base-running and being more aggressive, [getting] better secondary [leads] and going first-to-third,” said Girardi before Sunday’s game. “Those type of things, putting pressure on the opposing club. I know that [Gardner] and [Granderson] talked a lot about stealing bases. I think that is a healthy competition.”

We’ve already discussed the stolen base things, but it’s worth mentioning that the Yankees were one of the league’s worst teams in terms of going first-to-third on a single last year, at least in terms of percentages. Just 87 Yankee baserunners went first-to-third on a single in 328 chances in 2010, or 26.5%. The league average was 28.7%, and the only teams worse than the Yankees were Indians (22.4%), Blue Jays (25%), Orioles (25.2%), and Red Sox (25.7%). So at least there was a decent-sized gap between them and the teams below them.

However, when you consider the type of lineup the Yankees have, stealing bags and/or taking the extra base isn’t a crucial component of their offense. They simply don’t need to do that kind of stuff to score runs, as we saw this weekend. That’s not to say taking the extra base and whatnot is a bad strategy, it obviously isn’t, but the number one priority has to be getting men on base and keeping them there. In plain English, the Yankees shouldn’t take unnecessary risks on the bases. Knowing when to just stay put and not force the issue is just as important as knowing when to put your foot on the gas.

On the other hand, you could argue that the Yankees have a higher margin for error. Their offense is so good that a runner getting thrown out trying to steal or go first-to-third won’t kill them since they could easily get that run back (in theory). I can see both sides of the argument, but I tend to fall on the conservative side. Sometimes the threat of a stolen base creates more havoc than the stolen base itself. If Girardi wants his team to be more aggressive on the bases, that’s fine. I just hope they’re smart about it.