How Safe is Brett Gardner’s Job?

New York Yankees fans know all too well that Brett Gardner has been struggling mightily so far this season.  Additionally, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of fantasy baseball managers are aware of his struggles as well.  After making a lot of fans in 2010 with his peskiness, speed, defense and fantasy profit (Gardner was a FA pickup in most leagues), Gardner has done the opposite in the early going.  What’s the deal? It seems as though some bad luck and poor approach are working against Gardner in this case.  His .244 BABIP certainly isn’t helping his game thus far, but even that can likely be related to a lower line drive rate of 15.2% (18.1% career) and a higher fly ball rate of 32.6% (30.6% career).  The difference between this years rates compared to his career are fairly modest, but even slight trends can have a big impact on numbers while the sample size is still relatively small.  He’s got three homers already this season, but if he could find a way ...