It has been a pretty exciting week in sports with the Final Four, hockey and basketball’s playoff race heating up, as well as baseball’s official Opening Day. We saw the Red Sox season preview last week so now let’s take a look at the defending AL East Champions, the New York Yankees.
Projected Line Up
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Curtis Granderson, CF
3. Robinson Cano, 2B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Mark Teixeira, 1B
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Raul Ibanzez/Andruw Jones, DH
8. Russell Martin, C
9. Brett Gardener, LF
Projected Starting Pitchers
1. CC Sabbathia, L
2. Hiroki Kuroda, R
3. Ivan Nova, R
4. Michael Pineda, R
5. Freddy Garcia, R
6. Phil Hughes, R
7. Andy Pettitte, L
Bullpen
Mariano Rivera
David Robertson
Rafael Soriano
Boone Logan
Bench
Infielders – Eric Chavez, Eduardo Nunez
Outfielders – Raul Ibanez, Andruw Jones,
Catchers – Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine
Players to watch in the minors
Pitchers – Manuel Banuelos, Dellin Betances
Infield – Romiro Pena
Catcher – Gary Sanchez
Starting Line-Up
The only change in terms of positions from last year is at DH. Raul Ibanez looks to receive a majority of the at bats at DH with Andruw Jones also seeing some time. These two also represent the outfield depth which is a little concerning because they are both very old and very slow. One other fairly significant change is something seen towards the end of last year of Cano batting third and Teixeira batting fifth. Cano has established himself as the Yankees best position player and hitter so I am in favor of the permanent change. There were not a lot of position battles in spring training this year for the Yankees so hopefully everyone can stay focused and not have to look over their shoulder. If A-Rod can stay healthy (here’s looking at you Ivan Drago’s doctor) the Yankees should challenge for the most potent offense in baseball.
Starting Pitching
There is an old baseball saying that you can never have enough pitching; the Yankees may challenge that this year. Right now the Yankees have 7 players who can start. This is in stark contrast of last year when going into the season they had maybe three. In the span of about an hour in January the Yankees changed that by trading for Michael Pineda, a move I am a big fan of, and signing Hiroki Kuroda, a move I am lukewarm on. Kuroda had a pretty good year last year but he is switching from the NL West to the AL East and is no spring chicken; however he is a proven pitcher that hopefully can have a solid season. I am very high on the Pineda move; I have been a fan of Pineda for a little while now and was ecstatic to hear about the trade. Montero was a pretty big chip to give up, but I do not believe the Yankees will miss his offense all that much. Pineda is a huge, young power pitcher that at the time is very cheap. There are concerns about how he showed up at camp and his decline at the end of last year but I think he will be a stud. He will begin the year with tendinitis in his shoulder but he hopefully will be back soon enough. The fortunate thing about having 7 starters is that if someone gets hurt we will not have to see a guy on the mound that has never pitched in the majors and was playing in Scranton the week before. Who knows how Pettitte will be after taking a year off, but I would much rather see him on the mound than an unknown. I would like to see Phil Hughes moved to the bullpen, somewhere he has had success before but the Yankees want him to be a starter. Regardless of how the rotation shapes out it is nice to have some legit options instead of hope and prayers.
Bullpen
The age-less Mariano Rivera returns again to be the closer, in what he has hinted maybe his last year. Mo has hinted at this before so I am not going to worry about it until I hear either way. It is a nice feeling to not have to worry about your closer and the Yankees have not had to do that since Hansen was making music. The rest of the bullpen is rounded out by David Robertson, who had a great year last year, Rafael Soriano, who missed a lot of time and hopefully can bounce back to his Tampa form, Boone Logan, the lefty specialist, and my hope of Phil Hughes. We probably won’t see Joba or Pedro Feliciano this year, but a bullpen of Robertson, Soriano, Hughes, and anchored by Mo is pretty damn strong.
Season Prediction
The Yankees do not have many question marks going into this season. Yes they are older at some positions but if age is the only real question mark I will take that going in. This past offseason the Yankees identified their weakness, starting pitching, and turned it into a strength. My bold prediction is that the Yankees will win the AL East (I have the Rays in second) and will challenge for the World Series.
I think that the Yankees will be good – they’ll probably win the AL East and make the playoffs – but they do that every year. There have been very few seasons in the last 12 years or so where they didn’t enter the season as a favorite, and they’ve only got a single championship in that stretch to show for it. So what’s my point? I’m not going to get overly excited about them, especially in a season that should be MUCH more competitive than past seasons.
I expect their offense to be top 5 in the league, per usual, and they do have good pitching depth, although I see it as a lot of mediocre depth. Nova is actually the big question mark for me, because he showed he can be better than mediocre. As for the rest of these guys, we’ll see what they can do in the AL East.
I think Pineada is going to be a beast and we will see with Kuroda. The depth is much better then mediocre, but even if it is I would much rather have mediocre depth then no depth like your favorite chicken eaters. Throw in a pretty deep bullpen and I am excited.
I’d be optimistic about Pineada as well. Kuroda has had one winning season in his career and three losing seasons, while pitching in the NL. Nova, as I stated, is my question mark (I think he’ll be good). I have no faith in Hughes, Pettite, or Garcia, so I’m not sure where the “much better than mediorcre” is coming from. I think what they have to hope if that if they can pitch guys every 6 days or so, they’ll be rested and perform well. I think the Red Sox top 3 is much better than the Yanks, but I’ll take the Yankees 4-6, yes.
CC is better then Beckett
Lester is better the Kuroda/Nova/Pineada (lester also has to stay healthy)
Clay vs Hughes is much closer then you would thing
Clay- Innings pitched per year-106.25, walks 185, K-342, record 25-24, whip 1.34, era 3.64
Hughes(while a starter) innings/year 107.66, walks- 157, k- 370, record 36-23, whip 130, era, 4.46
so Hughes walks less and strikes out more while Clay gives up less runs.
When the ace is better and the 3 is pretty comparable I dont think you can say much better
Meh. Beckett did have a better ERA than CC last year to start with, although I know this is an argument that I’m not going to win so I won’t bother. The difference in ERA with Clay and Hughes is significant – I put more faith in ERA than any other pitching statistic.
clays record is 35-24*
Who wrote this article? It took me a while to realize it was j-bone with all the “we” and “hopefully”, but you two have a pretty similar writing style.
That being said I think the Yankees are going to have a real good year. The outfield depth, in my opinion, will be minor leaguers like Dickerson. If anyone goes down for significant time there is no way we will see Andruw or Raul in there as everyday players. There are DH’s with maybe some spot starts.
Where I differ from everyone is that I’m not as high on the pitching as everyone else is. Yes it is “better” going into the season, but that is because everyone thought Garcia and Colon were washed up garbage. They ended up having really good seasons, so it will be hard to duplicate from that standpoint. I’m nervous about Pineda’s health, I’m nervous that Nova can’t get people out and quietly really only benefitted from a 4.5 run support per game last year, I’m nervous that Kuroda will have a tough transition. I feel really good about CC (obviously), Hughes (I disagree with J-bone here and think he will be a very good starter for us), Garcia (had a very underrated year last year and looks good again), Pettitte (He is one of my favorite players ever and can’t wait to watch him pitch again). I love our bullpen and I love Cano hitting third.
The Cano hitting third thing isn’t surprising to me, and it’s even less surprising to me that you guys love it so much. Thats said, I’ve long been one of Texiera’s supporters (although I hate him). I think he is far and away the best player on the Yankees, offensively and defensively. I can see both sides of the argument with regards to who hits 3rd though – it’s a good problem to have.
I said we twice, and I did say hopefully alot, hopefully next time I wont say hopefully so many times.
I dont think Hughes will not succeed as a starter, I also think he can be very good, but there is no need to have seven starters. Of all the pitchers he is the best suited for the bullpen because of his stuff and experience there. Pettitte is not going to the bullpen, and I dont think Garcia has “bullpen stuff”
as far as tex vs cano, they are very close on defense but tex might be a little bit better, but on offense cano is so much more consistant. I guess it depends on if you want power or hits in the three spot. With a-rod and tex behind cano ill take the hits.
In the 3 hole I’ll take Cano any day of the week and twice on Saturday. I’ve soured a bit on Tex as a hitter, and completely want him out of the 3 hole. His average needs to seriously jump for consideration to hit above the 5 spot in the future. If you want to deserve the type of money you make you need to hit higher than .250. He is a career .281 hitter and his 3 seasons on the Yankees have been .292, .256, and .248. That is completely unacceptable.
As a defender, I would not take anybody over Tex. Cano is unreal as well, except he has some “non-chalant” mental errors.
Cano is definitely the Yankees best overall player
That is strange, because Tex used to hit .300 routinely. I hear your sentiment, but if you’re making an argument about money vs performance A-Rod is the main player who should be faulted. I know that Cano is good, which is undeniable, but I’m still not totally drinking the cool aid so to speak. If he has a big year this year (which I expect him to), I’ll buy in more fully.
Well the Arod money vs performance is just a conversation I never have. Nobody in the league deserves that much more than the others. But when they put that much money out Tex they expected a guy to hit for a reasonable average. You cant be a 3 hole hitter getting on base 1 out of ever 4 at bats. His OBP was a paltry .341. Between him and AROD imagine the numbers Cano would have put up if there was EVER anyone on base when he got up. Tex’s power numbers are still really good though so he will fit the 5 spot nicely
Good points.