It’s always fun to hate the Yankees, right? I mean, 27 World Championships. They always seem to find that superstar in their farm system. They always seem to be able to afford that superstar from somebody else’s. The fan base is entitled. The fan base only sees that next big player that they can pay.
And while the Yankees have been that for the better part of my life, I’m starting to feel sorry for them. Their last championship was six years ago and since then the San Francisco Giants of all teams have won three titles and the Red Sox have won yet another. They’ve been marred by guys who use steroids. They sign players well past their prime. They’ve lost the captain of their ship and now no one seems to trust what’s going on in the front office.
Hell they’ve missed the postseason two years in a row. Some of laugh at that notion after the prosperous years they’ve had, but let’s not fool ourselves. This is the Yankees after all, where not making the playoffs is maybe more a crime than Chris Christie getting down with Jerry Jones at a Cowboys/Giants game in the Jerry Dome.
And I say I feel sorry for them half tongue-in-cheek because let’s face it, 27 championships and an endless bank account is nothing to feel sorry for when hard times hit.
And while I’d love to see the Yankees continue missing the postseason in 2015, and ultimately, I think they do, I think they will remain competitive despite having guys that are aging and pitchers that can’t stay healthy.
The fact the Yankees won 84 games last year and finished second in the American League East is a testament to just how good of a manager Joe Girardi is, and yet still, he cannot win with the Yankees fan.
Despite all that, Girardi is going to have more tools to work with this year. A full year of Chase Headley in Yankee Stadium may prove to be a great thing. Albeit limited, Headley hit .265 with five homers at Yankee Stadium in 2014. I think you stretch him out a little bit more there, provide him some healthier protection in a healthy Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixiera, Brian McCann, even A-Rod, and it could be a decent year for Chase Headley.
Like a lot of players in pinstripes this year, health is going to be oh so crucial for Teixiera. I think the days of 40 home runs, 120 RBIs and playing 155 games are well in the rearview mirror. While that is the case, Teix can be a servicable and productive bat in this lineup. I think we’re talking in the neighborhood of .250 with 20 or better homers and if he can drive in 80 or better, you have to ecstatic.
To me, one of the key pieces of this lineup is Carlos Beltran. I thought Beltran was a huge disappointment last year. I thought the team could have been a lot better had he stayed healthy. Again, a healthy Beltran could make a happy Yankee fan. Beltran has to, he absolutely has to, get back to the numbers he produced in St. Louis. Granted, producing in St. Louis is a ton easier than it is in New York where the media attention is less, the fan appreciation is greater, but the ballpark in the Bronx is made for Carlos Beltran. To me, 20 home runs and 75 RBIs is a must and a better than .230-whatever batting average is imperative. Again, if Beltran continues down the sinkhole pace he’s on in his second go-round in the Big Apple, the Yankees are throwing their money away.
I fully expect Brian McCann to have a big year. Despite struggling, McCann hit 23 home runs and played in 140 games. In Yankee Stadium though, I think 23 home runs has to be improved upon this year. Hitting .232 is not going to cut it for him though. That average, and OBP (which was about sixty points below his career average) has to be better.
Was there a more unsung player in all of baseball last year than Jacoby Ellsbury? The guy was a do it all catalyst and a big reason why New York was right around that 84 win mark. At just 31, Ellsbury is starting to figure it out it would appear and if the Yankees can continue to be able to just plug him in and get production, that will be a huge shot in the arm for the Bronx Bombers.
It’s going to be hard for DiDi Gregorius to replace Derek Jeter. Nay. Let me rephrase that. It is going to be impossible for DiDi Gregorius to replace Derek Jeter. In fact, he won’t. Let’s just say that up front. But what Gregorius brings is an upfront athleticism to play the shortstop position. Pairing him up the middle with Stephen Drew is going to be quite the defensive combo. Offensively though is where you find the challenge. Combined, I don’t know that I trust those two to hit .250. Combined, I expect them to be quite the defensive combo. If the high priced players around these guys don’t produce, their struggles will be amplified. If the high priced guys around them produce, their struggles will be minimized by their defense. It will be an interesting summer for the two middle-infielders in New York.
The pitching for the Pinstripers is promising, the problem is, a lot of it isn’t healthy. Was all that weight loss a good thing for CC Sabathia? Who would know? The guy made eight starts. Six outta eight years prior to that, you could pencil the guy in for 200 innings. Have all those innings started to catch up to him? At age 34, I can’t say I’d be surprised if they have.
What can we realistically expect from the [big?] fella in 2015? Well who knows. Let’s start with seeing if he can make 27-30 starts. If he can do that, I think he’s savvy enough to be an effective pitcher who doesn’t necessarily have to overpower everyone with his heat.
Additionally, the loss of Ivan Nova is excruciatingly disappointing because the young man was just starting to put it together. What the Yankees get out of Nova mid-to-late summer when they get him back is going to be a big question mark.
The Yankees scored big, in my opinion when they got Nathan Eovaldi from Miami this winter. At 6-14 with a 4-something ERA, you’re rightfully saying, Seth, how is this guy a big score for the Yankees? And I agree, that record and ERA are somewhat of a head scratcher from last year, but, I say this, his splits last year first to second half were incredibly dramatic. Clearly making huge strides, Eovaldi is absolutely poised for a huge year. I wrote several “Breakout Previews” in February, and I completely missed the boat on Eovaldi. I don’t have many doubts when I say, this guy is going to win 15 games this year, no matter how much offense their bats are able to produce.
Obviously getting Michael Pineda back for New York is huge, but of course, the big question that tags along with him is, which Pineda are the Yankees going to get? The guy that was one of the top rookies in the game from Seattle that they hoped they would get, or the guy that can’t stay on the field, and when he’s there, he’s a knucklehead who looks completely out of place?
Big question for the Yankees, and the answer to it could be the difference between 85 wins and 78 wins.
I really debated whether to write this or not. Because I hate public speculation of if a guy is going to get Tommy John Surgery. As a former pitcher and knowing guys that have undergone it, it is not something I want to publicly discuss. But I will put this out there because of the recent Zack Wheeler news for the New York Mets. When you hear elbow problems talked about, it scares the daylights out of you. Especially if it involves a member of the team you root for.
But I must be honest. I do not think it will. With Wheeler, it has come to light the Mets knew he had a partial UCL tear and decided it best he rehab it and make a go of it. Wheeler threw an entire summer on that tear but now we see this spring, it has caught up to him.
I’m not even going to speculate on if Tanaka goes down, when that might be, but I do think it will happen.
Let me reiterate, I do not wish it on him and I’m hoping he may have found some ground breaking methods to avoiding TJS. But I think it’s inevitable and it will be a sad day should it be.
All that to say, I like where the Yankees are going. I look forward to when we see the mighty powerful bat of Aaron Judge and the high upside starter Luis Severino, but for 2015, there are so many questions for the Yankees to have answered, I find it hard to believe in all of them being answered in a favorable manner.
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