Season Preview: New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are going into the 2012 season with a
lot of the same pieces that they had last year. Their offseason acquisitions
focused mainly on getting better starting pitching than they had last year.
They signed Hiroki Kuroda from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Also they traded for a
young right hander in Michael Pineda. The most surprising free agent signing
was of course Andy Pettitte, who came out of retirement to try and help the
Yankees win their 28th World Championship. After adding those three pitchers
they have traded A.J. Burnett to the Pirates and lost Bartolo Colon in free
agency to the Oakland Athletics. There was only one real move to help improve
the lineup and that was signing Raul Ibanez. He is a lefty hitter who will
mainly face righty pitchers.
Weakness: Age and injury
The Yankees have a lot of money tied up with players that
are older. Everyone in the infield is over 30 years old (Derek Jeter, Alex
Rodriquez, and Mark Teixeira) except for second baseman Robinson Cano. In the
outfield Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher are also over 30 years old. For the
pitching staff there are two guys over the age of 35 Freddy Garcia and newcomer
Hiroki Kuroda. That is somewhat of a concern because historically as guys get
older more nagging injuries will affect their career. And the injury bug has
already hit the Yankees rotation with Michael Pineda going on the 15 day
disabled list with a shoulder injury. This won’t hurt them right away because
of all the arms they have in the rotation, but it is something to keep an eye
one when you look at the future of this ball club.
Strengths: Pitching and Experience
The Yankees are going into this season with better starting
pitching and a better bullpen than they have had in years. You can start with
ace CC Sabathia who has been anchoring this rotation for the past three years.
He is a pitcher that you know what you are going to get; he throws 200 plus
innings and is capable of winning 20 games a year. He also is great for the
younger players to learn from because of his knowledge of how to pitch. Also in
the rotation for the second year in a row would be Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia.
Nova won 16 games last year as a rookie and he hopes to avoid a sophomore
slump. Garcia is a wily old veteran who knows how to pitch. Hiroki Kuroda will
be making his debut for the Yankees this year and it will be interesting to see
how the 3.45 career ERA will translate to the AL East. Phil Hughes is also
going to be in the rotation and I think that will be the weak spot for the Yankees
because he has lost a lot of velocity and the one year he was a starter his ERA
was over 4.00.
When you look at the real strength of this team it may lie
in the bullpen. You can start with the best closer of all time Mariano Rivera.
With Rivera you know what you are going to get no matter how old he is. When
the Enter Sandman song comes on more times than not the game is over. Before
you get to Rivera the Yankees may have the best 8th inning guy in
the league in David Robertson. After his first All-Star year and having an ERA
of 1.08 he is a guy that the Yankees hope can continue his success in 2012. And
finally the next big arm in the bullpen would be Rafael Soriano, who was
supposed to be the Yankees 8th inning guy until Robertson flourished
under that role. Soriano had an off year last year but he has the stuff to make
this bullpen the best in the majors.
The Yankees are a team that has experience of winning
championships all over their roster. The captain Derek Jeter is a five time
World Champion and so is Mariano Rivera. They have the ability to help the
other players young and old on how to win in New York. They have been through
it all and that is something many teams do not have. Also their manager has won
the World Series as a player and as a coach so he knows what it takes to get
the job done and the type of players you need to win another World Series.
X-Factor: Mark Teixeira
Mark Teixeira is a player that can make the Yankees get to
the next step if he steps up his at the plate. He is a guy who is capable of
hitting forty home runs and driving in well over 100 runs. But the problem with
him is that his average has gone down every year that he has been with the
Yankees. Almost all teams put a shift on when he steps up to the plate and he
continues to hit right into the teeth of it. If he could start to spread the
ball around the field more this will help the Yankees be a better team. He is
now batting in the fifth spot in the lineup so he is going to have plenty of
chances to drive in runs with the guys who hit in front of him. His homerun
total might go down but if he could get his average back up to .285 or higher
it will greatly improve an already powerful lineup. Also what he brings on the
defensive side is remarkable. Since I’ve been watching baseball I have not seen
a first basemen make as many spectacular plays look so easy.
Prediction:
I think that the New York Yankees are going to have a lot of
competition like always in the American League East. You have Boston who is
always going to be a contender with the lineup they have. The Rays are a great
young team that have a rotation with experience and live arms. And when you
look at the Blue Jays and Orioles they continue to get better every year and
are always capable of pulling off a surprise season. Having said all that I
still think the Yankees can win the division for the second year in a row
because of how improved the rotation looks. But the battle between Boston,
Tampa Bay, and New York is going to be something special to watch and I can’t
wait for the season to get started.