For the 1st time in 20 years the NY Yankees are without an original core players, Derek Jeter, the last of that winning group has retired leaving the Yankees with somewhat of a identity crisis.
As someone who dislikes the Yankees I waited for this day wishing that soon the Yankees winning ways would soon be a thing of the past, no more 14 straight post seasons appearances, no more clinging to the past, time to deal with the present.
The Identity of the Yankees is now of a bland group of guys, a team that makes it hard to get up for, across town the Mets have the total opposite of a team, young talent and home grown guys floods queens with excitement, but in the Bronx what you have is a bunch of guys I call ''back of the baseball card players'' guys who find themselves in the back end of their careers. This group includes, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Chase Headley. If the Yankees are going to win in 2015 they will need rebound years from this group, key players like Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner will do their part as the table setters, but it will pretty much be the same team and offense as last season where scoring runs did not come easy, the only difference this year is that the Yanks get their face and their most popular player back in Alex Rodriguez.
Still the Yankees are asking for too much looking for guys like Beltran, Teixeira and McCann to rebound, these guys are old, Chase Headley is only 30 but his last big season was in 2012.
So far getting AROD back has been a plus but before the season started many had pretty much written him off as a productive player, Yankee fans were hoping for 15 HR's and 60 rbi's out of Rodriguez as a plus, during spring training Joe Girardi said Alex would have to earn a spot and indicated that he would not be an everyday player, but now 3 weeks into the season, AROD has been the most productive and most feared hitter in the lineup.
It is still early, and although the Yankees have gotten off to a slow start things have looked good during this past road trip, they are back over 500 and what helps the Yankees is that the AL East is expected to be weak, Boston and Baltimore look like the 2 teams to come out, on paper Boston has the killer lineup but their pitching is suspect and Baltimore last year AL East champs may be the more complete team but I'm not sold on their pitching as well.
Anything can happen, things look wide open in the division but do the Yankee have enough to win games? I have my doubts, for what I see is a flawed lineup that will have a hard time scoring runs especially on the road, the way the lineup is currently constructed the Yankee lineup have too many left handed hitters, most are pull hitters that the defense shifts on which neutralizes the offense.
When you look at the Yankee lineup their are too many similarities, Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury at the top are pretty much the same player both leadoff types, both lefties, than you have Mark Texiera, Carlos Beltran, Chase Headley and Brian McCann all pull hitters, in the middle you have AROD as pretty much the lone righty bat when a right hander is on the mound, and at the bottom 2 more lefties in Stephen Drew and Didi Gregorious, on top of that the offense is too much base to base, still relying in the long ball which so far so good.
And the pitching?
The pitching is another thing, it could be very good but at the same time it could very bad, for now the ace is still Masahiro Tanaka, as the #2 you have Michael Pineda who's stuff is good enough to be #1, at #3 you have C.C. Sabathia who's better days are behind him, the #4 man is the unproven Nathan Eovaldi who is young, throws hard, but who is still figuring it out, and finally as the #5 man is Adam Warren who for the time being takes up the spot until Chris Capuano and Ivan Nova get back.
If the Yankees are going to get consistency out of their pitching it may come out of the back end of the bullpen, last season it was lights out and it looks be the same in 2015. Back is Dellin Betances who was electric out of no where, the kid is high 90's with nasty movement on his breaking pitches, replacing David Robertson as the closer will be Andrew Miller another hard thrower who slings the ball from the left side, this could be the best 8th and 9th inning setup in baseball, the problem with the bullpen is the rest of the guys, too many no names. The Yankee pitching may be a strength but still you have to worry about you're 1 and 2 starters, Masahiro Tanaka is ''Tommy John'' waiting to happen and Michael Pineda has not been able to give you 20 starts in a season since 2011.
Yea it's a crap shoot but luckily this is baseball where anything can happen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Wow, for someone who "dislikes" the Yankees you sure have a lot of opinions.
Ok, let's start: How exactly are the Yankees clinging to the past?
So you said this about the Yankees; "will pretty much be the same team and offense as last season where scoring runs did not come easy" But the facts don't back you up. The Yankees are 2nd in the AL in Runs Scores, 3rd in the Majors with 85 runs. In Run Differential the Yankees are 3rd in the AL and 6th in the Majors with a +20.
You'll get no argument from me on Beltran and Tex, those guys are on the back end of their careers but let's look at Beltran. When the Yankees signed him he was coming off a season where he hit 24 home runs, 84 RBI's and hit .290, do you really think that anyone anticipated the drop off to 15 HR, 49 RBI and .233 in 2014? No one saw that coming and if they said they did they're full of it. As for Tex, all you can ask for is that he stays healthy, hit home runs and play solid defense which he does.
You then go on claim that McCann and Headley are too old, they 31 and 30 respectively so not sure where you're going with that. As for Headley having his last big year in 2012, no one expects Headley to put up those numbers again, that is not why the Yankees signed him he's on the team to provide gold glove caliber defense at 3rd which he does and to be a good, consistent hitter which he is. He's sort of like a Scott Brosius version 2.0
You mention the Yankee bullpen that other than Betances and Miller they have too many "no names" Other than the closer for most teams how many bullpen guys can you name? Go ahead, I'll wait. Oh, and once again the numbers don't back you up. The Yankees bullpen is in the top 4 in MLB.
It's still early so anything can happen but all in all I'm satisfied with the way the Yankees are playing.
You don't think the lineup is the same as last year?the only new guys is AROD and DIDI, yes right now the offensive numbers are super but its still early & I still think the offense will be similar to last year. Don't forget I'm just making predictions.
As for Beltran, when the Yanks made that deal YES, I was one that said that he should be fine, but at the same time I also thought that it was a bad deal because of the 3 years, look when Beltran left the Mets 4 years ago he was already declining, he was no longer a CF. The only reason I thought it would be a good deal was because he was going to the Yanks where he could just be another guy in the lineup.
McCann and Headley being old, well McCann is a catcher and 31 is a lot, Headley yea he is 30, but it been a while since he put up numbers, at the same time the Yanks are not paying him to be Brosius 2.0, now if all you ask if for him to be Brosius than ok he can do that. I still think it was a bad sign, to many years
You're right, most ML bullpen has no names, but like I said, the Yanks should have the best 8th and 9th inning guys in the game.
Post a Comment