For anyone who remembers the Yankees completely falling
apart in the playoffs last season, one would hope that a few good off season
moves and a few more healthy players would be the remedy for last years season
to forget. I mean hey, it’s the Yankees, right? GM Brian Cashman will think of
a way to fix the bats and heal the boo-boo’s all off season as usual. Right?
Wrong (apparently). As the Evil Empire’s actual Emperor’s,
Hal and Hank Steinbrenner seem as if they’re trying to make their father roll
over in his grave with the action that they have done so far this off season
(none). And the injuries plaguing the already old Yankee team before the season
has even started doesn’t make it sound much better.
Cashman was quoted today by saying he “still believes the
Yankees will be a playoff team” come next October. Has that even been a
question for the past how many years? (15 of the last 16 years the Yankees have
made the playoffs.) Is this offseason mess the beginning of a truly rare and
awful season for the New York Yankees?
Lets begin with the injury situation that the Yankees have
in front of them already. (Today is March 6th, about 2 weeks into
the Grapefruit League.) We’re already aware that Alex Rodriguez has had surgery
on his right hip and hasn’t announced a comeback date. Many skeptics have been
saying he could possibly miss the entire year. But so what, they benched him in
the playoffs last year because he couldn’t catch up to 88 MPH fastballs, A-Rod
isn’t the same hitter he used to be.
That’s true- but the Yankee’s center fielding slugger (43
HR’s last season) Curtis Granderson broke his wrist a few days ago after being
hit by a pitch and should miss the first month and a half of the regular
season. There goes much of the run scoring capability right there as Granderson
also had 106 RBI’s last season.
Lets make matter worse for the Yankees. First basemen gold
glover Mark Teixeira- a vital part of their batting lineup has just been put on
the injured list until at least mid-May with his own wrist issues-apparently
injuring it during a tee drill. Teixeira’s bona fide hitting will also be
missed in the heart of the order for the Yankees.
To top it off- starting pitcher Phil Hughes has been
completely shut down all spring training (not a good thing for a pitcher)
because of a bulging disc in his upper back and top left handed reliever Boone
Logan has been dealing with inflammation in his left elbow which has sidelined
him. Lets not forget top young pitcher- Michael Pineda, who hasn’t thrown a
ball yet for the Yankees and isn’t expected to for the rest of the year due to
surgery in his shoulder because of tendinitis.
Even Brian Cashman himself is on the DL. He broke his ankle
on Monday after skydiving for a charity event. (Is that any sort of a sign?
Maybe? A little bit? No?)
Ok, ok enough with the injuries. Lets talk about the Yankees
age. For a team that literally couldn’t catch up to a fastball in the ALDS last
year, man do they still look old. Here’s a fact that should stand out to
people. Two players out of the entire Yankees starting line up are under 30
years old. This is including the players that are replacing the injured Yankees
at their respective positions. 38-year-old captain Derek Jeter will be the
first to admit that he’s getting older- but that doesn’t mean the rest of the
team needs to be as well. Does it? Ichiro Suzuki comes back into right field
for the Yankees- but he’s 39 and just doesn’t have the same speed that everyone
has become accustomed to, as this will likely be his last year playing
baseball. The young guys? 29-year-old Brett Gardner returns to his first full
season back in left field for the Bombers after his own injury plagued season
last year. And 27-year-old Francisco Cervelli, the unproven and highly
skeptical catcher that the Yankees have benched for his first few seasons.
The sport of baseball is getting younger as we know it, year
after year we see younger guys do more amazing things than the last and more
importantly-becoming leaders for their teams- instead of the older guys. We see
Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg as the leaders for the Nationals. (And Bryce
Harper is 20!) We see Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen become the leaders of
their own playoff candidate teams. Now yes, the Yankees have a bunch of savvy
veterans with one of the top players ever in baseball history as their captain
still. But as the game gets younger, can you really rely on the old guard
anymore? Will it matter in the heat of the playoff race that these older guys
have heart still vs. the younger guys that have just as much heart and about a
10 year age difference? Veteran teams are veteran teams, but if the Yankees
don’t start thinking young soon- who knows what the future is going to look
like.
This brings me to the last point of a scary off season for
the Yanks. Their offseason moves. C’mon, they’re the Yankees. They get anyone
and everyone in the offseason. They get the hottest guy on the market year
after year. Not this season. (Turns out the hottest guy on the market this
year- Josh Hamilton- was a terrible candidate to play in New York due to his
past, so this may have been a good passing by the Yankees.) Who was their
biggest signing? The self proclaimed “Yankee hater” years ago, Kevin Youkilis,
former Boston Red Sox third basemen. He was called upon to take over for Alex
Rodriguez at third base. A nice signing for the season there, but did they
really get anyone else? Travis Hafner was signed to a one-year contract to
possibly add some depth at offense but that really was it, which makes this an
extremely meek year for Yankees off season signings.
This is rare for the Yanks to not get a few good young
prospects, but as stated before- the Steinbrenner brothers have significantly
cut back on spending the past year, and have been quoted saying that they will
continue to. This isn’t the old Yankees anymore. (Which is ironic this year.)
It’s comical to think that the Yankees biggest strength this
year is going to be their pitching, with an especially strong bullpen. (Including
the reemergence of Mariano Rivera, who no matter what age, is going to be
dominant.) Pitching has been a struggle for them these past few years, but now
they must step up to make this team relevant in September.
A great season of baseball is ahead of us, with many teams
on the rise that people would usually expect to be cellar dwellers. But to some
people’s misfortunes and others delight (Red Sox fans laugh all you want at
that, but you could be next in my Woeful Woes section) the Yankees may not be
one of those teams this year.
But then again- baseball fans will never forget, they are
the New York Yankees. They’ll probably end up winning the World Series.
