Sunday, February 19, 2012


Hot Stove:  A rundown of each team in the offseason and what they are looking to improve in 2012. 

New York Yankees:            Staying in the AL East, we look at the next team alphabetically, which is the New York Yankees.

Projected Starting Lineup:

1B            Mark Teixeira
2B            Robinson Cano
SS            Derek Jeter
3B            Alex Rodriguez
LF            Brett Gardner
CF            Curtis Granderson
RF            Nick Swisher
C              Russell Martin
DH           Andruw Jones

Projected Starting Rotation:

C.C. Sabathia
Michael Pineda
Hiroki Kuroda
Ivan Nova
Phil Hughes

Projected Batting Order:

LF            Brett Gardner
SS            Derek Jeter
1B            Mark Teixeira
3B            Alex Rodriguez
2B            Robinson Cano
CF            Curtis Granderson
RF            Nick Swisher
C              Russell Martin
DH           Andruw Jones

The Yankees had a good year in 2011.  They won the toughest division in baseball with a 97-65 record, 6 games better than the second place Tampa Bay Rays.  And they were able to win that division, with a patchwork pitching staff made up of an ace (C.C.), a rookie (Nova), the old (Freddy Garcia) and the infirm (Bartolo Colon).  However, the Detroit Tigers stood them up in the divisional round of the playoffs. Detroit’s strong performances on the mound were a major reason behind their win.  The Yankees knew that while their hitters were fantastic, pitching is what failed them this offseason.  After facing a similar issue last offseason and failing to adequately address it, they decided to make trades and really shore up their pitching staff.

The Yankees’ hitters were, predictably, fantastic.  They have the best that money can buy.  The Yankees essentially had two MVP candidates on their team last year, and they probably robbed each other of votes.  Robinson Cano led the team with a 302 AVG last season.  With that, he chipped in 28 HR, 118 RBI and 104 R.  He was the Home Run Derby champion last year and continued on his strong season from 2010.  Cano is making a name for himself in the best offensive second baseman in baseball category.  That’s a plus because second base if often a place where you don’t get much offense.  Cano is a massive exception to that rule.  The other MVP candidate on this team last year was Curtis Granderson.  The centerfielder struggled in 2010.  He plays a pretty good defensive center, and has good speed and power.  But he always struggled against lefties, and never hit for a great AVG.  But he greatly improved last season.  Granderson hit 265 with 41 HR and 119 RBI.  He led the team in HR, RBI, R (136), Hits (153) and was second in SBs (25).  Those numbers are silly.  The only part of his game that wasn’t All Star Caliber was his AVG, which was still strong enough to not hurt the team.  But he did contribute in OBP (364) after drawing 85 walks.  Granderson went from a high upside player, to a leader on this team.  And he improved his AVG against lefties to 272 last year.  If Granderson can even come close to contributing like this in 2012, then the Yankees will be in great shape.  While the Yankees had no more hitters in the MVP discussion, they did have other strong offensive performances.  First baseman Mark Teixeira slumped a bit last year, hitting only 248.  But he still performed at a high level slugging 39 HRs and driving in 111.  He also scored 90 times.  Teixeira generally performs well at every level of offense (except speed), so that’s why a 39, 111, 90 line is considered a slump.  He still played Gold Glove caliber defense at first, and contributed heavily with the bat.  If he can get back a little of that AVG, which should be a return to his usual form, then it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t approach those power numbers again.  He’s a potential All Star every season.  We’ve covered the top 3 in HR for the Yankees, so let’s just keep going down the list.  Nick Swisher was fourth on this team with 23 HR.  Swisher generally isn’t considered a big power threat, and Yankee stadium’s friendly home confines probably have a lot to do with that number.  But he did hit 11 dingers on the road, and had a strong season outside of the power hitting 260 with 85 RBI and 81 R.  He’s not one of their big boppers, but he is an important part of this team and I think any team would be happy with 23 “bonus” home runs.  When you think of the Yankees, Derek Jeter is generally the first name that comes to mind.  And Jeter had another strong season last year, hitting 297 with 6 HR, 61 RBI, 84 R and 16 SBs.  It wasn’t a traditional Jeter season, but he is getting up there in age.  I think expecting a 300+ AVG, 20+ SBs and 100+ R is unreasonable at this point in his career.   He did get to 3,000 hits.  And he accomplished all of last season’s stats in only 130 games.  He’s been solid for years in New York, and looks to be coming back for another season at short.  They’ll need a plan for the future, but that future isn’t here yet.  Staying on the left side of the infield, we find the highest paid player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez.  A-Rod played in only 99 Games last year, as injuries continue to plague him.  He hasn’t’ played in 150 games since 2007.  That, coupled with the amount of money that he makes, has drawn him the ire of many New York fans.  But he’s only one year removed from a 30 HR, 125 RBI season, and, when healthy, he’s a threat to do that every year.  He hasn’t hit over 300 since 2008, but when you get that power, you are happy with 270+. And while his stolen bases have essentially disappeared, every other part of his game is still well above average.  In his limited time he hit 276 with 16 HR, 62 RBI and 67 R.  If he can have a healthy season, another All Star caliber performance is almost guaranteed.  To finish up the infield discussion we have Russell Martin, who was an All Star in his first season in New York.  Being in New York probably had a lot to do with that selection as he hit 237 when the year was over.  But he did play well behind the plate, taking over for Jorge Posada.  And while the AVG wasn’t great, he did slug 18 HR, drive in 65, score 57 R and steal 8 bases.  He wants to play better, but he was still pretty solid behind the plate.  The team leader in steals was left fielder Brett Gardner who hit at the top of this order.  His AVG wasn’t where he wanted it (259), and his OBP was a little below where he wanted it (345).  But he did steal 49 bases and score 87 R.  When he wasn’t getting on, Jeter or Granderson were.  The last offensive player to talk about is Andruw Jones.  Right now, he is the front-runner to be the DH.  In 77 games last season, he hit 247 with 13 HR and 33 RBI.  He can also fill in at the corner outfield spots.  After Jones, there has been speculation about free agent veterans getting signed and seeing DH time.   One of those guys is Eric Chavez, who hit 263 with 2 HR and 16 RBI in 58 games last season with New York.  There has also been speculation that Johnny Damon or Raul Ibanez could be brought in to play DH, and both would bring something interesting to this club (Ibanez’s power, especially in Yankee stadium, and Damon’s AVG and still above average speed).  But the Yankees are pretty set offensively, and at best any free agent they pay to DH for them will hit no higher than 6th in the order and possibly lower.  The point is, the Yankees are one of the best offensive clubs in baseball.  Possibly the best.  And while injuries can hurt them as much as any team (not much talent sitting on the bench) they are expected continue to be one of the best offensive clubs in the game.

The Yankees Achilles heel last season was their pitching.  After their ace C.C., things were hairy.  Ivan Nova was a pleasant surprise as a rookie.  In 27 starts, he went 16-4 with a 3.70 ERA.  He wasn’t overpowering (258 BAA, 1.33 WHIP 135 Ks in 165 IP), and that strong Yankee offense should probably receive a large amount of credit for their part in his 16 wins.  However, if the Yankees want another championship, he can’t be the number 2 starter.  A.J. Burnett, the man who was supposed to be the number 2 starter, was truly frightening last season.  He went 11-11 with a 5.15 ERA.  He gave up a hit an inning (190 of both) and 109 ER.  But he’s been sent off to Pittsburgh in a move that was essentially a salary dump.  Phil Hughes was supposed to be a big part of this rotation last season after an All Star effort in 2010 that saw him win 18 games.  But injury limited him to 14 starts last year, with a 5-5 record and a 5.79 ERA.  The Yanks hope that injury was partly to blame for those numbers, none of which looked good.  (1.49 WHIP, 283 BAA)  New York needs him to come back strong and play much better this season.  The final two pitchers who took in a majority of 2011 starts were Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon.  Garcia had the better season, going 12-8 in 25 starts.  His 3.62 ERA was solid as was his 1.34 WHIP.  And while his 268 BAA wasn’t great, he was able to pitch through it and not give up too many runs.  He pitched well enough to be re-signed as starter insurance, and to be a long inning reliever out of the bullpen.  The other starter didn’t play as well.  Bartolo Colon came back to the majors and pitched pretty well, considering his arm was essentially glued back into his shoulder with stem cells.  He went 8-10 with an ERA of 4.  He essentially had the same season as Garcia, but with less luck (268 BAA, 1.29 ERA).  However concerns over his health and arm strength didn’t get him another year in pinstripes.   Coming in to take the place of Colon and Garcia are Hiroki Kuroda (free agent from the Dodgers) and Michael Pineda, who they acquired in a trade with the Mariners.  Kuroda comes to the Yankees as a control specialist.  He went 13-16 with the Dodgers last season, with a sparkling 3.07 ERA.  His BAA was 249 and his WHIP was 1.21.  He doesn’t strike out a lot of guys (161 Ks) but he threw over 200 IP.  He logs innings and gets groundballs.  He’s not a star but he’s a consistent veteran who gets groundballs and helps give the bullpen some rest.  I doubt he’ll have the same success in NY that he did in LA, but as long as he’s able to avoid the long ball and keep the ball on the ground, he should chip in a low ERA, 180+ IP and double digit wins.  And with that strong offense behind him, he could see a winning record this season.  After going out and getting a seasoned veteran to fill one rotation slot, the Yankees went the other way to fill the other.  They traded offensive weapon Jesus Montero to Seattle for young pitcher Michael Pineda.  The 6’7 righty has quite the ceiling.  He’s been compared to a right-handed C.C. Sabathia.  Having both on the team will help New York better understand that comparison, but they are more interested in how he stacks up to major league hitters.  His rookie year saw a 9-10 record with a 3.74 ERA.  While that’s not great, he had a miniscule 211 BAA and an impressive 1.10 WHIP.  He struck out 173 batters in 171 IP.  The sky is the limit for this youngster.  There are a couple things to be wary of.  His ERA could rise after leaving the pitcher friendly Safeco Field and moving to the best home run park in the majors, Yankee Stadium.  But he is a power pitcher, and he’s still very young.  He’s learning how to pitch to major leaguers, and he’ll continue to improve.  I think he could be good for double digit wins, even if that ERA creeps over 4.  If he can keep it below 4.50 and stay healthy, a power pitcher with his stuff and the Yankees’ offense behind him could win 15 games pretty easily.  In a few years, he could be pitching like C.C. did last season (C.C’s 2011:  19 Wins, 3.00 ERA, 230 K, 237 IP and 3 CGs).  That’s the new starting rotation that looks to get the Yanks into the postseason and beyond.  That group of starters will hand things off to the best closer in history (Mariano Rivera), and a strong bullpen that includes All Star David Robertson, former closer Rafael Soriano, veteran Pedro Feliciano and Joba Chamberlain.  This is a good-looking team that is looking to get some new rings this season.

2012 Prediction…The Yankees had one of the best offenses in baseball and a subpar pitching staff last season.  They were able to win the best division in baseball with essentially one good pitcher last year.  They’ve got at least three this season, and the same strong offense returning for 2012.  They’ve got to be considered the favorites for the division this year, especially with this re-vamped pitching staff.  If the hitters play like they have the past few years, and the pitchers can take care of their business effectively, then this team should be postseason bound.  They just hope that this season they can make it a little further into October.

Up next…Tampa Bay Rays.

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