What an off season the Yankees had, that saw management spend and commit over 400 million dollars to three players, which will span at least five years. An off season like that was expected from the Yankees, after having the most expensive payroll in 2008, but missed the playoffs after twelve years. With New Yankee Stadium already up and built, all that’s left now is a playoff run to christen the new park and pay those outrageous salaries.
The Yankees have money, have extravagant owners, and everyone knows about it. When the Yankees won four World Series in a span of five years, that team was built through draft picks and a solid farm team. After the 2000 season, the Yankees have made fruitless trip after fruitless trip to the post season. That’s due to the fact that, the Yankees keep signing high priced talent, but the players don’t deliver. Just look at Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield.
Finally, the Yankees got out have that hole, but low and behold, what do they do, they go out and sign high priced talent to long term deals, and screw themselves out of draft picks and a future. The off season got started off with a bang, when the Yankees signed top free agent pitcher CC Sabathia to a seven year deal worth 161 million dollars. Then they signed second best free agent pitcher AJ Burnett to a five year deal worth 82.5 million dollars. Then to top it all off, the Yankees signed free agent hitter Mark Teixeira to an eight year deal worth 180 million dollars.
The pitching staff now looks like this for the Yankees: 1. CC Sabathia, 2. AJ Burnett, 3. Chien-Ming Wang, 4. Andy Pettitte, 5. Joba Chamberlain. That looks pretty damn good and it is, but there are a few problems as well. First off CC Sabathia has proven he can pitch in big games, and really showed that when he was traded to the Brewers. With AJ Burnett, he has only pitched two great seasons in his big league career and is at five hundred for his career. He only reached 18 wins last year for the second time, and pitched a full season just once in his three with Toronto. Burnett has yet to prove himself, and the pressures of New York will eat him alive, so look for him to make plenty of stints on the disabled list in his time in New York.
Chien-Ming Wang has proven he can pitch in New York, and before missing the majority of last year with an 8-2 record, Wang had posted back to back 19 win seasons. The veteran Andy Pettitte is in a perfect situation right now, pitching fourth in the rotation, and will barely have any pressure on him, as he doesn’t have to live up to a mega contract. As for Joba Chamberlain, his transition from set-up man to starter was a bumpy path. He struggled for parts of last year, and will go through a learning curve once again. Chamberlain has some explosive stuff which can carry him though games. If he doesn’t succeed, the Yankees still have second year pitcher Phil Hughes, who can fill in for Chamberlain, or even takeover as the fifth starter.
The bullpen last year really struggled for the Yankees and lost plenty of games due to blown saves. The Yankees slightly improved in that situation, but not a whole lot.
Now the batting order, and who else to start with, none other than Mr. Steroids, Alex Rodriguez. What a stupid idiot this man is. He was caught cheating, denied it plenty of times, then tried to play it off by being a good boy and admitted to steroid use. What a loser. Rodriguez knows he will be under a heavy microscope, and if he doesn’t produce a 30 plus homerun and 100 plus RBI season, he will be ridiculed, and deservedly so.
The Yankees will return with Jorge Posada behind the plate, and he is coming off a season to forget after he missed 111 games with injuries. He too is one of those long term contract mistakes made by the Yankees. For all we know, Posada probably milked his injuries and sat on his contract.
In the infield, second basemen Robinson Cano had an off year compared to his 2007 numbers. This guy has the potential to lead the league in hits and batting average, and must pick up his game for 2009. At shortstop is Captain Derek Jeter, who is still dangerous with his hitting ability and great defensively. At first base is Mark Teixeira, who is an excellent switch hitter, but went for the biggest contract he could get. This guy has never played in a pressure packed environment, with that will struggle because he will press and try to do too much. That puts Teixeira in the same boat as A-Ro(i)d and has to hit a minimum of 35 homeruns and over 110 RBI to live up to his contract.
In the outfield, there really isn’t a lot of power in Johnny Damon, Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, and Xavier Nady. Damon has been on the decline since he first joined the Yankees back in 2005, and presents no power at all. Melky Cabrera was given all the chances he could get to assert himself as one of the everyday outfielders, but couldn’t hit consistently. With Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady, both players can hit the long ball and play a little bit of defense. These two are perfect players to fill out a strong batting order.
In the DH slot is Hideki Matsui, who is still one of the better left handed hitters, but injuries have affected his playing ability the last three years.
Overall, Yankees management has dished out the big bucks in seasons past and has been burned. This season could be different though, but then again you never know, when you pay a player millions upon millions of dollars to play and live in New York.
POSITIVE --> GOOD LOOKING PITCHING ROTATION AND BATTING ORDER.
NEGATIVE --> PLAYERS MAY JUST SIT ON THEIR CONTRACTS AND PLAY SUB-PAR BASEBALL, AND BULLPEN COULD USE TWO MORE VETERAN ARMS.
X-FACTOR --> AJ BURNETT IS ONE AND ALEX RODRIGUEZ IS THE SECOND. WITH BURNETT, IF HE COULD PITCH LIKE HE DID IN 2008 AND WIN 18 GAMES, THE YANKEES WILL ARGUABLY HAVE THE BEST PITCHING STAFF. WITH RODRIGUEZ, HE HAS CARRIED THIS TEAM ON HIS BACK THE PAST FEW YEARS, AND CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES, HE WILL REALLY HAVE TO PLAY.
SLEEPER PICK --> XAVIER NADY HAS POSTED GREAT SEASONS IN THE PAST, BUT ALWAYS WENT UNNOTICED IN PITTSBURGH. EVEN NOW IN NEW YORK, OTHERS PLAYERS WILL BE LOOKEDA T FIRST BEFORE THEY GET TO NADY.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
PREDICTION --> WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS AND WIN 94-98 GAMES. YANKEES AND RED SOX ARE EVENLY MATCHED AND ONE OF THE TWO TEAMS WILL EITHER WIN THE DIVISION OR WILD CARD.
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