Its’ back! Our 30teams in 30 Days feature, an annual Off The Bench tradition. Every day until the start of the regular season we will be previewing one team, going through division by division. First up, the AL East and the New York Yankees.
The Bronx Bombers enter this season as the defending AL East champions but have markedly upgraded roster. AJ Burnett is out and the starting rotation is greatly 
improved. For the first time in 18 years, Jorge Posada is not on the roster and all indications are that this could be Mariano Rivera’s final season. It is certainly a new era in New York but the Yankees have a real chance to improve on their 97 wins from 2011.
Projected Lineup:
- Derek Jeter (ss)
- Curtis Granderson (Cf)
- Robinson Cano (2b)
- Mark Teixeira (1b)
- Alex Rodriguez (3b)
- Nick Swisher (Rf)
- Raul Ibanez (DH)
- Russell Martin (C)
- Brett Gardner (Lf)
Starting Rotation:
- CC Sabathia
- Michael Pineda
- Hiroki Kuroda
- Ivan Nova
- Phil Hughes
Strengths:
Starting Lineup: The Yankees scored the second most runs in baseball last year and are poised to do the same thing again. Alex Rodriguez is looking for a bounce back year and is finally healthy this spring. Curtis Granderson is coming off possibly his best season both offensively and defensively and is squarely in his prime. New addition Raul Ibanez has the potential to hit 20 homers in Yankee Stadium and Russell Martin has his first year in the AL under his belt. Expect big things.
Top of the Rotation: The addition of Michael Pineda, whose potential is through the roof, and the underrated Hiroki Kuroda to ace CC Sabathia give the Yankees a very formidable top 3. The major issue in the postseason last year was the lack of quality starting pitching behind CC but with the 2 new guys and the continued development of Ivan Nova should solve that problem. Quick side not: The Yankees starting rotation is absolutely massive. Their average size is 6’4″, 245 lbs, highlighted by Sabathia (6’7″, 290lbs) and Pineda (6’7″ 280). In fact, the Yankees 2012 starting rotation is bigger than 4 of the five offensive linemen on the NY Giants 1986 Super Bowl team.
Weaknesses:
Speed: Brett Gardner is lightning quick and Curtis Granderson can get around the bases but other than that, this is a team of base-cloggers. A-Rod’s got a bum hip, Jeter is old, Martin is a catcher, and Tex is almost running backwards. This is a team that relies heavily on the longball and last year it worked with both Granderson and Teixeira hitting over 40 homers but its a risky thing to count on and flies in the face of the strategies of successful teams like the Rays.
Age/Depth: Behind A-Rod and the oft injured Eric Chavez is Gerald Laird. Behind Cano is Ramiro Pena. Behind the starting outfielders and Andrew Jones is Eric Dickerson. The Yankees really need to hope that they stay healthy this year.
Storylines:
Jeter: Derek Jeter silenced many of his critics with a bounce back year in 2011 but he is now a 37 year old shortstop who we all secretly know isn’t very good defensibly and really shouldn’t be hitting leadoff with Brett Gardner an option.
Mo: Mariano Rivera hinted this spring that this may be his final season. We don’t know for sure but it seems more likely now than ever before that it really might be. I would give almost anything to be at Mo’s last game and I would be severely disappointed if the standing ovation lasted less than 10 minutes.
Hughes: Phil Hughes has been really good and he’s been really bad. Which one will we get this year?
AJ: Did you really think I’d get through an entire Yankees post without mentioning that the Yankees finally don’t have AJ Burnett anymore?
Competition: The Yankees are really good but so are the Red Sox and the Rays. This is going to be one of the most hotly contested divisions in baseball and NYY has to realize that the Rays are better and that they can’t count on Boston handing them another division title.
Prediction:
97-65, First Place, AL East. The Red Sox will have some growing pains with their new managerial regimes and the Yankees will beat out the Rays as well to take their second straight division crown.
Bold Predictions:
- Michael Pineda will win 15 games with an ERA of 3.85
- Suzyn Waldman will finally stop being on the Yankees radio broadcasts (PLEASE)
- The Jets will offer the Yankees starting five contracts to be their offensive line. They will threaten to accept to extort even more money from Brian Cashman
-Max Frankel
