By Vinnie Rullo
Staff Writer
The New York Yankees finished last season 84-78 and failed to make the playoffs for the second year in a row. This winter, they made some small additions to their team, hoping to make it back to the playoffs this season. The 2015 season will be a challenging one for the Yankees to contend for a championship, due to the many injury risks on their team.
The Yankees’ key acquisitions this off-season were re-signing third baseman Chase Headley, signing left-handed relief pitcher Andrew Miller, and trading for shortstop Didi Gregorius and pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. Each one of these players is equally important in order for the Yankees to have a good season.
Headley will take over as the Yankee starting third basemen, who played well for them last season after he was acquired from the Padres in a trade.
Eovaldi provides the Yankees with a young-arm who throws very hard, and will provide the Yankees with some much-needed starting pitching. Miller gives the Yankees a great left-handed reliever out of the bullpen to help secure leads late in games. He will most likely pitch in the eighth inning or close out some games, depending on matchups.
Gregorius is under a lot of pressure, as the guy who has to replace Derek Jeter. He’ll provide the Yankees with improvement on defense and should be able to hit enough in order to play every day in the lineup.
Alex Rodriguez is returning to the team this season after serving his 2014 season-long suspension. A-Rod has only played in 50 games for the Yankees in nearly a two-year span, and is also turning 40 years old in July. The Yankees struggled with scoring runs last year, so A-Rod should help proved some production if he can stay healthy and still play.
I would expect A-Rod to serve as the primary DH for the Yankees, and play 30 games or so at third base. A-Rod will have to prove in Spring Training he can still play. If he hits well once the season starts the Yankees will play him, and if he doesn’t he will most likely become a role player.
The injury concerns may haunt the Yankees this season. A few key players staying healthy this season will determine how the Yankees will do. Masahiro Tanaka, pitcher Michael Pineda, pitcher C.C. Sabathia, right-fielder Carlos Beltran, and first baseman Mark Teixeira are all coming off of injuries from last season.
Tanaka and Pineda are extremely important in the Yankees rotation because they’re arguably the Yankees best two pitchers. Having both Tanaka and Pineda at the top of the Yankees rotation will gives them a huge advantage against their competition because they’re both front-line starting pitchers. Tanaka, going into the season, seems to have more questions than Pineda because he’ll be pitching with a partially-torn elbow ligament on his pitching arm.
Some pitchers are able to pitch a few years with this injury, while some further the injury quickly. The Yankees hope Tanaka will be able to hold up for not only this season but for a number of seasons and avoid Tommy John surgery.
Durability remains the issue with Pineda, who showed flashes of pitching greatness last season.However, his biggest question mark is: can he provide the Yankees with 30 starts, and avoid injury? Sabathia is coming off a season during which he had to undergo knee surgery, and is hoping to have a bounce-back season. He will have to provide the Yankees with some quality starts and learn how to re-invent himself, since he is now pitching without a powerful fastball.
Beltran had a great April with the Yankees, until he injured his elbow and tried battling through the injury, unsuccessfully. This off-season, Beltran got the elbow cleaned up, and he should have a better season with the team if he can stay healthy.
Lastly, Teixeira was in and out of the lineup too often for the team last season with a number of injuries, and needs to have a better season this year. Tex is still capable of hitting at least 30 homers and providing great defense at first base. He needs to have a big year for the team if they want to get back in the playoffs.
This season, the Yankees hope to get back to the post-season and make a run at the World Series. This will be challenging because they have a number of injury concerns on their team, which will most likely determine if they make the playoffs or not.
The Yankees are also trying to find the identity of their team now that Derek Jeter has retired. Which player will be the face of the team going forward? Can Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, or Brett Gardner be the leader of the team and help bring the Yankees to another championship?
Should this be a rebuilding year, and the team experience too many injuries to successfully contend, they may try to develop some of their players from their minor league system.
I would expect the Yankees to make the playoffs, but I don’t think the current roster is a championship caliber team. However, if the Yankees are able to withstand a few injuries and get enough pieces in place that they feel their team is good enough to contend, they have a chance to win another World Series this year.
