With the existing roster they had and the additions they’ve ae this off season are the New York Yankees not only the favorite to win the American League East, but also the favorite to win the World Series?
The Yankees everyday line up didn’t need too many adjustments, The two biggest question where who’d be the everyday 1st baseman and how would the fill in for the injured Didi Gregorius. Gregorius is scheduled to return from Tommy John surgery by late July or possibly early August.
Right now it appears that Luke Voit will be given a chance t be the Yankees everyday 1st baseman. Voit has never had the chance to play on a full time basis at the major league level, but he played well for the Yankees after they acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals on July 29th last season. Voit played in 39 games for the Yankees last season. He hit .333 with 14 home runs and 33 RBI’s. With those numbers it looks like Voit will go into the season as the Yankees 1st baseman.
At first it looked like the Yankees where going to go with oft injured Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. I didn’t understand why everyone was so excited about Tulowitzki being the everyday shortstop, but I didn’t think that was the route the Yankees where going; so it was no surprise to me when the Yankees added free agent 2nd baseman DJ LeMahieu. Oddly there are people out there that think LeMahieu will become a utility infielder with the Yankees, but I believe that he’ll be the everyday 2nd baseman and Gleyber Torres will move over to shortstop.
LeMahieu is coming off a down year where he hit .276 with 15 home runs and 62 RBI’s in 128 games. While the 15 home runs was a career high for LeMahieu the 128 games is the lowest number of games he’s played since his first season with the Colorado Rockies in 2012. LeMahieu has won three Gold Gloves and was the National League batting champion in 2016 with a .348 average.
Now their will be people out thee who say that LeMahieu’s numbers where inflated by playing 81 games a year in Coors Field, but what about Tulowitzki. Since Tulowitzki was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays he’s hit .250. Don’t forget that Tulowitzki didn’t played a game last season and in 2017 he played in just 66 games. While Tulowitzki has an impressive resume; two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and four All-Star appearances. His Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers where won in 2010 and 11 and he hasn’t made an All-Star team since 2015. At one point Tulowtzki was one of the top players in baseball, but right now the Yankees would be better of with LeMahieu playing everyday and Tulowitzki being the utility player.
Could their be some at bats for Tulowitzki as a 1st baseman?
As for Torres; he played 21 games at shortstop as a rookie last season, but through his minor league career he played 321 games at shortstop through 5 minor league seasons. Torres will have to prove that he can played quality defense at shortstop I the big leagues. Last season he committed 5 errors in his 21 games at the position. With some regular playing time at the position he should settle in.
While the Yankees didn’t have too may questions in their everyday line up they had some decisions to make in their starting rotation and bullpen.
The Yankees address the starting rotation by making a trade with the Seattle Mariners for James Paxson. Then the Yankees resigned J.A. Happ who they acquired from the Blue Jays last July. Then to round out the rotation the Yankees brought back veteran C.C. Sabathia for one more season.
Paxson has had some health issues through his career, but last season he made a career high 28 starts. Paxson also pitched a career high 160 1/3rd innings last season. Happ made 11 starts for the Yankees after the acquired him. He went 7-0 with an ERA of 2.69. Sabathia also had a solid 2018 season. He was 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA in 29 starts.
Adding Paxson, Happ and Sabathia to Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino should give the Yankees one of the better rotation in baseball.
In the bullpen the Yankees appeared to be in a good position with Aroldis Chapman closing and Dellin Betances as the main set up guy, but they added a couple of quality pitchers to the mix.
The Yankees acquired Zach Britton from the Baltimore Orioles in July of last season and while Britton hasn’t quite found the form he had in 2016 when he was the best closer in baseball he did post a 2.88 ERA with 3 saves in 25 games for the Yankees last season. The Yankees resigned Britton where he’ll be the main left handed set up man for Chapman and if he’s need can close games as well.
Just bringing Britton back gives the Yankees a big three in the bullpen that most teams covet, but they went a step further and added another big arm to that bullpen.
Earlier this week the Yankees added free agent right hander Adam Ottavino to their bullpen. Ottavino was one of the top free agent relievers on the free agent market and now he’s part of the Yankees bullpen. Ottavino appeared in 75 games for the Colorado Rockies last season. He was 6-4 with a 2.43 ERA, but the stat that stands out for Ottavino is his strikeouts per 9 innings ratio which was 13 last season.
It looks like Chad Green who was 8-3 with a 2.50 ERA in 63 games last season and the hard throwing Tommy Kahnle who was 2-0 with a rough 6.56 ERA in 24 games last season will also be part of the Yankees bullpen.
There is one more bullpen spot to fill and barring a trade it look like Sonny Gray will be the final piece in the Yankees bullpen. If Gray is traded and there are three or four teams interested in him the final spot in the Yankees Bullpen could go to Jonathan Holder. Holder pitched in 60 games last season; he went 1-3 with an ERA of 3.14.
Do you think that these moves make the Yankees the team to beat coming into the 2019 season?
The NFL Conference Championships are tomorrow and I didn’t want to forget to give you are picks. As always I don’t have Mr. Fantasy’s picks as he likes to wait until the last minute to make them.
The NFC kicks off first with the Los Angeles Rams at the New Orleans Saints. Dan the Man and I are taking the Rams while Schaumburg Stu is going with the Saints. In the AFC the New England Patriots are at the Kansas City Chiefs. In this one Schaumburg Stu and I are taking the Patriots while Dan the Man is going with the Chiefs. Feel free to leave your picks in the comments.
Now the Sports Time Radio podcast is going to be off the next two Sunday’s as Mr. Fantasy is in Disney World, but we’re still on Monday through Friday live on BlogTalkRadio.com. The podcast can also be heard on TuneIn.com.
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