Onward to 2012
October 17, 2011 – 1:35 pmThe Yankees had the best record in the AL this year playing in toughest division — what more can you say? Doesn’t that pretty much make them the de facto “champion”? Winning in the post-season is certainly nice, but it’s a whole different ballgame (particularly with the 5-game DS and biased seeding), and doesn’t prove much of anything. Certainly nothing that a 162-game season doesn’t. So bottom line is that 2011 has to be regarded as a very successful year.
Now, looking forward, what are the prospects for next year?
Offensively, the Yankees were second only to Boston in R/G, so you would think there’s not much in need of fixing here. From what we saw of Jesus Montero in September he looks to be a major improvement at the DH slot next year. And hopefully Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson will continue to do what they did in 2011, and Cano could easily improve on that — hard to say where his upside potential might be. But the big questions are Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. For the last three years, all Tex’s numbers have steadily declined — BA, OBP, and OPS — and quite frankly there’s no reason to think he’s going to turn it around. Defensively though, he’s still one of the best first basemen around, and no doubt makes the rest of the infield all that much better. So overall I still think Tex is a key player — but they are just going to have to move him down in the order and not count on his bat. A-Rod is a bit harder to figure. On July 1 he was .301/.377/.509/.886 — but then the knee injury came, and he never seemed to recover. Can he stay healthy next year, and if so, will that mean better numbers? Who knows. Like Tex, though, he’s rock solid in the field, so even when he’s not putting up big numbers he’s still of value. But for what he’s being paid, he sure needs to contribute a big bat as well.
The starting pitching is no doubt going to be the biggest question mark next year, as it was this time last year. This year the fact that the Yankees ended up third in R/G allowed was due in large part to the incredible performances by Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, along with Ivan Nova evolving in to a solid starter. But Colon and Garcia won’t be there next year, which leaves us with only CC Sabathia (assuming he’s re-signed!), Nova, and who knows who else? Can Phil Hughes return to where he was two years ago? Isn’t it past time to stop hoping A.J. Burnett will ever be as good as promised when we got him? And what about Joba Chamberlain? Will any of the “killer B’s” be ready for prime time? With that many question marks you have to believe they’ll make a move to bring in at least one big name starter just to hedge their bets on everyone else.
Finally there’s the bullpen, which was the best in the league this year. Mariano Rivera shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, and David Robertson just keeps getting better and better and one would assume at this point is heir apparent to Mo’s job. As for the rest of the bullpen? Well, seems to me that middle relief is always a crap shoot for every team, as it’s always made up mostly of guys who would rather be starting or closing. The best you can hope for is starters who consistently give you 5-6 innings, and then you just cross your fingers and hope for the best until you get the ball in the hands of Robertson and Mo. That’s just the way middle relief works (or doesn’t work) these days.
So overall, you have to like what you see for next year. Shouldn’t take a whole lot of maneuvering by Brian Cashman (that’s of course assuming he’s back!). There’s enough talent there, just a matter of continuing what they did in 2011. And then somehow figuring out how to finish the season strong and actually make some noise in the post-season!
