The New York Yankees made a fairly large splash this offseason when they decided to acquire Aroldis Chapman despite the fact that he was in off the field trouble. On top of that, they also picked up a little outfield help and some help up the middle infield in Aaron Hicks and Starlin Castro. The next generation Yankees started to come to fruition, but that was halted a bit when we found out Greg Bird will miss the entire 2016 season due to injury. For the most part, the core of the team looks the same and they are looking like they'll be the oldest team in the league yet again. The age thing didn't hurt them much last season, so they should at least contend for the AL East in 2016.
Listen to Tyler talk to Andrew Kemper about the Yankees
Key Additions
Aroldis Chapman, Aaron Hicks, Starlin Castro, Vinnie Pestano, Pete Kozma, Sebastian Valle, Ronald Torreyes, Donovan Solano, Jonathan Diaz, Cesar Puello, Luis Cessa, Chad Green, Ronald Herrera, Tyler Olson, Kirby Yates, Anthony Swarzak
Key Subtractions
Chris Young, Justin Wilson, Adam Warren, Stephen Drew, Brendan Ryan, Andrew Bailey, John Ryan Murphy, Jose Pirela, Chris Martin, Sergio Santos, Rob Degedin, Rony Renda, Eric Jagielo, Rookie Davis, Caleb Cotham
Biggest Strength - Bullpen
The clear strength of the Yankees is the bullpen anchored by 3 of the best relievers in the league. They will have to endure the loss of Aroldis Chapman for the first month of the season due to off the field issues, but this team will be fine. All three of these guys are top five relievers in the league on most people's lists and should have no issue shutting down opposing lineups at the end of the game. For what this team lacks in starting pitching depth, they have more than made up for in with their late inning workers.
Biggest Weakness - Starting Pitching Depth
This team appears to have a solid top 3 in their rotation, with some question marks to round it out. Calling them a solid top 3 might be a stretch too because Michael Pineda had some issues last season. So let's say the top 2 are solid with Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino. When you start to get towards the bottom of their starting options you start to see guys like CC Sabathia and Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi could actually be getting ready to break out as he had a pretty good second half last year, but that remains to be seen as he has gone through several long slumps in his career as well. As much as everyone might love CC, it does seem like his time pitching in the bigs is close to over. At this point, he might just be an inning eater who will try to be lucky enough to throw a handful of wins. The thing to be nervous about at the end of the day is that there aren't many prospects that look ready to make the jump to the majors. Luis Cessa looks like he could be pretty good, but after that it appears to be slim pickings unless they are able to acquire more pitching.
Something to keep an eye on - Luis Severino
As predicted last season in this article, Severino emerged into the bigs last year and showed signs that he could be bound for baseball stardom. Headed into 2016, he should have no issue getting a spot on the opening day roster, and Joe Girardi has already said that he expects Luis to throw 200 innings. This means his first full season in the majors. Time to see if he can put up the numbers long term and stay healthy doing so. He is in competition with Marcus Stroman, Chris Archer and Eduardo Rodriguez to establish himself as the best young pitcher in the AL East.
Projected Lineup… Lefties*… Switch Hitters^
- Jacoby Ellsbury* - CF
- Brett Gardner* - LF
- Carlos Beltran^ - RF
- Mark Teixeira^ - 1B
- Alex Rodriguez - DH
- Brian McCann* - C
- Chase Headley^ - 3B
- Didi Gregorius* - SS
- Starlin Castro - 2B
Projected Bench
Austin Romine
Pete Kozma
Dustin Ackley*
Aaron Hicks^
Projected Rotation… Lefties*
- Masahiro Tanaka
- Luis Severino
- CC Sabathia*
- Michael Pineda
- Nathan Eovaldi
Projected Bullpen
Aroldis Chapman* - Closer
Andrew Miller*
Dellin Betances
Chasen Shreve*
Nick Rumbelow
Branden Pinder
Ivan Nova
Injured
Greg Bird*
Fantasy Bargain - Mark Teixeira
People aren't drafting Mark Teixeira very high this season and it doesn't make much sense. He was in the AL MVP talk until the last month of the season, so there's obviously got to be some value left there. Things to consider when you're in a draft and you're about to pick up this top 12 first base option late in a draft - he's much better in OBP leagues than in Avg leagues, and he's definitely injury prone. With that said, he is absolutely worth a draft pick. Don't let him go undrafted.
Overrated Fantasy Option - Aaron Judge
People are a lot higher on Aaron Judge than what his minor league track record suggests. He's a big, physical looking guy who hits monster bombs when he does get a hold of one, but you can't make fantasy selections with your heart. He struggled a little last year when he got the call to AAA and something he had a lot of trouble with is contact. He does have a good chance of getting called up and providing some power late in the year, but don't expect him to make the team out of spring training or have success right away. He should probably go undrafted this year in leagues with 12 or less teams.
Conclusion/Season Prediction
This team doesn't have a lot of holes. It was actually a stretch calling the pitching depth a weakness because they definitely have a better staff than a couple teams in their own division. It's always a struggle to understand how aging another year will effect players already past their prime, so that's another thing to try to factor in. It does seem like they have taken the crown of best bullpen in baseball away from the Royals, but they will have to prove it with their performance this season. Overall, feels like the Yankees are good for 85-88 wins which will probably mean they are fighting for a wild card spot at the end of the year.