Well, in our last two part article, I made my predictions (just a few days before the start of the season) about the Yankees’ opening day roster and their performance in the 2015 season.
Wouldn’t you know that there would be an injury that would change quite a few things before we even got to that first game!
We continue our survey of the Yankees who have done well and not so well in Spring Training:
Well, the New York Yankees have had a weird off-season and it just keeps getting weirder. As we walk through the trades the Yankees made in January, I just keep hearing warning bells ringing that tell me that unless almost everyone who had an injury or a downturn in their career last year encounters a significant upward surge than this team looks worse on paper then the one which won 84 games last season and missed out on the post-season. Unless they give their manager Joe Girardi the right tools to work with, he doesn’t have a hope of turning this team into a winner.
The last update I wrote saw the Yankees in a peculiar position and making some seemingly bizarre moves. The outfield looked set (if a little prone to injury), the infield had a gaping hole at second base (following the trade to Miami of Martin Prado), the starting rotation looked vulnerable to say the least and missing at least one piece and the bullpen looked fine if a little over-manned.
So it really shouldn’t surprise our readers to see the Yankees making moves which primarily concern the bullpen and leaving the starting rotation and 2nd base quandaries untouched.
Sometimes an article changes direction just as you’re writing it and this is one because the Yankees’ progress over the last month has had more twists than the average tornado.
First there was their majorly disappointing decision not to make an offer to David Robertson. If you’d asked me in September who was the most important player that the Yankees must re-capture in 2015 then there would be no doubt in my mind that it would have been Robertson.
As we move on to the second half of our survey of the Yankees’ performance in September, we find a fairly surprising picture amongst the pitchers. Whilst the team averaged giving up between 3 and 4 runs a game which is pretty competitive, more surprising was that those who had been successful prior to September struggled and some new faces were successful.
September was never going to be an easy month for the Yankees. On one hand, they had to contend with the grand parade that was associated with the retirement of the Captain, Derek Jeter. On the other, they had to make up sufficient games to challenge for a wildcard. It would have proved too much for most teams but for the Yankees who were already over-performing given the weakness of their batting lineup, it seemed impossible. And so it was, they achieved a 14-13 record on the month whilst giving Jeter the send-off he deserved. One target achieved, the other not. But perhaps this was for the best – they would have probably embarrassed themselves in the post-season. Let’s look at who did what:
So with the batting line-up dying a slow death, the Yankees needed their pitchers to continue to bolster the ship as it rolled in stormy seas. On the whole, through August, they did – although the bullpen suffered a knock and a setback here and there which can come with the overuse it has had this season. On the whole, the Yankees can thank their pitching for, surprisingly, keeping them in contention.
So the Yankees had made it into August still in the mix for a possible place in the playoffs albeit by a wildcard slot. By the trading deadline, they had brought in Chase Headley, Martin Prado and Stephen Drew to try and fix their anaemic batting line-up. Now Stephen Drew wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of how to fix a low batting average and so to nearly no-one’s surprise August proved to be one of the 2014 Yankees worst months at the plate.
The Yankees’ pitching is still threadbare. However, surprisingly, bringing in a few starters who were struggling elsewhere and coupling them with a bullpen that has been performing consistently seems to be working. Let’s see who was doing well in July:
twilightdawning 