This year’s version of the Yankees may be one of the most complicated rosters of all time for a supposed playoff contender. It’s so confusing, critics have chosen the defending AL East champs to finish anywhere from first to last place.
Think about that for a second. The division and the team is so up in the air, they can literally finish anywhere. Predictions have ranged from below .500 to 90-plus wins, a swing of at least 10 games.
And with reason.
Depending on how this summer goes, the team we see in August may look very different from the one in July and the ball club to start 2014 may almost assuredly look foreign to the one we see in September.
That’s life for a team exceeding 230 million dollars and needing to trim it to under 190 million dollars with about 90 million dollars off the books in the process.
And beneath all this turnover are players acquired from other teams over the past few months who need to step up now and may have to continue to step up through the season. Castoffs. Misfits.
Forget the 2010 Giants, this is an even more magnified and accurate version. If this season is going to work, the Yankees will need main contributions from these guys:
Travis Hafner: “Pronk” is the hitter who will DH against right-handed pitchers. He hasn’t played more than 118 games since 2007. Last season he hit .228 and wore out his 10 year welcome for an Indians team who lost 94 games.
This year Hafner has already hit two home runs and driven in six RBI in 23 at bats while maintaining a .391 batting average. Early? Yes, but if the Yankees are going to replace Raul Ibanez the only thing Hafner needs to do is stay in the batter’s box and continue to homer every 10 at bats. His first goal is to stay away from the disabled list. His second goal is to be a middle of the order bat for a division winner relying on him to replace a postseason hero.
Kevin Youkilis: Is it possible to be more hated by a fan base only to join that respective team? The Yankees went from embracing the former Red Sox hitter’s demise to feeling bad for him once he was flung to the White Sox and now to relying on him to do his best Alex Rodriguez impression. So far, so good. Another player who has to start by proving he can stay healthy and then prove he’s still a major leaguer and he’s off to a good start.
Youkilis has a home run and four RBI to compliment a .370/.433 split through his first 27 at bats. If Mark Teixiera is ruled out longer than “sometime in May”, the Yankees would do well to shift Youkilis over to first base to try to preserve his health and middle-of-the-order bat (if he can revive his career offensively in pinstripes).
Vernon Wells: Perhaps the most notorious of them all, Wells has everything to prove. He is overpaid and now a part of two of the most head-scratching moves in recent baseball history. First, Wells is traded from the Blue Jays, the team who signed him to his outrageous back-loaded seven year, 126 million dollar deal, to the Angels. Not only did the Angels absorb the entire contract remaining (four years worth) but they also gave up Mike Napoli in the process. Wells’ best year in southern California consisted of 25 home runs and a .218 batting average. Last year he hit .230 with 11 home runs as a part-time player.
So how did the Yankees react? Needing a right-handed outfield bat, they were willing to pay 14 million on a 42 million dollar tab to not only take Wells in 2013, but also use him next year as well.
Wells has responded in the vote of confidence and change of scenery early, hitting a couple of home runs, and .381/.500 in his first 21 at bats. He will need to become 2012 Nick Swisher for this sort of thing to work out.
Right now these three guys are the middle of the Yankees’ order after Robinson Cano (who finally woke up with two home runs on Monday). Two months from today, the Yankees may see returns from: Curtis Granderson, Teixeira and Derek Jeter, or one third of their projected starting lineup when spring training began. That will delegate Wells into a time share (likely DH’ing and playing left field against lefties, plus spelling an out fielder every so often) and keep Hafner glued in as a part-time DH.
Next year, two of these three guys (all but Wells) will likely be gone, but for now they are needed to help the team tread water as the main hitters until the reinforcements arrive. It’s been said all spring but if the Yankees can stay in contention the first couple of months and survive any other major injuries, guys like : Michael Pineda, Jeter, Granderson, Cesar Cabral and Teixeira can provide a major boost into a postseason race.
And these are just the guys who weren’t previously playing a role. Ichiro Suzuki will need to prove his best days are not behind him, Brett Gardner will need to show he can stay healthy, Francisco Cervelli is trying to show he can be a Major League catcher full-time, Cano needs to prove he’s worth a monster contract (Granderson, Hughes and Chamberlain are in walk years as well), Kuroda, Pettitte and Rivera have to show they still have something left, Robertson that he can be Rivera’s replacement and Sabathia that he is completely healthy from off-season surgery.
It would be easy for the Yankees to succumb to all of the question marks, but there is certainly a lot of incentive on an individual basis to show these players belong.
After a slow start against Boston and a couple of dominant Tigers’ starts, they are starting to show just that against Justin Verlander and Ubaldo Jimenez. Whether they can maintain a career renascence will determine how the Yankees are faring headed into the summer.
