The New York Yankees are a historically great team that growing up I was able to watch the Core Four dominate for nearly 20 years and that came full circle and ended last year in 2014. It was Derek Jeter's farewell tour and the season itself and more importantly the team was hidden away by Derek Jeter's tour. The team ended with an 84-78 record that left them 4 games out of the Wild Card. Looking at how the individual players performed and how the team was riddled with injury, 84-78 was a pretty solid record. It's easy to tell that the Yankees are in a rebuilding stage which is something they really haven't done in my lifetime (since 1993) so the team is in relative new world. 2014 was the beginning of this stage and now that Jeter has retired they are officially rebuilding.
Now to 2015: there are quite a few questions left with this team, who's the face of the team? Is anyone gonna stay healthy? Is there hope for this season? Obviously Derek Jeter was The Captain and the face of the Yankees since 2003. After his departure the Yankees made a trade for Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorious, a 25 year old player out of the Netherlands. While this is hard to say because Jeter is my favorite player of all time, I believe we've upgraded at the position. Didi's defense is much better than Jeter's and while Didi's hitting isn't spectacular he can still be effective in the batter's box.
The Face of the 2015 New York Yankees: I would love to say Brett Gardner, he's been my favorite player behind Jeter the past few years but he doesn't have that leadership role like Jeter did. The first person I think most people would think of when they think of this team is probably Alex Rodriguez or maybe Mark Texeira. If pitcher Masahiro Tanaka can stay healthy all year and plays to level he did last year, he could definitely become the face of the franchise moving forward.
Is Anyone Gonna Stay Healthy?: Probably not. While the team as a whole has gotten younger, much of the Yankees key players are pretty up there in age. CC is 34, Tex is 34, A-Rod is 39, Beltran is 37 and McCann is 31 and these guys aren't getting any younger. The team seems to be almost more injury prone than anyone else, losing Tanaka and Nova last year for the season. If the team can stay healthy overall, they can do big things.
Is There Hope for This Season?: Most of the forecasts and projections have the Yankees ending 4th in the division and well out of the playoff race. I have a bit more hope for the season. The team has a lot of question marks, whether anyone can stay healthy, whether Tanaka can pitch at the level he did last year, and most importantly can anyone hit well. I think the young guys can really bring a lot to the team and if the pitching rotation stays healthy I think the team can do pretty well.
Prediction: Las Vegas has the Yankees win total at 81.5 which is just above .500, considering the team clocked in at .519 last year and the fact that I believe the team got better instead of worse I'm putting their record at 85-77 and in the hunt for second place in the division and just a few games out of the Wild Card. I think the Orioles will win the division again and while the Red Sox got better, I think the hype will outweigh their performance on the field. 2nd place and having a better record than last year is a good season in my mind, if players get injured to the extent of last year the team could suffer quite a bit but if everyone stays healthy, the outlook is good.
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