I cringe while writing this admittedly because the last time
I posted something like this I considered, well in advance I may add, what the
team would do if they lost Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano, Andy Pettitte and
Derek Jeter in the same offseason. Well aside from Jeter the team did lose all
three of those and then went on to sign Kelly Johnson and others like I
suggested in the three part post making me somewhat responsible and guilty for
the way the 2014 season went down. So here I stand again writing about what
could possibly be the worst case scenario for the 2015 version of the New York
Yankees.
The Yankees are relying heavily on the bounce backs
physically for Carlos Beltran, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Masahiro Tanaka.
By June Beltran is back to being a full time DH with lingering pain and
stiffness in his elbow while Sabathia is having his knee drained almost weekly.
Sabathia is still on the mound but he is as ineffective as we have ever seen
him in his career, It is no bad it would almost be better for the Yankees if he
were injured and they could call up Bryan Mitchell. Ivan Nova is back and is
going through his normal growing pains in his first season back from Tommy John
surgery while Chris Capuano is still stinking up the place while Masahiro
Tanaka recovers from his own Tommy John surgery. Of course that surgery doesn’t
happen until the first week of June after it’s basically too late for GM Brian
Cashman to do anything about it at the trading deadline. Mark Teixeira took a
day just because he read this article.
The team also is relying heavily on a shutdown bullpen, the
health of Chase Headley and the effectiveness of Didi Gregorius. The bullpen
looks great on paper but there is a reason the Braves got rid of Chasen Shreve
and David Carpenter, not even Brian McCann could save them. Andrew Miller and
Dellin Betances are great but Carpenter looks more and more like Shawn Kelley
while Jacob Lindgren and Luis Severino continue to sit in Triple-A. Chase
Headley’s back problems flare up again causing Alex Rodriguez to be an everyday
third baseman again. He was doing surprisingly well with the bat bringing the
question up of whether he was clean or not but the everyday grind of playing
third base gets to him and he continues to break down. He just doesn’t break
down enough for the Yankees to collect on the remainder of his contract and
just enough for him to collect his home run milestone for passing Willie Mays
on the All-Time Home Run list. Didi cannot take the pressure of playing in New
York, replacing Derek Jeter or hitting left handed pitching. Gregorius shows a
sensitive side of himself that is ripped to shreds in the tabloids, and by the
media, bloggers and fans. Total Miley Cyrus type breakdown. Troy Tulowitzki is
asked if he would accept a trade to New York by an ESPN reporter and his
response is “hell no, the Bronx looks like it’s burning again. “
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)