Yankees Continue to Emulate AL Champion Kansas City Royals

Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals went back to the old school when they built their 2014 version of the team that went to the World Series against the San Francisco Giants. The Royals haven’t been relevant for the better part of three decades and came back to relevancy with a strong bullpen, speed and defense. If you look at the way the Yankees ran their operation this offseason and really dissect what went down it looks like New York may be following that same blueprint in hopes of the same success in 2015.

New York added speed and defense at the expense of power in Didi Gregorius to an already speedy group in Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury while the team also added strong defensive players in Chase Headley, Chris Young, and Garrett Jones. The team is deep, talented and versatile in the field and on the base paths which is a good thing because I cannot see the team hitting 200+ home runs or driving in 600+ runs this season.

The Yankees, like the Royals, passed on the likes of Max Scherzer, James Shields, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval and instead went with lesser signings that more fit the team. Instead of the Yankees waiting on the three run home run the team will now take their walks, steal bases, go from first to third on hits, and play a scrappy game before handing the ball over to one of the top bullpens in the league. While the Royals made their name with Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland the Yankees will try to emulate that success with Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Jacob Lindgren. New York’s bullpen may be deeper than Kansas City’s with David Carpenter, Justin Wilson, Chasen Shreve, Adam Warren and others turning a seven or eight inning game into a five or six inning game.

The Royals were built right but the team also got hot at the right time, something a GM cannot plan for or account for. You have to plan for the worst and hope for the best and the Yankees, like the Royals, have done that this offseason. Will the results be the same? Stay tuned.