2016 Yankees Statistical Predictions: The Bench

The New York Yankees have one thing this team has lacked much of in a long, long time, a suitable bench and a major league backup at every single position. The Yankees have not only built a team around depth and versatility but they also have a strong bench that could get an absolute ton of playing time in 2016. Think about it this way, this team is heavily reliant on the offense of Brian McCann, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira much like in 2015 but this time around Rodriguez won't have to play over 150 games. This time around the Yankees can plug in suitable backups without missing much of a step thanks to a strong bench, but just how strong will the bench be?

Aaron Hicks

70 games, .263 average, 13 HR, 40 RBI

Dustin Ackley

91 games, .255 average, 12 HR, 39 RBI

Gary Sanchez

82 games, .271 average, 19 HR, 66 RBI

Robert Refsnyder

54 games, .288 average, 7 HR, 31 RBI

Greg Bird

50 games, .266 average, 15 HR, 41 RBI

2016 Yankees Statistical Predictions: The Bullpen

The New York Yankees bullpen is expected to be one of the strongest units in Major League history. Not only will the pen be relied upon heavily by manager Joe Girardi but it may be the Yankees bridge to a whole lot of victories, especially if the Yankees starters cannot give the team consistent innings and quality starts. Just how good is the bullpen going to be though and how much better can it be than the 2015 version? The 2015 version of Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller were almost perfect after six innings, even better after seven innings and practically perfect after eight innings. Can they be better in 2016 with Wilson now wearing a Detroit Tigers uniform and Aroldis Chapman wearing the pinstripes?

Dellin Betances

80 games, 6-1 record, 1.43 ERA, 5 saves, 119 K's

Andrew Miller

70 Games, 4-2 record, 1.96 ERA, 11 saves, 101 K's

Aroldis Chapman w/o suspension

69 games, 2-2 record, 1.50 ERA, 40 saves, 111 K's

Aroldis Chapman w/ suspension

50 games, 2-2 record, 1.67 ERA, 30 saves, 89 K's

Chasen Shreve

50 games, 4-6 record, 3.03 ERA

Bryan Mitchell

54 games, 5-7 record, 4.33 ERA

Jacob Lindgren

29 games, 3-0 record, 3.91 ERA

2016 Yankees Statistical Predictions: The Lineup

Yesterday we discussed my predictions for the starting rotation as far as stats go and today I want to focus on the starting lineup. You and I both know that the offense can carry a pitcher and pick up a pitcher in tough times, ask Nathan Eovaldi, and the Yankees offense did just that in 2015 on their way to the second highest run scoring total in the Major Leagues. That’s the good news, the bad news is the Yankees offense is another year older, another year farther away from their primes and another year closer to retirement in some cases. Can this offense carry the team much like they did in 2015 or will Mother Nature and Father Time have the last laugh in the Bronx?

Jacoby Ellsbury is the guy that gets the Yankees lineup going day in and day out. When he struggles or when he’s injured it travels downhill and has a snowball effect through the Yankees lineup. If New York wants to have a productive season offensively in 2016 I believe it lives and dies with Ellsbury. Ellsbury is a sensitive guy I think, that’s what I gather from his interviews and his introductory press conference and such, and he can be his own worst enemy at times. In order to counteract that he needs to have a great start to the season in order to have a productive one and I truly think he will.

Jacoby Ellsbury

130 games, .280 average, 15 home runs, 76 RBI

Starlin Castro, what do you expect out of the newest Yankees second baseman? Is it the Castro that struggled during the first half of the 2015 season with the Cubs as a shortstop or is the second base version of Castro that took off hitting over .330 during the second half of the season? Honestly it’s probably somewhere right in the middle of the two, and that’s perfectly fine.

Starlin Castro

155 games, .265 average, 15 home runs, 76 RBI

What in the world can Alex Rodriguez do to follow up his amazing comeback story from 2015? Well he can’t get any younger, he turns 41-years old this season, and he doesn’t have the benefit (or curse) of having almost two full seasons off of rest and rehabilitation to push him through the dog days of the long MLB season. For these reasons alone I can see him taking a bit of a step back in 2016 but who could blame him or expect anything less from the Yankees slugger?

Alex Rodriguez

140 games, .245 average, 26 home runs, 82 RBI

Mark Teixeira cut gluten out of his diet before the 2015 season and either had a positive effect from it or was finally fully healed from his wrist injury from a couple years back. Either way Teixeira had one of his more productive seasons in 2015 and will need another productive season in 2016 if he wants a favorable free agent contract after the 2016 season.

Mark Teixeira

140 games, .253 average, 31 home runs, 114 RBI

Brian McCann has been overused in my opinion during his two year tenure in the Bronx. The Yankees have had suitable backups for McCann in John Ryan Murphy and Francisco Cervelli but have opted to get him and his big bat into as many games as his body would allow. Having Gary Sanchez on the team should help that going forward and allow the Yankees to keep him rested and fresh.

Brian McCann

125 games, .229 average, 25 home runs, 90 RBI

Not too many people know this but Carlos Beltran actually led the Yankees in batting average in 2015 despite what many thought to be another down season for the aging right fielder. With Gary Sanchez taking up at bats at DH to keep Alex Rodriguez fresh and Aaron Hicks needing regular at bats off the bench I can see Beltran sitting or playing DH a lot in 2016, this should help keep him fresh and healthy for the majority of the season. Beltran is not the Beltran we saw in Houston with the Astros or in Queens with the New York Mets but he can be solid before riding off on his white horse into the sunset that we have been known to call retirement.

Carlos Beltran

130 games, .260 average, 17 home runs, 72 RBI

Chase Headley reminds me a lot of Jacoby Ellsbury in the way that he can get inside his own head and become his own worst enemy. I believe his 30 home run hitting power years are long behind him but I do not believe that his days of being a quality defender at third base are. An offseason can do wonders for a guy that is struggling to make a consistent throw to first base and that pressure put on himself can affect him in the batter’s box in my opinion. Headley will enjoy a slight bounce-back in both departments next season in my opinion and become a solid player for the remainder of his Yankees tenure.

Chase Headley

150 games, .266 average, 13 home runs, 67 RBI

Brett Gardner, talk about a roller coaster of a calendar year. Last year Gardner went from being an All Star for the first time in his career to being labeled an injury prone player who cannot play in the second half. The latter led the Yankees to make him trade bait this winter with no takers willing to take on his salary or pay the price put forward by Yankees GM Brian Cashman. Gardner has gone from everyone wanting him to, use the term very loosely, no one wanting him via trade in less than six months. Does he let that get him down and does he beat himself up about it or does he use it as motivation to get better in 2016? Once again I’m going with the latter.

Brett Gardner

143 games, .275 average, 18 home runs, 70 RBI

Didi Gregorius quietly had one of the better seasons for the Yankees in 2015. Didi probably should have won the Gold Glove Award for American League shortstops in 2015 and is likely the player we saw offensively from June until the end of the season rather than the player we saw with the Derek Jeter themed monkey on his back the first two months of the season. I am a bit higher on Didi Gregorius than others, and I admit that 100%, but I have a sneaking suspicion my predictions won’t be that far off when the dust settles on 2016.

Didi Gregorius

154 games, .293 average, 10 home runs, 61 RBI

2016 Yankees Statistical Predictions: The Rotation

It’s that time of the year again Yankees fans, the time of the year when I make a complete fool of myself by predicting the stats for each and every member of the Yankees team. Whether you’re in the starting lineup, the bullpen, on the bench or in the starting rotation I want to take a stab at what each player will do statistically so I can either look like a genius (won’t happen) or a damn fool (the most likely scenario) when we look back at these at the end of the season. Today I wanted to focus on the starting rotation where I believe the 2016 season will be made or broken. 

Masahiro Tanaka had offseason elbow surgery which the Yankees think could help his overall performance in 2016. Brian Cashman specifically referenced the bone spurs to Tanaka’s inability to get full extension on his split-finger fastball which limited is effectiveness. With this in mind I went a little high on Tanaka. 

Masahiro Tanaka

28 starts, 18-10 record, 2.80 ERA

Luis Severino is the Yankees #2 starter in terms of talent but will likely pitch towards the back end of the rotation so the Yankees can limit his starts and innings from time to time. Severino was nearly untouchable in his debut last season and while I can’t see him being that untouchable for the 2016 season I think he has a fine sophomore campaign.

Luis Severino

25 starts, 15-9 record, 3.33 ERA

Michael Pineda, he’s either Big Mike or he’s not. I can’t see that changing much in 2016, not until he shows me some consistency. Sometimes Pineda will be dominant, sometimes he will struggle but ultimately I think we finally get a healthy season out of Pineda.

Michael Pineda

30 starts, 14-11 record, 3.85 ERA

Nathan Eovaldi can’t possibly improve on his 14 win campaign in 2015, can he? He received close to seven runs of support per game from the Yankees offense last year, although for much of the second half he didn’t even need three of them to win a game, and seemed to take huge strides last season in his development. I think that development continues in 2016.

Nathan Eovaldi

33 starts, 16-11 record, 4.14 ERA

CC Sabathia, does he have one last hurrah in him? Well if you’re the Yankees you’re either hoping that he has left shoulder issues (quietly and yes they are terrible people for doing so) or you hope that he has two last hurrah’s in his left arm and right degenerative knee. Did the alcohol affect CC on the mound and can he pitch through a new knee brace and another year of wear and tear on that landing knee? I’m not as confident as I should be in the 35-year old.

CC Sabathia

25 starts, 10-14 record, 5.01 ERA