By: Jeremy Smith
The New York Yankees have made the biggest impact this offseason in the signings of Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett. With these signings, the Yankees look to be the favorite not only in the AL East, but to win the World Series.
Teixeira recently signed a 8-year $180 million contract. While Sabathia signed a 7-year $161 million contract, and Burnett a 5-year $82 million deal. Huge contracts for huge impact players. The Rays will be very good again but they will fall a little from where they were last year. The Red Sox are still good but they are getting old, and recently signed Smoltz who is in his 40's also. The Yankees now look to be the premiere team in baseball. The only question will be team chemistry. Can all these guys make millions and millions of dollars work together and make winning a championship priority number one? The long journey of whether that is true or not begins for the Yankees on April 6th at Baltimore.
The New Yankee Stadium also opens up this season. So will a new stadium mean another title for the Bronx Bombers? Let's be honest, the Yankees year in and year out usually have more talent than most teams. An infield now with the likes of A-Rod, Jeter, and now Teixeira make this team the most feared offensive team in the MLB. How can anyone pitch around Jeter and pitch to A-Rod? With Teixeira on deck you can't pitch around A-Rod can you? This is what I mean when I say the most dangerous team in the MLB.
The projected rotation is as follows:
- C.C. Sabathia
- A. J. Burnett
- Chien Ming Wang
- Andy Pettite
- Phil Hughes
This team has the potential of getting off to a record start because of their great rotation, Rivera closing out games, and games where pitching struggles the star studded offense can carry you. The only question will be if they can indeed coincide together and work as one to accomplish their ultimate goal...a World Series championship.
Yankees have had tremendous talent and underachieved, but this is the year I think they will breakthrough and win it all.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Yankees will win their division this year, let alone the World Series. Sabathia is primed for a sub-par year. He always follows a season where he pitched over 200 innings with a less-than-stellar season. And in 2008 he pitched 253. He's also pitching in the American League again. Remember, he was 6-8 last year for the Indians before being traded to the Brewers of the National League. And neither Cleveland nor Milwaukee have the media pressure of NYC. One or two bad outings and Sabathia may snowball in the wrong direction before June. And I'm not so sure about Teixeira either. He's had good numbers offensively, but not the great numbers you would expect considering his contract. How will he fare sharing RBIs with Jeter, Rodriguez and Johnny Damon? And we've all seen how Rodriguez folds like a tortilla in a cupboard when October rolls around. They may start strong, but I see another trophy-less season in the Bronx coming.
ReplyDeleteI think the yanks will be good but not good enough to win the AL East. The rays didnt get any worse over the off season, only better. Their pitching wasnt new last year and this year theyll be confident that they can win in tough situations. Plus theyll have fan support. The Sox will have a tougher go this year. But the yanks have always tried to buy a championship even though their best success came from their farm system. And sadly they always turn their back on their system in favor of a expensive sounding name.
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