As we head into the last week of Feburary we're met with the arrivals of position players at Spring Training. Yesterday a notable arrival came without the usual pop and circumstance that has been accustomed in the past. Alex Rodriguez arrived to camp fresh off a successful comeback season.

In 2015 Alex played a pivotal part of the Yankees success. he also played into their late season downfall. At 40 years old, A-Rod showed signs of a man who sat out an entire season due to suspension and someone who had two surgically repaired hips. Nonetheless Alex delivered a solid season and put 33 home runs while being the offensive force in the middle of the lineup we had been accustomed to since his arrival to the Bronx in 2004. Alex turns 41 in July, has two years remaining on his legendary contract and is 27 homers shy of tying Babe Ruth on the All-Time HR list. When asked about reflecting on 2015 Alex said:

“I kind of went back and studied the season a little bit, and one of the things (was) I started my (training) process November, December, January. Really (significant) workloads for me, kind of prepping for spring training. I ran out of gas in August. My energy kind of picked up again in September, I just stunk. August, I was fatigued a little bit. September, I felt great and played poorly. So one of the things I’ve adjusted going into 2016 is to kind of pace myself a little bit more and use spring training as a ramping instead of coming here ready to go Day 1, which I did last year.”

I think if we get anything near the performance we did last year, we'd all be happy and take it. Assuming Alex and his fellow teammate Mark Teixeira  stay healthy, it'll provide the Yanks with the same 3-4 punch that provided an 8 game lead as late as July 31st.

Alex will once again serve as the teams DH. Manager Joe Girardi reiterated he has no plans to use Alex in the field. After two hip surgeries, why take the chance. The Yankees have made moves to add infield depth. They are talking about getting their Second Basemen Starlin Castro and Rob Refsynder some reps at Third Base. Castro could also serve as the back up Shortstop. Starting Third Baseman Chase Headley is the backup First Baseman should Teixeira need some time off or goes down with an injury. This should provide for some very interesting lineups this season.

As for Alex, I expect a similar if not slightly less productive season to the one we saw in 2015. I will go with a .265 AVG 27 HR 73 RBI. Nothing spectatcular but productive for someone finishing the season at 41 years of age. The drama appears to be a thing of the past for Alex so I expect the focus to be there but ultimately, he is past his prime, he's closer to 50 than 30 and he didn't have last season off. Let's hope for the best for A-Rod. At least for the remaining 2 years and 60-70 million left on his deal.

 

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Chase Headley, Joe Girardi, Mark Teixeira, Rob Refsnyder, Spring Training, Starlin Castro

The offseason is only a week old and I'm already itching for something to happen. The Yankees have an old inversatile roster so there won't be much movement unless something drastic happens. I think that's what should happen.

If there's any good of the NY Mets making the World Series its that the Yankees saw just how much attention that the youth of the Mets organization got. The Royals won it all because they were young, hungry and durable. Sure, they needed to make some mid season additions to get over the hump, so did the Mets. The Yankees were quiet at the trade deadline. That was the right move because it meant they kept all their young guns. The thing that gets me is that the young guys aren't exactly part of the plan for 2016.

Rob Refsynder is platooning at second base, Greg Bird doesn't have a spot on the big league roster after belting 11 home runs in his month and a half stint replacing Mark Teixeria at first base and in the lineup. Aaron Judge still won't see any significant time above Triple A because of Carlos Beltran clogging up time in right field. If last season was anything to learn from it's when the old guard goes down with an injury, which is going to happen with older players, you need reliable replacements. Brendan Ryan and Chris Young aren't the answers.

2016 should be the year where much like Luis Severino got his chance in 2015, Judge, Refsynder, and Bird should get significant time to showcase their talents and learn on the big league level. Teixeria doesn't give you any reason to think you're going to get a full healthy season out of him. Beltran was great down the stretch but it took him 4-5 months to get there. By that time, the rest of the team wore down and were left for dead.

While not young to be a rookie, Nathan Eovaldi showed he was reliable and develpoed into a solid top of the line pitcher. Pair him with Micheal Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees have a formiable 1-2-3 punch. If Ivan Nova goes back to his 18 win form, then the Yankee rotation came be one of the best in baseball. It would be a shame if they were and the lineup couldn't back them up because of age.

I wanna see the young core play and develop. It's time. Even if it's at the expense of some expensive past their prime players.

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Tags: Aaron Judge, Carlos Beltran, Kansas City Royals, Luis Severino, Mark Teixeira, Masahiro Tanaka, Mets, Nathan Eovaldi, Rob Refsnyder

It's been two weeks since the Yankees were eliminated at the hands of the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Playoff game and it still hurts.

This Yankee team that no one gave a shot at winning before the season started far exceeded expectations. By the end of July it looked like the Yanks would coast into October, except three things happened that derailed the entire season. Mark Teixeria went down with a season ending injury hurting the offense. Nathan Eovaldi ultimately went down for the remainder of the season hurting the starting rotation and the bullpen. The Yankees got old very quickly.

Teixeria was on his way to a 40 home run 115 RBI season when he fouled a ball off his shin and fractured his shin. Eovaldi was 14-2 and on his way to 200 innings when he went down with a forearm strain and he threw the balance of the pitching off its rocker. It put trusted pitcher Adam Warren back into the rotation, which was ok because he excelled during his stint in the rotation earlier in the year BUT it left a gapping hole in the bullpen. The 2-3 innings Warren would solidify in case a game was close or within reach now went to young inexperienced kids and boy did the Yankees pay for having to go that route. The Yanks lost countless games down the stretch because their starters just couldn't give them enough length. When they did, the offense was non-existent causing there to be more pressure on the lineup to produce. This formula was the demise of the 2015 Yankees.

So much could be said of how manager Joe Girardi handled the bullpen down the stretch in the final month and a half of the season but the REAL cause for concern is the lineup. The lineup that produced 20 runs in Atlanta, two potential Comeback Players of the Year in Teixeria and Alex Rodriguez, the future first baseman in Greg Bird, and a 7 game lead in the A.L. East on July 29th could only muster up 3 hits against the Astros. They went 1-7 in the final 8 games of the overall season. Pitiful, pathetic and embarrassing.

I'm not sure where the Yankees go from here but the answer to me is crystal clear. Get younger, get hungry, get rid of the old. Look around the MLB LCS's going on. All young teams going around. Out are the days of the high priced payrolls, In are the young and hungry want to make a name of themselves kinda players. This is what the Yankees should be aiming for. The new core is ready to be unleashed, Bird, Luis Severino, Rob Refsynder, Aaron Judge, Dellin Betances are just some of the homegrown talent waiting to make this THEIR team. I'd say make this happen sooner rather than later.




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Tags: Aaron Judge, Adam Warren, Alex Rodriguez, Dellin Betances, Greg Bird, Joe Girardi, Luis Severino, Mark Teixeira, Nathan Eovaldi, Rob Refsnyder, Yankees