CTOD: New York Yankees

Although the expectation is for a World Series championship every year, it is hard to see 2010 as anything by a success for the Yanks. They lead the league in scoring and received enough pitching to post the best run differential in baseball on their way to the second best record in the AL.

All in all, 2010 was a year of pleasant surprises for the Yanks. Offsetting the declining performance of their aging premier players - A-Rod, Jeter, Teixeira, and Posada - was the emergence of Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher, and Curtis Granderson. All four of whom posted WARs of 3.6 or higher and thus ranking them in the top 5 in the Yankees lineup. The rotation struggled, both Javier Vazquez and A.J. Burnett posted ERAs north of 5.00, but the American League's third best bullpen was able to pick up the slack.


Much has been made about the Yankees rotation woes and aging lineup heading into the 2011 season but this team projects very similarly to last years edition. This is a tremendous offense. The 3-8 hitters could all easily hit 25 HRs and there isn't a regular in the lineup who doesn't seem like a good bet for a .350 OBP. There are questions to be sure, such as Teixeira's steadily declining OPS, A-Rod's sixty point drop in OBP last year, and Jeter's career worst season. However, as mentioned above, the development of their younger players into stars makes this regression bearable.

Now, about that rotation. Nobody is going to confuse Ivan Nova and Millwood/Colon/Garcia as the kind of depth you really want at the back end of your rotation. That being sad, it is difficult to see these players performing worse than Vazquez was last year, or A.J. Burnett being equally awful, and this is a team that won 95 games last year with in spite of such awful performance at the back end of the rotation. As a good sign, Burnett has pitched 15 innings this spring and has yet to walk a batter. The Yankees need him to return to his pre-2010 form to really round out this rotation as a solid #3.

Finally, although the Yanks were big losers in the Cliff Lee derby, the signing of Rafael Soriano to be their eighth inning guy virtually ensures victory for leads going into the final two innings of ballgames. Already possessing one of the best bullpens in the league, this signing may make the Yankees relievers corps the best in the AL, and should overcome a lot of the shortcomings in the rotation.

Prediction: Pitching concerns are probably overstated and the offense/bullpen are more than capable of carrying the team. 1st AL East.

Surprise Player: Brett Gardner.

Last season was the long awaited coming out party for the Yankees young centre fielder. Gardner finally received a full time playing position and didn't let down. He posted a .383 OBP, stole 47 bases, and played some of the best defense in all of baseball. This year he looks locked in at the top of the Yankees lineup and should cause havoc for opposing teams. Overall, Gardner adds a new dimension to the Yankees powerful offense and is a good bet for scoring far more than a 100 runs while stealing 50+ bags.