Friday, January 24, 2014

Once bitten, twice shy, third time lucky?

Hank & Hal Steinbrenner, owners of the New York Yankees, knew all along they had to retool the roster for 2014. I think they knew they weren't getting Alex Rodriguez back, and now that America's Pariah will in fact sit out the season, let's consider the positive moves the Yankees made since the off-season began.

*-Brian McCann came over as a free agent from Atlanta. This is the sort of move the Yankees needed to make after the 2012 season, after Russell Martin left for Pittsburgh as a free agent---and made it to the playoffs. Last year, the Bombers had journeyman Chris Stewart and prospect Austin Romine behind the dish when injuries and a drug suspension cut short Francisco Cervelli's season. Naturally, the offensive numbers suffered at one of the key offensive positions.

*-Kelly Johnson (Tampa Bay) is a journeyman infielder who has also logged time in Atlanta, Arizona, & Toronto. He hurt the Yanks with some clutch hits last season, but is likely to shift all over the infield in the Bronx.

*-Brian Roberts (Baltimore) missed most of last season with injuries. He fills the void created when Robinson Cano chased the money and fled to Seattle on the advice of a moronic agent. In terms of injuries, Roberts has something in common with new teammates Derek Jeter & Mark Teixiera.

*-Carlos Beltran (St. Louis) & Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston) will help in the outfield, but Beltran, because of his own injury issues in recent years, is likely to spend most of the season as a DH in his first year back in the AL (started his career in Kansas City), although I'd imagine he would spell Ellsbury in center and/or Ichiro Suzuki in right. When they're both healthy, the two of them can more than make up for the production of Curtis Granderson, who went across town to the Mets.

*-Japan's Masahiro Tanaka, clearly, is the crown jewel. He signed Wednesday for 7 years and $155 million. However, there's an opt-out clause after the 4th year. Funny thing is, his agent is Casey Close, who has represented Jeter for years. What bugs me is why Close would pull a Scott Boras move and put an opt-out clause in the contract? We all know how that turned out for A-Roid, don't we? The New York Daily News celebrated the signing by splashing a picture of Tanaka's wife, wearing a red 2-piece bikini, on the front page of Thursday's editions. Surely, Tanaka's living right, isn't he?

Note, though, that the Daily News and other media outlets aren't so quick to anoint the Yankees as the prohibitive choice to win the AL East. They remember what happened to Toronto last year when the Blue Jays were the sexy pick to win the division, only to get locked in the cellar, unable to meet enhanced expectations.

And, then, there's Keith Olbermann. The ESPN pundit had his show air extra early on Wednesday night so he could weigh in on Tanaka, and brought up the Yankees' previous failures with Japanese pitchers such as Hideki Irabu & Kei Igawa. Granted, Tanaka will have some company in the locker room in Ichiro & Hiroki Kuroda, who returns for a 3rd season in the Bronx. The question that Olbermann raised was whether or not Tanaka can handle the pressure of playing in the biggest media fishbowl in the US. After going undefeated last season, can Tanaka follow Texas' Yu Darvish and thrive in the AL? That, luckily for the Yankees, will be the story this season, instead of worrying about A-Roid.

Right now, the Yanks are assured of 4 starters: Tanaka, Kuroda, CC Sabathia, & Ivan Nova. Phil Hughes is gone. David Phelps could be the #5, or it could be someone like Michael Pineda, who has yet to see the mound at Yankee Stadium since coming over from Seattle after the 2011 season. Yankee fans, though, have reason to smile right now. Just as long as A-Roid doesn't show up on the back page again......

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