Good Pitching plus great hitting equals ?

The Yankees hope that having a strong starter every day will make up for the lack of star power in their rotation. There is some precedent for this the 2006 Yankees led the league in scoring and won their division with hitting. Their pitching failed them in the playoffs and their offense did too. They would have been stronger in the playoffs if they had one other starter than Wang and Mussina at the top of his game..they didn't and couldn't win a pitcher's duel..only a high scoring game. This season it may not matter because they face long odds of getting to the playoffs, but they have the potential to develop some long relievers to let Torre pull an ineffective starter early in a crucial game, or to hold a team down in the 4th-6th innings on a given day. This is often done with some young hard thrower and the Yankees have Sanchez, Ohlendorf, Britton, Beam and a few other young power arms to consider. The Yankee bullpen could be a factor too Vizcaino, Bruney, and Proctor are three proven options for the early or middle innings. This would leave Farnsworth and Rivera to close. Like the big Red Machine and some 1950's era Yankee teams...they will try to do it with good pitching, superior relief, and superior hitting.

Boston will have to work hard this year

Boston has assembled a hand of four aces, Toronto finished 2nd last season, the Yankees improved their pitching and depth... what will happen? This year Boston will have to exceed it's normal effort to mess up this season. On paper they may have their best pitching ever...clearly the best in the league this season. Detroit would be a poor second, the Yankees somewhere in the upper one third. Boston has great defenders to go along with the dominant starters...so look for Boston to build a big lead in the AL East and coast to the division title while the Yankees battle for their lives with Toronto, Detroit, Texas, and Oakland. Now if Boston does not run away early..things could get dicey because the Yankees are loaded with trading chips: Pavano + cash; high quality prospects from AAA and depth players. Will Florida decide it can trade Cabrera and still be on track for 2008? Will Minnesota trade Santana while his value is still high( three high level prospects at this time). So if Boston doesn't play hard they will have a chance to see the Yankees make a big deal and catch up in talent a bit before the pennant chase. This season it is truly difficult to imagine that Boston will not blow away the division: four aces usually beats jacks and tens.

2007 NY Yankees : Defense

Team defense will be a strength of this edition. The infield will have Jeter and Cano who have learned from a year of playing together to be a superior Double Play Combo. They don't have great range but will be superior behind good pitching that will produce a lot of mishit ground balls. Third and First will be superior when Mientkiewisc is at first and averge when Giambi is there. Giambi is an average fielder but doesn't throw well and amazingly that comes up a lot when he is on the field..the ball finds him.
Outfield defense is a strength with only Damon's weak arm as a weakness. Melky will play some CF and then they will be a superior group. Abreu is an underrated defender as is Matsui. Both will make outstanding plays look routine.
Pitchers play defense too and Mussina is one of the best. Pettitte is very good and has a great pick-off. Wang is very good for a ground ball guy that is important. Igawa and Pavano are unknowns but neither has a reputation for poor fielding.

2007 NY Yankees : Offense

The lineup is strong behind Boston and Toronto in the division and LA and Minnesota in the league..on a par with Detroit and Tampa. Talent wise that is how the Yankees stack up but in performance they will probably be the top offense in the league. The key is hitting and base running ... the area of Yankee advantage with Abreu, Jeter, ARod, Cano, Matsui, Cabrera, and Damon the Yankees will be effective on the bases unlike Minnesota, Boston, and Toronto..and on a par with Detroit and LA. The Yankees will come at you with walks, hits and xtra base hits... Damon, Jeter, Abreu figure to give Giambi and Arod two RBI opportunities per game. Behind those two are Matsui Cano and Posada.. if the Yankees really do go on with the ridiculous Mienkiewisc at 1b..that will be the only easy out in the lineup and the reason the offense seems to take a step backwards from last season. The Yankees will still have a power game with Giambi and ARod. In his walk year ARod may have a dynamic season. He will opt out of his contract and leave the Yankees in the hunt for a replacement star in a year when Andruuw Jones might become available(Abreu is in the last year) and when they may want to promote Eric Duncan to play 3B. They should be trying for Miguel Cabrera from this point forward too.

2007 NY Yankees : Relief Pitching

It begins and ends with Mariano Rivera. Mo is the cornerstone and he seems to be solid as ever based on last season. The bits get dicier from that point as Bruney becomes the second most important reliever because like Rivera he is lights out when he is on his game. Bruney can freeze hitters and he may become the 8th inning preference for Torre despite Farnsworth whose bad back has him on the great when available list. The Yankees have a lot of save opportunities and late inning holds too so there is a need for three pitchers to cover the 8th inning or slide to the 9th when Mo is on his rest days and Proctor is the the third guy. Proctor stepped up last season and has now taken the swing man role of middle/late. This makes the Yankee bullpen deep and flexible and resistant to overwork. They have two guys to handle the middle inning Vizcaino and the lefty Meyers or TBA or Britton obtained from Baltimore. The Yankess have a little depth too: Jose Veras came on strong once he figured out his spots for his fastball and he can contribute this year along with TJ Beam. All in all a deep and flexible group and a team strength.

the 2007 NY Yankees : Starting Pitching

First in a five part series... Mussina, Pettitte, Wang, Igawa, and Pavano are penciled in for the rotation and it is good enough to win the American League in front of a top offense. The weak link is Pavano since no one knows if he will compete. If he resembles the fellow from Florida the Yankees will be in good shape: a 6-7inning quality performance three+ out of five outings.
The issue is health//depth. Nos. 6-9 are important and here they are young Karstens, Rasner, Sanchez, Hughes in that order then Clippard and a host of other possibles--they have good young arms not much experience. The Yankees seem willing to try their kiddie corps after seeing Detroit succeed and Boston flame out last year doing the same thing...they feel thay can manage it and Cashman has gathered the personnel to give it a good test. The view here is that Sanchez is ready to shine and Karstens and Rasner would be decent at the back end of the rotation and hold their own. Hughes is ready to be a No.3 it is better to wait uintil September if possible--or at least til July. Then there is the Clemens factor. I see Clemens going anywhere but NY... but id he lands in NY then Pavano would become a trade and the Yanks would try to build towards another important goal: somehow getting Miguel Cabrera.

Bringing Up the Young Arms

Detroit showed as Florida showed before them..you can go a long way with good young pitchers. The guys who can still erase their mistakes with a high hard fastball. The problem is that it usually costs the team one or two seasons before the young arms learn to win at the MLB level...the Yankees will bring them in one at a time if they can. They let Hughes stay down last season and will start him at AAA this year if possible before a second half call up. That leaves them 60% of goal with Hughes and Wang and Igawa. Sanchez and Clippard are next in line but might not get the permanent promotion this season..but at least some MLB starts in September. If Pavano goes bad again then there would be some stars to sprinkle around all of these young arms. The Yankees won last year with key starters having ERA in the 5.00 range...these new guys may be able to do better than that even in the AL East where every team throws and explosive offense at you every game. Matsuzaka vs. Hughes... is a matchup that the Yankee fans can look forward to for some seasons to come.

Yankees on a Budget?!

The Yankees are starting to worry their fans...they seem serious about their budget! They are going into the season with Pavano penciled into the rotation..a five pitcher rotation- no 6th or even 7th guy to stand and wait for injury or ineffectiveness. All is not lost this may wind up as a very interesting year..the year the home grown Yankees start to arrive for the next phase of the Dynasty. Humberto Sanchez, Phillip Hughes, Tyler Clippard are planned to follow Wang into the rotation from the Minor League System joining old man Pettitte and Kei Igawa over the next two seasons. They could pitch in relief some to gain confidence except for Hughes who is redy for a spot in the order. The most pressing order of business for the Yankees is their future catcher not their pitching... they now have answers at AAA.
NOTES: If the Helton deal does not go... I think it still will...Boston will look back and say: best deal we didn't make this offseason was keeping Mike Lowell. Boston will have to invent a closer but still have a huge talent edge in offense, defense, and pitching over the entire league.