The New York Yankees are still wearing the same classic pinstripes, but looking at the players sporting those jerseys doesn’t feel the same. The Yankees look different. The personnel has changed, and with it, so has the Yankees image.
No more Mariano Rivera. No more Robinson Cano. No more Andy Pettitte. These three players had become marquee, household names for the Yankees over the years. Cano departed for free agency, while Pettitte and Rivera headed for retirement after the 2013 season ended.
Rivera “closed out” his remarkable career in 2013, earning recognition as the best closer ever to play to the game of baseball. Respected all around the league for his poise, maturity and his dynamic cutter pitch, Rivera ended his career with 652 saves — the most all time. He has numerous other distinctions and records throughout his career, but he really developed a name for himself in the playoffs in which he has the lowest career ERA in postseason history at 0.70. Under his reign, he helped guide the Yankees to five World Series titles. Rivera meant so much to the Yankees over his 20-year career, becoming just as much an icon for the Yankees as for the game as baseball. When the game was on the line, Yankees fans always knew that they had the edge over other teams with Rivera in the bullpen. However, now without the legendary closer to rely on, there is a lack of trust and a pool of uncertainty at the back of the bullpen.
Robbie “Don’t Ya Know?” Cano looked like the next great Yankee legend, who, like Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Rivera, would begin and end his career in pinstripes. However, the seven-year, $240-million contract offer from the Seattle Mariners was too hard for him to pass up. Cano had a remarkable .309 batting average in his career with the Yankees while batting in the three-spot for most of his tenure. He finished in the top-six in the American League MVP race each of his last four seasons with the Yankees. He became a central offensive weapon, while playing stellar defense. His departure has left a huge void to fill in the middle of the lineup and the middle of the infield. Due to his consistent and injury-free seasons, he developed into the most reliable and important offensive player for the Yankees and will be missed.
Despite having many talented and well-known players, the Yankees failed to make the playoffs in 2013, largely part due to an injury-plagued infield, a lackluster pitching staff and offensive struggles.
The Yankees were without Derek Jeter for all but 17 games due to various ankle injuries and were without a hobbled Mark Teixeira for all but 15 games due to a wrist injury. These injuries forced Eduardo Nunez and Lyle Overbay into the lineup, both of whom were unable to fruitfully fill the void. A surprisingly ineffective C.C. Sabathia, who finished the season 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA, also didn’t help the Yankees’ cause.
As always, the Yankees had an extensive offensive spending spree, acquiring some new veteran players, leaving them with high hopes for the 2014 season. These signees include 37-year-old Carlos Beltran, who resurrected his career with the St. Louis Cardinals after unimpressive stints with the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets; 30-year-old Brian McCann, who impressively had 20 home runs in seven of the last eight seasons with the Braves and 30-year-old Jacoby Ellsbury, the fast, dynamic and versatile outfielder and lead-off hitter the Yankees stole from the Red Sox. They also bolstered their pitching staff by acquiring an expensive Masahiro Tanaka from Japan. Other additions include 37-year-old second baseman Brian Roberts, and 32-year-old third baseman Kelly Johnson. Late season acquisitions in 2013 included 40-year-old outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and 38-year-old outfielder Alfonso Soriano.
With the addition of all these older players — whom are undoubtedly past their primes — in the later stages of their careers, there is one thing that is for certain: the Yankees are certainly not getting any younger. While they do have some young and upcoming stars, especially in pitching prospect Tanaka, the Yankees roster is defined by older and more experienced players. Jeter, coming off the worst season of his career, is on the decline, and Mark Teixeira has shown durability issues that have continued into 2014 season. And Alex Rodriguez? Well, that’s a whole other issue.
Despite these concerns, there is still an abundance of talent and potential for the Yankees during the 2014 season. With fewer superstars in their prime and more seasoned veterans looking for a World Series title to close out their careers, there is a team-oriented feel to this Yankee team. Everyone will have to produce collectively; there won’t be as much pressure on individual players to carry the load.
Traditional Yankee teams have been built around a handful of superstars who have carried the torch and been responsible for most of the run production, but this team is different. Players know their role and know that there will be a diffusion of responsibility. Jeter may no longer be the superstar fielder and hitter that he once was, but he knows that. He knows he will need to contribute in other ways, using his experience as captain to guide the team.
First-baseman Mark Teixeira seems to agree that this Yankee team will need to not only remain healthy but also play more cohesively.
“We’re back to being the Yankees again. Last year, we weren’t the Yankees. We had so many injuries and we had so many guys that should have been in there to be lots of anchors [in the lineup.] That’s back. There is not one guy that has to carry this team,” he recently said.
Part of this new team-geared attitude expressed by Teixeira includes focusing more on fielding and defensive tendencies. The Yankees, just like the rest of MLB teams, are compiling more information on hitters’ trends and are using advanced sabermetrics to more accurately predict where balls will be hit. Accordingly, the Yankees have been spending a lot of time implementing defensive shifts into their game plan, as they feel that there are benefits to having more instances of run-saving situations than run-producing situations. They used just 475 shifts last year and are already up to more than 90 in 2014, second behind only the Houston Astros. They are on pace for well over 1,000 shifts throughout the season.
It will be interesting to see how these new look Yankees will fair this season without Rivera to close games out and Cano to provide the offensive spark. If they can follow Mark Teixeira’s sentiments with everyone playing within there own capabilities and with the team in mind, there is a lot of upside. However, if the veteran ball club fails to align and maximize the skill sets of these aged players, the Yankees could be in for another disappointing season.
