Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Yankees Lineup May Not Be Better in 2015

The Yankee lineup has been miserable this season.  The Bombers are the eighth lowest scoring team in the majors and struggle to score runs on a nightly basis.  The days of 200 home run lineups and using the big fly to score runs in bunches are gone, and they may not be back anytime soon.  While the Yankee offense has been anemic all season, they may not be much better next season.  In fact, they could be worse.

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Many Yankee fans yearn for upgrades to the lineup for next season in an effort to produce more offense.  However, those wishes may go unfulfilled as this offseason does not figure to provide much change in the Yankee lineup.  The Yankee outfield for next season is already set with Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brett Gardner each entering the second year of the multiyear contracts they signed before this season.  In the infield, Brian McCann has $68 million and four years remaining on his contract, Mark Teixeira and Martin Prado, likely the everyday second baseman, both have two years left on their deals.  Alex Rodriguez will also be back next season as an injury-prone 40-year-old third baseman and DH.  Rodriguez still has three years left on his contract.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

The Yankees will need to replace Derek Jeter at shortstop next season and with no obvious internal options, will likely go the free agent route and sign someone like J.J. Hardy.  They could also give the job to Brendan Ryan, who cannot hit a baseball.  Stephen Drew, who some thought would be auditioning for the job after his trade from the Red Sox, has likely played his way out of the conversation thanks to a .161 batting average entering last night’s game.  They could also resign Chase Headley, who might be willing to take a one year-deal to reestablish his value in the hopes of signing a long term contract for 2016.

And suddenly there is no real room for improvement for next season.  The entire lineup will be on the wrong side of 30 and a year older.   Rodriguez will be a wild card.  No one knows what to expect from a player who just sat out a season due to a PED suspension, and a degenerative hip condition, but the best case scenario would probably be for him to a productive role player off the bench.  Instead, he will likely be the everyday DH.  Teixeira is hitting .223.  McCann is hitting .241.  Headley is hitting .239.  Beltran is hitting .236.  Does anyone really think that they will all rebound in 2015?

The Yankees are most likely stuck with the lineup they have for another year.  Teixeira, McCann, Ellsbury, Beltran all have no trade clauses, not that the Yankees would find takers for those contracts anyway.  Gardner does not have a no-trade clause, but was actually one of best hitters on this team this season, setting a new career high in home runs.  That means the big off season “upgrade” for the Bomber lineup for 2015 will likely be Rodriguez and perhaps a new shortstop.  This will leave Yankee fans frustrated as the Bombers will once again struggle to score in 2015.