Yankees Have Overhauled Their Roster…For The Better?

Let’s take a look at who the Yankees had at the end of 2013. Yes the Yankees had Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson but they all missed most if not all the season. Chad Jennings of the LOHUD blog on the Yankees talks about it here, but let’s look into it further. Here’s who started the majority of the games:

C: Chris Stewart

1B: Lyle Overbay

2B: Robinson Cano

SS: Eduardo Nunez

3b: Jayson Nix

Outfield: Ichiro Suzuki, Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner

DH: Travis Hafner

Only Gardner remains from that group. With the exception of Cano for someone of the Stephen Drew/Jose Pirela/Rob Refsnyder group, the Yankees upgraded at EVERY SINGLE POSITION! While they didn’t make the playoffs again last year, it doesn’t mean they are in a worse spot than they were.

How about the rotation:

CC Sabathia

Hiroki Kuroda

Andy Pettitte

Ivan Nova

Phil Hughes

A shell of Sabathia’s former self and a rehabbing Nova remain. Masahiro Tanaka, if he had been healthy, could have been rookie of the year. Nathan Eovaldi  is a young power arm, something the Yankees didn’t really have back then. Michael Pineda was injured that season.

How about the bullpen? The Yankees don’t have the GOAT of closers in Mariano Rivera. Nor do they have Joba Chamberlain, Shawn Kelley and David Robertson. In their place, Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and a whole bunch of young power arms.

The Yankees also didn’t have players like Pirela and Refsnyder emerge as prospects as well as all the young prospects they added in the international market.

The Yankees have been doing a bit of rebuilding to help bring youth and depth and they are in much better shape than they were 15 months ago.