The Yankees Top 10 Defense?

What a difference a year makes. There are many New York Yankees fans who feel that our favorite team has not taken steps to get better. After suffering a season with an anemic offense that couldn’t score runs, we had to watch the Yankees pitchers hurl pretty good games consistently without any defense behind them to keep the games close. Now that appears to have changed.

ESPN’s Buster Olney recently ranked the top defenses for the upcoming 2015 season. The Yankees placed No. 10 overall some new faces ready to take the helms. Last season, they Yankees had the 11th best fielding percentage in baseball at .984. It was a bit misleading as their solid defenders in the outfield were able to hide the limited range and short comings of an inconsistent infield.

This season, Chase Headley will settle in full-time at third base. The 2014 rendition of the Yankees greatly improved when the Padres defensive stalwart at the hot corner came to the Bronx. He has a career .967 fielding percentage (12 points above the norm for the same span) and a range factor of 2.41 per game at third base. He has a gold glove award to his credit and should benefit with a full season in New York.

While fans are rather upset about seeing a season without The Captain manning short stop for the first time in 20 years, there is no denying that a 24-year old Didi Gregorius is a huge improvement over the 40-year old Derek Jeter. Jeter had simply lost a step, whether it was do to age or that pesky ankle, and simply put he wasn’t the same. His range arguably cost the Yankees a few runs up the middle throughout the season. Now, Gregorius brings his career 4.25 range factor to the Bronx and will be an upgrade.

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Stephen Drew was re-signed to, I assume, take over second base. The Yankees put out a cast of, well, castoffs out at second base for much of the early season. Whether it was Brian Roberts or Kelly Johnson, it wasn’t pretty. Once Drew came aboard in June, he was asked to become a second baseman for the first time in his nine year career. The results were surprisingly good, better than Roberts and Johnson at least, and shows his versatility as a solid defender. A full offseason to prepare for his “new” role will only help.

Every Yankees fan knows the deal at first base. If Mark Teixeira is healthy, the Yankees have a premier fielding first baseman in baseball. If not, it will be a mix and match assortment of back-ups. Brian McCann, one of the most underrated backstops in baseball, performed surprisingly well in his first stint as a back-up first baseman. Alex Rodriguez made a successful shift from short stop to third, does the fallen super star have the ability to make a late-career change to first?

The outfield is a steady as it comes. Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner are very good outfielders who have the speed to compensate for the rare misplayed or misjudged ball. Carlos Beltran can barely move at age 38, but Chris Young made his name as an exciting defender back in the day. You can bet he may not start every game this season, but he will finish a lot of them.

The 2015 Yankees are a peculiar bunch thus far and still a work in progress. An improved infield and a top ten defense could go a long way in winning them a few more games. In the AL East, a few more games may be all it takes to return to relevance.