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Yankees Place Favorably in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings

By Brendan Fitzgerald

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Spring training is well underway and the regular season slowly approaches. Now is a perfect time to take stock of each MLB team’s current situation with the offseason over but teams still sitting at an 0-0 record for 2015. Over at ESPN, Jim Bowden, Keith Law, and Buster Olney provided an update on the “MLB Future Power Rankings” that first ran in October before all the offseason moves were completed that changed team outlooks. As they say, the rankings are, “an attempt to measure how well each team is set up for sustained success over the next five years.” 

The five categories that they used to evaluate each term are Majors, Minors, Finance, Management, and Mobility. Each was weighted differently based on relative importance and then the overall scores were scaled to out of 100. The divisional rival Boston Red Sox, with its deep minor league system, solid management, and quality big league squad placed first. The Philadelphia Phillies, with an aging roster and questionable management placed last.

The New York Yankees had the 8th best score at 58.2 and only dropped one slot from the October rankings. The Majors and Minors got average rankings which seems about right. The farm system is on the upswing and the big league team, despite some nice pieces, has too much injury risk to project very high. Finances almost got a perfect score (top spot usurped by the Dodgers) while management was slightly above average. Mobility, the ability to use young players instead of old players, received a 20/30.

Olney notes that the Yankees will rid themselves of some large contracts to no longer elite players in the coming years. Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira will be free agents after 2016 while Alex Rodriguez will be a free agent after 2017. CC Sabathia is a free agent after 2016 or 2017 depending on if he injures his shoulder or not. That is a lot of money coming off the books that the Yankees can theoretically allocate to more productive players through free agency. It also provides the ability to roster younger players who cost less. This will boost the “Mobility” section of their power ranking even further.

Bowden notes that keeping Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and Michael Pineda healthy this year is imperative if they want to contend. Law notes that Jacob Lindgren can contribute at the Major League level this year. You don’t draft relievers in the first round of the draft and then let them sit in the minors for several years.

The Yankees overall outlook is pretty good. Due to strong management and superior finances it would be hard for them to fall in the lower half of teams in a futures rankings. The Major League roster has some upside despite the injury risk and the farm system is starting to really come around. The Yankees might be mediocre this year, but the future looks very bright.

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