Yankees Editorial: The Yankees Will Outperform The NY Posts’ Prediction

The New York Post came out with an article this week stating the New York Yankees will finish 3^rd in the American League East with a 78-84 record. Questions marks from injuries to old age to a short bench all prevail as too difficult to overcome according to George King III.

In some respect, I have the same thoughts coming into the 2015 season. The team is older. The team is injury prone. However, 2014 saw the worst come true. Masahiro Tanaka missed half the year. CC Sabathia missed almost the entire year, and he was terrible when he was playing. Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran unfortunately played through injuries that saw their production drop to levels not worthy of their large contracts. Ivan Nova had Tommy John surgery and won’t even be back until part of the way through this year. Yet, the Yankees went 84-78 – good enough for second in the division.

Joe Girardi has lost games by over coaching and over using his binder. He’s also won a lot of games the Yankees had no business winning using the same methods. The 2014 Yankees should not have been a better than .500 team, but they got there. The 2015 Yankees are better than last year’s team and will not finish with fewer than 80 wins.

The Yankees are hoping to obviously get a full year out of Tanaka. If he gets injured, they will deal with it like they did last year. Sabathia has gained some weight and is going to be pitching against weaker competition now that he is no longer the ace of the staff. If he stays healthy, he could be a pleasant surprise. If Pineda stays healthy he could be a legitimate Cy Young candidate. These are three guys that missed a ton of playing time last year and are ready to move forward.

Teixeira feels healthy for the first time in years. Beltran had surgery on his elbow and thinks he is ready to get back to how he played when he was with the Cardinals. Brian McCann had a great end to the year and will be bringing a new approach to combating the shift this year. Jose Pirela figures to get himself into the lineup sooner rather than later. The Yankees will have a full year with Chase Headley manning third.

In short, this team is better than last year’s on offense, defense, and pitching. Other teams have gotten better this off-season as well, but the Yankees are ready to play. They may not lead the American League, but they are certainly going to get more than 80 wins.