Five Reasons to Be Excited About the 2017 Yankees

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While the New York Yankees 2016 season may be ending with a whimper, there are a number of reasons for fans to be excited about the team going into next season.

It’s important to remember how unexpected the New York Yankees recent playoff push was in the first place given how many of the team’s best players were shipped out of town before the trade deadline. Yes, the last week has been disappointing, but almost no one expected the Bombers to be playing meaningful baseball this late in September. Heck, they are still technically in the race with 11 games to go!

In recent years, every season the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs felt like a major let down. Because they’ve had such old teams, it has felt like New York’s window has been on the verge of closing for over a decade.

The feeling is very different with this new crop of Yankees because of the presence of so many promising young players. Their success in the last two months of the season was fun, but the best days for this group are still on the way. Even 2017 looks like something of a transition year, with 2018 when things will really fall into place.

Still, the 2017 Yankees have the potential to be a very good club if certain things break the right way. Here are the five biggest reasons to be excited about the team next year.

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A Full Season by Gary Sanchez!

Even though he’s been with the club for less than two months, rookie catcher Gary Sanchez has been the New York Yankees most valuable position player with three wins above replacement according to Baseball-Reference’s metric.

The 23-year-old won both the American League Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month awards for August, his first extended stint in the big leagues, becoming the fastest player to 13 home runs in baseball history in the process.

It would be unfair to expect a .337/.410/.747 (199 OPS+) batting line over a full season. Odds are, he’s not going to be a top-five player in baseball next year. However, an All-Star-caliber three-four WAR season doesn’t seem crazy considering the value Sanchez adds even when he’s not hitting.

There is a very good chance that Sanchez could challenge guys like Salvador Perez and Matt Wieters for the title of best catcher in the American League next year. If we want to get really crazy, the Kraken could even push his way into the MVP conversation if he manages to keep something resembling this production up for a full season in 2017.

We always knew Sanchez had power, so 30+ homers wouldn’t be a shock. It’s his contact skills and approach at the plate that were always his biggest question marks, but the improvements he’s shown the last two seasons seem to be legitimate. If they are, the Kraken could become one of baseball’s biggest stars over the next decade.

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We Have a Plan!

Next season’s roster seems much more up in the air than usual. Locked into long-term contracts at nearly every position over the last decade, the New York Yankees haven’t generally seen a ton of turnover from year-to-year. For example, the 2016 squad on Opening Day was more-or-less identical to the 2015 model aside from the addition of second baseman Starlin Castro.

Things have already been shaken up considerably, but it seems likely that more moves are on the way this winter. While the exact plan may be a mystery at the moment, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has earned the trust of the fan base with a solid series of surprising trades and low-profile signings that have given the club one of the best collections of young talent in MLB.

Cash’s ability to convince ownership to sell at the deadline for basically the first time in franchise history is maybe his signature moment as an executive. He did what was best for the team, as unpopular as it may have been in some circles. That decision showed that he was willing to stick to his plan for the long haul.

Fans shouldn’t expect any big ticket signings or knee-jerk panic moves this offseason. All of the pieces seem like they are in place for a perennial contender and the baseball operations department deserves all the credit for that.

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Mike Trout Junior!

At the August 1st trade deadline, the New York Yankees acquired five players who appeared on either the Baseball America or MLB.com Top 100 list before the season, however the consensus top talent they brought in was Triple-A outfielder Clint Frazier.

If he didn’t stumble in his first taste of International League play in the second half, there’s a strong possibility that Frazier could already be in the big leagues alongside rookies Gary Sanchez and Tyler Austin. He was hitting .276/.356/.469 with 13 homers in 391 Double-A plate appearances before the trade, and the Yankees have been very willing to let guys hit their way into a call up this year.

The 21-year-old showed he needed a little more seasoning down the stretch, but seems poised to crack the New York lineup with a hot start. He is certain to get a look in big league spring training, and there are even rumors the club could open up an outfield spot for him by trading Brett Gardner this winter.

One of the most exciting pure hitters in the minor leagues, Frazier combines tremendous bat speed, plus pop, and an advanced approach at the plate. As if that weren’t enough, he has plus speed, a strong arm, and has the skills to handle either outfield corner or even center in a pinch.

It’s not a sure-thing that we’ll see Frazier in pinstripes in 2017, but I would be willing to give better than even odds that he’s hitting in the three-hole by August 2nd next year.

J2: Judgement Day!

There is no getting around the fact that Aaron Judge‘s MLB debut this year was a complete mess. He struck out 42 times in 95 plate appearances and seemed to have no answers for quality major league breaking stuff.

At the same time, Judge connected for several of the most impressive home runs I’ve seen this year during his month-plus in the bigs, and did legitimately seem to be making strides when he went down with an oblique injury, cutting down on his Ks and making more frequent contact.

I may sound like a broken record, but you only need to look at the adjustments Judge made between his first and second trips through the International League to see what the big man can do. He’s shown that he can adapt at the plate given time. Fans will just need to be patient with him while he works it out.

In retrospect, his first few hundred plate appearances were always going to be messy, but at least we’ve got some of them out of the way now. When Judge does put it together, he looks like a legitimate superstar.

He’s probably a 30 homer bat next year even if he’s still striking out 35-40% of the time just because of his insane strength. Judge will be rough around the edges for the foreseeable future, but his at-bats are definitely appointment viewing for me.

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Money!

While they may not be inclined to throw the green around as much as they used to, the New York Yankees remain the richest franchise in baseball. With several big contracts off the books and another few scheduled to expire after next season, the club will eventually reinvest some of that money back into the team.