Yankees New Year’s Resolutions for the 2018 season

For the Yankees to win the 2018 World Series, they’ll need to focus on limiting their weaknesses. If each player commits to a firm New Year’s resolution to correct their flaws, this team could be unstoppable. 

Every Yankees player, including AL Rookie Of The Year Aaron Judge, newbie Giancarlo Stanton and fan-favorite Didi Gregorius has a weakness.

At this very moment, scouts on opposing teams are focused on developing a mode of attack to derail our Bronx Bombers from bringing home championship number 28.

Catcher – Gary Sanchez

New Year’s Resolution: Become a better fielder

Young phenom catcher Gary Sanchez’s offensive stats are obviously pleasing for us Yankees fans.  However, The Kraken forced us Yankee fanatics to grow frustrated at some point this season with his regressive fielding.

It was even rumored Sanchez’s former manager Joe Girardi was losing his patience with Gary at the catcher position. George A. King III of the New York Post pointed out an important statistic that shows how awful Sanchez was behind the plate last year.

Sanchez’s 16 passed balls tied the Dodgers’ Yasmani Grandal for the MLB lead and the 53 wild pitches with him catching were second to the Rangers’ Jonathan Lucroy, who had 58.

Rest assured, Sanchez has recognized his fielding issues, and he’s already working on improvements this offseason. Sanchez has been getting smaller by working out his core with Yankees strength and conditioning coach Matt Krause.

First Baseman – Greg Bird

New Year’s Resolution: Stay off the disabled list

Greg Bird possesses tremendous talent and potential, but none of that matters if he can’t stay healthy. He’s an essential piece to the championship puzzle, and he’s expected to be a key factor this season.

In 2015, Bird successfully debuted as a rookie with 11 home runs and a .343 on-base percentage.  His performance made it seem like the Yankees had their first basemen of the future.

Unfortunately, Bird missed the entire 2016 season because of shoulder surgery and missed most of 2017 battling an ankle injury. These misfortunes led some to question if Bird was the Yankees first baseman of the future.

The league is typically filled with a plethora of available first basemen that could match Bird’s performance.  Some fans even believed the Yankees should pursue current free agent first baseman, Eric Hosmer.

But the speculations occurred before Bird returned to the playing field and regained the Yankees trust. His clutch plays and powerful swings during the ALDS and ALCS brought life to the Bronx.

Now it’s safe to say Bird has the first base position locked down as long as he remains healthy.

Second Baseman – Ronald Torreyes

New Year’s Resolution: Improve plate discipline

Chances are Ronald Torreyes will not be the everyday second baseman or third baseman for the Yankees in 2018. However, the utility man nicknamed ‘Toe‘ had an impressive 2017 season, which provoked some to argue he’s indispensable. Afterall, a batting average of .291 nowadays is rare.

His mediocre .314 on-base percentage and lack of power make it difficult to keep him in the lineup. Torreyes will probably start on Opening Day and fill the position until Gleyber Torres is brought up from the minors.

There’s a chance manager Aaron Boone decides to start Tyler Wade instead of Torreyes. There’s also a possibility Torreyes competes for a starting third base job with prospect Miguel Andujar.

Bottom line, Torreyes is a valuable bench player who needs to improve his on-base percentage to become a starter.

Shortstop – Didi Gregorius

New Year’s Resolution: Improve plate discipline 

Didi Gregorius just entered the prime of his career, and the Yankees should consider giving him a contract extension. Following a breakout 2016 season, his 2017 performance was even better despite missing the first month of the season. 

Gregorius’ overly-aggressive hitting tendencies help him stay in attack mode at the plate. To improve, he needs to learn to hold off on swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone.

Compared to the 2017 AL MVP Jose Altuve’s O-Swing% of 34.4%, Gregorius’ was 40.8%. And while Altuve’s O-Contact% was 72.5%, Gregorius’ was 69.1%. Altuve improved by staying aggressive while swinging less at bad pitches; I’m confident Gregorius can do the same.

Batting in the heart of the lineup will cause Didi to see a lot of good pitches probably. So there’s no need for him to chase after bad balls because he’ll get plenty of pitches to hit.

Center Field – Aaron Hicks, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clint Frazier

New Year’s Resolution: Stay off the disabled list

Aaron Hicks had a scorching start to the season last year, but then an oblique injury found him and eventually reduced his offensive production. Now some fans are wondering if he’s worth keeping around despite his breakout campaign with limited playing time during the first half.

Jacoby Ellsbury continued to prove why the enormous contract the Yankees offered him several years ago was a massive mistake as he ended up on the disabled list yet again, and eventually even got benched, but not permanently behind the red-hot Aaron Hicks.

Clint Frazier hitting a home run and a double on the road in his MLB debut against the Houston Astros on July 1st, and his walk-off home run against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 8th improved his stock. Unfortunately, a severe slump and oblique injury brought his stock back down.

All three of these players have no guarantees heading into the season. The starting center fielder job appears to belong to Aaron Hicks, but with a new manager in town and with right fielder Giancarlo Stanton dawning the pinstripes, it’s possible none of these three start on Opening Day.

It’s possible Brett Gardner starts in center field while Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton patrol left field and right field. If I am Ellsbury, Frazier, or Hicks, I would have started to try and prove to the Yankees organization that I should be the Opening Day center fielder after the last out of the ALCS.

Think about how compelling of competition that Yankees starting center field race will be once Spring Training starts.  A five-tool prospect, a breakout overlooked veteran, and over-priced former all-star all vying for a starting position; you can credit me later Hollywood.

Right Field/Designated Hitter – Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton

New Year’s Resolution #1: Limit strikeouts

By now you know the Yankees acquired the 2017 National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton this offseason to team up with his offensive doppelgänger and AL home run leader Aaron Judge. The move has brought the Yankees back into Evil Empire status, so all is right with baseball again.

While these two giants could easily combine for 80-120 home runs for the Bronx Bombers in 2018, they could also pile up a ton of strikeouts. Judge had a K% of 30.7 last year, and Stanton had a K% of 23.6, which was the lowest rate of Stanton’s career.

If Judge can decrease his K% a few points by learning from Stanton, and if Stanton can increase his 12.3 BB% by learning from Judge who had an 18.7 BB%, then this tag team just got even more dangerous.

New Year’s Resolution #2: Stay healthy

Another thing to be cautious about with these two big men are injuries. Giancarlo Stanton has had plenty of injuries already in his career, so playing designated hitter will help preserve his playing days.

As for Aaron Judge, according to George A. King III from the New York Post, he had shoulder surgery in November.  While the Yankees are confident Judge will be back for spring training, King III reported that “Dr. Leesa Galatz, the systems chair of the department of orthopedics at Mount Sinai Health System, said cartilage getting into the joint could be a problem.”

“The fact that he has some cartilage damage that is bad enough to generate some loose bodies is concerning,’’ said Galatz, who hasn’t examined Judge. “Depending on how bad it was he could come back to play but it is concerning at 25 to have. Sometimes having this done helps. It’s like hitting the reset button on the computer. You don’t have a perfect computer but you are removing things inside the joint that are causing pain and inflammation so you are getting that joint a fresh start.’’

I didn’t mean to worry you Yankees faithful, but this is an issue we must be aware of in case we see Judge go through a serious sophomore slump. Let’s hope both Stanton and Judge remain 100% healthy throughout the entire 2018 season.

Starting Rotation – Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray, C.C. Sabathia and Jordan Montgomery

New Year’s Resolution: Reduce fly balls and consistently pitch into the sixth inning

The 2017 comeback story of Luis Severino after being demoted in 2016 was epic.

He was locked in a classic pitcher’s duel against Jon Lester and the defending  World Series Champion Chicago Cubs on May 7th. He out-dueled Chris Sale on a nationally televised scale on ESPN during Labor Day weekend.  Game after game Severino showed he had ace-worthy potential

Sevy was nominated as an AL Cy Young finalist, and he ended up finishing third behind Corey Kluber and Sale for the award. His struggle against the Twins in the AL Wild Card game was alarming, but we have to remember the kid is only 23 turning 24 on February 20th.

Severino will lead a staff that includes postseason hero Masahiro Tanaka, midseason acquisition Sonny Gray, the reinvented crafty lefty C.C. Sabathia and as of now the young lefty entering his sophomore season Jordan Montgomery.

The Yankees’ bullpen remains elite, but to avoid over usage of the relievers the Yankees starting rotation will need to pitch into the sixth inning more consistently.

It will be tough to ask the rotation also to limit the home runs playing in Yankee stadium, but trying to induce more ground balls is just part of being a successful pitcher. I’d love to see Jordan Montgomery develop his sinker a bit more to get hitters chasing on low pitches.

Bullpen – Aroldis Chapman (CL), Dellin Betances, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Chad Green, Adam Warren and Chasen Shreve

New Year’s Resolution: Limit the walks 

When Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances are on, they are the nastiest one-two punch in the game out of the ‘pen, but when they’re off, it’s because of their lack of control.

The addition of Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson in the middle of the season added serious depth to an already great bullpen. Chad Green‘s stats showed the breakout star is arguably too valuable as a reliever to consider transitioning back into a starting pitcher.

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Adam Warren had an excellent under the radar year with a WHIP of 0.872, and lefty Chasen Shreve is another solid strikeout heavy reliever for this championship caliber bullpen.

When a pitcher relies on strikeouts, his stuff is probably nasty and ending up out of the strike zone. When opposing batters become more patient with their plate appearances, this could cause trouble for the strikeout dependent pitcher.

A bullpen’s job is to defuse big pressure situations, limit the damage, and prevent a comeback.  One standard way for opposing teams to overcome the Yankees’ bullpen is by working at-bats into deep counts and not being afraid to walk.

Manager – Aaron Boone

New Year’s Resolution: Prove Brian Cashman right by making it to the World Series

No need to waste time here, GM Brian Cashman and his committee believe Boone has championship caliber knowledge. Boone is already batting 1.000 in World Series appearances when a member of the New York Yankees organization.

Except Boone won’t be able to blast a walk-off home run to send the Yankees to the World Series.  He’ll have to bring his team to the World Series in his rookie season as a manager. I can feel the pressure from my Staten Island home, but Boone has appeared composed so far.

Next: Yankees year-end reader comments

The 2018 New York Yankees

New Year’s Resolution: Bring home another championship.

The Yankees have the same goal heading into every year, but 2018 will be a failure if the Yankees do not bring home championship number 28.