Yankees New Year’s Resolutions for the 2018 season

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.