Yankees: Stanton, Judge, Sanchez and Bird; a quartet of power in the AL East

One full month before the Yankees signed Giancarlo Stanton, Dan Symborski, wrote for ESPN.com, saying the Yanks’ roster was superior to the Red Sox’s.

In his most recent projections for the Yankees 2018 season, released in January after the Yanks had acquired Giancarlo Stanton, Symborski sees Judge and Stanton as the core of the offense, with Stanton providing 55 home runs, the most predicted by Symborski since 2007.

Judge is projected by Symborski to hit 43 home runs, considerably fewer than the 52 he hit a year ago — and, yet, Symborski expects the Yankees as a team to hit more home runs in ’18, 266 to the 241 hit in ’17.

Unlike Judge — Greg Bird, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clint Frazier and Austin Romine are all projected to have increased home run totals in 2018.

Of course, projections are not predictions, and the Yankees would not predict their offense based solely on the ZiPS projections. The addition of home run leader and National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton has, of course, everything to do with the Yanks’ projected increased home run production.

It is the young power hitters still on the rise that will separate the Yankees from the rest of the division in ’18, and this was true even before the acquisition of Stanton. John Harper of New York Daily News wrote on October 11:

"Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird combined for 94 home runs this season, and together they form the most formidable age 25-or-younger offensive trio in baseball."

And Bird played in only 48 games (nine home runs). With the addition of Stanton, the Yankees have an offensive quartet, not a trio, that project to hit 149 home runs this season. Bird is projected to hit 19 home runs and Sanchez, 32, in the upcoming season — in addition to Stanton’s 55 and Judge’s 43.

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Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that one major league scout said that the Yankees’ power, along with superior pitching, especially out of the bullpen, will put them out in front of the Red Sox, who won 93 games to win the division in ’17.  ZiPS projects that in ’18 the division will look like this:

• Yankees: 92-70
• Red Sox: 87-75
• Blue Jays: 83-79
• Orioles: 83-79
• Rays: 82-80

It’s hard to win without power in the AL East, as one scout was quoted saying:

"“It’s hard to win without power, and the Yankees have it while the Red Sox are a little short,” was the way a major-league scout put it on Wednesday. “Boston has some good pieces but they do need a thumper to replace (David) Ortiz."

In the year of the juiced ball, the Red Sox hit the fewest home runs (168) in the American League and were fifth worst in Major League Baseball. It would seem that they have never made up for the diminished home run production upon the retirement of David Ortiz.

Rick McNair of BosoxInjection.com writes that the Red Sox have also not “developed” a home run hitter for the past decade.

In all of MLB, the Yankees had the most home runs with 241, thanks to Judge — followed in the AL East by Baltimore with 232, Tampa Bay with 228, Toronto with 222 and Boston’s 168.

Unless the Red Sox come to terms with J.D. Martinez, who hit 45 home runs while playing for the Tigers and Diamondbacks in ’17, or the Orioles sign a power hitter to man right field — no team in the division to date has added a new power hitter to their lineup for the upcoming season.

Next: Six Yankees prospects in the Top 100

The new season promises another power surge for the Yankees’ offense; Stanton, Judge, Sanchez and Bird are a formidable foursome. It’s a core capable of propelling the offense into the stratosphere where records wait to be broken, and championships expect to be won.