New York Yankees: A Season to Look Forward to

<!--StartFragment-->

Who ever said money can’t buy happiness obviously never talked to a Yankee fan.

The kind of dough New York is capable of shelling out without a moment’s hesitation is always a reassurance for all Yankee fans. And this off season’s spending proved to be quite effective as the Yanks added some key components to a struggling team.

Their spending effectively changed the Yankee team from an underachieving and aging ball club to a perennial playoff threat. Let’s take a look at the Yankees' major moves and how they will play out during the season.

CC Sabathia

Arguably the Yankees' best offseason acquisition was ace pitcher CC Sabathia. This hefty-lefty’s arsenal is scary for any major league hitter.

With a shifty 94-99 MPH fastball, a hard slider at 84-86 MPH, a swooping curve that drops to 79-82 MPH, and a devastating circle change, Sabathia is armed with an array of challenging pitches that he can throw for strikes in any count.

This ace has the ability to put a team on his back as he showed while surging the Brewers forward to their first post-season in over 20 years.

Sabathia will also alleviate some much need pressure off of Chien Ming Wang. Wang has been struggling to be the Yankees true number one pitcher for the last couple seasons.

While still putting together some very impressive numbers, Wang failed to ever become the dominating ace teams would like to have head their rotations.

Now with the addition of Sabathia, Wang no longer needs to feel pressure to be the Yank’s number one. This trickle down effect will do wonders for Wang, who I see having a very successful year (15+ wins, mid to low 3’s ERA). 

Sabathia went 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA and 251 K’s while splitting time between Cleveland and Milwaukee last season. The only question mark I have with him is how durable his arm will be. Since entering the league in 2001, Sabathia has averaged 207 IP per year.

The major concern is if this heavy workload has taxed his arm, and if so will it show late in the season? Hopefully for the Yankees, the answer is no. Overall, the addition of Sabathia is a major plus for the Yankee organization.

Mark Teixeira

This was a great move for the Yanks and definitely an upgrade from the aging and inconsistent Jason Giambi. At 28 years old, New York has found its long-term solution at first base. Teixeira gives the Yanks excellent numbers in almost every offensive category.

Last season Marky Mark put up a .308 AVG, with 33 HR, 121 RBI, 102 R, and a .410 OBP. If those stats don’t impress you than you shouldn’t be a fan of Baseball.

Oh and did I mention he’s a two-time Gold Glove winner at 1B? Teixeira is simply a producing machine that gives a team everything they could ask for. However, he is notorious for getting off to slow starts at the beginning of each season.

But with a healthy Hideki Matsui batting fourth for the injured Betray-Rod, Teixeira is getting some real solid protection in the lineup and should be productive early on. And when he-who-should-not-be-named returns to the lineup, the Yankees should posses the best 1-2 punch in all of Baseball.

As a Yankee fan, I am really excited to see what he can do for our team if he stays healthy.

AJ Burnett

The other half of the pitching initial twins is AJ Burnett. Burnett is essentially a two-pitch pitcher throwing a forceful fastball at 95-98 MPH and a batter-freezing curveball that possesses a sharp break.

However, Burnett also has a developing change-up that would be a nice compliment to his repertoire. Burnett is coming off a very solid season posing a 18-10 record with a 4.07 ERA and 231 K’s with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Girardi has already announced that the rotation will start with CC, and then be followed by Wang, and then Burnett. This strategic move will give opposing teams a difficult change of pace which will only help Burnett this season.

The major concern with Burnett is that he is very injury prone. He has only started over 30 games twice in his career…and both of those years were contract years.

Weather this stat is related to bad luck or a bad work ethic, it still remains as a looming problem for the Yankees. Hopefully the Yankee organization and the fans will get their moneys worth, approximately $82.5 million, out of Burnett this season.

With the end of spring training and the start of the regular season drawing closer every day, Yankee fans should be very excited. The team is much improved and has the potential to make a deep playoff run. Certainly this is a season to look forward to.