New York Yankees' Biggest Storylines to Follow at the Start of 2015
The New York Yankees are always one of the most divisive teams in Major League Baseball. It's also true, though, that the 2015 season brings about one of their most divisive on-field products in recent memory.
As is true of any professional sports team, there's always a divide between what fans of that team feel their chances for success are and what fans of other teams feel. However, with the 2015 Yankees, it feels as though the predictions for this team range anywhere from a sub-.500 record to 90-plus wins.
With such a wide gap between the predictions set forth by detractors and supporters, it stands to reason that a lot of moving parts are at work here. Because of that, there are numerous storylines to watch early on in the Yankees' campaign.
Over the course of this piece, we'll look at five such storylines, all of which could have a major impact (good or bad) on the Yankees' season.
So, let's get to it!
How Healthy Is Masahiro Tanaka?
1 of 5
There's a lot of buzz centered on Masahiro Tanaka and his right elbow, and for good reason. The 26-year-old elected to forgo Tommy John surgery on the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow, in favor of rest and rehab.
The jury is still way out on whether or not this will prove to be successful. But, to be honest, it doesn't look great.
To start, there was the mess about Pedro Martinez predicting that Tanaka wouldn't make it through the season without hitting the operating table. Then there was the issue with Tanaka telling reporters that he would be adopting a "new pitching style" and would begin favoring his splitter over it.
Tanaka has been apprehensive about throwing his four-seam fastball. It showed immediately in his first two starts of the season, where the young righty threw his four-seamer just 14.53 percent of the time, compared to the 21.34 percent usage rate he sported in 2014, per BrooksBaseball.net.
According to Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com, general manager Brian Cashman says Tanaka is healthy. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says that he believes Tanaka is healthy as well, per Dan Martin of the New York Post.
Tanaka told Tim Rohan of The New York Times that his elbow felt fine this spring and that the drop in velocity shouldn't be too big a cause for concern as he isn't "a pitcher that would throw 95 miles per hour every pitch." Right now, Tanaka is still the only one who can tell us how he's feeling, and even that probably isn't the whole truth.
With all these conflicting bits of evidence, it's difficult to figure out the truth regarding Tanaka's right elbow. Either way, that elbow is going to be important to the Yankees' success in 2015.
CC Sabathia's Bounce-Back Capabilities
2 of 5
Back in March, I opined that CC Sabathia was a bounce-back candidate for the 2015 season. How realistic a statement that is will be revealed in the early stages of the year.
Last year, the 2007 Cy Young Award winner dealt with a "degenerative condition" in his right knee. The big lefty's knee was so bad that he required surgery, which limited him to eight starts on the year.
Prior to that, Sabathia was wholly underwhelming. In 2013, the then-32-year-old made 32 starts, allowing a 4.78 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP over 211 innings pitched.
Now, at 34 (he'll turn 35 in July) Sabathia will try to rebound back into form. While that's what Yankee fans are obviously hoping for, the truth may come in the form of something totally different.
He struggled this spring, and while he had some choice words for doubters when speaking to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, it's not exactly the best practice to take his words at face value, either.
Sabathia got shelled this spring, allowing 14 hits over 10 innings pitched (three were home runs) and nine earned runs as well.
In addition to that poor spring showing, we have years of data to look at.
Since the 2011 season, we've seen Sabathia's fastball velocity decline steadily. In fact, since then, that once healthy fastball dropped from 94.78 miles mph all the way down to 89.35 in 2015. Now, that 89.35 mph average fastball comes from just one game—one early-season game, mind you—but it's certainly something to monitor, per BrooksBaseball.net.
Sabathia was effective in this lone outing, at least outside of the second inning anyway. In said inning, the veteran lefty allowed four earned runs on five hits (four in a row to start the inning).
While it may have been just one bad inning, the shellacking he was subjected to by the potent Blue Jays offense could serve as a bit of foreshadowing moving forward. Either way, Sabathia's early-season performance is a storyline to watch.
How Alex Rodriguez Continues After a Hot Spring
3 of 5
Alex Rodriguez killed it in spring training this year.
Despite sitting on the shelf for more than a year, A-Rod came in and slashed .267/.377/.489 with four extra-base hits (three home runs), four RBI, six runs scored and a ratio of 13 strikeouts to eight walks over 45 at-bats. That's pretty impressive for a 39-year-old has-been, right?
So, was that spring just the result of facing sub-major league talent? Maybe.
But what if it wasn't?
Rodriguez has played in seven games to this point in the 2015 season, and the veteran infielder has performed quite well. Over 28 plate appearances, he boasts a strong .250/.357/.458 batting line with a home run, two doubles, six RBI, three runs scored and an 11-4 K/BB ratio.
Sure, Rodriguez's two-game start to the regular season is less than ideal, but the competence he showed this spring leads one to believe that maybe, just maybe, A-Rod still has something left in the tank for 2015.
If he does and the majority of the offense stays healthy, then the Yankees offense could be potentially deadly. If he falters, then he's just another piece of the puzzle that depicts a rather disappointing season for New York.
.png?w=256)
Health of Aging Veterans
4 of 5
Sure, this narrative is more played out than the most recent Taylor Swift jam, but shake it off for a second and let me finish filling this blank space. See what I did there?
Anyway, the Yankees lineup is riddled with injury concerns and aging "former" superstars. Between Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Brian McCann, you have a combined 31 All-Star Game appearances, and over the last four seasons (2011 to 2014), a combined 13 trips to the disabled list.
In short, that's kind of scary, especially when you consider the fact that the average age of all four players (about 35 years old) is greater than or equal to the age of five different teams' oldest player, per ESPN.com.
The idea that all four of these players will stay healthy over the entirety of the 2015 season is ludicrous. However, so long as at least two (preferably McCann and Teixeira) remain healthy, the team could be OK.
That's just the offense, though!
In the rotation, the team has another aging veteran to deal with in CC Sabathia. We discussed his bounce-back prospects a few slides back, and those injury concerns we addressed back there apply here as well.
Maybe he stays healthy all year and helps to solidify the middle portion of the suspect rotation. Maybe he regains some of his velocity and resembles a player more similar to the one he was back in 2012.
But that's what we're looking at: an aging team with health and performance question marks up and down the lineup and in the starting rotation as well.
If Yankees stay healthy, they could surprise many fans and rivals. If they don't, we'll see that young talent coming up to the big leagues sooner than expected (not good).
Offensive Production from the Middle Infield
5 of 5
This is the one area of the team that needed the most work this offseason. Unfortunately, the Yankees failed to accurately address the weakness that is their middle infield.
Stephen Drew and Didi Gregorius, the team's primary options at shortstop and second base, respectively, boast a combined 2012-2014 batting line of just .229/.306/.373. Assuming that batting line in each of the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons, take a look at the table below that depicts where each triple-slash component would rank among qualified shortstops.
| Year | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| AVG | -- | 16th | 20th |
| OBP | 10th | t-9th | 14th |
| SLG | 13th | 11th | 12th |
2014 was, by a wide margin, the season in which there were the most "qualified" shortstops to choose from (20 total). So that should give you a good idea of where they stand.
If you need a little more, consider the fact that in three seasons, Gregorius and Drew totaled a combined 5.1 bWAR. Last year alone, Jhonny Peralta totaled a bWAR of 5.8. WAR isn't the be-all, end-all to measuring a player's worth, but it does help to add to the narrative.
So, this year, if the Yankees have legitimate playoff aspirations, they're going to need something from these two players. Sure, Rob Refsnyder and Jose Pirela offer intriguing backup options, but ideally, the club would rather turn to those two later rather than sooner.
If they can get a bounce-back year from Drew and/or a step forward from the young Gregorius, then they just might be able to do something here in 2015.
All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com unless otherwise noted.
Follow me on Twitter. Follow @TylerDuma
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
