New York Yankees: 10 Biggest Questions for the Second Half

The New York Yankees are sitting at 53-35 at the All-Star break, a record that gives them a seat behind the Red Sox in the A.L. East and the fourth best record in baseball. All the signs point to another playoff appearance, but how will the Yankees fare in post-season play?

The season has been somewhat of a storybook so far. Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit on a home run shot. CC Sabathia has a 13-4 record, but wasn't picked for the All-Star game. Curtis Granderson is experiencing a power-surge and Mark Teixeira is sitting on 25 home runs nicely.

Then there are the injuries. Alex Rodriguez just went on the disabled list because of knee surgery. Jeter has his calf injury and reports of exhaustion and Joba Chamberlin is gone for the year with Tommy John Surgery.

The Yankees are fully capable of having a 100 win season and are dangerous enough to win the World Series as well, but there are plenty of questions surrounding the Yanks that will determine whether or not they capture their goals and win their 28th World Series title.

10. Will the Yankees Get a Hitter?

As always, trade rumors are swirling; and the latest rumor has the Yankees looking for a hitter. Jorge Posada simply isn't getting it done in the designated hitter spot and Russell Martin has been playing too good to be replaced at catcher, so will the Yankees look for another bat?

Some of the rumors have the Yanks trading to get left fielder Alfonso Soriano from the Chicago Cubs. Soriano would be used as a designated hitter because Brett Gardner has left field locked up.

Soriano isn't having a bad hitting season with 14 home runs, 41 RBI's and a .265 batting average, all numbers are better than Posada, plus he would be back in the A.L. where he thrived as a hitter.

Some of the other rumors have the Yankees trading for Carlos Lee from the Houston Astros.

Whether or not the rumors are true, don't be surprised to see the Yankees get another bat for their line-up, especially with A-Rod being out for up to a month.

9. Will Rafael Soriano Ever Step Up?

It's safe to say that up to this point, Rafael Soriano has been upsetting. He hasn't exactly fit the advertisement. In his defense, he has been hurt for the majority of the season having played in just 16 games thus far, but his production wasn't too good either.

He has an ERA of 5.4, 10 strikeouts, one save and a win matched by a loss. Not exactly numbers to be gawking at, but the Yankees will need him down the stretch if they want to reach their goals.

David Robertson has been very good for New York in Soriano's absence, but Soriano will need to come back ready to play and ready to earn his contract.

If Soriano doesn't come back and produce on the field, the Yankee pitching staff could be hurting by year's end.

8. Will Robinson Cano Hit over .300?

Robinson Cano, the newly crowned home run derby champion, hasn't had the best season according to his standards.

Cano is a career .308 hitter and for this season, he's batting .296 with 15 home runs and 57 RBI's. That's a great season for a second baseman, but Yankee fans are used to seeing Cano hitting in the .300's.

It's easily possible that Cano will end the year over .300 and he might be around 30 home runs and well over 100 RBI's and that's exactly what the Yankees will need, especially with A-Rod being out of the line-up for close to a month.

If Cano comes into the second half with the mind set of being the face of the team and he proves it on the field, he may be looking at capturing the A.L. MVP award when it's all said and done.

7. Can Phil Hughes Have an Impact?

Phil Hughes has played in just four games and in those four games he is 0-2 with a 10.57 ERA and just five strikeouts. This is the same guy that won 18 games last season.

The Yankees need Hughes to regain last year's form. Obviously he won't be winning 18 games this season, but he can still have good production in the second half and up to this point, if CC Sabathia wasn't having the year he's having, the Yankees wouldn't be in the position they are in right now.

My prediction is that the time off from the All-Star break and a slow return will help Hughes in the long run. He's a very talented pitcher and could be one of the best in the A.L. in the near future, but in the second half, the Yankees need him to be consistent.

6. Will Curtis Granderson Continue to Go Yard?

Curtis Granderson has displayed a serious power surge since last season. He has 25 home runs at the break along with 63 RBI's.

25 home runs is just five away from his greatest season total of 30 back in 2009 with the Detroit Tigers. He's 11 RBI shy of tying his best season total ever and there is still a whole half of ball to play.

Granderson is having a spectacular season and not just to his standards. He's hit clutch home runs and hits and has been a spark to this Yankee offense. It almost seems like Grandy and Teixeira are in a race to see who will have the most home runs at season's end.

If Grandy continues his power streak, the Yankees will have another record offensive season and will be hard to stop in the post-season.

5. Can Derek Jeter Stay Healthy?

Derek Jeter is arguably the best short-stop of all time. His season has been magical with his 3,000th hit, but this season has also been injury plagued.

He's played in 68 games and is batting .270 with three home runs and 24 RBI's. Those aren't Jeter like numbers and the sad part about this being an amazing year for him with the milestone hit; he's going to have to step it up if this team is going to win another title.

I certainly wouldn't put it past Jeter to come out and have an amazing second half, but is the calf 100 percent? Then there's the reports of exhaustion and whether that put a damper on his year.

One thing is for certain, if Jeter is ready to go, he's going to play the best he can, but is that going to be good enough for this team?

4. Will CC Sabathia Tire Out?

CC Sabathia is by far the biggest All-Star snub out there. How can a guy with a 13-4 record and a 2.72 ERA and 126 strikeouts not make the cut? That is just mind boggling, but the question is can he keep this pace up?

He's pitched 145.2 innings, less than 100 away from his 237.2 innings pitched all of last season. He's on pace to have a stellar year, but will his arm be able to hold up? That's always the lingering question with every pitcher.

My guess is that Sabathia is going to be pitching with a pretty heavy chip on his shoulder from his All-Star snub and will want to prove the critics wrong and proclaim on the field that he is the best pitcher in baseball.

With the line-up to back him up, he just may get to 23 or 24 wins and have well over 200 strikeouts, but he may also be approaching the 300 innings pitched mark.

3. Will They Be Able to Hold off the Red Sox?

The Yankees are just one game back from the A.L. East leading Boston Red Sox, aka the enemy. It might not be safe to say just yet that the Yankees are a shoe in for the post-season, but all signs are pointing to it.

The only question will be if they enter the post-season as the A.L. East champions, or as the Wild Card. They will need to go through the Red Sox in order to win the East and that won't be an easy task.

The Red Sox have won 10 out of their last 11 games before the break and they don't look to be slowing down anytime soon. On top of that, they have arguably the best candidate to win the A.L. MVP award in first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

If the Yanks can hold them off and win the East, they will be the favorite to win the A.L., but a re-match with the Red Sox for the A.L. Championship is almost imminent.

2. Will Alex Rodriguez Come Back Ready to Play?

Alex Rodriguez elected to have knee surgery to repair his torn right meniscus. The surgery will put him on the disabled list fro 4-6 weeks, which is too bad because A-Rod was having a pretty good year.

He's batting .295 with 13 home runs and 52 RBI's, but the power clearly wasn't there stemming from his knee injury.

We've seen A-Rod come back off of an injury and play well, he did that in 2009 when they won the World Series, but will he be able to come back from this knee injury and have power?

Although this is redundant, the Yankees need him to come back healthy and ready to make a title run. He's a very important piece to their championship puzzle and with the season he's having, if he can come back and re-gain his mid-season form, the Yankees will thrive offensively and will be hard to stop in the post-season.

1. Will the Yankees Win the World Series?

This question is the biggest for the second half. The Yankees are always in the hunt for another World Series, that is one thing that will never change, but will this be the year for number 28?

The previous nine questions will all need to be answered and they will need to be answered in the Yanks favor.

Jeter and A-Rod will need to get healthy. CC will need to continue winning games and proving why he's one of the best, if not the best, pitcher in baseball. Grandy and Tex will need to continue their power surges and guys like Russell Martin, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner will need to step up.

There was plenty of hype around Robinson Cano winning the MVP this season; he will need to prove the critics right in the second half and steal the award away from Adrian Gonzalez.

The Yankees pitching staff will need to be sound and every piece will need to fall in place. This team might not be as good as the 2009 World Series team, but then again, they just might be better.

Will the Yankees win the World Series? This writer thinks so.