New York Yankees: 5 Reasons the Yankees Are World Series Contenders in 2012

Going into the 2012 season, the New York Yankees are once again considered World Series contenders.

The Yankees won 97 games last season and are returning the vast majority of their players for another run at the championship.

I'll look at some of the reasons why the Yankees are strong contenders for the title.

No. 5: Healthy Alex Rodriguez

Having a healthy Alex Rodriguez will be crucial for the Yankees to return to the World Series.

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, A-Rod underwent experimental knee and shoulder treatment in Germany—a procedure that basketball superstar Kobe Bryant had previously. The Yankees are hopeful that this procedure will help rejuvenate Rodriguez so they can have their star back in the lineup.

When A-Rod was on the DL last season, the offense did not struggle terribly. Eduardo Nunez performed well offensively while filling in. However, Nunez still is not A-Rod, and his bat will be an improvement to an already deadly lineup.

The spot the Yankees were hurt the most was on defense. Eduardo Nunez left a lot to be desired in his defense, committing 20 errors in 771.2 innings in the field. That is one error every 4.29 games, which is very high for the MLB.

With Rodriguez back at third base, the Yankees should have a more solid defense on the left side and also help out Jeter at shortstop defensively by taking some pressure off of him.

No. 4: Solid Coaching Staff

The Yankees are returning their coaches for the 2012 season, and they always rank amongst the top in the majors.

In particular, hitting coach Kevin Long has played a huge role in the team's success on offensive recently. His most notorious success story is Curtis Granderson.

Before coming to the Yankees, Granderson was known to struggle against left-handers. In August of 2010, Kevin Long and Granderson performed some surgery on Granderson's batting stance and approach to the ball. The results were astounding.

Since then, Granderson has launched over 50 home runs and is now hitting left-handed pitching much better.

In 2010, Granderson hit .234 against lefties and .253 against right-handers, with four home runs and 20 home runs against each respectively. Last season, Granderson hit .272 against lefties and .258 against right-handers, with 16 home runs and 25 home runs against each, respectively.

Needless to say, Kevin Long's adjustments to Granderson have made him into a lethal weapon for the Yankees. Look for Long and company to continue to coach well and improve their team even more.

No. 3: Returning Many Players

The New York Yankees had the luxury this offseason of not having any of their big players reach free agency.

The main concern for the Yankees was CC Sabathia this offseason, and they wasted little time signing him to an extension that will keep him a Yankee through 2016 (or 2017 if the contract option vests).

After Sabathia, it was mainly bench players that reached free agency, such as Andruw Jones and Eric Chavez. The Yankees have since brought back Andruw Jones and, according to Joel Sherman, will be bringing Chavez back with the money the Yankees save in the potential AJ Burnett deal with the Pirates.

This is a team that won 97 games last season, so it is expected that they will do at least the same as last year.

No. 2: Strength of the Offense

The Yankees once again were one of the best offenses in the MLB last season.

They ranked second in runs with 867, first in home runs with 222, second in RBI with 836, first in walks with 627, fourth in steals with 147 and seventh in batting average with a .263.

With a healthy A-Rod expected to return to the lineup, the Yankees should see those numbers occur once again—or even increase further.

With an offense that was shut out only eight times last season and scored 10 or more runs in 17 games, they project to once again be one of the top offenses in the league.

No. 1: Improvement in Pitching Staff

Going into the offseason, the Yankees had a very grim look at their pitching staff. Then, Mark Buehrle went off to the Miami Marlins, CJ Wilson signed with the LA Angels and the Yankees just sat in the background and observed.

It appeared for a while that the Yankees would go into the 2012 season with a rotation of CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, AJ Burnett, Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes.

Then, in January, GM Brian Cashman traded top prospect Jesus Montero and pitcher Hector Noesi for young stud Michael Pineda and pitching prospect Jose Campos. Later that week, the Yankees also signed starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to a deal.

The rotation now projects to:

CC Sabathia

Hiroki Kuroda

Michael Pineda

Ivan Nova

Phil Hughes/Freddy Garcia/AJ Burnett

Those two transactions transformed the starting rotation of the Yankees from a weakness into a strength. With pitching being regarded as the downfall of the 2011 team last season, the Yankees wanted to make sure they did enough to improve the team this season.

They certainly did so with Pineda and Kuroda.