SPANISH HARLEM – I know its too early to determine if the New York Yankees are a better team than they were last year, especially when you consider that they made an appearance in the World Series. Just for fun, though, I will run down the offense, defense and pitching to see if there if a reason to be excited going into this season.
OFFENSE
When you deal with the loss of someone the caliber of Juan Soto, you can expect some sort of impact on the offense. He is a generational talent that took his talents to Queens and will now be representing the Mets for the rest of his career. That was a tough pill to swallow but the Yanks had no choice but to move on and construct a lineup that was more well-balanced.
To make up for the loss of Soto, they added Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger, who should provide more depth in a lineup that primarily depended on Aaron Judge and the aforementioned #22. This should be a deeper group when you also consider a full season of Jazz Chisholm and the expectancy of production from Jasson Dominguez over Alex Verdugo. The Yankees may not be as explosive at the top but should get solid production throughout with the guys they have.
Grade: Better
DEFENSE
The Yankees didn’t have the best defense, but they certainly weren’t as awful as they looked in Games 5 of the World Series. Judge was out of place in center field and Bellinger will help there. Chislom is better defensively than Gleyber Torres, so second base improved. As much as I loved Rizzo as a player, his defense fell off a cliff. Goldy is a prior Gold Glove winner and should erase any bad throws coming his way. All in all, they seem better defensively with the only concern being Dominguez in left field.
Grade: More or less the same but with the opportunity to be better.
PITCHING
Soon after losing Soto in free agency, the Yankees signed Max Fried to sure up what could be the best starting rotation in the American League. Luis Gil will be in his second season after winning Rookie of The Year, with the Ace Gerrit Cole leading the staff. Carlos Rodon is someone I believe can be great and maybe this is the year he puts it altogether (the beard should help). Finally, we have Clarke Schmidt, who is someone I didn’t believe in before last year, but he certainly changed my tune on him, as he showed to have elite stuff.
The bullpen will be better because they have one of the best closers in the game in Devin Williams, which is a big upgrade over Clay Holmes, who somehow is a starter now on the Mets (SMH). Fernando Cruz should play a big role, as well as set up Luke Weaver, who showed he had what it takes be a closer on any team.
Grade: Better
That’s it for now, please come back tomorrow for more good content from Action Jackson Sternberg.
