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As the New York Yankees begin their second season P.J.(Post Jeter), their expectations are once again tame, for Yankees standards at least. The Bronx Bombers are a shell of themselves from the juggernaut that they were during their unstoppable run from 1994-2009. They missed the playoffs once in that 15 year span. Once! That's a far cry from the recent past of missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons and being ousted in the Wild Card game last year.
The 2016 Yanks have a little something different from recent teams that played in the "House That Jeter Built" and it starts with the Three Headed Monster that roams in the bullpen. Brain Cash Cashman has assembled the most deadly, no pun intended, shut down relievers this game has ever seen. On paper that is, of course.
The Three Headed Monster starts with Dellin "Don't Call me Dylan" Betances, who may look like Katie Nolan's (ex) boyfriend, but who cares. The Bronx native would never fuck with her, because she's a one of those weird Boston folk. Betances is a no nonsense guy that will throw 98mph right at ya face because he's 6'8", 260lbs and doesn't care what you think. Scary thought when that's your 7th inning guy. Follow him up the 6'7" Andrew Miller. Miller, last years closer, has an awkward wind up and release that has his arms, legs, and cock just flopping right at you with no time to react. Miller is a stud that was the centerpiece of the Miguel Cabrera trade way back when and just wants to win; which is why he gave up his closers role without a fight after Cash made a blockbuster of a trade by landing Aroldis Chapman. The "Cuban Missile" is fresh off of his domestic violence incident that wasn't as terrible as first reported, but will still be suspended until May 9th. Obviously the previous two monsters will handle the bullpen in Chapman's absence, but once he returns, oh it's on. This Cuban flame thrower tosses it over 100mph with ease and has been working on a stupid off speed pitch this Spring just to make the American League look that much more foolish. With Chapman and Miller, both lefties, I think it's safe to say the Yankees front office has made it clear that they are not looking to follow Big Papi's orders of a standing ovation. Instead they look to put the big man on his fat ass.
Chasen Shreve, last season's darling of the first five months, should be the third and final south paw in the Yankees pen. The righties will most likely be Luis Cessa and Branden Pinder, aka a couple bro's that nobody knows much about and will not see game action unless it's a blow out.
The Bombers bullpen seems to be locked and loaded, and unfortunately with their somewhat weak starters, they're going to be the straw that stirs the drink so to speak. The starters are led by The Rising Sun of Japan, Masahiro Tanaka. "Hiro" seemed to be revved up for the opening day start against the Astros, but Joe Girardi is playing a little game with his Asian friend by calling him out in the media for a brutal spring. A few things are wrong with this tactic Joe---1. Spring Training means nothing. 2. He doesn't speak the language so will he even understand it? 3. HE'S THE BEST PITCHER ON YOUR STAFF! This strategy by Joe is puzzling, but if he's doing it because he wants "Hiro's" first start of the season to be a Tanaka Tuesday, then I take it all back and this move makes total sense.
After Tanaka, the clear ace of the staff, you can't really say we have a 2, so we have a 3, 4, 5 and then a 6, 7, 8, just so we have some options, but after the 1 it gets a little confusing. Ya know? "Big" Mike Pineda, Luis "Sevy" Severino and "Nasty" Nate Eovaldi are the next three up in the rotation. Big Mike and Nasty Nate have been in the bigs for a couple of seasons and both have shown flashes of greatness, but injuries have slowed their progress to make that next step. Larry Rothschild and company hope that 2016 will be the turning point for their careers and maybe solidify whether we can figure out if they're a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Sevy only got a taste of that big league pooten last season when he made 11 starts over the last month and a half taking Nasty Nate's spot in the rotation. Severino has the most upside in the rotation and could even become the ace before the end of the season if he's just able to keep the ball in the park.
So we got the top four of the rotation set with one spot left. The last spot will be between CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Bryan Mitchell. CC has had a whirlwind of a couple of months where he broke down his demons in a Player's Tribune piece(Yeahhhhhh Jeets). CC seems to be on the mend, however, and he's even recently turned to an old teammate to learn to throw his patented pitch. The big man hasn't looked impressive in Spring Training and still seems to be uncomfortable with weight issues, back pain and getting used to his knee brace aka his rotation spot is in serious doubt. Nova hasn't helped his case recently as he's been tossing hot garbage for a couple of seasons and his recent Tommy John surgery hasn't seemed to have fixed anything. Lastly, the dark horse for this spot is Bryan Mitchell. The kid has been solid but would be a huge surprise if he took the spot. I will bet that CC is in the rotation to start the season, Nova is the long man in the 'pen and Mitchell will be that (ex-Yankee) Adam Warren type swing-man guy.
The former do-it-all pitcher, Warren, was a key to the Yankees over the past couple of seasons but was dealt to the Cubs over the off-season in Cash's biggest Hot Stove move. The Yankees slick GM fleeced young Theo by taking my main man Starlin Castro to play 2nd base for the Bombers. Castro takes over a spot that was manned by the likes of Stephen Drew since Robbie Cano departed for the Pacific North West. Starlin is 26 and already has over 1,000 hits. He's a solid defender has looked comfortable with his new mates so far in spring. Castro was a shortstop his whole career, until the second half of 2015, and now will be the full time 2nd baseman for the Yanks as Didi Gregorius continues to be the answer at short. Didi had an above average season taking over for a legend and only got better as the year went on. The one guy you can't bank on in that infield? None other then Chase Headley. Head has been brutal at both the dish and in the field. He needs a huge bounce back season or he could find his ass on the street as "Ball Face" Rob Refsnyder is waiting in the wings ready to pounce.
The Yankees round out the infield with a couple of vets in Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann. Both got the power, both take advantage of the short porch and both are essential to a big year for the Yankees. Tex is coming off yet another huge year ended suddenly by injury and McCann enjoyed his 8th straight season of hitting 20+ homers. Tex may be the best fielding 1st baseman in the MLB and McCann can lead the staff like no other. This will be the year this "no fun diet" that Texy has been taking part in finally does something positive and he will win the Cumback Player of the Year. This is also a big year for McCann, that hopefully kills it enough that Cash can trade him in the off-season for some pitching and bring up Gary Sanchez from the minors.
With Gardy, Ells and Beltran manning the outfield everyday the Yankees may have the weirdest everyday outfield ever. Over-paid, fast, but slow guys, with some pop. All have proven to be very good players over their careers, but have not been able to put it together lately. If any falter the big boy Aaron Hick is waiting to take their jobs. The former 2nd overall pick, Dustin Ackley, also looms but he's more of a jack-of-all-trades guy.
The final piece of this squad is the new face of the Yankees. He's more then just a baseball player now-a-days. He's a social media savant, media mogul and newly locked down man of a billionaire broad. Of course I am referring to none other then Alex Rodriguez, but the new Arod isn't just 1/2 of the biggest power couple in the nation, but he's also just 1/25 of the Yankees. This isn't the same Lightning Rod of old, this is a team player that has made a bigger face change then John Cena back in the day. Alex is the quintessential team guy and is someone that everyone wants to be around. NYMWS has alway been #TeamArod so this public turn makes us extremely happy. Look out for another monster year from Alex, who will be dropping Abombs all over the MLB's faces.
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As the Yanks get ready to head up north don't forget to get your gambling on at Wager123.com where the lines are listed as follows...
- Regular season wina OVA/UNDA 86
- AL East Title +200
- AL Pennant +600
- World Series +1100
Take the OVA and the AL pennant for some easy cash money. See you all in the Bronx for the best baseball in the New York area!
-Boogie Down Clay
PS Don't forget to listen to the Yankee pod where Fitzy tell us a riveting story about the 2009 World Series between the Phillies and Mets Yankees, when he was at a Knicks preseason game.....
PPS I can't wait for Alex to get to 700 homers this season, A LOT to look forward to. Get FIRED UP!
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