2007 was the start of the Joe Girardi era for the New York Yankees and it did not start off so great. The Yankees finished 3rd in the division and missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. They were plagued by injuries and poor pitching. On the bright side, Mike Mussina had a brilliant year by winning 20 games for the first time in his career and Alex Rodriguez even though he did not play the whole season still put up great numbers. Outside of those two, everyone else on the team was pretty average and that led to their 89 - 73 record last season.
Projected Lineup:
C - Jorge Posada
1B - Mark Teixera
2B - Robinson Cano
SS - Derek Jeter
3B - Alex Rodriguez
LF - Johnny Damon
CF - Brett Gardner
RF - Xavier Nady
DH - Hideki Matsui
Projected Rotation:
#1 - CC Sabathia
#2 - Chien-Ming Wang
#3 - AJ Burnett
#4 - Andy Pettite
#5 - Joba Chamberlain
Closer - Mariano Rivera
Postion Battles:
CF - Brett Gardner won the spot in spring training but that does not mean that it is his all season. If he starts to falter, then Melky Cabrera will be eager to get in and prove that he is the starting center fielder.
2009 Outlook: This past off season the Yankees did what they do best, which is spend money. They went out and get CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Texiera in hopes of another return to the playoffs and another World Series Championship.
The offense looks as if it will be really good as long as everyone can stay healthy. They have a fairly old lineup and Alex Rodriguez is the first person to go down with an injury. A-Rod's injury should hurt them at the beginning of the season, but when he comes back he will put up the number that he always does. Jorge Posada is healthy and is hoping to improve on his awful 2008.
The pitching on paper looks as if it should be one of the best, but it is definitely the weakness of the Yankees. AJ Burnett is known for not staying healthy and so nobody knows how he will do. CC Sabathia started off really slow in the AL last year with the Cleveland Indians and then turned it on when he moved to the NL. So it should be interesting to see how he does back in the AL, in a very tough AL East. Joba Chamberlain has not proven to be a consistent solid starter yet, but he is still young. This could be the year that he turns it around and becomes the stud starter than everyone is expecting him to be. Finally, Mariano Rivera is old and skills are dimenishing, but he can still get the job done. If he can stay healthy, then the Yankees will be fine in the late innings.
Overall, this team could be really good or they can be an average team, but it really depends on players staying healthy and the consistency of the starting rotation. They will definitely be in the race for a playoff spot, but I do not know if they will actually make it.
Projected Finish: 3rd Place, AL East
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