New York Yankees Season Preview

The Yankees off-season was mainly dominated by the contract negotiations between Derek Jeter and the ball club and Brain Cashman saying he was against the deal to sign former Rays closer Rafael Soriano. The negotiations between Jeter and the Yankees became public and turned ugly with the team telling Jeter to "drink some reality potion" in regard to how much money he would get on the open market. Jeter finally signed a three-year deal worth 51 million dollars with the Yankees. Many question marks that Yankee fans have surround Jeter, as last year he only batted .270, his worst batting average since 1995 when he was a rookie.

Projected starting lineup:

1. Brett Gardner, LF

2. Derek Jeter, SS

3. Mark Teixeira, 1B

4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B

5. Robinson Cano, 2B

6. Nick Swisher, RF

7. Jorge Posada, DH

8. Curtis Granderson, CF

9. Russell Martin, C

However, Yankee fans should be much more concerned about their pitching staff. After losing out on trying to lure Cliff Lee to New York, the Yankees were stuck with a very shaky rotation behind C.C. Sabathia. Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com said about the Yankees unpredictable but talented pitcher Phil Hughes, "Scouts following Yankees have been stunned by Phil Hughes’ lack of velocity this spring 87-89 mph, with more 87s than 89s." A.J. Burnett had a horrible season last year, as he was 5 games under five hundred at 10-15 and had a 5.26 ERA, the highest of his career. Burnett is finally looking forward to putting last season behind him. He said, “I put a lot of things behind me [in spring training] and I’m looking forward to a new start... So it begins on Saturday... Consistency this season is the most important thing. I came out to a pretty good start last year and became inconsistent pretty quick. I want to start off on a pretty good foot but consistency is the main thing.” Although Ivan Nova pitched extremely well this spring and earned the Yankees fourth pitching spot, he is unproven and a lot of pressure will be on him to pitch well and pitch well right away. Although Freddy Garcia struggled during spring training posting a 5.93 ERA, he got the Yankees fifth starting role over Bartolo Colon. In his last 4 seasons, Garcia only has 17 wins and his best ERA in those seasons was at 4.20. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, "We actually felt that he [Freddy Garcia] had a chance to get better because he was another offseason removed from his arm issues that he had. But you still want to see it in spring training. For his standards, he had a great spring."

Projected starting rotation:

1. C.C. Sabathia

2. Phil Hughes

3. A.J. Burnett

4. Ivan Nova

5. Freddy Garcia

Projected closer:

Mariano Rivera

Although the Yankees rotation has a lot of question marks, with Cano, Teixeira, and A-Rod in the middle of the Yankee's lineup, they will definitely score a lot of runs like they did last season when they led the league in runs scored.