Major League Baseball

Five key questions for the Yankees

Published Apr. 4, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Bob Klapisch

By now, most grunts in the Yankee army are aware of the synchronicity between the Bombers and the Kentucky Wildcats. For those on the outside, the karmic link goes like this: When the ‘Cats win a national championship, the Yankees prevail in the World Series.

It’s been that way for Kentucky’s previous six titles — 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998 — and with a win over Kansas this week, the Yankees have had a laugh or two about keeping the streak alive in 2012.

GM Brian Cashman said, “now it’s up to us” to work through the check list, which includes overcoming the Tigers’ firepower, the Rangers’ momentum in their two-year golden era, and the Angels’ starting rotation, arguably the best in the AL.

Coming off a 97-win season, the Yankees rightfully consider themselves a serious contender again, although no one in the front office is deluded enough to ignore what’s happened in the industry. Their late-‘90s era dominance has fully morphed, replaced by parity among the elite teams. For that, the Yankees can thank rival owners who are willing to spend just as freely as they do, thanks to the burgeoning TV contracts, and GMs who are just as bright and calculating as Cashman.

But every team faces critical questions, the answers to which will greatly influence what happens in October. The Yankees are no different. In fact, with the Tigers on a straight roll through the Central Division, and the Rangers and Angels figuring to pile up the wins against the A’s and Mariners, the Yankees are under intense pressure to win the East outright and avoid a one-game shootout as the wild-card.

It’s not impossible. The Yankees are capable not only of winning their division, but the pennant and World Series, too. But to do so means drilling down to five burning issues, each of which must be resolved in the affirmative:

Can Andy Pettitte stay healthy?

No one’s really worried about the lefthander’s arm or his competitive fire; they’re both still intact. Team officials, however, are closely monitoring Pettitte’s susceptibility to a groin or hamstring injury. If anything were to derail his comeback, it would be a leg injury that, as in 2010, would mean a lengthy stint on the DL.

That’s the potential surcharge Pettitte faces after skipping his age-39 season. Who knows to what extent his body can be re-calibrated for the grind of a long summer? The Yankees are moving cautiously and probably won’t summon Pettitte to the Bronx before May. But if he stays healthy, the lefthander will diminish the setback of Michael Pineda’s shoulder injury, and give the Yankees a reliable No. 2 starter in the postseason.

Can Mark Teixeira avoid being swallowed up by the shift again?

The more poignant question is whatever happened to the .300-hitting, gap-crushing switch-hitter the Yankees are paying $180 million through 2016? Teixeira became a disturbingly one-dimensional threat last season, batting just .224 from the left side, falling prey to opponents’ drastic shift to the right side of the infield.

Overall, Teixeira’s average dropped to .246, a career low. He’s taken two steps to reverse the downward spiral. The first is closing his batting stance, and with it, a promise to drop enough bunts down the third base line to force opposing managers to return to conventional defensive alignments.

The second remedy is a 15-pound drop in weight, thanks to a juice diet Teixeira insists had rid him of “fat.” The Yankees never considered Teixeira overweight, but are willing to go along with the new regimen, even if it’s just for the placebo effect. If nothing else, it shows just how desperate Teixeira is for answers. Unless he hits, the lineup will become overly dependent on Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano for postseason run production. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Can Alex Rodriguez turn back the clock?

While we’re on the subject of health and aging, no Yankee is battling the clock more fiercely than A-Rod. He believes he found a little (non-steroidal) magic in the offseason, traveling to Germany to undergo platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment to speed up the healing of the torn meniscus in his right knee.

The idea was suggested to him by Kobe Bryant, and A-Rod said during spring training he felt “27 again.” Still, no one expects him to return to his indestructible phase, from his age 25-through-31 seasons during which he averaged 159 games a year.

A more reasonable goal would be 125-130 games, and with it, a rediscovery of his long-ball muscles. Rodriguez hit only 16 HRs last year, including an 85 at-bat drought, the longest of his career.

Can Hiroki Kuroda cope with the designated hitter?

More and more, it looks like Curiosa will be the rotation’s X-factor, at least until Pettitte arrives and proves he can stay off the DL. Put it this way: Pineda is out indefinitely with a bad shoulder and diminished fastball. Ivan Nova had a horrible spring (8.06) ERA and looked nothing like the confident kid who won 16 games last year.

And Phil Hughes appears to be on the rebound, but he, too, has durability issues. That leaves Kuroda as the safety net for CC Sabathia. The Japanese right-hander looks like a good bet to make Yankees’ fans forget about the volatile A.J. Burnett. As a Dodger, Kuroda never posted an ERA higher than 3.76, threw strikes (2.1 walks per nine innings) and was a rock of consistency (made more than 30 starts in three of his four seasons in LA).

What the Yankees don’t know, of course, is how Kuroda will cope with the short right field porch in the Bronx — the Stadium ranked second in the AL in home run park factor in 2011. But the good news is that at age 37, Kuroda is old and experienced enough to not be overwhelmed by the new surroundings.

Was Derek Jeter’s rebirth for real?

The captain hit .338 in the last three months of the season, and that might be enough for him to justify playing into his 40s. There’s no denying we were watching a replay of Jeter in his prime after going 5-for-5 against the Rays on July 9, the day of his 3,000th hit. After that, Jeter did almost everything right, including batting .355 with runners in scoring position and solving right-handed pitching to the tune of .315.

So what’s in store for an encore? The Yankees — and, perhaps, the Wildcats — are waiting for an answer.

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