Look, I can't help myself. I grew up hating the New York Yankees, and it was a well-earned hate (because of this, and this, and this too). But as I became steeped in Major League Baseball's history, I found myself nearly as intrigued as annoyed by the Yankees ... and of course it became easier to countenance the Yankees when they stopped winning the World Series every year. I suspect that as long as the Yankees wear those pinstripes, I'll keep paying pretty close attention.
You, though? You might not be so countenential. But I do hope you'll give me just a few minutes to convince you that as much as you might hate them, the Yankees will be tremendously interesting in 2015, and well worth the occasional check-in. Why?
1. Whither the ace
The mind does boggle, no? Over the past two seasons, CC Sabathia's gone 17-17 with a 4.78 ERA. Now, he's pitched in some tough luck. But he's essentially been a .500 pitcher, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Over the next three seasons -- and it's a little complicated, because of an option in the third season -- the Yankees will probably owe Sabathia $73 million. And for everybody who believes that salaries are irrelevant for big-money teams like the Yankees, here's exhibit A. Or at least Exhibit B (we'll get to A in a moment). Because it turns out the Yankees actually do have a budget, and that without Sabathia's contract on the books, Brian Cashman might have been able to actually do something big this winter to make his team better.
Instead he did some relatively little things. Trading for Didi Gregorius and retaining Stephen Drew and Chase Headley ... these are probably good things, on balance. But those little things aren't going to matter unless the big thing pitches better this season.
Except that's not precisely true. A big season from Sabathia would help a lot, but what the Yankees really need is two of their top three guys -- Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and Michael Pineda -- to pitch really well for most or all of the season. But if you gotta pick one guy to watch, pick the big guy. If only to honor the memories.
Speaking of which...
2. Ghosts of Seasons Past
You have to admit one thing, at least: The Yankees' lineup will usually be an impressive list of names. If nobody gets hurt between now and then, the starting nine should combine for 123 All-Star Game appearances, not even including injury-related absences.*
* You don't need to bother with checking that number. It's fine, really.
Mark Teixeira, Stephen Drew, Chase Headley, Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann ... really, Brett Gardner and young Didi Gregorius are the only guys without any claim to real stardom, but even that understates how good Gardner's been from time to time. And you know that for every time Gregorius is mentioned on a Yankees broadcast this season, Derek Jeter will be mentioned twice. Which should count for ... something. It's just a shame that Ichiro's not back this season, but I guess even Yankee fans can't have everything.
OK, so maybe it'll be sort of a bummer, seeing all these guys past their glorious primes. Maybe it's best to just think of every Yankees game as an Old-Timers Game. Think about the September call-ups! Whitey and Yogi, with Bouton throwing knuckleballs in relief!
3. Mr. Rodriguez
Yes, of course he might well have been included among the Ghosts. I didn't include him because a) I'm not yet convinced that he's going to make the Yankees' Opening Day roster, .353 spring-training average be damned, and b) HE IS THE MOST SPECIAL OF CASES. Alex Rodriguez isn't just a former star, or superstar. He's made the most money in history and was supposed to become one of the five greatest players ever. And then of course it all went to hell, both for reasons of his own making and reasons not. But you gotta love a good spring-training soap opera, right? And if Rodriguez does wind up in the Yankees' Opening Day lineup, don't you kinda want to see him crank a few more home runs? I do. While I certainly don't expect him to play for another three seasons -- you know, like his contract says he's supposed to, and for a hefty price to boot -- I will enjoy that sweet, effortless swing for as long as it's still good enough for television. Maybe that's a season, or even two seasons. But it might be just a week or three, and I'm not taking any chances.
2014 record: 84-78
Projected 2015 record: 82-80*
Key additions: SS Didi Gregorius, SP Nathan Eovaldi , RP Andrew Miller, 1B Garrett Jones, RP Justin Wilson
Key subtractions: SS Derek Jeter, RP David Robertson, SP Hiroki Kuroda, SP David Phelps, SP Brandon McCarthy, OF Ichiro Suzuki, IF Martin Prado, C Francisco Cervelli
*Projected records courtesy of Fangraphs
