FanPost

2015 New York Yankees Preview

RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

2014 Season in review:

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DEREK JETER DEREK JETER DEREK JETER DEREK JETER RE2PECT RE2PECT RE2PECT DEREK JETER DEREK JETER DEREK JETER 84-78 missed the playoffs.

2014-2015 Off-season Moves:

Just one year removed from having spent over a half a billion buckaroos to add Brian McCann, Masahiro Tanaka, Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury, & Co., the New York Yankees took a step back from their free-spending ways and only doled out a Skip Schumaker-like $100ish million this winter. Over half of that (4 years, $52 million) was outlaid to keep Chase Headley around, since his half-season in the Bronx had done enough to convince the Steinbrenners and Brian Cashman to keep him around at their hot corner. Another large chunk (4 years, $36 million) was tossed at reliever Andrew Miller, though there are still some doubts at his exact role in the bullpen with Dellin Betances also vying for the closer's role. Oldies Chris Capuano (1 year, $5 million), Stephen Drew (1 year, $5 million), and OF Chris Young (1 year, $2.5 million) were the only other notable additions.

Heading out the door, however, was a veritable Who's Who of the last few decades of professional baseball, but while they were heavyweight names, their tenure of being famous also lets you know how old and beyond their prime these players largely were. Derek Jeter retired, which you may or may not have heard about, and the team also waived goodbye to Ichiro Suzuki, saw Alfonso Soriano retire mid-season, and lost rotation cog Hiroki Kuroda to a Japan farewell tour. That's roughly 8,000 career hits and a pitcher who averaged over 200 IP per season with a 117 ERA+ in his 3 years in pinstripes off the ledger, which is no small sum. To top it off, the Yankees lost former Mariano Rivera set-up man and 2014 closer David Robertson, who opted to ink his name with the Chicago White Sox.

Cashman was also quite active in the trade market, with a trio of deals headlining his winter. Former Cincinnati Reds SS Didi Gregorious was picked up from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 3-team trade that cost the Yanks young SP Shane Greene, and both 1B/OF Garret Jones and SP Nathan Eovaldi were acquired from the Miami Marlins in exchange for versatile IF Martin Prado, among others. David Carpenter was also picked up from the Atlanta Braves to add another strong reliever to the pen, which cost New York once-hyped pitching prospect Manny Banuelos.

2015 Projected Starters:

Brian McCann, Catcher - McCann signed for a cool 9 figures prior to the 2014 season, and after borderline Hall of Fame consistency year after year with the Braves, he slumped to a career worst season in terms of OBP and OPS. He still thumped 23 dingers, though, and the short porch in RF in new Yankees Stadium didn't get any further away, so he'll still be counted on to provide pop and his usual solid defense.

Mark Teixeira, 1B - Teixeira again struggled with injuries and inconsistency, and for the 3rd straight season failed to play more than 123 games. When right, he's an animal, but now in his age 35 season and off a serious wrist injury, there's some question as to whether he can still be an everyday force. He barely cleared a .700 OPS in 2014 (.703), but he did whack 22 dingers.

Stephen Drew, 2B - Drew was awful in 2014 after sitting out much of the season after not being signed thanks to the draft-pick forfeiture attached to him after he declined a Qualifying Offer from the Red Sox after a solid 2013. Like, not even awful on a 2014 Zack Cozart level...awful on a 2012 Wilson Valdez level. The trade of Prado opened the door for him to get one more shot at 2B, though, but Robert Refsynder will be waiting at AAA should he falter again.

Didi Gregorius, SS - He's not Derek Jeter, but he'll get Derek Jeter scrutiny and Derek Jeter comparison scorn all Derek Jeter day long. Kevin Towers once called him the "next Derek Jeter," and now he really is the next Derek Jeter, and that's the kind of prophetic intelligence that probably landed Kevin Towers a job with the brainy Cincinnati Reds. Probably. Towers also thinks Mark Trumbo is good at baseball, though, so poor not Derek Jeter Didi.

Chase Headley, 3B - A fantastic glove man with a history of on-basing with the best of them, he'll be a nice fit in this aged lineup despite...ope, wait, he's over 30, too. Anyway, he'll likely hit right in the heart of their order despite not having dingered worth a lick since his outlier of a 2012 season, but whatever, I won't be watching them much anyway. This is the best position player preview I've ever written.

Brett Gardner, LF - Speedy, solid glove OF who posted a 111 OPS+ at age 30 with a .749 OPS, 25 doubles, and 17 dingers, and will hit at the top of the Yankees' order.

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF - Speedy, solid glove OF who posted a 111 OPS+ at age 30 with a .747 OPS, 27 doubles, and 16 dingers, and will hit at the top of the Yankees' order.

Carlos Beltran, RF - He's old. Like, really, really old. He was only the 5th oldest player on the Yanks in 2014, but his elbow broke, the team jettisoned the rest of his elder brethren, and now he's left with the task of being old but not too old to patrol RF. He, too, followed in line with the rest of the Yankees with an "I'm old and ope, damn, something broke but I'll try to play through it awfully and...ope, nope, time to shut it down" 2014 season that saw most every one of his stats plummet to depths not seen before in his likely Hall of Fame career. It's probably whatever Cardinal dust they sprayed on him after he left town.

Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Chris Capuano, Nathan Eovaldi, SP - Tanaka's got a partially torn elbow ligament, Sabathia has no knee and now throws slow enough to set off the bomb in Speed, Pineda's shoulder has the consistency of SpaghettiO's, and Capuano is going to start the year on the DL with a quad strain. Eovaldi's healthy and impressive, but behind him sits a decent void of high-end pitching talent that's ready to contribute, with Ivan Nova just now tossing bullpen sessions after his 2014 Tommy John surgery. Boy howdy, Walt Jocketty is going to field a pile of phone calls on his jitterbug that start with 718 about ol' Johnny Cueto this summer. If only he had caller ID on that thing...

Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, RP - Consider one close, the other closer. The Yankees haven't yet tipped their hand as to which will get the ball in the 9th inning in 2015, though Betances' surprising velocity drop in spring may lead them to opt with Miller. Regardless, these two K machines will anchor the back end of the bullpen.

2015 Story That Will Prove New York Has Too Many Media Outlets:

Alex Rodriguez, who will be back in action after being suspended for all of 2014. He'll be old, he'll be the primary DH, he'll be annoyingly on the front of every major news source, and we'll all get to revel in the milestones he's about to cross and get paid mightily for. A-Rod, everywhere again.

Yayyy.

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2015 Outlook:

This team is old, the starting pitching is a borderline disaster, and Derek Jeter isn't around to Derek Jeter the Derek Jeters to a Derek Jeter-like finish. They're not as good on the field as the Red Sox, they're not as good on paper as the Toronto Blue Jays, the Baltimore Orioles will probably find a way to Brewer their way to a season better than their peripherals suggest, and the Tampa Bay Rays always find a way to be relevant...in other words, high hopes for this Yankees squad I do not have, but I do fully expect Cashman to wheel and deal with the cash power they have should they have the expected glaring needs at the deadline. In Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, and Aaron Judge, they do possess a limited number of high-upside prospects that could tantalize other teams, and it wouldn't be shocking at all to hear that they're in the market for a 2B and a starting pitcher come June.