Countdown to Opening Day: #19 New York Yankees

By Andrew Marcus
Sportswriter for Lansdale Reporter

Follow me on Twitter @amarcus515

#19: New York Yankees: Time to Yank the plug on a great era

PROJECTED LINEUP
RF Ichiro
SS Derek Jeter
2B Robinson Cano
1B Kevin Youkilis
DH Travis Hafner
LF Juan Rivera
3B Eduardo Nunez
C Francisco Cervelli
CF Brett Gardner

**Mark Teixeira out 8-10 weeks
**Curtis Granderson out 8-10 weeks
**Alex Rodriguez out until July

PROJECTED ROTATION

C.C. Sabathia
Hiroki Kuroda
Ivan Nova
Andy Pettite
Phil Hughes

PROJECTED BULLPEN

Closer: Mariano Rivera

Set-up: David Robertson

Top Prospect: Gary Sanchez (C)

Welcome to the Golden Years. Every step in the wrong direction has a chance to put an overused body out of commission. To be fair, I was picking the Yankees to struggle prior to Jay Happ's bean-ball to Granderson or Texeira over-aggressive World Baseball Classic batting practice.

Derek Jeter

In years past the Yankees were able to hide their mistakes by paying for quick replacements, but in 2013 it does not look like general manager Brian Cashman is willing to do that. There is still time to replace injuries outside the system, but it looks like the Yanks are going to try and survive until they are full healthy.
In other divisions I would say surviving with Juan Rivera, Eduardo Nunez and Travis Hafner may work for a half a season, but being in the talented A.L. East makes it a very tall task.
Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are both coming off serious injuries. Hafner, Ichiro and Kevin Youkilis are not the players we remember them to be. Hafner has not hit 20 homers since 2005. Ichiro barely got on base enough last season for his speed to be a factor, and Youkilis is another player who just cannot stay healthy.
Add in Robinson Cano, a free-agent to be in the prime of his career, and workhorse starters like C.C. Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda and it will not be all bad. The Yankees are not going go from 95-67 to 67-95, but they will have to grind out 162 games in order to contend.

Mariano Rivera

THEY CALL ME MR. SUNSHINE - Did you really think the Yankees were just going to curl up and call it a year? Certainly not in the final year of a Hall-of-Fame career for Mariano Rivera. And Hall-of-Famer Ichiro has a bounce back year in him as he looks to cap off a career with a ring. Jeter never stops working toward the big goal and once Granderson and Teixeira return in May the Yankees still have one of the top offenses in the game. 2013 has Joe Girardi, Manager of the Year written all over it.


REAL TALK - I can see every team in the American League finishing 1st-through-5th, but the Yankees may have a stacked deck of mishaps in their way to repeat as League Champs. Not only did they let a lot of home runs walk away in the off season, the remaining pinstripes have some serious problems. The Yanks need to buy into a new offensive philopshy this season to succeed, and at this point in their career, small ball may been something they are not capable of doing. That right field wall seems so close. While, in truth, a title seems so far away.

Breakout: Dellin Betances

Bust: Ichiro

Fantasy Baseball Sleeper: Kevin Youkilis

LAST YEAR'S RECORD: 95-67 (1st in AL East)

PROJECTED 2013 FINISH: 81-81 (5th in AL East)

**Check back tomorrow for the Colorado Rockies**