Following the Winter Meetings, we have gotten a sense of how the New York Yankees roster will look come Opening Day, 2017.
Yes, we know. Nothing is set in stone and lot can change from now to Opening Day for the New York Yankees.Nevertheless, we’ve all been given an idea on who will make up the 2017 squad that will endeavor a crusade for the franchise’s 28th World Series title.
New York – whose farm system features seven of Major League Baseball’s Top-100 Prospects – have pretty much set their roster for 2017, barring any move involving Brett Gardner.
Brian Cashman has added Matt Holliday and Aroldis Chapman to their roster, and even if the team trades the aforementioned Gardner, it’ll be the Baby Bombers leading the charge.
What will that charge look like? Check out what ESNY projects New York’s lineup, rotation and bullpen to look like come Sunday, April 2 at Tampa Bay.
As a bonus, we’ve thrown in a way-too-early prediction on where the Yankees could end up come October. Without further adieu, check out your potential 2017 New York Yankees:
ESNY’s Projected Starting Lineup:
- Jacoby Ellsbury – CF
- Didi Gregorius – SS
- Gary Sanchez – C
- Greg Bird – 1B
- Matt Holliday – DH
- Starlin Castro – 2B
- Aaron Judge – RF
- Chase Headley – 3B
- Aaron Hicks – LF
This lineup is, of course, more likely to be posted up in the clubhouse if Gardner, who is in the top-10 in walks, runs scored, hits, triples and stolen bases among Yankees’ hitters since 1990, is traded from now until the end of the offseason.
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Even if he sticks around, however, there is a ton of heavy lifting needed to improve a lineup that ranked 20th in batting average and second-to-last in BA with runners in scoring position.
Even with Holliday’s bat in there, New York is going to be relying profoundly on young guys like Sanchez, Judge and Bird for power production if this offense is going to go anywhere.
In his first cup of coffee in the bigs, Sanchez became the fastest player in baseball history (45 games) to reach the 18 home run mark and later tied Wally Berger as the fastest to reach 20.
In 27 games from Sept. 10- Aug. 10, Gary batted .373 and smashed 13 of his 20 home runs. During that span, the Yankees went 18-9 and jolted themselves back into relevancy.
Now, throw that in with the chance of Judge translating his average exit velocity (96.82 m.p.h) into results and Bird coming back strong while repeating his 2015 year (38 homer/109 RBI pace).
There is a ton of potential for these three to be a sequential force in this lineup while other capable offensive weapons protect them.
In 2016, Castro became the fourth Yankees’ second baseman to hit 20 home runs in a single season, joining Robinson Cano, Joe Gordon and Alfonso Soriano.
The Dominican-born righty also slashed .290/.310/.486 in the second half, solidifying his year as a successful one — despite the fact that he swung at pitches in the left-handed batter’s box.
After struggling to adjust to the Bronx spotlight, Didi Gregorius ended his second year in the Bronx by becoming just the third shortstop Yankees history to hit at least 20 HR and bat over .275.
The only other two were Tom Tresh in 1962 and Derek Jeter in 1999, 2001 and 2004. His dual threat bat and adequate speed designates himself as perhaps the ideal No. 2 hitter the roster has to offer.
All in all, this lineup should be able to fill the void left by the ineffectiveness of Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez from a year ago — the two main reasons why the Bombers sold on August 1.
ESNY’s Projected Bench:
- Rob Refsnyder – UTL
- Ronald Torreyes – INF
- Tyler Austin – 1B/OF
- Austin Romine – C
The idea of a bench, especially for the young Yankees’ team, is flexibility.
Refsnyder, Torreyes and Austin are all competent of playing three or more positions while Romine, if he doesn’t lose the second catcher’s position to Kyle Higashioka, gives Sanchez the ability to spend one or two games a week as the DH.
These jobs, however, have a greater possibility of change during spring training.
Mason Williams has been promising — .292/.320/.438 in 20 major league games — and depending on health, he could produce some speed and a sufficient center fielder off the bench.
He and others listed above will probably battle for the 25th roster spot, so don’t be astonished if some of those names are shuffled around from now to April 2.
ESNY’s Projected Starting Rotation:
The first three spots in this rotation appear to be locked up, for the time being.
Tanaka managed the third best ERA in the AL in 2016, Sabathia is coming off his best season since 2012 and Pineda was the AL Leader in K/9.
After that, the rotation’s depth chart is moderately unknown.
Luis Severino, Luis Cessa and Chad Green will battle for the last two spots in Spring Training with “fall back” options which include Adam Warren, Bryan Mitchell and youngsters that are knocking on the door in Triple-A.
No, this rotation isn’t ideal and won’t promise any improvement to a rotation that finished 10th in the AL in ERA last year, but if Cashman is on board with giving the kids a chance in the lineup, there’s no reason not to do it with the rotation.
The 22-year old Severino, although struggled in the rotation last year, shouldn’t be declared as a reliever quite yet after merely 11 bad starts.
Green got into some trouble with the long ball in his 12 games, yet struck out 10.2 batters per nine innings and even shut down the potent Blue Jays’ offense on Aug. 15 by striking out 11 and allowing just two hits.
If the Yankees were just one starter away from a legitimate championship run, it would be understandable to spend on a guy like Rich Hill.
That is not this team, however. Assessing the young talent and perhaps seeing the major league debuts of James Kaprielian, Dietrich Enns, Jordan Montgomery and Justus Sheffield should be the layout.
ESNY’s Projected Bullpen
- Aroldis Chapman – CL
- Dellin Betances – SU
- Tyler Clippard
- Adam Warren
- Tommy Layne
- Chasen Shreve
- Bryan Mitchell
If you’re aware of the Scranton Shuttle, you’ll defend the note that this assembly will change regularly throughout the season.
Richard Bleier, Ben Heller, Jonathan Holder and others will see some time out of the ‘pen before even considering possible injuries.
Nonetheless, this is perhaps the strong suit for this team as there are very few question marks — especially towards the back end.
Their closer, Aroldis Chapman, struck out 12.6 batters per nine innings with the Yankees before being traded to Chicago in 2016 and owns the most strikeouts (617) among major league baseball relievers since 2011.
Betances, who will retreat back to his role as a setup man, owns a 1.93 ERA with 14.3 strikeouts per nine since 2014 while also limiting batters to a .186 batting average, the lowest among qualified relievers.
These two will not only be a shut-down duo for this upcoming season, but they’ll be a feared setup-closer combination until at least 2020 — when New York will be in prime World Series contention.
Following them is Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren, Chasen Shreve, lefty specialist Tommy Layne and a long reliever in Bryan Mitchell.
Clippard improved his ERA from 4.30 to 2.49 after being acquired from Arizona and was possibly the team’s most steady relief pitcher following the trade deadline in 2016.
The former Yankees’ draft pick also got the biggest outs in unfavorable situations while generating the highest whiff rate on his splitter (18.92) of his career and hadn’t looked that stable since his 2014 All-Star campaign with the Nationals.
In the first half, with a ‘pen that included Chapman, Betances and Andrew Miller, Yankees’ relievers maintained a 3.78 ERA while surrendering 37 home runs.
After dealing both Miller and Chapman, the ‘pen surrendered seven fewer home runs while lowering the unit’s ERA to 3.56.
Throw Chapman back into the mix with a much better middle relief squad, they can better accommodate a questionable rotation — the biggest problem with “No-Runs DMC.”
Way-To-Early Predictions: 86-76, Second Wild Card Spot
This team isn’t getting enough love.
Yes, there are tons of “ifs” that encircle them but there was a different vibe in Yankee-land after the Baby Bombers made their season seem like a dawn of a new era instead of an immense failure.
After the deadline, New York went 32-26 including a near-perfect August that brought them from mediocrity into relevancy.
That was a team without a dynamic closer, consistency in their rotation, an effective first baseman and a slow start from their powerful young right fielder.
The bullpen should improve. The lineup has the potential to do wonderous things. And the fact that Cashman has put together a team that’s rebuilding but has the potential to succeed will send a positive message to the younger kids — similar to that of 2016’s second half.
“Why not us?” is a suitable vibe.
A lot of people, like admittedly myself, are counting these kids out but if Gary Sanchez proved anything from his historic surge it’s that these Baby Bombers may be too naive to know any better.
If the rotation holds its own and the immense potential of the offense is showcased, there’s no reason to believe this Yankees’ squad can’t sneak into the playoffs — even if it’s a mere Wild Card game appearance.
What do you think, fans? Is this what you envision the 2017 New York Yankees to look like? Don’t agree with the prediction? Let your voice be heard in the comments below!
I have one huge exception. I see Tyler Austin playing before Hicks. I know Cashman is in Hicks's corner. But Tyler, with the taste of success, will take off in the Bronx.