Jacoby Ellsbury is one of several new additions to the Yankees in 2014. (Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports)
The last time the New York Yankees went on a comparable holiday shopping spree, they won the World Series in 2009 after missing the playoffs the previous season.
The franchise’s lone title in the past 13 years came after the Bombers opened the checkbook that previous winter, spending more than $400 million to import starting pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, first baseman Mark Teixeira and outfielder Nick Swisher, all key components of their 27th championship club.
Another rare playoff whiff in 2013 resulted in even more lavish spending over this past offseason. Only time will tell if the result of the nearly $500 million spent by owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman — on big-ticket free agents such as catcher Brian McCann, outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran and Japanese starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, among other smaller signings — will help the Yankees get back to October and advance once they get there.
There is never time for a transition year the Bronx, but the star power that left the Yankees after the team went 85-77 last season perhaps exceeds the players imported to replace them.
Closer Mariano Rivera, baseball’s all-time saves leader, and left-hander Andy Pettitte, baseball’s winningest postseason pitcher, both retired. All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano took the unusual career path of leaving the Yankees for bigger riches elsewhere, signing a $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners. And three-time MVP third baseman Alex Rodriguez is suspended for the entire season for violating Major League Baseball’s policy prohibiting performance-enhancing drugs.
“I think it is probably the biggest transition I’ve been through,”manager Joe Girardi said during spring training. “When I sit and look around at the people that we’ll run out Opening Day this year compared to last year, in a sense, you’re going to have a different first baseman, a different second baseman, a different shortstop, a different third baseman, a different left fielder, a different center fielder, probably a different right fielder and a different catcher.”
The 2014 season also will be the last for perennial All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter, who will be honored in every road stadium — as Rivera was last year in his own farewell tour. The Captain announced his pending retirement just before the start of spring training after missing all but 17 games last season with ankle and other leg injuries.
As Girardi referenced, Teixeira, the returning first baseman, appeared in just 15 games last season due to wrist surgery. Second baseman Brian Roberts and third baseman Kelly Johnson open the year as the other new starting infielders, while successful setup man David Robertson has the unenviable task of replacing Rivera, who was the Yankees’ closer since 1997.
“I know some of these guys were in the mix last year, but it’s different,” Girardi said. “I do believe as far as a manager, this is the biggest transition I’ve been through with players from top to bottom. As far as pressure, I wouldn’t really consider it pressure, but I think it’s important that I get to know these guys and how they react in different situations and what makes them comfortable. How you push them and don’t push them. I need to learn a lot of new faces fairly quickly.”
NOTES, QUOTES
–RHP Michael Pineda earned the No. 5 starter job with a strong camp, as he posted a 1.20 ERA through 15 innings. The former All-Star missed the past two seasons due to shoulder surgery after he was acquired in 2012 from Seattle. “Everybody is excited because they know I’ve been working hard for the last two years and I want to go back to the majors,” Pineda said.
–RHP Masahiro Tanaka cost the Yankees $175 million in salary and posting fees over the winter. However, the team continues to temper expectations on the pricy Japanese import, pegging him to start the fourth game of the season April 4 in Toronto. “We feel we have a lot of quality,” GM Brian Cashman told the New York Daily News. “We feel better about our pitching today than we did before camp started. We had to see certain stuff from some guys, and we’ve seen it.”
–CF Jacoby Ellsbury sustained a calf injury March 14 and missed the next two weeks, but the $153 million man believes he will be ready for Opening Day in Houston on April 1. “I have been running the last few days very hard. I feel very confident,” Ellsbury told the New York Post after playing in a minor league game March 25. “I feel I could hop in there and play right now and be ready to. I feel I will be ready.”
–SS Derek Jeter, entering his final season after missing all but 17 games last year with assorted leg injuries, was batting just .143 during spring training through March 26. “I’m not really too worried about it,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It is spring training. He was off for almost like a year and a half. He feels better at the plate. He says his timing, he feels, is closer. I’m not too worried about it. … Guys have been through spring trainings like this before. I remember a lot of times going through spring training and not getting a lot of hits, and you start off hot as crazy. There’s really no reason to waste them at spring training.”
–C Francisco Cervelli, who served a 50-game suspension last season for violating baseball’s drug policy, reportedly had the inside track for the backup catching job behind Brian McCann with a .417 spring average through March 26. “He came into spring training extremely prepared and he has played well. He has done everything you could ask him to do,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He is playing at the level he was before he got hurt last year. He is a good kid and plays hard and does the things I want him to do. He really cares about this game.”
QUOTE TO NOTE: “A hundred fifty-five million for a No. 4 starter? Must be nice. I thought he was at least a No. 3.” — A major league scout to the New York Daily News, after the Yankees announced Japanese RHP Masahiro Tanaka ($155 million in salary and $20 million in posting fees) will begin the season as the No. 4 starter.
ROSTER REPORT
ROTATION:
1. LHP CC Sabathia
2. RHP Hiroki Kuroda
3. RHP Ivan Nova
4. RHP Masahiro Tanaka
5. RHP Michael Pineda
With LHP Andy Pettitte retiring and RHP Phil Hughes leaving to sign with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent, the Yankees flexed their financial muscles in an otherwise so-so free agent market for pitchers to import Tanaka. He will open as the No. 4 starter despite going 24-0 last season in Japan and costing the Yankees $175 million in salary and posting fees.
The rotation still is riddled with questions, beginning with Sabathia, whose velocity was down throughout training camp after going just 14-13 with a career-worst 4.78 ERA in 32 starts in his age-33 season. Kuroda, now 39, also faded late in 2013, finishing with an 11-13 mark.
Nova had a strong camp, and he begins as the No. 3 starter, while one-time All-Star Pineda also made the rotation after missing the past two seasons following shoulder surgery.
BULLPEN:
RHP David Robertson (closer)
RHP Shawn Kelley
LHP Matt Thornton
RHP David Phelps
LHP Cesar Cabral
RHP Adam Warren
RHP Dellin Betances
The Yankees had no bigger edge against their opponents over the past two decades than they did with RHP Mariano Rivera, whose five-year wait for the Hall of Fame started after he finished his illustrious career with the most saves (652) and best postseason ERA (0.70) in baseball history.
The Yankees believe former setup man Robertson possesses the stuff and the proper makeup to make the transition to the closing role, but replacing Rivera figures to be a daunting challenge, particularly for someone with just eight career saves. Rivera’s absence also will affect the rest of the bullpen, with Robertson likely leaving the eighth-inning void to Kelley and Thornton.
LINEUP:
1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury
2. SS Derek Jeter
3. RF Carlos Beltran
4. DH Alfonso Soriano
5. 1B Mark Teixeira
6. C Brian McCann
7. 2B Brian Roberts
8. 3B Kelly Johnson
9. LF Brett Gardner
The Yankees took a spread-out approach to replacing departed 2B Robinson Cano and suspended 3B Alex Rodriguez, adding a dynamic leadoff hitter, Ellsbury; a huge upgrade behind the plate, McCann; and a dependable corner outfielder known for postseason heroics, Beltran.
If Soriano can continue producing as he did following a midseason trade and if retiring captain Jeter and returning first baseman Teixeira regain their form after an injury-plagued 2013 campaign, the Yankees’ order still has a chance to be one of the deeper and more diverse lineups in baseball.
RESERVES:
C Francisco Cervelli
OF Ichiro Suzuki
INF Eduardo Nunez
INF Dean Anna
Cervelli, suspended for 50 game last season for his part in the Biogenesis PED scandal, had a strong spring showing to vault ahead of young backstops C Austin Romine and C John Ryan Murphy for the job as McCann’s understudy. Teams can do worse than Suzuki — a future Hall of Famer — as a spare outfielder. Anna likely will be on the roster temporarily as a backup infielder until SS Brendan Ryan (back) is ready to come off the disabled list.
MEDICAL WATCH:
–SS Brendan Ryan (pinched nerve in back) was injured in mid-March. He is likely to open the season on the disabled list.
–CF Jacoby Ellsbury (strained right calf) was injured March 14. He missed nearly two weeks of spring games, but he expects to be ready for Opening Day.
