How imperative is it for the New York Yankees to start the 2013 season off hot?
Yankees 4, Orioles 3 (Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik)
Very.
Why?
Simply put, no team’s success can be contingent on older veterans unless they have serious depth on the bench, not even if you are the Yankees.
The pressure the Yankees have ensued on guys north of 38 years of age, and who are coming back from major injuries is unreasonable.
So unlike other teams, timing becomes fundamental for the Yankees this season, and they have to strike while the iron is hot.
And for the 2013 Yankees that means winning in April.
In the past no one cared about April because the Yankees were strong enough to mend things in September.
Last season things changed as the slow starting Yankees went 13-9 in the first month, but those days are long gone.
Outside circumstances and injuries could cripple this team right out of playoff contention if they do not time things right.
The Yankees April’s schedule has 16 AL East games, with seven vs. Toronto.
The Blue Jays are stacked but with unfamiliar talent. These team’s usually require time to get adjusted before they mesh; which is why the Yankees need to pounce on Toronto in April.
When the Blue Jays finally do acclimate themselves into a team will mark the day Toronto became better than New York.
One question remains, can the Yankees withstand the perennial slow starts of ace CC Sabathia and first-baseman Mark Teixeira?
No they cannot.
And when you take a look at the Yankees batting stats from April of last year it portrays a much stronger group, and a loaded bench that you don’t mess with.
all stats courtesy of baseball-reference.com.
C. Granderson 84 18 22 2 1 8 16 16 0 25 0 0.262 0.380 0.595 0.975
A. Rodriguez 82 14 20 2 0 4 11 12 2 16 2 0.244 0.354 0.415 0.769
R. Martin 54 8 9 1 0 2 6 11 3 15 1 0.167 0.338 0.296 0.634
N. Swisher 81 10 23 9 0 6 23 9 1 18 0 0.284 0.355 0.617 0.972
R. Ibanez 58 5 14 3 0 3 12 5 0 6 2 0.241 0.297 0.448 0.745
E. Chavez 28 6 9 0 0 3 5 1 0 5 0 0.321 0.333 0.643 0.976
A. Jones 30 6 6 0 0 3 5 5 0 10 0 0.200 0.306 0.500 0.806
TOTALS: 417 67 103 17 1 29 78 59 6 95 5 0.246 0.338 0.502 0.840
Those numbers reiterated to me on an even deeper level how much the Yankee brass screwed up this off-season. The number of dependable hitters Hal Steinbrenner let walk away has left such HUGE holes that now seem total irreparable.
I hate to say it but unless the remaining guys can step it up BIG TIME this team could be in real trouble from day one.
2012 April batting stats of current Yankees
Robinson Cano 22 22 99 90 14 24 8 0 1 4 1 0 8 8 0.267 0.323 0.389 0.712 35
Brett Gardner 9 8 34 28 5 9 2 0 0 3 2 0 5 7 0.321 0.424 0.393 0.817 11
Eduardo Nunez 13 9 36 32 5 10 1 0 0 3 3 0 2 3 0.313 0.361 0.344 0.705 11
Chris Stewart 5 4 16 15 3 4 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 2 0.267 0.313 0.333 0.646 5
Derek Jeter 22 22 105 95 16 37 6 0 4 13 1 1 8 12 0.389 0.433 0.579 1.012 55
Mark Teixeira 21 21 93 86 10 21 4 0 3 12 1 0 5 11 0.244 0.290 0.395 0.686 34
As of now, no one would be surprised to see any one of the five AL East playing in October, which makes a slow start hurt a lot more than it did in the past.
Any hope that the Ravens and Ray Lewis gave me about the 2013 Yankees is slowly dwindling after observing what other teams have in Spring Training.
What do you think?
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