Sports Illustrated AL East spring preview

[font size="1"]Dylan Bundy is the Orioles' ace of the future but first has to win a job in the rotation this spring.
Reuters[/font]


New York Yankees

The Big Question: Just how brittle is the Yankees' lineup?

With the exception of Mariano Rivera reclaiming the closer's job from the departed Rafael Soriano, the division champion Yankees are returning with essentially the same pitching staff that they had a year ago, one that was the fourth-stingiest in the American League in terms of runs allowed. They might even get Michael Pineda, the former Mariner who has yet to pitch for them after suffering a torn labrum last spring, back at midseason.

Things are very different on the other side of the ball, however. Because New York was pinching pennies this offseason, Russell Martin is a Pirate, Nick Swisher is an Indian and Eric Chavez, who kicked in 313 plate appearances of a 126 OPS+ last year, is a Diamondback. Throw in the hip injury that will keep Alex Rodriguez out at least until midseason and the Yankees lineup will look very different this year.

New York has done its best to paste over those losses by re-signing 39-year-old Ichiro Suzuki and adding Kevin Youkilis and Travis Hafner, but all three are well into the decline stages of their careers. The team also effectively punted on replacing Martin, whose value behind the plate and relative to his fellow catchers beside it may have been underestimated.

Only the Rangers scored more runs than the Yankees last year, so they had some margin for error. Still, Derek Jeter, who turns 39 in June, is attempting to come back from a badly broken ankle and the team has essentially no outfield depth behind the superannuated Suzuki and fellow speedster Brett Gardner, who is attempting to return from a season almost completely wiped out by elbow surgery. Mark Teixeira, who turns 33 in April, has seen his production decline in each of his four seasons as a Yankee. Curtis Granderson hit .232 with 195 strikeouts last year. Outside of Robinson Cano, there's not a lot the Yankees can bank on in their lineup. These may be first-division problems, but they're problems nonetheless. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130215/al-east-spring-training-preview/#ixzz2LCcBz4yT