NEW YORK YANKEES

The Yankees finished the 2011 season in first place 97-65, a failure because they didn’t finish with THE ring.

Their lineup was incredible, 2^nd in runs scored, 7^th in batting average and 2^nd in on base percentage, and 3^rd in slugging percentage.

Pitching is why they didn’t win the ring, 11^th in ERA, but 18^th in quality starts and opponents batted .256 against them.

They made two or three trades; one was riding themselves of J. J. Burnett, and acquiring Pineda.

The free agent marketplace was quiet for the Yankees: Bartolo Colon signed on with Oakland, resigned Freddie Garcia for one year $4 million, along with Andruw Jones for 1 year, $2 million, Damaso Marte as of this writing is still unsigned, Sergio Mitre has been cast adrift, Jorge Posada retired, the second of the core of players that made up the championship years. They signed Kuroda away from the Dodgers to a 1 year $10 million contract.

Robinson Cano .302 BA, 188 hits Curtis Granderson 41 HR’s, 119 RBI’s and Nick Swisher .374 OBP all had great seasons, that carried the Yankees. Picking up Granderson from Detroit was pure genius, and he might just repeat his 2011 performance, however there are two names that are absent from the above who should have been there. One is A Rod, and one is Jeter. The question begging to be asked is: are they past their prime. Jeter has lost a lot in his defense, and Rodriguez has missed over 62 games last year. If these two guys can’t produce on the field anymore, two holes are becoming very glaring on the left side!

Jeter was adequate with his .297 BA with not much power showing, and Mark Teixeira with 39 HR’s needs to make more fair contact with the ball and get on base more with his .248 BA.

The Yankees hit 222 Homers last season and will probably do the same again this season. The pitching becomes an interesting the way they make up themselves this season. Last season they were just shy of pitching by a little bit. This season they rid themselves of the problem, J. J. Burnett, and added a solution in Pinada.

Last season C. C. Sabathia led in all categories and old reliable Mariano Rivera was solid once again with 44 saves! David Robertson did an incredible job of holding the fort down until Rivera showed up. I think one more year from Rivera is reasonable, and he will come through, giving the Yankees the division, the American League Championship, and THE ring.