The best player is one of six key names who can be free agents at the end of the season. The third baseman is fifth on the all-time home run list with 647 and nobody knows if he will ever hit another. The first baseman has been ill or hurt the previous two years when he has hit an unacceptable combined .249 . And the manager is in the final leg of a three-year deal.
And yet, be careful to predict the Yankees are DOA going into spring training. There is enough talent to contend for a playoff spot, and don’t discount in-season additions as long as they don’t come with money beyond this season.
Still, the age issue can’t be ignored. Their Opening Day lineup will be the oldest in baseball. Nor can the gaping hole at catcher.
MOST IMPORTANT STORY IN CAMP
Even though he isn’t expected back from hip surgery until July at the earliest, Alex Rodriguez being linked to a South Florida anti-aging factory and PEDs is the winner here.
The feds and MLB are investigating Anthony Bosch and his relationship with players, and the biggest name in the mess is Rodriguez, who hasn’t publicly addressed the situation.
The Yankees are mum on whether Rodriguez will be in Tampa to rehab the hip but even if he isn’t physically in camp his shadow will dominate.
BEST POSITION BATTLE
At the end of last spring training, manager Joe Girardi sent catcher Francisco Cervelli to Triple-A so Chris Stewart could back up Russell Martin. Cervelli stayed at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre all year, and when he was called up in September, he appeared in three games.
Since then Hal Steinbrenner decided Martin could be sacrificed, and he signed a two-year deal for $17million with the Pirates.
That leaves Cervelli, a career .272 big league hitter in 184 games and 27 early next month, the front-runner to replace Martin. Stewart will back up, and Austin Romine likely will open the season at SWB.
Cervelli’s arm strength is good, but his pitch calling can improve — and a little less emotion after a strikeout in the first inning would be a sign of maturity. A history of concussions can’t be ignored.
MOST INTRIGUING ROOKIE OR MINOR LEAGUER
Right-handed reliever Mark Montgomery doesn’t have much of a chance to jump from Double-A to the big leagues, but he is armed with a slider that produces terrific strikeout numbers. Yankees brass compares him to David Robertson at a similar stage.
STORY TO WATCH DEVELOP
There are several. Health by the senior citizens, Girardi on the final year of a contract, where is the Mark Teixeira the Yankees signed, and how will the pitchers work with the catcher?
But the biggest story that promises to go from starting gate to finish line is how Robinson Cano performs under the pressure of playing for a big free-agent payday.
If he wants $200 million-plus, he needs a huge year. And what happens if he succumbs to the pressure and turns into Shane Victorino, who flopped in his walk year last season?
MANAGER’S TOUGHEST CHALLENGE
This one is easy. The manager has to find a way to get infuielder Eduardo Nunez’s live bat and body into the lineup on a regular basis. Down 0-2 in the ALCS against the Tigers last year, Girardi started Nunez at shortstop in Games 3 and 4. If he was good enough to do that, 500 at-bats is a must for him this year, even if he has to DH because the Yankees don’t trust his defense.
WHO NEEDS TO STEP UP
With Rodriguez on the shelf, Nick Swisher in Cleveland, Martin in Pittsburgh, Raul Ibanez in Seattle and Brett Gardner coming back from a season in which he played 16 games, Teixeira has to do better than the .251 he batted last year when he hit 24 homers and drove in 81 runs in 123 games.
MOST INTERESTING NEWCOMER
Kevin Youkilis not only replaces Rodriguez, he isn’t that far removed from being on the other side of the blood rivalry with the Red Sox.
Many Yankees fans wanted Rodriguez gone, and now he is, at least until July and maybe for the entire season.
What Youkilis provides will be watched closely, and if those who wanted Rodriguez gone start pining for him to return, it’s likely Youkilis got hurt or didn’t produce.
MOST NOTEABLE ABSENCE.
Because of who he is, even if he isn’t what he was, Rodriguez is hard to ignore here. However, Martin gets the edge here. His experience will be missed. If something happens to Rivera, Soriano will be missed, too.
BIGGEST COMEBACK
This is easy: Mariano Rivera. The Yankees not only need him healthy, they have to have him pitch to his Hall of Fame pedigree, even at 43.
It would be advantageous if Joba Chamberlain stayed healthy and developed into a sixth/seventh-inning reliable reliever.