Not used to being out of the playoff limelight for very long, the New York Yankees are riding their first two-year streak without a playoff appearance since Bill Clinton replaced George H.W. Bush in office (1992-93).
Coming off a 2nd place finish in the AL East in 2014 (84-78), the Yankees are banking on a wave of good health for a starting rotation that was held together with paperclips and chewing gum due to injuries last season. Can they make it happen in the first year without Derek Jeter in their midst? Here are three bold predictions for the Yankees:
1) Alex Rodriguez will be a productive member of the Yankees
A-Rod won't be productive in terms of blasting a lot of home runs and racking up an obscene number of RBI's, but expectations are so low he's bound to meet them. Rodriguez is in a position where he's excited about having any role with the team, even if that's being a designated hitter. His teammates might not like him, but Rodriguez can still hit 15-20 homers and knock in 50-60 runs without doing anything to cause any more of a distraction.
2) Injuries won't be a big factor
The Yankees have dealt with so many injuries over the last few years, particularly with their pitching rotation, that their luck is bound to go the opposite direction soon. New York’s projected top three of CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and Michael Pineda (in some order) combined for just 41 starts and 350 innings pitched in 2014. They will undoubtedly improve upon that in 2015, and that will drastically improve the Yankees if they can stay healthy.
3) The Yankees will fall to the AL East cellar
New York is in a transitional phase, but they’re still just a dash of good luck and a bounce-back performance or two away from increasing their win total into the 88-90 range. However, they're also an injury or two away from slogging away at the bottom of the AL East. For a team that is heavily reliant on a core of oft-injured veterans, we're leaning towards the latter.
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