DISMAL UPCOMING 2014 SEASON

Last offseason, I expressed my concern over the 2013 New York Yankees.  This offseason, I’m even more concerned!  As I've mentioned in previous articles, they are trying to stay under the $189 million annual luxury tax threshold.  This time, though, they have so many question marks.  Will A-Rod play any games for them in 2014 or any other year for that matter?  Will Robinson Cano wear another uniform and leave the Yankees as a free agent?  Will they be able to sign a new contract with Granderson and/or Kuroda, who both rejected their $14.1 one-year standard offer?  Will they replace diminishing Ichiro and Stewart?  Additionally, how many innings will Jeter be able to play, especially at shortstop?  Was CC Sabathia’s poor season a fluke or has he lost his velocity and control for good?  Then, of course, there are the retirements of Pettitte and Mariano - who are their replacements going to be?  Especially, Mariano - how do they replace the greatest closer of all time?

While I dislike writing negative articles about my favorite team, especially an article that illustrates such a bleak preview of a whole season (just like I had forced myself to write for last season’s dismal analysis), it is still an obligation for me to write candidly.  I currently feel that next year’s Yankees will be even worse than last year’s team.  With all the aforementioned questions above, how can they possibly compete against many of the best teams in baseball within their own division, especially while trying to cut costs?

From a financial standpoint, they do have one major optimistic hope for financial alleviation if A-Rod is suspended for the majority of the season as originally determined by MLB for his alleged biogenesis usage/involvement.  If that suspension is upheld, it would result in the Yankees having approximately $35 million extra to spend on acquisitions.   It is currently anticipated that decision will not be made by the arbitrator for that case until late December; but that story keeps changing every other day.

Hence, with current conditions, the Yankees could feasibly need a shortstop, a second baseman, a third baseman, a left fielder, a right fielder, a catcher, a closer, and two starting pitchers.  Plus, they have to accomplish all of that during their only financially restricted year during a Steinbrenner era.  So fans, try to keep the faith that I have - they’ll be back to their normal spending ways once this year’s fiscal responsibilities help alleviate their luxury tax penalties for years to come.  Let’s all look forward to their 2015 season!!!