♫♪ HERE COME THE YANKEES ♪♫

Later this week, MLB begins its workouts for pitchers and catchers and the following week the rest of the squads will join them.  Once March begins, this year’s spring training games will also begin.  Before you know it, in approximately 1½ months (on April 4^th) the NYY are scheduled to open/play their first official 2016 MLB game against the Astros at Yankee Stadium.  From my own personal perspective, this year’s offseason passed by rather quickly; yet, I can’t wait for baseball’s return.

It’s hard to fathom that the Yankees were the only team in MLB that didn’t sign a free agent!  All of their new acquisitions came via trades.  That certainly doesn’t fit the mold of the late George Steinbrenner!  It’s clear that the NYY are waiting for this season’s expiration of both Mark Teixeira’s and Carlos Beltran’s contracts before they commit large sums of money into any free-agent.  Next season, they will also have the contracts of both A-Rod and CC Sabathia coming off the books.  There is no doubt to me that by the time all 4 contracts expire, the Yankees’ farm system and the youth they’ve acquired will be fully lined up with a comparable ammunition that they had back in 1996 when their last great generation began for years to come.

In the interim, I look forward to seeing some of our new acquisitions play - particularly, Aroldis Chapman, Starlin Castro, and Aaron Hicks.  Chapman offers a very intimidating 1-2-3 punch at the end of games (along with Betances and Miller); Castro offers a great up-the-middle duo with Didi Gregorius (one of last year’s youthful acquisitions); and Hicks offers a great deal of speed to join Gardner and Ellsbury in the outfield, while also offering an alternative to either of them without compromising defense.

Of course, health is always a concern for all teams; but, the Yankees have already experienced a big blow before this year’s first official pitch was thrown!  Greg Bird (Teixeira’s potential 2017 replacement) was diagnosed with a torn labrum to his right shoulder and had surgery that will typically require Bird to miss this season (with a small possibility of returning by August or September this year).  Bird wasn’t expected to be more than a backup player for Teixeira this year, with the possibility of playing mostly for their AAA (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) team.  In either instance, Bird’s injury will offer the Yankees less time to definitively conclude whether or not he will irrefutably become their starting first baseman for their 2017 team.

Besides the ramifications of Bird’s injury, I also (unfortunately) reserve my jubilance for this season because, as most feel, the Yankees' health concerns are well beyond first base.  Their health concerns mostly evolve around their starting pitchers.  They have 5 of their potential 6 starting pitchers with recent historic health issues (Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Nathan Eovaldi, and Michael Pineda).  Their farm system holds many players that are 1-2 years away, but just a few that could potentially step right into the majors during the first half of this season - especially a starter.  They really need to acquire either a decent major-league-ready starter or one that is a AAA player on the cusp of making the majors this season!  Brian Cashman has, thus far, failed to make such an acquisition.  He also failed to pick up a decent first-base backup to Teixeira.  He’s relying on too many middle infielders to have that ability - a past reliance that has customarily failed too many times.

The Yankees are not the only team in the American League East that have health or even composition issues…they all do!  I can only hope that the Yankees can acquire a decent starting pitcher and backup first baseman.  In the interim, they should still be competitive and, who knows who they might add to the team from now until August 1?  With that, and also my love for baseball, I’m certainly excited that baseball is about to begin.  Play ball!!