Spring Training is Here. How do you feel about the 2011 Yankees?

All our starters not named Sabathia, Hughes, or Burnett combined for just 2 WAR last year. I agree that with improvements from Burnett and Hughes, we are looking to make up 1 WAR from the 4 and 5 starters. I believe Nova can easily surpass that. He was the only starter other than Pettitte from that aforementioned group who had a positive WAR, giving us .4 wins in 7 starts. Projecting that out to 32 starts would give him 1.8 wins, and I actually think he will be better this year than last, so 2+ wins is a possibility. As long as the fifth starter stays in the positives, we could match our starter WAR pretty easily.

Well cashman said int he beginning of the offseason our priority was pitching…and in that aspect the team failed. i’m looking forward to the offense..and hoping for a mid season pitching deal

at the beginning of every season; Optimistic with the feeling we’re going to win the World Series, no matter what team we field.

Well, it’s the first time in many, many years (probably going all the way back to the early 90s and the end of what I tend to think of as the Dark Age… that unhappy stretch where we NEVER made the playoffs) where I don’t really see us as being the favorite to win the division—but I think we’ll be better than many people seem to think. Yes, we’ve got a lot of uncertainty in the back end of the rotation, but I think Boston’s rotation has its own back-end issues lurking. If we stay healthy, 95 wins again, at least the wild-card, and as good a chance as anybody else in the playoffs. Boston may be being painted as the Death Star of baseball this year, but hey, even the Death Star had that nasty, problematic exhaust port issue…

I am cautiously optimistic that the big three pitchers will be OK. Also that the 4 & 5 starters will keep Yanks in games enough to get to the trade deadline.

I am cautiously optimistic that Martin will hold up until July when Montero can become the starter.

I am cautiously optimistic that the outfield will play as well as last year. While there is room for improvement – esp in Granderson – I will be surprised to see it. Not sure why I feel that way.

The bullpen will be lights out. Innings 7,8 & 9 will be goose eggs. Robertson will take off and really establish himself.

What could derail Yanks? CC gets hurt. Posada becomes a distraction. The outfield slumps.

But…..it is early. Optimism reigns.

This is much the same team as last year. Injuries reduced the effectiveness of GGBG, Tex, Arod and Posada. Burnette and Jeter had down years from which we can hope for a rebound. We lost Pettitte and Javy V but improved the bullpen and hope to improve the catching. I do not think this team is worse than last year. I projected us at 96-66 in a previous post based on estimating runs scored vs runs allowed.

I am very interested to see our young pitchers in spring training and the young catchers.

Although Boston may be better, I can see an arguement that they are not that much better. They added two great hitters who are both very good defensively, but they lost two great hitters one of whom was very good defensively. They are depending on bounce back years from players who were hurt. They have a lot that could go wrong. Still the year is more fun if they’re in the hunt. I still bet even money our 162 game record beats theirs.

Tampa looks to me like they lost a lot. For them to be in the hunt their youngsters have to play very well. We’ll see.

I agree. No matter what anyone says, the Yankees are good. I still think the Red Sox are better, but the Yankees are right there. I have no concern about Tampa. In other divisions, I like Chicago and Oakland, but they won;t get far.

The Yanks have a damn good lineup, and excellent bullpen. I do understand the concerns about the rotation, however, I think the addition of Larry Rothschild will be a significant positive impact on Phil Hughes and AJ Burnett.

Yanks will win division.

It’s all going to boil down to whether our top three starters can outduel Boston’s top three in the American League championship. One of these teams is going to be the wild card and if it’s the Yanks, they’ll probably play the Twins since they do every year anyway. And if a fourth starter is needed, a patchwork committee is in place to move on against the Phillies.

I don’t disagree with everything you’ve said. We all know Jeter and Arod are below average on defense. Jeter had his worst season of his career, but let’s give him some time before we say he is done. He’s only one year removed from one of the best seasons of his career. Arod continues to knock in 30/100, and I’ll pencil him in for that until he does otherwise. Plus, he is in better shape this year, so I think he’ll be better offensively and defensively than he was last year. Hughes is a solid #3 starter, and maybe he’ll be better in his second year starting. AJ Can’t be much worse, and I don’t think he will be. And btw, the low risk guy Cashman got was Garcia. We’ll be fine.