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How much has the Yankees' defense improved?

If runs scored or prevented are worth a win, how many extra wins could the Yankees' new defense bring home?

By jscape2000
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Last year's Yankee team was somewhat inept defensively. Between highlight reel failures like the inside-the-park-homer allowed by Carlos Beltran in right field to the revenge of pastadiving Jeter, the 2014 Yankees were a squad that, on total, I am eager to forget.

So I keep looking forward to the 2015 Yankees. Their offense is going to struggle. Their pitching is hanging on a few weak ligaments and a prayer.

But the defense should be good. It's possible the defense could be very good. So, I pulled up Steamer's projections for our defense and compared them to last year's results. There are a lot of holes in this: while Steamer makes a best guess at plate appearances for each player, it doesn't try to work out playing time for the team. So to try to help you visualize that difference, I added a column second to the right to calculate the difference in plate appearances.

Name G 2014 PA Def WAR Name 2015 PA Def WAR PA Difference Def Difference
C
Brian McCann 140 538 11.5 2.3 Brian McCann 518 8.8 3.2 -20 -2.7
Francisco Cervelli 49 162 2.7 1.3 Gary Sanchez 1 0 0
John Ryan Murphy 32 85 -0.3 0.2 John Ryan Murphy 123 2.5 0.4 38 2.8
Austin Romine 7 13 0.1 -0.1 Austin Romine 60 1.2 0.1 47 1.1
IF
Chase Headley 58 224 12.4 2.8 Chase Headley 595 9.3 4 371 -3.1
Martin Prado 37 137 2.5 1.4
Yangervis Solarte 75 289 1.6 1.1
Mark Teixeira 123 508 -3.6 0.8 Mark Teixeira 541 -5.1 1.4 33 -1.5
Kelly Johnson 77 227 0.8 0.7 Alex Rodriguez 410 -9.5 0 183 -10.3
Jose Pirela 7 25 0.5 0.3 Jose Pirela 66 0.4 0.2 41 -0.1
Brian Roberts 91 348 -4 0.2
Dean Anna 12 25 0.3 -0.1 Ramon Flores 1 0 0 -24 -0.3
Derek Jeter 145 634 -4 -0.3 Didi Gregorius 427 5.6 1.3 -207 9.6
OF
Jacoby Ellsbury 149 635 2.1 3.6 Jacoby Ellsbury 631 4.8 3.7 -4 2.7
Brett Gardner 148 636 -2.9 3.2 Brett Gardner 660 2.8 3.1 24 5.7
Chris Young 23 79 1.7 1 Chris Young 462 -2.3 1.3 383 -4
Ichiro Suzuki 143 385 -5.5 0.4 Garrett Jones 342 -9.1 0.5 -43 -3.6
Antoan Richardson 13 17 0.8 0.3
Scott Sizemore 6 16 0.6 0.1 Tyler Austin 1 0 0 -15 -0.6
Eury Perez 4 10 -1.2 -0.2
Zelous Wheeler 29 62 -0.5 -0.3
Zoilo Almonte 13 36 -0.7 -0.4
Carlos Beltran 109 449 -13.4 -0.5 Carlos Beltran 460 -11.8 0.8 11 1.6
Brendan Ryan 49 124 2.9 -0.7 Brendan Ryan 301 6.7 0.1 177 3.8
Alfonso Soriano 67 238 -9.8 -1.1 Mason Williams 33 0.1 0 -205 9.9
Stephen Drew 46 155 -3.8 -1.3 Stephen Drew 494 4.3 1.1 339 8.1
6057 -9.2 6126 8.7 19.1

A few quick observations:

  • Working on the rule of thumb that ten runs are worth a win, this team is two defensive wins better than last year's team.
  • Steamer really thinks that Stephen Drew is going to show his value as a second baseman, much more so than Pirela. How much better offensively would Rob Refsnyder have to be than Drew to come out ahead? Considering that Refsnyder is widely considered a defensive work in progress, I'm not sure Refsnyder will hit enough to make the equation balance.
  • Could Didi Gregorius' defense really be a full win better than Derek Jeter's? Considering that I think Gregorius is going to get more than 427 PA, I'm ready to pencil that in as a win and a half better.
  • Brett Gardner has underscored on defensive metrics nearly every year since his injury spoiled 2012. I'm not ready to buy that he's going to be as much above average as he was below average last season.
  • Man, was Alfonso Soriano bad last season. Unfortunately, with Garrett Jones and Chris Young likely to take the bulk of playing time he received plus more, I don't expect as much improvement as the Yanks might otherwise look forward to.
  • If 40 year old Alex Rodriguez sees any time on the field, I'm gonna make angry sounds.

What else do you see? What about this's defense team excites you?

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