Whew \u2013 things have certainly changed in the Bronx ahead of the 2014 season! Gone are Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano from what was a typically potent lineup and in are some new pieces including Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran. <\/p>\n
AL East: +200
\nAmerican League: 5\/1
\nWorld Series: 10\/1<\/p>\n
Key Additions<\/strong>: Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Kelly Johnson<\/p>\n 1 Jacoby Ellsbury OF Jacoby Ellsbury is a Stud \u2013 he gives them instant credibility atop the lineup but the other moves the Yanks made in the offseason look more like desperation moves rather than sound baseball transactions. McCann, Johnson and Beltran are all decent Major Leaguers but join a lineup that is plagued with injury question marks. Will Derek Jeter\u2019s leg issues resurface in his last year in the Bigs? Will Mark Texiera\u2019s wrist hold up during the grind of a full MLB season?<\/p>\n Expectation will be sky-high in the Bronx again in 2014 but with question marks abound, it is difficult to see them keeping up with the Boston Red Sox offensively. While the projected lineup looks decent on paper, all it takes is for one of their stars to go down with injury and the season could be a complete write-off. Yanks fans have to hope for an injury-free year and pray that their aging superstars have enough in the tank. I can\u2019t see either happening \u2013 age has certainly caught up to a team that should be middle-of-the-pack offensively.<\/p>\n 1 CC Sabathia SP Now for the pitching. The Yanks landed arguably the biggest free agent fish on the market this offseason in the form of Masahiro Tanaka who was given a $155 million contract despite never pitching in North America. He could be another Yu Darvish or he could be a bust \u2013 nobody quite knows at this point.<\/p>\n More questions come in the form of CC Sabathia who had an awful 2013 and Ivan Nova whose injury concerns are legit. The only real constant is Hiroki Kuroda who was New York\u2019s best pitcher last year. If Tanaka is just average, if Nova doesn\u2019t find his pre-injury form and if Sabathia can\u2019t find some velocity between now and the beginning of the season, New York could have a dismal rotation. On paper, they look average – if the starters don\u2019t exceed expectation it could be a long year in the Bronx.<\/p>\n David Robertson RP The retirement of Mariano Rivera looms large in New York \u2013 it has been a long time since the Yanks entered a season without the top closer in history. David Robertson is a terrific set-up man but a move to the closer role could be a tad problematic especially because of the enormous shoes he is about to fill.<\/p>\n Simply put the bullpen is enormously different without Mo \u2013 everyone will have to step up. So many questions; so many slightly above average arms!<\/p>\n There are issues all over the field heading into the season for the New York Yankees. The infield has injury concerns, the starting rotation looks underwhelming and the bullpen is as scary as the Bronx Bombers has seen in decades.<\/p>\n There are too many ifs on this team and too little talent and depth to think this team will be in the top tier of MLB clubs. The Yanks are in trouble \u2013 poised to finish third in the AL East just out of a Wild Card spot. 83-85 wins seems about right \u2013 far off what the fan base demands!<\/p>\n 2014 MLB Team Previews \u2013 New York Yankees Whew \u2013 things have certainly changed in the Bronx ahead of the 2014 season! Gone are Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano from what was a typically potent lineup and in are some new pieces including Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[61196,61195,10737,10736,678,61197,2687,11279,11280,11281,44286],"class_list":["post-72707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2014-al-east-futures","tag-2014-mlb-team-preview","tag-al-east-predictions","tag-al-east-preview","tag-mlb-betting","tag-n-y-yankees-picks","tag-world-series-futures","tag-yankees-futures","tag-yankees-odds","tag-yankees-predictions","tag-yankees-world-series-odds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72707"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72935,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72707\/revisions\/72935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Projected Starting Line-Up<\/h3>\n
\n2 Derek Jeter SS
\n3 Carlos Beltran OF
\n4 Mark Teixeira (Injury) 1B
\n5 Brian McCann Catcher
\n6 Alfonso Soriano DH
\n7 Brett Gardner OF
\n8 Kelly Johnson 3B
\n9 Brian Roberts 2B
\n [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
\nThe Yanks will be looking to bounce back from an injury plagued 2013 campaign and their second missed postseason in 19 years with a retooled lineup which added $500 million in payroll.<\/p>\nProjected Starting Rotation<\/h3>\n
\n2 Masahiro Tanaka SP
\n3 Hiroki Kuroda SP
\n4 Ivan Nova SP
\n5 David Phelps SP
\n6 Michael Pineda SP
\n7 Adam Warren SP<\/p>\nCloser<\/h3>\n
\nShawn Kelley RP
\nMatt Thornton RP<\/p>\n2014 Prediction:<\/h3>\n
View The MLB Cappers Leaderboard For 2013 – Picks Packages for 2014 are On Sale Today! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"