Afternoon Baseball

As the new year has already begun, it's time to give a long-range view of the coming season.

For the first time since 2003, I feel optimistic about the upcoming New York Yankees season. Before the 2004 campaign, the trade for Kevin Brown, the loss of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, and the beginning of the end for Bernie Williams mitigated the excitement that was genuinely felt over the acquisition of Alex Rodriguez and (especially, to me) Gary Sheffield. Pitching was not there, even if the hitting remained stellar.
Before this past season, I had some doubts as to whether they could even make the playoffs. They came close to not doing so, in fact. The pitching staff was in shambles, you just knew Randy Johnson was going to slip, even if he was still good, and Giambi was a huge question mark.

This year, the Red Sox are worse, the Blue Jays cannot be taken seriously until the All-Star break reassessment, and Kevin Brown is no longer with the team. So one has to be optimistic that the Yanks can give themselves a chance to relax in September and get a postseason team they truly want out there.
There are still problem areas, notably in the bullpen. There, the question isn't so much the arms as it is Joe Torre. Will he allow himself to trust any of the relievers, or will it be Mariano Rivera and TBA-guy overworked and overwhelmed? I was watching YES on New Year's, and they had the 20-11 Yankee win over the D-Rays. Tom Gordon pitched the 9th inning. Inexcusable. Torre can continue to add to his legacy of burning out bullpens (carried out long before his Yankee days), or he can go back to the modicum of restraint he practiced in the late-1990s.
The offense will be fine. Hopefully, Andy Phillips will get at-bats and maybe the Yanks will consider keeping Jeter at leadoff, where he has been for two-plus years now the best in the game. But otherwise, it's not as concern-provoking as the pitching, which will always make or break a championship contender.

It's too early to say how much postseason success they might have (assuming, for the moment, that they are locks to get there). There's a lot of good talent throughout the league, and many are still on the way up in terms of wins and talent. So it's a tough road. But the Yankees are at least on it with all four wheels this year.