It’s easy to be excited about the 2013 Yankees. After 44 games the Yankees are tied for the second best record in Baseball, are on a 103 win pace, are 8-3 in one run games, virtually all of Cashman’s thought-to-be desperate offseason acquisitions have worked out, and for the first time since 1996, the New York Yankees are the scrappy underdogs (as much as a team with a $224M payroll can be an underdog). But with $94.5M in payroll either on the DL or spent time on the DL this season, first place in the AL East is an extreme over-achievement in the young 2013 season. (Fun fact: that $94.5M is more than 16 other teams are projected to spend total in 2013, and roughly 5 times what the Houston Astros will spend.)
But the most notable storyline this season has been that the Yankees simply do not quit. Couple that with the fact that Mariano and the bullpen have been nails, the Yankees are lethal late in ballgames. So what can we take-away from all these come from behind wins? Two viewpoints here:
The Yankees Are Playing Over Their Heads
Usually when a team has a lot of late-inning wins, they are considered to be an exception not the rule. Eventually the law of averages will bring the team back to around .500. I used this argument to say the Baltimore Orioles would finish last in the AL East this year — so far I am a bit off on that prediction. But how long can Lyle Overbay, who was cut days before the start of the season by Boston, hit .333 in the 7th inning or later? Right now Vernon Wells has 10 home runs and 24 RBIs (he had 11 and 29 in an injury-riddled 2012 for the Angels). That luck has to run out, right? CC Sabathia is due to break down this year and the Yankees are lucky that Hiroki Kuroda has a 0.955 WHIP in 58.2 innings pitched. (No, that is not a typo — Hiroki Kuroda is on a short list for American League Cy Young so far in 2013.)
The argument here is that the Yanks have so many players performing above expectations, so even when the lineup is fully healthy (not that it ever will be) some of these players are due to taper off.
The Yankees Will Be Even Better When Fully Healthy
The cynic in me sides with this first stance but I can’t ignore that the Yankees are winning with scrap-heap right now. It’s simple, look at the caliber of players the Yankees are putting on the field. Of the nine leading players in at-bats for the Yankees, three were not on the roster in 2012: Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay, and Travis Hafner. The other three are widely considered to be Four-A talent: Jayson Nix, Eduardo Nunez, and Chris Stewart. Logic shows that when Granderson is assimilated back into the lineup, Teixeira, Jeter, Youkilis, and yes—Cervelli—are back from injury, the Yankees will be even better (or at least as good) then they are now. Despite how well Overbay, Nix, Stewart and others have played, the Yankees have proven starters on the sideline waiting to contribute and these “other guys” should round out a very deep bench come October.
The Verdict
If you approached me on April 1st I would have signed up for .500 entering the All Star Break. With the talent (and money) wasting on the DL, the Yankees were poised for a dismal year — and after five games they looked well on their way to a Red Sox-esque 70-92 season. But since the Yanks were 1-4, they have won 69% of their games and have regained that 1996/2009 “never-die” attitude — an attitude that led them to World Series Championships in each of those seasons. Except there is something different with the 2013 version of the New York Yankees — there is this feeling that they are not yet playing to their potential, and that is a very scary proposition for the rest of the American League.
So, Yankees fans, where do you stand: Are the Yankees playing with fire or are they a gritty team on the rise?
