Five Questions the Yankees Will Need to Answer in 2019
By Manny Gómez
After an active offseason, the New York Yankees are entering 2019 with high expectations. Here are five questions the Yanks will have to answer this season.
After what seemed like the quickest rebuild in the history in baseball, the New York Yankees became a force in MLB once again in 2017. At the time, the team was setting its sights on 2019 as the year the team would finally be ready to compete for a title again.
Now, with two consecutive successful seasons in 2017 and 2018 under their belts, not only are the Yanks ready to compete this coming season, but it may also be World Series or bust.
This brings us to the first, and perhaps the most important question for the Yankees this coming season: can the team avoid missing the World Series for the first decade since the 1910’s?
Sure, I don’t have the power of foresight. I can’t look into a crystal ball and tell you what will happen in the future. I can, however, look at a teams area of weakness and determine whether they improved in those areas.
With that in mind, in one of the most active offseasons in recent memory, the Yanks worked hard to improve the weakest part of the team: the pitching staff. Namely, the starting rotation.
Last season, Yankee starters ranked 14th in ERA (4.05), worst among all 2018 playoff teams except the Oakland Athletics. They ranked 15th in WHIP (1.26), worst among all 2018 playoff teams.
In the postseason, the weakness was exposed, especially by the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. In four games against the Red Sox, Yankee starters allowed 15 of the 27 runs allowed. Their top two starters last season, Luis Severino and J.A. Happ, allowed 11 of them.
To remedy this situation, the Yankees went out and acquired James Paxton who has steadily increased his innings over the last four season while averaging a respectable 3.57 ERA. They also retained J.A. Happ, who was easily the team’s best starter down the stretch. In 11 regular season starts with the team, Happ went 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA.
It’s not all roses and butterflies for the Yankee pitching staff, however, which brings us to the second question surrounding the “Bronx Bombers” this season.