Next years Yankee bullpen and lineup. Lack of offense? I don’t think so.

[KevinNYYLundqvistfan]

Next years Yankee bullpen and lineup. Lack of offense? I don’t think so. « Zell’s Pinstripe Blog

Yankee fans have gotten to the point where they don’t realize how good the lineup is. The lineup is filled with all-stars & MVP caliber players but it’s “not enough.” Giambi & Abreu are on there way out..but that doesn’t mean the lineup is terrible. If you go back to the days of the 1996 Yankees..they didn’t have one player with over 30HR’s. Its not all about hitting HR’s. The Yankees don’t need to sign a superstar player at every position to contend for a World Series. They had guys like Girardi, Duncan, G Williams, Leyritz on the team, who weren’t All-Star/HOF players, but they got the job done and played hard. The 2008 Yankees had all-stars at almost every position. Jeter, Damon, Cano, Giambi, Rodriguez, Abreu, Posada, and Matsui can all be considered All-Stars. Do they need Teixeira? No, they don’t. Would he be helpful? Yes. Is it worth dropping $200 million on Tex? ehhh..I don’t think so.

Could Swisher/Nady..be the next O’Neill/Brosius? Now don’t bash me for saying that. Nobody knows what the future holds. They were both beloved in pinstripes so I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but give them time..see what happens.

The Yankees just acquired Nick Swisher and everyone is going nuts. “He *****!” etc. Nice Swisher isn’t a great player, but he has some pop in his bat, and if he can get his batting average back up..he could be even more useful. The Yankees had role players like Chad Curtis and Scott Brosius, who got a hit when they needed one and brought it up a notch when it really mattered. They didn’t have the best career numbers either. I’m just trying to say..don’t be mad if they don’t bring a guy like Tex in. The Yankees lineup is cluttered enough already. The big reason why the offensive production was down last year was because of injury. I expect big things out of the lineup in 2009.

Now onto the bullpen….

The Yankees recently acquired Damaso Marte on a 3 year/$12 million contract. In my opinion it was a good move. Having two left-handers…like Coke & Marte is a big plus. The Yankees have struggled to find lefty pitchers over the years and I think they finally found a duo that might work. I expect huge things from the pen next year. They got rid of the bums: Farnsworth/Hawkins/Ohlendorf/Traber. Those were very important steps in making this team better. Cashman held onto them until the bitter end..and they lost a lot of games because of it. Now they have a rush of youngsters like Aceves, Giese, Robertson, Sanchez, and Albaladejo, who can be very helpful in the rebuilding of this bullpen. Rivera at the back end of the bullpen..makes it the best in baseball.