They will be in the playoffs ... I think they've improved their starting pitching and Houston lost Verlander so that could get the Yankees over that Hou hump.

But only one team is going to win the World Series and it's not always the best team ... all you can do is get there and hope for the best.

There is no team in the MLB that is ever guaranteed to win the WS.

No matter how good they look on paper the odds are against even the best team.   

Hou and the Yankees are currently vegas favorites to win the World Series but they are between 6/1 - 7/1 to win  (that's about a 14-15% chance) 

I'll step up as the optomist. I really like the pitching and defense. I like having Bader as the everyday CFer and I believe Peraza will be an upgrade over IKF. I've got my fingers crossed that DJL and Stanton both have bounce back years and while they may not have numbers that match their prime years they will be better than last year. LF and 3B are question marks. I don't like the fact that Boone/Cash will feel pressure to play Donaldson/Hicks because of their salary but I also think it will be an issue resolved by the TDL. If King comes back healthy, right now he's trending that way, I like the backend of the BP despite not having a proven closer. Some are saying we have a couple arms at AAA that could round out the pen. 

If we are contending as the TDL approaches, I expect Cash will be aggressive to plug whatever holes we might have. 

It’s a new year. Just as it would be unrealistic to expect Judge to have a year like ’22, it’d be a mistake to assume the same weaknesses.

Bader is an upgrade in CF, as Cabrera will be if he gets the LF spot. Peraza will be a defensive upgrade, but I think it’d be a mistake to expect much more out of him offensively.

I’m looking for DJ to have a bounce back year and it’s entirely possible Donaldson will improve over his ’22 performance. He’s obviously on the downside of his career, but last year was quite a drop off from even his ’21 production.

Also…with the ban of the shift I expect we’ll see much improvement offensively from LH hitters, including the much-hated Hicks when/if he’s in the lineup.

Jan 31, 2023 -- 4:34PM, bruner4329 wrote:

Jan 31, 2023 -- 2:48PM, SSBob wrote:

It’s a new year. Just as it would be unrealistic to expect Judge to have a year like ’22, it’d be a mistake to assume the same weaknesses.

Bader is an upgrade in CF, as Cabrera will be if he gets the LF spot. Peraza will be a defensive upgrade, but I think it’d be a mistake to expect much more out of him offensively.

I’m looking for DJ to have a bounce back year and it’s entirely possible Donaldson will improve over his ’22 performance. He’s obviously on the downside of his career, but last year was quite a drop off from even his ’21 production.

Also…with the ban of the shift I expect we’ll see much improvement offensively from LH hitters, including the much-hated Hicks when/if he’s in the lineup.

Not sure I get the first sentence. While I do not expect Judge to have the same type year, I still think he will do something like 45 Hrs and 100 RBIs. In terms of assuming the same weaknesses in certain cases it is reality. Donaldson as you said in on the decline so maybe he is able to do similar of slightly better but is that good enough? Hicks has been in decline since 2018 so last year was not an anomoly it is a trend. I do think DJ will have a bounce back year but at the same time is it realistic that Trevino will produce like he did in the first half of 2022? Probably not he is more than likely something less than the first half but better than the 2nd half. Interesting that he ended up right around his career average of .248. I like Cabrerra and on any day and twice on Sundays prefer him over Hicks but although he had his moments during the season he was a disaster at the plate in the post season. So to some extent we still do not know what he is capable of or not. 

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What I mean is that you can’t just plug in last year’s production, good or bad, to forecast what ’23 will look like. It’s not a computer game, and players aren’t robots.

If it’s safe to assume Judge’s numbers will likely be somewhat below that of ’22, it’s also entirely possible Donaldson will have a much better year offensively than ’22, so much so the ’23 team will be “improved” over last year’s 99 win team, with essentially the same ingredients.

You’ve made your case re Hicks…repeatedly. I get it. As I said, I expect an uptick in his offense with the shift being banned.

As for Cabrera in LF…of course there are no guarantees, just as there weren’t with any of the other trade/FA options. But I like what I saw from him in the time he had.

Trevino? Are you suggesting Yanks should’ve replaced him?

Bottom line…IMO it’s premature to write this year’s team off at this point.