2008 New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are heading into the 2008 season coming off a somewhat successful season. The Yankees started the season very slow, but found a way to claw back and almost win the division. They made the playoffs as a wild card, but didn’t make it out of the first round. The Yankees will have no trouble putting runs on the board as they pretty much keep the offense lineup in tact. Pitching will be a huge question on whether or not this team can get back to dominating the AL East. Long time manager Joe Torre is no longer with the club after signing with the Dodgers. Joe Girardi will move down from the broadcast booth to become the new manager.

Pitching:

While they have the best offense in baseball, it still comes down to being able to pitch if you want to win in the postseason. Chien-Ming Wang who was spectacular last year going 19-7 leads the starting five for the Yankees. After Wang there comes a lot of questions, such as how will Andy Pettitte be able to perform with all the hearings going on about the Mitchell report and Roger Clemens? Will Mike Mussina bounce back from a down year? And how will the young arms of Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain be able to hand a full major league season? The Yanks don’t need great pitching to win but they will need at least two of the bottom four to step up if they want to return to glory. The bullpen is still led by veteran closer Mariano Rivera, but will have to hope that LaTroy Hawkins can step in and be a legit set up man along side Kyle Farnsworth.

Offense:

There is no question that top to bottom this is the best lineup in baseball. They are led my AL MVP Alex Rodriguez, who is coming off a season in which he had a .314 BA, 54 HR, and 156 RBI. After Rodriguez there is not let off as they also have great power and average hitters spread all throughout the lineup most noticeably are SS Derek Jeter, C Jorge Posada, 2B Robinson Cano, and LF Hideki Matsui. The team will be hoping for better years from Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon who spent most of 2007 not at 100%. The team led in almost every offense category possible and will probably do the same again this year. The Yankees will need the bats to come out hot so they can work out any problems they might have with their pitching

Defense:

While the team didn’t have any player win a Gold Glove, they were still pretty solid as a unit. They only committed 88 errors, which was good enough for third in the AL. They were also in the top five in double plays and outfield assists. One area that will need to be addressed is the number of stolen bases given up. They allowed a league worst 136, and only prevented 44 from making it. Also, if Giambi is going to play first base it could cause the errors to go up. He is not the defender he once was and doesn’t have that good of range.

Prediction:

We are going to go on a hunch here and predict the Yankees to return to leader of the AL East. We see them and Boston being very close from start to finish, but we just think the Yankees offense is too good. We expect big things from the young arms in the rotation. As for the playoffs, unless they get another big time starter via trade, we see them losing in the ALCS.

New York Yankees Odds to win 2008 World Series 5-1

For every team’s odds head over to Sportsbook.com and check them out. You can also go to Sportsbook.com to look at the odds for teams to win their division or league pennant. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment section.

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