Jun 8, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury (right) talks with left fielder Brett Gardner (left) before the game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
5. New York Yankees
Average rank: 3.67 (5)
Average offensive rank: 3.67 (T-4)
Average pitching rank: 3.67 (4)
By combining all of the position-by-position rankings throughout the “Red Sox vs the AL East” series, I’ve compiled my projections for the division. To put the total rankings together, I equally weigh the average offensive rank with the average pitching rank (in which starting pitching counts for two thirds and relief pitching for one third) to come up with the team’s average rank and, obviously, the lowest rank represents the best team in the division. So, with that being said, we can all rejoice in my incredibly complex algorithm picking the Yankees to finish last in the AL East by no small margin.
The Yankees tied with the Rays for the lowest offensive projection and just avoided the worst pitching projection, which would go to the Blue Jays. For the sake of recapping New York’s failure in these rankings, the Yankees’ starting pitching ranked third with their bullpen checking in last in the division. On the offensive side, not a single Yankee ranked as the top player at his position, though they did have four second-place finishes (Brian McCann, Stephen Drew, Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury), and in fact five Yankees finished as the worst player at their respective positions (Mark Teixeira, Chase Headley, Didi Gregorius, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez).
These rankings are simply my judgement and may wind up meaning absolutely nothing. However, if there’s any hint of truth in this series, the Yankees will be in for a trying year in 2015.