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The New York Yankees entered the 2013 season with 200 of their 245 2012 home runs either on another team or on the disabled list. However, the Yankees haven’t missed a beat despite starting the season without Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter as they all recover from injuries. Right now, the Yankees are getting production from castoffs from around the league like Lyle Overbay, Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells, players many thought were done but who seem to have found a new life in the early going of 2013.
Granted, the Yankees have played only eight games this year, hardly a big enough sample size for anyone to make a sound determination. Still, the Yankees are tied with the Oakland Athletics and Colorado Rockies for the most home runs in Major League Baseball and are sixth with a .281 average and fourth in on-base percentage.
The Yankees started off the season 1-4 but have since won three straight to get back to .500 including a win over Justin Verlander. While nobody has the Yankees ticketed for the World Series just yet it certainly is encouraging to see the Yankees bats coming to life.
While the Yankees seem to be exceeding the low expectations that were placed on them there is still plenty that can go wrong. Right now the Yankees are getting a lot of offense from Lyle Overbay (.250, 1 home run, 5 RBI), Vernon Wells (.360, 2 homers, 4 RBI), Travis Hafner (.333, 2, 6) and Francisco Cervelli (.353, 1, 6). Nobody expects these bats to proceed at their current pace. However, they could certainly continue to exceed expectations, even if it isn’t at this current pace.
GM Brian Cashman deserves a lot of credit for his ability to pluck productive guys off of the scrapheap in recent years. From Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Raul Ibanez and Cory Wade in recent years to the current crop of Overbay, Wells, Hafner and even Kevin Youkilis, Cashman has been able to fill large voids for a fraction of the cost. What would the Yankees’ playoff fortunes been had Ibanez not done what he did against the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS? One can only speculate what this current crop of retreads might do but one thing is certain, it looks like the Yankees luck with finding production from guys other teams thought were done is still alive and well and that could make for a very interesting 2013 season.
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