The season is about to start soon and it’s that time of year again as we are going into a deep dive into what can we expect from the 2024 New York Yankees from stats, players on the lookout, standings projections and does this team have enough to finally win a World Series. Plus, I’ll introduce a format called Yankees pinstripes which I’ll explain at the end.
2024 Season Preview
Entering 2024
So, the Yankees will begin the season in Houston for a 4-game-set as our opening day starter is Nestor Cortes. Should’ve been Gerrit Cole but he’s injured https://theyankszoo.com/the-yankees-miracle/, let’s take a look at what the rotation and bullpen are going to look like.
As of right now, this is how I’ll have as my rotation until Cole comes back.
- Marcus Stroman
- Carlos Rodon
- Nestor Cortes
- Clark Schmidt
- Luis Gil
I like what I see from Luis Gil, he looks filthy. Yes, you could give it to Will Warren or Clayton Beeter, or Luke Weaver. Better, I don’t think he’s ready yet and Luke can be used as a multiple-inning relief pitcher if necessary.
Bullpen
Clay Holmes
Johnathan Loaisiga
Nick Burdi
Ian Hamilton
Luke Weaver
Victor Gonzalez
Caleb Ferguson
Cody Poteet
Tommy Kahnle is going to start the season on the injured list and Ron Marinaccio has looked awful so far. Nick Burdi might be that under-the-radar sneaky pick to have a good season.
Lineups
- Alex Verdugo
- Juan Soto
- Aaron Judge
- Anthony Rizzo
- Gleyber Torres
- Giancarlo Stanton
- DJ LeMahieu
- Austin Wells
- Anthony Volpe
Bench
Jose Trevino
Trent Grisham
Oswaldo Cabrera
Either – Jahmai Jones/ SpongeBob, Derek Jeter 0.2/ Actor Kevin Smith
Ideally, this is how should the Yankees have hitters-wise. What’s great about this lineup unlike the previous years is there are so many options lineups balance-wise. You can go from that to maybe lefty-righty and vice versa.
I wanted Jorbit Vivas on this team. His swing is built for Yankee Stadium and he’s only 23. Hot take but I’d start him over DJ. However, they sent him to Triple-A so we won’t see him on opening day. The last player might just be a placeholder at this time as it’s rumored that the Yankees are looking for someone to be a backup player. Or maybe it is one of those guys mentioned.
As you can see I have Austin Wells over Jose Trevino. Now granted you can swap that however you like but what I’m seeing from Wells this season has impressed me. Plus his defense has improved. There’s another catcher named Ben Rortvedt who has great defensive skills. He doesn’t have any options left to be sent down so if you do that he’ll be placed on waivers so you know a team will pick him up. However, his hitting sucks, we already have a platinum glove catcher in Trevy, Wells is still a rookie, and we still got some depth in our catching system like Ben Rice, Carlos Navrvez, Agustin Ramirez, etc. With that being said you’ll have to bite the bullet.
Players to Lookout for-
Anthony Volpe
I genuinely do believe Anthony Volpe is going to have a much better season. He has looked really great this spring, using a much better 2 strike approach and trying to put the ball in play. I compare him to Bobby Witt Jr. In his rookie season, he was better than Volpe’s rookie season however, in Witt’s sophomore year, he went from having an OPS+ of 102, which was 2% better than the league average to then 120 OPS+, which is 20% better than the league average. I’m confident that Volpe can hit maybe a .240 BA and hit above-league-average OPS+
Prediction stat line- .242 BA 22 HR 27 SB .728 OPS 104 wRC+
Marcus Stroman
Another guy I’m looking at who will have a potential impact is Marcus Stroman. I genuinely think he will have an All-Star season. Remember, last year in the first half with the Cubs he was electric and some say he could’ve started the All-Star Game until he got injured. If he can stay healthy look for him to be a key piece to this question mark rotation.
Prediction stat line- 3.47 ERA 1.22 WHIP 155 SO
Gleyber Torres
In the last year of his contract, I suspect Gleyber to go all out this season. He’s gonna have extra motivation to hit well this season for a massive payday. Now whether that’s with the Yankees remains to be seen but all in all, I predict Gleyber is gonna have a monster season.
Prediction Stat line – .272 BA 28 HR .810 OPS 125 wRC+
Players I’m keeping my eye on-
Carlos Rodon
Since Gerrit Cole will be out for a while, we are going to need huge step-ups from the rotation and the one guy that needs to do that is Carlos Rodon. His last 2 starts against the Phillies and Red Sox looked like the best Yankee version so far. He needs to keep it up and pitch like an ace this season because if he doesn’t. Boy, I will be on him all season.
Satisfied Prediction stat line – 3.61 ERA 1.04 WHIP 202 SO
Giancarlo Stanton
His game against the Pirates, dare I say it. He’s back! I have truly gained confidence that Stanton will bounce back after a disgusting season last year. Stanton is one of those guys where you want to root for him to do well. If he plays like he did against the Pirates, boy we got ourselves a resurgence MVP-type form so all we do is hope. Unlike Rodon, Stanton is easier to replace if he does suck. DFA him, Soto DH, Judge RF, Dominguez when he returns CF, and Verdugo LF but I rather not think that and hope Stanton can come back to full form again.
Satisfied Prediction stat line – over 120 games .248 BA 30 HR .828 OPS 116 wRC+
Will the Yankees make the Playoffs?
Yes, I think they do. If everyone stays healthy and no underperforming players, I predict we will go 95-67 finishing 2nd in the AL East behind the Orioles. (I will do a full MLB standings prediction soon). I will go more in-depth soon whether or not we make it through the World Series.
Yankees Pinstripes
I will be grading players throughout the season called Yankee Pinstripes. Ideas came from the Yankees Avenue, Barstool, and Talkin Yanks. I’ll put my spin on it.
Every player on the team will start at zero. Every month each player can get up to a maximum of 5 per month. You also cannot lose them either. The maximum number of pinstripes is 27 (27 rings make sense). The more pinstripes you have towards the end of the season. The better overall player you are. Here are my rankings of # of pinstripes in means for each category:
- 0-4; You are trash and shouldn’t be in the league anymore
- 5-9; You had your moments, but you were mid
- 10-14; You were a good player borderline All-Star
- 15-19; You are an All-Star and considered a top player on the team
- 20-25; You are a Superstar
- 26-27; MVP and you are a Certified Yankee
Exceptions-
Injuries (depending on the length of the injury I’ll give some slack)
Trades ( Whether you were traded or traded away I will inflate to whatever # pinstripes you had)
Rookies ( Rookies will get a little of a pass but not much)
I wanted to make this season fun so I’ve decided every last series of each month to do the Yankees Pinstripe Report.
First Round;
Opening- May 2nd.
Second round;
May 3rd – June 2nd
Third round;
June 3rd – June 30th
Fourth round;
July 1st – July 31st
Fifth round;
August 1st – September 1st
Final Round;
September 2nd – September 29th
Hopefully, the Yankees can win the World Series this year as it kinda feels like the last dance in some type of way. Want to hear my predictions for the MLB season and who’s going to win it all? Stay tuned as I’ll give out my full MLB Standing and Playoff Predictions right before Opening Day!
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