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MercyLord

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Well, let me share some of my thoughts on the Yankees this season.

What I hope happens:

- Jeter comes back and hits well and doesn't struggle too much in field.

- Ellsbury produces as he is expected.

- Sabathia pitches effectively with less speed on his fastball.

- Teixeira comes back from his injury and actually hits better than .250

- Soriano K's only twice each game, homering every now and then.

- Tanaka is as good as advertised and dominates from the start.

- Nunez stays in Triple A or is traded for someone, or something. At this point, a pack of baseball cards is enough.

- The young bullpen holds its own, Robertson shuts the door like Mariano, Betances turns into a shutdown reliever in the 8th inning (which is where Phil Hughes possibly belonged), and Thornton doesn't suck too bad.

What will probably happen:

- Jeter will struggle, because let's face it he is 39 and playing shortsop, and will probably spend time on the DL at some point.

- Ellsbury will probably spend time on the DL at some point.

- Sabathia will be good at times and at others will struggle because he will be for better or worse, pitching with a different body and that kind of change takes time and is not always successful. He may spend time on the DL at some point.

- Teixeira will struggle coming back from injury and will hit into the shift way too many times, and will probably spend time on the DL at some point.

- Soriano will K way more often than we'd like, while hitting the occasional home run.

- Tanaka will be good. He wil also be facing better hitters and run into more trouble than ever before. Growing pains ahead.

- Nunez plays way way more than he should.

- The young bullpen will work at times, then it won't and the Yankees go on a spending spree for overpriced and over the hill relievers.

- Brian Roberts will probably spend time on the DL at some point.

So, that's it.

Now that the regular season is about to be over and the Yankees miss the playoffs for the second straight season, it's time for me to revisit my predictions for the year and add some thoughts:

- Jeter wasn't too bad the during the first half, but lost some steam during the second part of the season. He's 40 and playing shortstop so his fielding went more or less as expected and he didn't spend time in the DL, so that was a good thing (or not...). He also became the king of the RBI groundout, an achievement of which nobody should be proud of.

- Ellsbury played well and didn't spend time on the DL, which I'm sure nobody saw coming. Still, he's 30 and I don't know if he's worth all that money.

- Sabathia struggled with his new body and spent most of the season on the DL. Nailed it.

- Teixeira sucks. End of story. Not writing anymore about this guy.

- Soriano was great. Sometimes. Ten years ago.

- So was Carlos Beltran, during all the years he didn't play for the Yankees. Should have signed him 7 seasons ago.

- Tanaka was great when he was healthy and then he had that game in Boston a couple of days ago. Growing pains amidst some greatness. Nailed it.

- The bullpen had great performances by Betances and Robertson. Warren wasn't bad either. Then of course was the Aceves comeback. The Esmil Rogers signing. And let's keep trotting David Huff out there out of the bullpen, because that's clearly where he belongs. Homegrown pitchers more than held their own, proving that the Yankees should give them more chances. Greene and Phelps come to mind as future end of the rotation starters. Whitley wasn't bad for a bit, but then he seemed way out of his depth.

- Brian Roberts was a failed experiment, but he had to go much sooner than he did. Same thing with Kelly Johnson.

- Some of the deadline deals went right. McCarthy was great but I'm not sure he'll be able to keep playing as well as he did. Prado was a great pickup. Headley...I'm not so sure, but at this point anything over A-Rod is fine. Solarte we miss you, it was great having you. My eyes bleed whenever Drew comes to the plate. Chris Young was a nice find, he should be a solid bench OF.

- Suzuki was at times given too much time on the field. At this stage he should be a pinch-hitter/runner part-time starter. He excelled in that role but sucked whenever he had to play as a regular starter.

- Can you believe that Cervelli played in 48 games?!? And averaged .301 for the season. Give this man a multimillion dollar contract asap!

- McCann's average was low, but his production wasn't so bad. Maybe he should stop listening to Kevin Long.

- Gardner was the team's MVP for most of the season. That DL stint derailed his production a bit. I'm so glad to have him. Now that he's 30 and striking out as he never did, there is no way the Yankees are getting rid of him.

- To finalize, Phil Hughes had a good season with the Twins for which I have no reasonable explanation.

It was a strange and disappointing season for the Yankees, who at times beat the best teams in baseball only to be swept by the worst in the following week. Give Girardi credit for keeping this team over .500 during the last two seasons.

I'm glad it's almost over...

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Alright let me share my views on the Yankees 2014 season

- Let me start off with MARK TEIXEIRA. Yeah him. For some reason he's hated like A-Rod around here. Not to say that I like Mark Texeira and his big bloated contract, but I feel he is unfairly criticized. Yes he doesn't hit well enough and he is injury prone, but do you realise this is his first season back for a major injury? His wrist was not 100% and you know the wrist is most important for hitting the ball. If your wrist is not strong enough, it's very difficult for you to hit the ball hard as your wrist will kinda "rebound" from contacting the ball. Yes he did hit a few bombs outta the park, but I believe his hard contact is not consistent enough. Furthermore, he is faced with the shift, which he has to hit the ball hard into for him to get a hit. Hitting slow dribblers into the shift isnt gonna get you a hit even though they are well placed. This is my opinion on why his batting average is only at .217. And for those of you who think he doesn't want to win or have the determination to do so, you are probably wrong. This guy has another cortisone shot in his wrist just to play the final FIVE games. FIVE games? And that was when all of you think the Yankees have missed the playoffs. This shows how much he wants to win. I am not in some Teixeira groupie or something. Yes I hate him for ruining the Yankees offseason plans this year with his bloated contract and I sometimes get frustrated with this guy for not living up to expectations but I believe he is unfairly criticized.

-Carlos Beltran probably didn't hit that well this year due to his bone spur in his elbow. I have read many articles that he is declining. Well I don't believe guys forget how to hit overnight. Before getting the bone spur, he was hitting really well and even wone the AL player of the week. The bone spur probably prevented him from extending his arm too much when his swings. (Just my theory. You can disagree with me.) What I want to say is give this guy a chance the next season with his body in 100% health. After that we can talk about if he is really declining.

-The reason why I think Brian McCann didn't hit that well this year is because he only played in the National League in his entire life. Thus, he had to adapt to AL pitching and learn a whole new pitching staff. Yes there are interleague plays during his time with the Braves but facing AL teams for almost 3 quarters of the season is different from facing them for 1 quarter of a season. Yes Alfonso Soriano did hit well when he come over from the NL, but he had more experience in facing AL pitching than McCann with his time with the Yankees (1993-2003) and Texas Rangers(2004-2005) while McCann played with the Braves his entire career.

Thats my opinion on these three guys. Its just an opinion you can disagree with it. In summary what I am saying is give these guys another chance.

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Alright let me share my views on the Yankees 2014 season

- Let me start off with MARK TEIXEIRA. Yeah him. For some reason he's hated like A-Rod around here. Not to say that I like Mark Texeira and his big bloated contract, but I feel he is unfairly criticized. Yes he doesn't hit well enough and he is injury prone, but do you realise this is his first season back for a major injury? His wrist was not 100% and you know the wrist is most important for hitting the ball. If your wrist is not strong enough, it's very difficult for you to hit the ball hard as your wrist will kinda "rebound" from contacting the ball. Yes he did hit a few bombs outta the park, but I believe his hard contact is not consistent enough. Furthermore, he is faced with the shift, which he has to hit the ball hard into for him to get a hit. Hitting slow dribblers into the shift isnt gonna get you a hit even though they are well placed. This is my opinion on why his batting average is only at .217. And for those of you who think he doesn't want to win or have the determination to do so, you are probably wrong. This guy has another cortisone shot in his wrist just to play the final FIVE games. FIVE games? And that was when all of you think the Yankees have missed the playoffs. This shows how much he wants to win. I am not in some Teixeira groupie or something. Yes I hate him for ruining the Yankees offseason plans this year with his bloated contract and I sometimes get frustrated with this guy for not living up to expectations but I believe he is unfairly criticized.

You're right. He's hated. With good reason. **** HIM. He's a hypochondriac piece of sh** that was born without a backbone but instead has a boatload of excuses ready, willing and able to be used at all times.

Teixeira had a wonderful first year with the Yankees in 2009 and I thought that finally the Yankees had something. Since then he has not even hit as high as .260. And we have this SOB for another few years.

I agree, part of why he was so bad this year (he hit .216 and not .217) was because of that wrist but that doesn't explain why he was so bad in 2010, 11, 12 and 2013. Those four years are why Yankee fans hate this sack of sh**

-Carlos Beltran probably didn't hit that well this year due to his bone spur in his elbow. I have read many articles that he is declining. Well I don't believe guys forget how to hit overnight. Before getting the bone spur, he was hitting really well and even wone the AL player of the week. The bone spur probably prevented him from extending his arm too much when his swings. (Just my theory. You can disagree with me.) What I want to say is give this guy a chance the next season with his body in 100% health. After that we can talk about if he is really declining.

Maybe, maybe and maybe again. But the Yankees have a big advantage over most teams. They can get rid of high contracts by releasing them and not have to worry about it. They should have never signed this guy to a three-year contract. Bone spur or no bone spur. They should have never signed him to any contract. We can do better than always signing washed-up veterans.

-The reason why I think Brian McCann didn't hit that well this year is because he only played in the National League in his entire life. Thus, he had to adapt to AL pitching and learn a whole new pitching staff. Yes there are interleague plays during his time with the Braves but facing AL teams for almost 3 quarters of the season is different from facing them for 1 quarter of a season. Yes Alfonso Soriano did hit well when he come over from the NL, but he had more experience in facing AL pitching than McCann with his time with the Yankees (1993-2003) and Texas Rangers(2004-2005) while McCann played with the Braves his entire career.

Nonsense. Do you realize the number of American League pitchers who are not in the league anymore since the last time Soriano was playing in the A.L.? This "adapting" to A.L. pitching excuse is just that. Back when the leagues didn't face each other you could use that as a legitimate reason but not anymore. What really happened was McCann got off to an awful start and never recovered from it.

Thats my opinion on these three guys. Its just an opinion you can disagree with it. In summary what I am saying is give these guys another chance.

Nothing wrong with that. That's the reason behind this entire thread. Too bad this God damned thread wasn't used more.

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