If you could not have guessed it by the title this one is referring to the New York Yankess and in particular the 2014 Yanks. In 2014, the owner was one of the most savvy gm's that we had in FCM that most of us simply know him as Nick. He is one of the few gm's that when he contacted me about a trade, I had to really re-evaluate what he was trying to get out of me because he had such a way about him that he would always work the deal to his advantage.
In 2014, the NYY were the class of the American League posting a record of 105-57 which they would smash in 2015 after Nick made some major additions to his pitching staff (see Andy's article on Tim Lincecum). Not to diminish the 2014 staff, it was a good staff just not on the level of star power that we would see in 2015. The 2014 staff had C.C. Sabathia, Pat Venditte, Clayton Kershaw and Jeremy Hellickson. So the 2014 staff may not have had the star power over the 2015 NYY team, they have one thing though that the 2015 team does not have, a ring.
The one surprising stat for the 2014 NYY is in regards to his hitters. He had 18 hitters make over 100 appearances at the plate on the season. That is a lot of lineup changes and situational players. The hitter that drove this 2014 NYY team was Adam Dunn. At 34 years of age, he was able to post very strong power numbers in the middle of that lineup. He hit 42 homers with 123 RBI and a .393 OBP. His 2nd highest home run total in his career (his highest being 46 in 2004). This 2014 season for the hitters was a coming out party for Alan Bent. In 2013, he made 240 plate appearances and he saw that work increase to 393 in 2014. In his limited role in 2014, he still put up strong numbers, .293 BA, .427 OBP, 16 homers and 70 RBI. The big off-season acquisition for Nick was getting Kevin Youkilis. In 2014, he hit .286 with a .374 OBP and decent power numbers 24 homers and 85 RBI.
Going into the 2014 playoffs it was expected to see a match up of the NYY and the 2012 Champion, Houston Astros. As they both finished with league best records of 105-57. The 2013 Champion, San Fran was having issues because of a major injury to the rotation. Tim Lincecum went down after only 3 games pitched and they still won their division but with a 88-74 record. However, the Yanks would face the up and coming Florida Marlins being led by their 23 year old pitcher named Donovan Pace, who has become the best pitcher we have seen in FCM. It is not to say that the 2014 playoffs did not provide some scares to NYY. They had to face KC in the first round and they took the Yanks to game 5. The NYY in that short series had to overcome facing the strong pitching of King Felix, Aaron Crow and Francisco Liriano. however they were able to win that game 5 and the rest is history as Nick was able to secure his first Championship in FCM. Next on the list will be the little brother in the windy city.
No comments:
Post a Comment