State of the Franchise
There is exactly one acceptable outcome in the Bronx, and it hasn’t changed since the day Babe Ruth first pulled on the pinstripes: a Whirled Championship. Year II delivered neither the parade nor the collapse — 90-72, a Bill James Division title, and a quick playoff exit. Progress on paper; but nothing meaningful in the trophy case.
What keeps the win-now posture from being empty bluster is the age of the core. Ruth is 26. Lou Gehrig is 24. Mickey Mantle 22. Of the offensive core, only Mike Schmidt (29) and Rogers Hornsby (34) have crossed the far side of 25 (!). This is the rare club that can demand a title this year and still expect to be great for a decade — which is exactly why the front office has never once flinched at trading the future to reinforce the present. There is no future, the board sneers, there is only now.
Welcome to my supervillain origin story …
2001 Revisited
We spent last spring insisting it was all about the bullpen, and that Ron Guidry would seize the ace role in front of a revived pen fronted by Aroldis Chapman. The universe, as it does, laughed: the bullpen remained the same slow-motion catastrophe it has been for multiple years, and Guidry never made the traditional leap either: he was excellent by every advanced metric and thoroughly ordinary by the ones on the scoreboard (11-7, 4.51, but second in the league with 251 K).
Two things made up for it. Andy Pettitte, acquired for the departed Albert Belle, quietly became the ace we’d wished onto Guidry (18-9, AL All-Star). And Ruth authored maybe the best offensive season in league history (hush you voices in Detroit and Pittsburgh) — 73 homers, 167 RBI, a 1.156 OPS, runner-up for the Mel Trench Award. We had fretted about regression from Munson, Davis, and Mantle; the regression that actually arrived came from the man we’d listed as trade bait, Derek Jeter, who, at 33, slid all the way to the bottom of the SS lists in the AL.
The eternal lesson for the Black Yankees: the stars carry you, the margins betray you, and the bullpen is simply a tax you pay every year.
Key Changes
In: Ed Charles (IND); Ted Lilly (FA); Tony Mullane (FA); Gaylord Perry (NYG); Joe Sewell (CLE); Robby Thompson (NYG)
Out: Aroldis Chapman (CLE); Grant Johnson (NYG); Dave Righetti (NYG); Jeff D Robinson (IND); Red Ruffing (FA)
Opening Day Rookies: Whitey Ford
Best Case for 2002
The back of the rotation finally coheres — Gaylord Perry, the winter import, gives them a genuine third starter, one of Whitey Ford or Tony Brizzolara steps forward, and Guidry’s peripherals at last catch up to his ERA. Gehrig and Mantle keep climbing, Ruth keeps being Ruth, and — dare we dream — the bullpen merely stops actively losing games rather than winning them (a burden that weighs heavy on designated closer Goose Gossage). That team runs away with the division and, for once, keeps winning past September.
Worst Case for 2002
Jeter’s collapse turns out to be contagious. The 33-year-old shortstop and the 34-year-old Hornsby both give out up the middle, Eric Davis misses another 50 games, and the rotation behind Pettitte and Guidry is a mishmash of below-average auditions. The pen does what the pen does. 90 wins becomes 78, and the only now mandate starts ringing increasingly hollow, as the rest of the universe cheers the decline.
Key Questions
- Who, exactly, plays shortstop? Jeter isn’t giving them enough to hold the job. Chapman was unloaded for Joe Sewell and Robby Thompson came over in the Perry trade, so look for a 3-man rotation for a while. This is the question most likely to shove New York back into the market the instant the trade window opens at the break.
- Is there a back of the rotation? Pettitte and Guidry are locks, and Perry was brought in to solidify behind them. After that it’s an untried rookie in Ford, the only slightly tried Brizzolara, and arms with nothing actually proven (Ted Lilly, Tony Mullane).
- Is Mattingly still a WBL first baseman? An .800-ish OPS doesn’t play at 1B, and Gehrig is standing right there. It’s not clear how long these 2 split the DH/1B role, but it’s also not clear who would take over.
Roster Evaluation
Tier = the player’s 2001 positional grade (S best → F worst; color coded S A B C D F). Bold names carry a substantive WBL track; italic names are pure projection — a hope, not a grade — with no qualifying track to anchor them.
| Pos | Players |
|---|---|
| C | Munson C · Sanguillén |
| 1B | Mattingly D · Gehrig S |
| 2B | Hornsby B |
| 3B | Schmidt A · Charles |
| SS | Jeter F · Sewell · Thompson |
| LF | Ruth S |
| CF | Davis B · Rivers |
| RF | Mantle A |
| DH | Gehrig S |
| SP | Pettitte B · Guidry C · Perry C · Ford · Brizzolara |
| RP | Gossage B (CL) · Wilhelm C · Cormier D · Robertson F · Shuey |
4 bats as good as any in the league — Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Schmidt — and not much of anything else. And the quiet standout may be the one nobody talks about: Schmidt hit 45 homers with a .914 OPS and plays a real third base, the connoisseur’s Yankee the sharper fans prize precisely because the box-score crowd looks past him.
Talent Ratings
| WBL | Minors | |
|---|---|---|
| Raw Power | LF Babe Ruth | LF Jackie Warner |
| Batting Eye | LF Babe Ruth | 1B Nick Etten |
| Contact | C Manny Sanguillén; 1B Don Mattingly | RF Rich Coggins |
| Running Speed | CF Eric Davis | CF Cecil Espy |
| Base Stealing | CF Eric Davis | CF Cecil Espy |
| IF Defense | 3B Mike Schmidt | 1B J C Martin |
| OF Defense | LF Babe Ruth | RF Nick Swisher |
| Stuff | RP David Robertson | RP Jesse Orosco |
| Control | SP Gaylord Perry | SP Noah Syndergaard |
| Velocity | RP David Robertson | RP Dan Plesac |
Best In The Minors
| Rank | Age | Pos | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (67) | 24 | SS | Charlie Irwin |
Others: OF Rich Coggins, IF John Kruk, P Noah Syndergaard, OF Jackie Warner.
Meh, who cares.
A year ago, this list ran 7 deep, almost all arms. Where did they go? Whitey Ford and Tony Brizzolara graduated into the back of the rotation; Jake Peavy, last spring’s No. 2, was the centerpiece headed to Portland for Rogers Hornsby; Carlos Rodón and Elliott Maddox were shipped out in other deals; and last year’s No. 1, Noah Syndergaard, has slid off the national board entirely (still only 22, throwing at AAA). What’s left is Charlie Irwin, a 24-year-old vaguely mediocre looking shortstop.
New York still owns the worst farm system in the league by a distance.
Superlatives
| Most | Least | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | Jesse Orosco, 36 | John Ryan Murphy, 18 |
| Height | Noah Syndergaard, 6’6″ | Joe Sewell, 5’6″ |
| OPS | Babe Ruth, 1.156 | Heinie Groh, .540 (AAA) |
| HR | Babe Ruth, 73 | Heinie Groh, 2 (AAA) |
| SB | Eric Davis, 64 | – |
| WAR (bat) | Babe Ruth, 7.7 | Derek Jeter, −1.5 |
| W | Andy Pettitte, 18 | – |
| SV | Goose Gossage, 20 | – |
| ERA | Art Ditmar, 2.94 (AA) | Herm Wehmeier, 6.54 |
| WAR (pit) | Ron Guidry, 4.8 | Cal Eldred, −1.5 (A) |
Stats across all levels, 2001 season. 200 PA / 75 IP minimum. Non-WBL levels tagged in parentheses.