YOUTH GETS SERVED
Why not us? Gardner has hopes of winning AL East
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brett Gardner is well aware the excitement of Opening Day hasn’t carried the Yankees into a postseason series the past four years.
Since 2013, the Yankees’ postseason experience is losing the 2015 AL Wild Card Game to the Astros at Yankee Stadium.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the left fielder from predicting something others would consider a stretch.
“I think we are capable of winning the division. Everybody believes that, that’s our goal,’’ Gardner said Saturday before the Yankees worked out at Tropicana Field in front of Sunday’s Opening Day tilt against the Rays. “That’s the good thing about Opening Day, everybody starts off on equal footing and everybody has the same opportunities.’’
For the Yankees to dislodge the Red Sox from the top of the AL East a lot of things have to go right for them and wrong for the defending champions, who won’t have David Price at the beginning of the season and the retired David Ortiz forever.
The longest-tenured Yankee, Gardner, 33, said he is impressed with the players around him and expects Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird and Aaron Judge to deliver.
“We have a lot of talent. A lot of the young kids are really going to take advantage of this opportunity and run with it,’’ Gardner predicted. “They are guys with a lot of talent mixed in with the veterans like Matt Holliday and we have Chappy [Aroldis Chapman] back. Our bullpen is one of our strengths so it’s important our offense score some runs.’’
The Yankees’ season opens Sunday with ace Masahiro Tanaka facing the Rays and Chris Archer. It is Tanaka’s third straight Opening Day assignment, and the Yankees are hoping his success against the Rays continues. He is 6-0 with a 2.82 ERA in eight starts against them.
At this time last year Alex Rodriguez was the designated hitter, Mark Teixeira the first baseman and Andrew Miller joined Dellin Betances and Chapman as the most feared late-innings bullpen in baseball.
Rodriguez and Teixeira are retired and Miller is with the Indians.
Holliday replaces Rodriguez and Chapman returned via a five-year deal worth $86 million. Didi Gregorius is expected to miss April with a shoulder injury, which is a big blow. Ronald Torreyes will fill in at short.
“There is a little different energy, a little different feel,’’ Gardner said of the roster. “I like it and I have a good feeling about it. I am excited about the season and excited about these young guys getting the opportunity to show they belong here. The last few years have been disappointing for us and me. We have to make it back to the playoffs. That’s our goal.’’
For all but a few teams, the dawn of a new season delivers hope. And there is hope inside the Yankees’ universe, but there are so many questions in the rotation that hope might be hard to sustain.
Beyond Tanaka, CC Sabathia will be 37 in July, coming off right knee surgery and is 32-39 with a 4.54 ERA in 99 starts since the beginning of 2013. Sabathia did make 30 starts last year and went 9-12 with a 3.91 ERA.
Despite the veteran lefty’s dropoff, he isn’t near the top of the Yankees’ list of rotation questions. Michael Pineda and Luis Severino had miserable seasons a year ago and nothing in spring training indicated bounce-back years.
Publicly, manager Joe Girardi is always the head of the “Glass Half Full’’ crowd, and he was in that mode Saturday.
“Offensively we have a chance to be pretty good. You look at the middle of the lineup [Bird, Holliday, Jacoby Ellsbury] and there is a lot of potential,’’ said Girardi, who enters his 10th season without a contract for next year and hoping the long list of questions are answered in a positive light.