Baseball’s offseason has been highlighted by nothing but Ryan Braun, the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Angels.
Lost in the mix is a billion-dollar franchise. The only billion-dollar franchise in baseball.
Where are the New York Yankees in every baseball discussion?
It’s like they are nowhere to be found. It’s like a changing of the guard has happened in baseball.
No Boston Red Sox and no Yankees.
These days, hype is the deciding factor before a season even starts. Bandwagoners have already jumped on the Angels because they hefted out $240 million for Albert Pujols.
The same goes for the Tigers, who forked out $214 million for Prince Fielder.
La deedah.
Usually it’s the Yankees who make the offseason splash. Four years ago, New York spent $180 million on Mark Teixeira and $161 million on CC Sabathia.
But this winter season the market was bare. They were not in the running for Pujols or Fielder, leaving only trades open for consideration.
And that’s when they made a splash by acquiring 23-year-old Michael Pineda out of the blue from the Seattle Mariners.
They also got rid of a headache in A.J. Burnett and signed a reliable bullpen arm in David Aardsma.
It was like the Yankees felt they didn’t need to do much. Like they were already set.
And that thinking was right.
New York is still the most complete team in baseball, whether or not they made a move. The best money spent came from the Yankees and what they didn’t do.
It’s what they have and are currently spending on.
They still have stars in Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano.
Oh, and two guys named Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
They now have a solid starting five with Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Pineda, Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes.
The Yankees have it, as they always do.
While they are aging very quickly, this is still the team to beat in baseball. There’s nothing better than beating New York, as Detroit found out in last season’s divisional playoffs.
New York exited October in stunning fashion. Tigers manager Jim Leyland even said every satisfaction is knocking off the Yankees. There’s no better feeling.
Going into the season, the only question mark is whether this team’s lineup will wake up when those playoffs start. If 2012 comes down to wondering if New York will make the playoffs as they always do, they will. This team finds ways to win with what they’ve got.
With baseball’s regular season on the map in a little over a month, New York will enter the season with a potent, productive offense and an impressive rotation.
If I had to pick a team to win it all from the start, it would be New York.
Vegas even agrees. You can’t buy into the hype of Detroit and Los Angeles. NY is the odds-on favorite to win it all at 6/1.
See, I hate hype, as we have found out in other sports with the Miami Heat and New England Patriots.
It’s always a team that flies under the radar, and at this point that appears to be the mighty Yankees.
Like what you just read? Follow me on Twitter @audio_adam for more of my sports opinion.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com