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After several fans were injured at Fenway Park in 2015, the Boston Red Sox made some recommended safety upgrades, including expanded netting to protect fans from foul balls and broken bats.

Not all fans are happy about the changes, though.

Notably, Stephen King has been vocal about his disapproval. In addition to his status as an acclaimed author, King is a longtime Red Sox season ticket holder. The safety changes put netting in front of his seats.

In an opinion piece for the Boston Globe, King wrote the netting is “one more step toward taking the taste and texture out of the game I care for above all others.”

He added:

There are questions inherent in the decision to net, and I think they’re bigger than baseball. Like when does protection become overprotection? Is the safety of a fan at a public event like a baseball game the responsibility of the organization putting on that event? (According to the back of every MLB ticket sold, the fan is responsible.) When do safety precautions begin to steal away the pure joy of being there?

The Red Sox gave King the option to move seats, but he ultimately chose to stay with his original spot closer to home plate.

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It was the first week of the season, a little early for bold statements. But Starlin Castro was already off to a great start with the New York Yankees, so why not?

“We want to be the best middle infield we can be,” Castro said, referring to his new partnership with shortstop Didi Gregorius. “We want to be the best middle infield in the major leagues.”

Maybe they can be, maybe they can’t. But the fact that Castro could even bring up the possibility in the first week of the 2016 season shows how smart and fortunate the Yankees have been the last two winters.

They needed a shortstop because Derek Jeter was retiring and they had no immediate successor in their system. They needed a second baseman because in the first two years after Robinson Cano left for Seattle, they used 10 players at the position without ever finding one they wanted to keep.

They knew they wanted to get younger and more athletic, but how do you do that if your farm system isn’t ready to produce players at the positions you need?

Simple, if the Arizona Diamondbacks decide they’re overloaded at shortstop and will move Gregorius at age 24. Simple, if the Chicago Cubs choose Addison Russell over Castro at shortstop and Ben Zobrist over Castro at second base when Castro’s just 25.

Gregorius and Castro were young and athletic. They were talented. They also came to the Yankees with question marks, which is why the Yankees were able to get Castro for pitcher Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan, and Gregorius in a three-team deal that cost them only pitcher Shane Greene.

Warren is a useful pitcher, but he didn’t fit in the Yankee rotation and wasn’t going to pitch at the back end of the bullpen, either. Greene has a good arm, but he wasn’t going to find his way into the rotation.

The cost was more than reasonable—as long as Gregorius and Castro developed into a double-play combination the Yankees could win with.

It’s too early to say they have, but the results look good so far. Gregorius started slow last year, but he emerged from Jeter’s shadow to have a solid first season in New York. Castro started fast, becoming the first player in Yankee history to drive in seven runs in his first two games with the team.

“Starlin Castro is playing tee-ball right now,” Yankees right fielder Carlos Beltran said.

Castro and Gregorius have looked comfortable together and comfortable as Yankees. Even if it’s a little early to put them in the conversation as baseball’s best double-play combination—it’s hard to beat Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros—it may not be too early to say the Yankees have a middle-infield duo that can last.

They’re certainly young enough. Gregorius turned 26 in February. Castro just got his 1,000th major league hit, but he only turned 26 last month.

Castro was a three-time All-Star before he turned 25, which speaks to his ability and potential. But he also had a reputation for swinging at everything and being slow to adapt.

Gregorius made top-prospect lists when he was coming up through the minor leagues with the Cincinnati Reds. But he was inconsistent enough in three seasons in Arizona that the Diamondbacks (and other teams) wondered if he would ever develop into a quality major league shortstop.

“They both came with questions,” one American League executive said. “That’s why they were available.”

For now, it sure looks like the Yankees bought low on two undervalued talents. For now, it looks like the Yankees benefitted from the Diamondbacks’ preference for playing Nick Ahmed at shortstop, and from the Cubs’ need to move Castro after acquiring Russell and Zobrist.

The Cubs got Russell from the Oakland A’s in July 2014 in the Jeff Samardzija-Jason Hammel trade, and almost immediately, there was talk that he’d replace Castro at shortstop. The switch finally came last August, at a point when Castro’s performance had slipped both offensively and defensively.

“He knew there was a young player that was very talented behind him that might move him out of his spot,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters recently. “I think that’s difficult for players to accept.”

As it turns out, the move may have helped Castro in the long run. When Cubs manager Joe Maddon put Russell at short, he started playing Castro at second base. The two months at second helped convince the Yankees he could play there full-time, and he ended up getting a new start with a team and fanbase that were ready to welcome him.

“It’s a good opportunity to be in this organization,” Castro said. “I just want to be the player I used to be.”

It’s early, but that’s what Castro has looked like so far. It’s early, but he and Gregorius look like a double-play combination the Yankees can win with.

Not bad for a couple of guys picked up on the cheap.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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If you haven’t added Manny Machado to your short list of American League MVP candidates, now is the time.

Seriously, do it.

Through the first five games of the 2016 season, the Baltimore Orioles‘ budding superstar is teasing next-level production. And he’s carried the O’s to a surprising undefeated start.

Yes, it’s way early, the caveat that must accompany all April storylines. But when you add Machado’s raw ability and recent track record to the mix, there’s cause to believe this is far more than a small-sample mirage.

Machado won’t turn 24 until July 6, meaning his prime is far on the horizon. And he’s already padded his resume with two All-Star appearances, two top-10 MVP finishes and a pair of Gold Gloves at third base.

Machado truly broke out last season, bashing 35 home runs with an .861 OPS, 20 stolen bases and 14 defensive runs saved at the hot corner, per FanGraphs.

If WAR is your thing, Machado’s 6.8 mark was third-best in the Junior Circuit, behind only AL MVP Josh Donaldson and AL MVP runner-up Mike Trout.

So far in 2016, Machado owns a .429/.455/.904 slash line with three home runs. On Sunday, he went 4-for-4 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBI as the Orioles defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3.

If you zoom back to the end of 2015, he’s on an eye-poppingly epic power binge, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:

Donaldson is raking in the early going as well, with four home runs and nine RBI for the potent Toronto Blue Jays. And if you think Trout’s 4-for-20 start means anything, you have never watched that man play baseball.

It’s too soon to handicap any awards race, but expect last season’s top two finishers to make convincing cases once again. And don’t be surprised if a veteran star such as Miguel Cabrera or a budding stud like Carlos Correa muscles into the picture.

Machado’s squarely in that conversation, though. Soon, he might be starting that conversation.

Machado himself tempered the hype after Sunday’s win. 

“It’s the start of the season,” he said, per MLB.com’s Bill Chastain and Jeff Seidel. “We started off with a great homestand. We started off the year pretty well. Let’s keep this ball rolling.”

If the Orioles can in fact keep it rolling and challenge for supremacy in the crowded AL East, it would count as a mild surprise.

Their lineup is loaded with sluggers, including reigning MLB home run leader Chris Davis. But there are enough question marks, including in the starting rotation, for FanGraphs to project a modest 82-80 finish.

That might yet come to fruition, though Baltimore’s starting pitchers have acquitted themselves more than capably, surrendering six earned runs in 23.2 innings with 28 strikeouts and six walks.

Machado, however, has been the biggest revelation. Or, more accurately, continuing revelation. 

Drafted as a shortstop with the third overall pick in 2010, Machado made his big league debut at the position last season. This year, he’s already started one game at short in place of J.J. Hardy, who was dealing with a calf issue.

“It’s kind of like a new toy for him,” skipper Buck Showalter said of the defensive switch, per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun.

If Machado ever makes a permanent move to shortstop, his power will profile even better there. For now, he’s an unmitigated asset wherever he plays.

Yes, this is the part where we mention the knee surgeries Machado underwent in 2013 and 2014. But if there were lingering doubts about his durability, he answered them last season by appearing in all 162 games and making an MLB-leading 713 plate appearances.

As for his 2015 output, FanGraphs’ Mike Podhorzer opined: “Nothing statistically stands out as a fluke…so can it get better? In fact, it could. With an average batted ball distance now over 290 feet, there might even be more power. Furthermore, if he could ever cure his pop-up problem, the batting average on balls in play could spike.”

The numbers like Machado. The eyeball test definitely likes him. The Baltimore faithful have got to be loving him.

Yes, it’s April. There are 157 games left to play. But if you’re still wondering whether to jump on the Machado train, we’ve got two words for you: Do it.

Seriously.

All statistics current as of April 10 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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It appears that all the New York Yankees offense needed to get going this season was a one-game warm-up. Also, somebody other than Dallas Keuchel on the mound for the opposition.

And now that these two demands have been met, we’re seeing just what these Bronx Bombers are capable of.

After Keuchel, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, silenced them in their opener Tuesday, the Yankees’ bats woke up in a big way in the final two games of their series against the Houston Astros. A 17-hit parade led to a 16-6 win Wednesday, and the Yankees cranked out 12 more hits in an 8-5 win Thursday.

As is usually the case whenever there’s an offensive outburst like this, the question isn’t who’s been hitting. It’s who hasn’t been hitting.

Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran both went deep Wednesday. Teixeira and Brian McCann went deep Thursday. Those two and Didi Gregorius all have four hits in their last eight at-bats. Jacoby Ellsbury has three hits in his last 10 at-bats. After going hitless to start the season, Alex Rodriguez broke through with a pair of hits Thursday.

But while that’s an awful lot of heat, nobody is as hot as Starlin Castro. The Yankees’ new second baseman was the big star in Wednesday’s rout, tallying four hits and picking up three of his five RBI on his first home run of 2016. On Thursday, he launched his second:

Add in the two-run double that Castro had in the Yankees’ opener, and he now has seven hits in 12 at-bats with two home runs and eight RBI. With numbers like those, all the jokes on Twitter about his inevitable Yankeeography almost have to be taken seriously.

This is the best the Yankees could have hoped for after bringing Castro aboard in a classic upside-play trade with the Chicago Cubs in December. And though his production has resembled a roller coaster throughout his career, it’s hard to ignore that he’s actually been raking for a while now.

After getting off to a slow start, Castro finished 2015 by hitting .353 with a .968 OPS over the final six weeks of the season. Then came a .367 average and a .944 OPS this spring. This brings us to his current state, which Beltran best characterized Wednesday.

“Starlin Castro is playing tee-ball right now,” he told Anthony Rieber of Newsday.

There are reasons for Castro’s turnaround. One is that the three-time All-Star obviously has plenty of underlying talent. And even before Castro told Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media all about it in March, Matt Goldman of Beyond the Box Score noticed that Castro had traded his wide-open stance in the box for a closed stance. 

It’s always a good sign whenever a hot streak from a talented player can be traced back to a tangible adjustment. At best, it means said hot streak may have lasting power. At worst, it means it’s not so surprising.

And while we’re on the topic of not being surprised, we should also acknowledge it’s not the biggest shocker to see the entire Yankees lineup lighting it up.

“This is what we’re capable of,” Teixeira said after Wednesday’s rout, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “You’re not going to do that every night, especially against a good team, but when we have the entire lineup that’s clicking, you’re going to have a couple of nights like this, and they feel good.”

Indeed. The Yankees did score more runs than any other team except the all-powerful (literally) Toronto Blue Jays last year, after all. And with Castro taking Stephen Drew’s place at second base, there’s no denying the collective star power of a starting nine that looks like this:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Brett Gardner, LF
3. Alex Rodriguez, DH
4. Mark Teixeira, 1B
5. Brian McCann, C
6. Carlos Beltran, RF
7. Chase Headley, 3B
8. Starlin Castro, 2B
9. Didi Gregorius, SS

Manager Joe Girardi must feel good every time he writes down these names. A-Rod (fingers crossed), Teixeira and Beltran might be future Hall of Famers. Ellsbury, Gardner, McCann and Castro have been All-Stars. Headley hasn’t, but he was an MVP candidate once. Only Gregorius doesn’t have accolades to his name, but that will change if he keeps hitting like he has been since last year’s All-Star break.

And if all goes well, this lineup will be one of the most productive offenses in the American League. According to Baseball Prospectus, only the Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox are projected for more runs. FanGraphs isn’t as optimistic, but its projections still peg the Yankees as having one of the top 10 offenses in Major League Baseball.

That “if all goes well” part, however, is equal parts caveat and elephant in the room. 

It’s a good sign that Castro’s hot hitting can be traced back to a tangible adjustment, but that doesn’t necessarily free him from his history. His high highs traditionally come with low lows. And though the Yankees offense was mostly good in 2015, there’s no forgetting how much it all fell apart in the end.

After collectively OPS’ing .766 through the season’s first four months, the Yankees offense managed just a .705 OPS down the stretch. Age and durability (or lack thereof) were the culprits. Ellsbury and Gardner struggled to recover from nagging injuries. Teixeira was lost to a broken leg. Rodriguez and McCann stayed healthy, but both hit a wall.

The same fate could befall the Yankees this season. As Jon Tayler wrote at SI.com, it’s “hard not to be concerned about the durability and productivity of a lineup in which Castro and Gregorius are the only hitters under 30.” And with players like Ellsbury, Teixeira, Gardner and Beltran, the Yankees also have some injury proneness in their lineup.

For now, though, the Yankees should be too distracted by what’s going right in the present to worry about what could go wrong in the future. They came into the year needing their offense to be as good in reality as it looked on paper. And with Castro fitting in so well with what was already there, they’re clearly getting their wish.

With better luck than they had in 2015, it’ll stay that way.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Toronto Blue Jays star Josh Donaldson suffered a calf injury in Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays and is considered day-to-day, according to the team.

Continue for updates.

Donaldson Comes Up Lame Running to 1st Base

Wednesday, April 6

Craig Calcaterra of NBCSports.com reported on the play Donaldson was injured on, which occurred when he hit a ground ball. MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm indicated that Darwin Barney entered to replace Donaldson at third base.

After the game, Donaldson said the injury isn’t serious and he hopes to play Friday against the Boston Red Sox, per Barry Davis of Sportsnet.

The Blue Jays can ill afford to lose Donaldson for extensive time after he hit .297 with 41 home runs, 41 doubles and 123 RBI in 2015. He also posted a sparkling .939 OPS and a career-best 8.8 WAR, per Baseball-Reference.com, and took home the American League MVP for his efforts.

Donaldson finished fifth in all of baseball in homers and second in RBI and was a major reason why the Blue Jays led the league in total runs scored by 127 more than the next closest team last year.

Donaldson is also a two-time All-Star and tallied 11 total defensive runs saved above average in 2015, according to FanGraphs.

Before exiting Wednesday’s contest, Donaldson had accounted for all of his club’s runs to that point on a three-run homer:

Fortunately for Toronto, it has plenty of sluggers to shoulder more of the offensive load without Donaldson, including Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin, Troy Tulowitzki and Kevin Pillar.

Still, Donaldson is a monster bat and the defending MVP whose injury at this early juncture of the season is discouraging.

Part of what makes the Blue Jays so dangerous is the sheer amount of talent in that lineup, and losing arguably the top piece puts even more pressure on the others. Donaldson drives home plenty of runs, but he also adds protection for his teammates because opposing pitchers can’t afford to pitch around them with the powerful third baseman waiting.

The Blue Jays have World Series aspirations behind that powerful lineup and a solid starting rotation that features Marcus Stroman, but winning it all will be a much more difficult task without a healthy Donaldson mashing home runs.

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The New York Yankees are doing this right with Luis Severino, trying to lessen the pressure on him to be great right away, even if that pressure is his reality. They’re doing this right, even if there is an argument to be made that the 22-year-old will be their best starting pitcher.

Severino didn’t start Tuesday’s Opening Day game against the Houston Astros and Dallas Keuchel, just as he didn’t start the Yankees’ lone 2015 playoff game against the Astros and Keuchel. Masahiro Tanaka started Tuesday, just as he did last October, and the Yankees lost, just as they did then.

If you want to say Severino could have done better, well, perhaps he could have. The Yankees won six of his final eight starts last year, when Severino was so impressive and so steady that it seemed impossible he was only 21 years old.

He’s 22 now, on a big league Opening Day roster for the first time. And even if the Yankees handed him a rotation spot behind Tanaka, Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi, they certainly know he can be better than that.

They need him to be better than that if they’re going to compete for a championship.

Young players rule Major League Baseball these days, and you only need to look at the New York Mets to be reminded that young pitchers can bring a team to the top, too. The Yankees may not have a rotation full of them, but they do have Severino.

“A real live arm,” said one scout who followed the Yankees this spring. “Obviously, they need him.”

They need him. They need the other guys, too. They need Tanaka to overcome any concerns about his right elbow. They need Pineda to finally stay healthy. They need Eovaldi to prove last year’s strong stretch was real. They need CC Sabathia not to look old.

It’s not fair to say Severino is the one potential difference-maker, because Pineda can be brilliant and Eovaldi can throw 100 mph. Even Tanaka still shows a few flashes of the guy who the Yankees signed for $155 million.

But as one veteran scout told the New York Post‘s Kevin Kernan, Severino is “the best starter on the staff.”

Kernan suggested it should have been Severino starting on Opening Day, but really, there was no need for that. There’s enough pressure on him already and enough uncertainty about the speed of his development.

“It takes time,” said the scout who watched the Yankees in the spring. “I’m sure some people will project Severino to be that guy right now, but I don’t like to say that. He’s got stuff, but he’s got to command his fastball, and that takes time.”

The Yankees can give Severino that time even while starting him every fifth day in the big leagues. They don’t need to call him the ace just yet. The Chicago Cubs didn’t call Jake Arrieta their ace when the 2015 season began.

If starting the fourth game of the season rather than the first takes some pressure off Severino, all the better. There will be enough pressure just from pitching in New York. There’ll be even more if Tanaka‘s fastball isn’t any more impressive than it looked Tuesday, and more if Pineda once again breaks down or Eovaldi once again shows how many hits you can give up while throwing 100 mph.

Last August and September, Severino looked like a guy who can handle the pressure. He embraced New York and the atmosphere that comes with pitching for the Yankees. But he also enjoyed overwhelming success, and the tougher parts of development can come with the inevitable failures.

Maybe Severino is ready for that. Maybe he’s ready to be the ace right now.

If he is, he’ll show it. If he is, we’ll see it.

The Yankees may well need it to happen, but they can’t force it to happen.

But they sure would be a much better team if it does.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Perhaps Jose Bautista sounded the alarm in spring training when, not shockingly, he told reporters he would not offer the Toronto Blue Jays a hometown discount.

Toronto is not Bautista’s hometown. For the record, that’s Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Nor has anyone purported him to be such a lover of Canadian bacon that he would take less money to remain a Blue Jay.

Nonetheless, Bautista offered coupon-clippers this: “Doesn’t exist, not in my world.”

Baustista was a big part, but not nearly the sum, of the Blue Jays offense in 2015, MLB’s best. But for a Toronto fanbase jonesing for a perennial contender since the organization won back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993, Bautista underscored an ugly reality.

This is a do-or-die year for this offensive juggernaut.

Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson combined to form one of the greatest power-hitting trios in baseball history last season. Yet by the end of this season, they could go the way of the Beatles—breaking up for the sake of financial gain.

Donaldson won’t become a free agent until after the 2018 season, but Encarnacion will join Bautista in free agency this winter. Like his teammate, he will assuredly seek a big payday after finishing a team-friendly deal.

The Blue Jays likely won’t be able to sign all three to long-term contracts. If one of the three departs, their offense won’t be nearly as potent.

Last season, they were only the fourth trio in MLB history to each hit at least 39 home runs in a season. Donaldson hit 41, Bautista 40 and Encarnacion 39.

The Blue Jays were the second team in history to have three players each hit at least 20 homers after the All-Star break, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, courtesy of the aforementioned trio. Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Moises Alou did the same for the 2004 Chicago Cubs.

Of Toronto’s MLB-best 891 runs in 2015, Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion drove in 348, accounting for 39.1 percent of the Blue Jays’ run production. They hit a combined 120 of the team’s MLB-best 232 home runs.

This scenario is kind of like the hit 1990s drama Beverly Hills, 90210.

The show revolved around the home of the Walsh family. When the producers knew they had to write the last of the Walshes, Brandon (played by Jason Priestley, who elected to leave), off the show, the producers had to know the decade-long hit wouldn’t survive. It remained on the air for another season and a half, with the Walsh house a central location. But it seemed disingenuous without a Walsh actually living in it. The show took a strange arc and awkwardly ended.

This is all to say Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins should be able to relate to Beverly Hills, 90210 creator Aaron Spelling. Atkins’ Walshes are Bautista, Encarnacion and Donaldson.

Toronto is a hit now, but it may not be by this time next season.

The Rogers Centre may look the same aesthetically if any of the three leave. But the otherworldly power numbers are what has been buzzworthy about watching a game there.

Given the rare history of the trio’s 2015 performance, recreating that kind of power is nearly impossible.

“I’m happy where I’m at today and try not to put too much stock into a lot of stuff,” Donaldson told MLB.com’s Richard Justice during spring training. “I’ve got an opportunity to play the game I love and cherish. So I’m never going to take that for granted. There’s still a lot of unfinished business to do. But at the same time, with what we did last season, it makes everybody else’s goals in here a lot more believable.”

Bautista, Donaldson and Encarnacion each play to a level that commands at least $20 million annually. In 2016, however, they are making $14 million, $11.65 million and $10 million, respectively, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

It makes sense for the Blue Jays to try to re-sign Bautista and Encarnacion this winter. But if they had unlimited funds, there would be no fear of either player leaving Toronto for a bigger contract. That’s not the case.

The Blue Jays do have Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki signed to long-term deals. Both are solid hitters and get on base. Each has had a season in which his on-base percentage broke .400. But neither has elite power.

With either player hitting in the power spots in the lineup, the way in which Toronto scores runs would drastically change. That is if the team didn’t altogether see a drop in its scoring.

Some organizations, given the Blue Jays’ circumstances, might look to their minor league system for replacements. But Toronto’s farm system is drier than a seminar on crude oil prices.

In Baseball America’s latest ranking of minor league systems, Toronto sits 24th. But even in examining the Blue Jays system as its own entity, there isn’t much offensive help on the brink of major league stardom.

Only two of Toronto’s top five prospects are position players, according to MLB.com’s rankings. Outfielder Anthony Alford is due to be promoted to the majors next season. But the organization’s next-best position player prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., isn’t expected to make his major league debut until 2020.

Toronto’s situation is similar to what other great teams around the league undergo. Stars eventually leave, either via retirement or free agency, and teams must retool their rosters.

With that scenario nearing for a Blue Jays team that has World Series aspirations, the future is now.

This roster is down to its final out.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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Warning: Video contains NSFW language.

Come Tuesday, fans won’t be gaining entry to Yankee Stadium’s Opening Day with print-at-home tickets. 

Some fans, however, will get to see the New York Yankees face the Houston Astros from behind home plate on the dime of Last Week Tonight‘s John Oliver—under one condition.

The comedian is offering a total of six Legends Suite tickets to the three Yankees home games this week for 25 cents each to people who can conjure up the most creative, original and presumably eye-catching method of dressing as if they “have never sat in a premium location before.” 

Oliver’s incitement for ticket magnanimity stems from a recent statement by Yankees COO Lonn Trost, who by Oliver’s interpretation, essentially said, “Rich people couldn’t bear to sit next to people who aren’t as rich.”

So, in an effort to wear that thin tolerance down even further, the host is helping some “riffraff” get their chance to mingle.

With so many likely vying for the opportunity, it’s doubtful they’ll be tame.

Yankee Stadium camera operators, you know where to look. 

Update: Tuesday, April 5

When the Yankees’ opener was played on Tuesday (after being postponed on Monday), viewers may have noticed a couple of fans sitting behind home plate dressed up in some interesting outfits:

You can thank Oliver for that.

[CBS Sports]

–End of Update–

[YouTube]

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After a playoff appearance last season, optimism is high for the New York Yankees heading into 2016. They start the year with a Wild Card Game rematch against reigning American League Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel and the Houston Astros. 

Originally slated for Monday, the Yankees announced the game will now take place on Tuesday.

Last year was a positive step for the Yankees, though it was not the huge leap forward fans in New York are accustomed to with this franchise. The Yankees won 84-87 games each of the last three years, opting to ride things out with their old talent and slowly working prospects into the mix. 

Bringing up the younger guys occurred out of necessity. If Mark Teixeira was capable of playing 140-150 games, Greg Bird likely would have spent all of last season in Triple-A.

The Yankees are a team in transition, but because they don’t go through full rebuilding periods, they are still piecing together a 25-man roster capable of competing in a loaded American League East with teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox. 

For instance, instead of trying to spend on one of the big free-agent starters available, the Yankees looked at the template set by the Kansas City Royals and built as good of a trio in the back of the bullpen as there is with Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman.

Chapman is suspended for the first 30 games of the regular season under MLB‘s domestic violence policy, but the Yankees can survive his absence because of Miller and Betances. 

Beyond acquiring Chapman and Starlin Castro, this was a quiet offseason in the Bronx. It’s the right tactic for a team that is going to clear a lot of money in the next two years, but will it lead to another playoff appearance?

Here are the biggest questions and predictions for the Yankees in 2016. 

What Does the Rotation Offer?

Looking at the Yankees’ starting rotation last year, it’s a wonder this team managed to win 87 games. The Yankees didn’t have one starter make 30 starts or reach 170 innings. Masahiro Tanaka, who will start on Opening Day, was the only starter to make at least 20 starts and post an ERA under 4.00. 

CC Sabathia, who missed last year’s playoff game against Houston to enter alcohol rehab, is back. He’s 35 years old and doesn’t have much giddy-up on the fastball anymore, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch:

Sabathia’s ability to pitch and hit his spots will help him survive, but expecting him to be any more than a back-end starter at this point isn’t realistic. 

Tanaka has tremendous potential, as evidenced by his 280 strikeouts in 290.1 innings, but he’s got to show that he can make 30-plus starts in a season to become the No. 1 starter New York so desperately needs. 

Luis Severino had an excellent 2.89 ERA in 11 starts last year, though he also allowed nine home runs and 22 walks in 62.1 innings.

The 22-year-old Severino certainly has the confidence needed to step up based on these comments to YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits (via Brendan Kuty of NJ.com) in January: “Of course [I can be New York’s ace].”

That kind of confidence is necessary for any pitcher to succeed, but Severino has a lot of work left to do before approaching those lofty heights. 

Because the Yankees have built such a deep bullpen, they can get away with having starters throw five innings more often than not. Eventually, though, those starts will have to get longer or else the relievers will be worn out by the time October rolls around. 

What Will the Lineup Look Like?

One reason the Yankees succeeded last year despite all the pitching woes is because they scored 764 runs, second only to the Blue Jays in MLB. 

As the season moved on, though, the Yankees’ age started catching up to them. They limped into the postseason offensively, finishing 17th in runs scored during September, and manager Joe Girardi constantly had to shuffle things considering the number of games lost due to injuries. 

Injuries hit the Yankees hard even before spring training started, with Bird undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in February. He would have played a huge role in New York this season after impressing with a .529 slugging percentage and 11 homers in 46 games last year.

In fairness to Brian McCann, he didn’t spend time on the disabled list in 2015. He’s a catcher and requires more days off than the average position player, particularly now that he’s on the wrong side of 30. 

Jacoby Ellsbury has been frail throughout his career, only playing more than 140 games four times in nine seasons. His numbers have dropped off in two years with New York, posting a career-low .663 OPS (min. 100 games) last year. 

Teixeira can’t be counted on for more than 120 games at this point in his career. He’s missed 276 games since 2012 and is going to turn 36 on April 11. Alex Rodriguez was a pleasant surprise in 2015, posting his highest home run total (33) since 2008 and OPS+ (131) since 2009. 

After the All-Star break, however, Rodriguez looked like a 40-year-old. He hit .216/.324/.448 in 69 games during the second half, so his tank is zeroing in on “E” heading into 2016. 

Castro gets a chance to reinvent himself after a disappointing 2015 with the Chicago Cubs. The 26-year-old thinks he’s found an answer to his early-season offensive woes last year, per Kuty:

The Dominican Republic-born infielder had gone from an open stances to one that was closed, allowing him, he said, to drive the ball with more consistency to right-center field.

The hardest part of that? Castro told NJ Advance Media it’s been not crossing his front leg with his back leg, essentially overcompensating for his old stance.

When Castro hit with an open stance, he would bring his front left foot from the left side of the box and make it parallel with his back foot. With his new stance, he tries to keep his feet parallel at all times.

Castro did turn things around last year, hitting .295/.319/.464 in 65 games after the All-Star break. He’s not the kind of hitter who can carry the middle of a lineup because he swings at everything, but if he can duplicate that 2015 second-half slash line as a No. 6 hitter, the Yankees will be thrilled. 

Reinforcements are coming with outfielder Aaron Judge and catcher Gary Sanchez likely to get called up at some point during the season, but there’s only so much those rookies can do surrounded by a nucleus that is old and doesn’t appear to be cut out for a six-month grind. 

Prediction

Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections have the Yankees finishing fourth in the American League East with a respectable 84-78 record. That’s right in range with where they have been the past three years, though it also seems optimistic. 

I mentioned the Yankees trying to follow Kansas City’s blueprint to success with a dominant bullpen, but they are missing two key ingredients to that formula: speed and defense. 

It’s easy to get hung up on Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera throwing smoke at the end of games, but none of that would work if the Royals didn’t have the AL’s best defense and an opportunistic offense that doesn’t strike out.  

The Yankees finished last year 27th in defensive runs saved, a figure that’s not likely to get better with Castro at second base and outfielders like Ellsbury and Brett Gardner losing a step. 

Starting pitching remains a huge concern for the Yankees, who waited until the last minute before announcing an Opening Day starter simply because they didn’t know what Tanaka was going to look like. Their bullpen will be among the most dominant in MLB when Chapman returns from suspension. 

Miller did give Yankees fans cause for concern when he took a liner off his right (non-throwing) wrist, but he will pitch through the broken bone this season after getting cleared by a doctor.

There won’t be a complete drop-off because the Yankees still have quality talent, but it’s going to be a chore finishing around .500 in 2016. 

2016 record: 80-82

Stats per Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs and ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.

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A revamped front office and busy offseason have the Boston Red Sox dreaming big in 2016, though their task will be difficult playing against a strong American League East. 

Opening Day will see the fruits of Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Mike Hazen‘s labor with new ace David Price stepping on the mound in Cleveland. 

The big story in Boston this season is David Ortiz’s impending retirement. The 40-year-old announced on his birthday in November that this would be his final year after 14 seasons with the Red Sox. 

Yet this is a very different Red Sox team. In four years with Ben Cherington as GM from 2012-15, they didn’t go crazy spending money. There were certainly big deals given out, notably to Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval and Rick Porcello last year, but they seemed to shy away from $150-200 million deals for individual players. 

Dombrowski and Hazen immediately changed that philosophy, giving Price the biggest deal ever for a pitcher (seven years, $217 million) and trading two of their top six prospects to San Diego as part of a package to acquire closer Craig Kimbrel. 

There is still a good, young nucleus in Boston that was not touched, led by shortstop Xander Bogaerts and center fielder Mookie Betts, that will ultimately determine how far the Red Sox go in 2016.

Biggest Storyline: Which Failed 2015 Signee Will Bounce Back?

One reason Cherington is no longer general manager of the Red Sox stems from the complete and total failures of Ramirez and Sandoval in 2015. 

Ramirez and Sandoval essentially agreed to deals with the Red Sox at the same time during the winter of 2014 with a combined value of $193 million, not including option years. They were two of the worst position players in Major League Baseball last season. 

The Red Sox were smart enough to take Ramirez, who was a black hole in left field, and put him at first base with the hope of letting him focus on being the player who posted a .283/.369/.448 slash line two years ago with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Per Scott Lauber of ESPN.com, Ramirez has looked better at first base than anyone with the Red Sox was expecting:

In one of his first game tests, on March 7, Ramirez was unable to scoop a dirt-diving throw by third baseman (Sandoval). But a week later, he came off the bag to glove a wide throw by Sandoval, then reached back to apply a tag. Two nights after that, he was in position to cut off a throw to the plate from right field and throw out a runner at second base. He even made a few diving plays on hard-hit balls down the line.

Lauber did note Ramirez still has to face the test of starting a double play and usual growing pains that come with learning a new position, but he’s taken to the position quickly to give Boston some optimism.

Sandoval is a different story. He once again had to deal with stories about his weight early in spring training, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe:

For as long as Sandoval has been an MLB player, he’s been heavy. It’s just his body type, making the shock and outrage at his physique silly. 

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe started fanning the trade winds involving Sandoval by noting the Padres had a scout in attendance at a Red Sox game specifically to look at the third baseman. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, as opposing teams have scouts at every game every day, but Sandoval wore out his welcome in Boston last year, so this gives fans something to latch onto. 

Plus, if betting on one of Ramirez or Sandoval to have a strong 2016, it would be Sandoval. That’s unusual to say, especially in light of the decision to start him on the bench in favor of Travis Shaw. 

It’s a bold decision that does send a message to everyone on the team that things aren’t business as usual, but Sandoval will not be limited for long. He’s making too much money and the team gains nothing by sitting him. 

Shaw was a pleasant surprise last year, hitting .270/.327/.487 in 65 games, though he is 25 years old and was never highly regarded as a prospect. Players change all the time, but his leap forward was so out of nowhere that it’s OK to be skeptical if he returns to that form over 162 games. 

Ramirez has more natural talent, but he’s 32 years old and has had problems staying healthy. He hasn’t played in more than 128 games since 2012. 

Sandoval, while not a prototypical athlete, does have plenty of athleticism in his husky frame. He’s just 29 years old and played in 298 out of a possible 324 games in his final two years with the San Francisco Giants. 

Per FanGraphs, Sandoval was also unlucky last year with a career-low .270 batting average on balls in play. The Panda has never been a patient hitter, but he’s made such consistent contact that some of those balls that were outs last year are going to fall in this year and dramatically raise his numbers. 

Rising Star: Jackie Bradley Jr. 

I wanted to put Betts or Bogaerts here because they are both 23 years old and fun to talk about, but they played so well in 2015 that it’s hard to justify calling either player a rising star heading into this season. 

Instead, let’s examine Jackie Bradley Jr., a player who seemed to wear out his welcome in Boston before a solid effort in 2015 gave him new life. The 25-year-old didn’t get regular playing time in the big leagues last season until the end of July, yet still managed a solid .249/.335/.498 slash line with 10 homers in 74 games. 

The Red Sox have good outfield depth with Betts capable of playing in center or right field, Brock Holt and Chris Young sharing time in left field and Rusney Castillo in the mix for a corner outfield spot if needed. 

Bradley’s presence in the outfield will be a huge boost. Even when he was struggling with the bat in 2014, his glove was never a problem. The former South Carolina star was credited with 15 defensive runs saved two years ago, per FanGraphs. 

An elite defensive player in center field doesn’t have to do much offensively to be worth three wins above replacement. Bradley somehow fell well below that barrier with the bat in 2014, posting a .198/.265/.266 line in 127 games. 

This spring is continuing last year’s breakout trend for Bradley, with Lauber noting how the outfielder has changed his hitting approach:

[Red Sox assistant hitting coach Victor] Rodriguez and hitting coach Chili Davis have been trying to instill that aggressiveness in Bradley, and the 25-year-old appears to have embraced the idea. He still prides himself on knowing the strike zone and waiting for his pitch, but now, if he gets that pitch early in the count, he isn’t afraid to pounce.

The selective-aggressive approach worked for Bradley last season. He put together a solid spring training that makes it seem more like a legitimate turning-the-corner moment. 

The Red Sox aren’t starved for talent in the outfield, but Bradley’s presence in center field would shift the AL East’s balance of power. 

Prediction

For all of the Red Sox’s problems last year, particularly with Ramirez and Sandoval, they finished fourth in MLB with 748 runs scored. They only figure to get better with Betts gaining more experience following his breakout season, Bogaerts continuing to grow into his power and potential breakout stars in Bradley and catcher Blake Swihart. 

That doesn’t even include veteran stars like Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, who has been susceptible to injuries after missing 96 games over the last two years, so there will be plenty of runs found in Boston. 

Moving Ramirez out of left field immediately upgrades the Red Sox’s outfield defense, though his transition to first base will be a key story to watch early. His hands have never been great, so he has to prove himself capable of consistently picking bad throws from infielders. 

The starting rotation is the biggest question mark. Price is a horse at the top. Eduardo Rodriguez has a chance to emerge as the No. 2 by the end of 2016, but he is battling a knee injury that’s expected to keep him out until May. 

Porcello turned his 2015 season around after the All-Star break, posting a 3.53 ERA in 11 starts, enough to provide hope that things will be better this season. Clay Buchholz has to prove he can stay healthy enough to make 25-30 starts in a season before penciling him in as a No. 2-3 starter. 

The addition of Kimbrel not only gives the Red Sox a lockdown closer, but also helps add length to the bullpen with Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa splitting the seventh- and eighth-inning roles. 

It all adds up to a talented, dynamic roster that will be much better than the 78-win group from 2015. This is not a flawless team, by any means, but they are the strongest team on paper in the AL East and ready to make a return trip to the postseason. 

2016 Record Prediction: 91-71, 1st in AL East

Stats per Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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