Kuzul

For a manager, navigating a bullpen through a baseball season is like driving your car down an unkempt road. You try to avoid the damage, but you eventually resign yourself to the understanding that you’ll hit a pothole.

Over the course of a 162-game season, no team’s bullpen looks the same from month to month. There are injuries that force call-ups, doubleheaders that require fresh arms and, inevitably, at least one guy whose struggles force a change.

Teams tend not to count on consistency from their bullpens because they never really get it.

So though the Yankees will be without closer Aroldis Chapman, who will begin the season serving a 30-game suspension for an alleged domestic violence incident, the team’s bullpen will be fine.

Chapman is expected to return from his suspension on May 9.

By trading away relievers Adam Warren and Justin Wilson on consecutive days last December, the team eliminated its depth. But even without Warren, Wilson and the flame-throwing Chapman, the Yankees still have two of the best power-pitching relievers in baseball.

Yankees left-hander Andrew Miller, right-hander Dellin Betances and Chapman were the only three relievers in baseball with 100 strikeouts last season. Those three arms alone may give the Yankees baseball’s best bullpen.

But what general manager Brian Cashman has also given his team, by default, is an insurance policy.

Chapman may be the Yankees’ closer, but that never meant he would close every game. Aside from the suspension, he could get hurt or may just need rest. Any good bullpen has multiple guys capable of closing games anyway.

So, in Chapman’s 30-game absence, there will be people able to competently fill in.

Miller had 36 saves for as the Yankees’ closer last season, and Betances had nine for the club. Miller will again close for the team in Chapman’s absence. But if there is a day Miller needs to rest, Betances has the ability to close too.

Essentially, this team has a trio of pitchers capable of being the primary closer on any number of other ballclubs. When Chapman returns, that’ll be a terrifying thought for the rest of the American League East.

Even without him, Miller and Betances form a formidable back-end tandem.

But to suggest the Chapman hole could be plugged with two players—even two really good relievers—is disingenuous.

After all, a bullpen’s best friend is its starting rotation. The best way to help a bullpen is to use it less frequently, and that comes as the direct result of a team’s starters throwing well.

Of course, manager Joe Girardi won’t tax his rotation early in the season just for the sake of the bullpen. But by simply pitching quality starts, the Yankees starters will have a role in overcoming Chapman’s absence.

Expect them to do just that for the first month of the season.

On Sunday, Masahiro Tanaka, expected to be the team’s Opening Day starter, pitched two scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. Sure, it was a spring training game, but performance in the spring seems like a reasonable indicator of success in April.

C.C. Sabathia pitched well for the Yankees at the end of last season, posting a 2.17 ERA in his final five starts before entering rehab for alcohol addiction—an experience that can only help him remain at his best this season. Luis Severino also played well in 11 starts for the Yankees last season as a rookie.

So, while the starting rotation provides no guarantees, optimism is warranted.

Acquiring Chapman was undoubtedly among baseball’s biggest moves this offseason, but it was a move for September and October—not April.

It would be nice to have Chapman to start the season. He should be criticized heavily for the circumstances that prompted the suspension. Domestic violence is an issue of greater concern than something as trivial as the Yankees bullpen.

Regardless of the reason, though, his absence had to have been expected at some point this season. Even if it wasn’t, the Yankees still appear well prepared.  

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen and like his Facebook page.

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The Steinbrenner family has been synonymous with the New York Yankees since 1973, something managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner does not see changing anytime soon.   

In an interview this week with ESPN.com’s Wallace Matthews, Steinbrenner said he expects the Yankees to remain in the family for many generations to come:

I think all of us feel that way. … This is a family business, and we’re all involved. We all love being a part of this. We all know our dad wanted us to be a part of us (sic), and we all know he’s watching down on us and happy that we’re all a part of it. Believe it or not, to us, that’s a big deal. The idea is, let’s keep it going.

Steinbrenner also confirmed there have already been discussions among the family to eventually have George Steinbrenner’s grandchildren run the franchise: “We got a lot of grandkids, and they’re very interested. The idea is, it’s time to let the young elephants in the tent, in George’s words. So it’s begun.”

There have been rumblings of the Yankees potentially being put up for sale virtually since George Steinbrenner died in 2010. 

In May 2012, Michael O’Keeffe and Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reported the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ sale seemed to pique the Steinbrenner family’s interest in putting the Yankees on the market:

Multiple baseball and finance sources told the Daily News they are hearing that the team the Steinbrenner family has led to seven World Series titles could be put on the block in the wake of the record sale price of $2.175 billion the Los Angeles Dodgers went for in April.“There has been chatter all around the banking and financial industries in the city for a couple of weeks now,” one high-level baseball source told The News.

Hal Steinbrenner, 46, who inherited the team with his brother, Hank, after their father’s death, said they want to keep control of the Yankees because it’s their “way of keeping [their] dad’s legacy alive.”

The Yankees were sold to Steinbrenner in 1973 for a net cost of $8.8 million. The franchise has won seven World Series titles in the subsequent 43 years and become a sports juggernaut in the process. 

Matthews broached the topic of selling the Yankees with Steinbrenner because Forbes valued the franchise at $3.2 billion, tied with the Dallas Cowboys for No. 2 in all of sports. Given what his father paid for the team, that would be a nice return on investment. 

However, Steinbrenner said “it’s all money that we don’t really need.”

While there’s no doubt the Yankees would bring in a huge offer if the Steinbrenner family put them up for sale, they don’t have any impetus to do so. They clearly aren’t hurting for money, which was one reason the Dodgers were sold four years ago. 

The value of sports teams, especially in a market the size of New York, continues to go up. The Steinbrenners know they can wait a long time to put the franchise up for sale without risking any money. 

Business people will always explore options, but the marriage between the Steinbrenner family and the New York Yankees figures to continue for many years. 

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For the last seven years, Mark Teixeira has been paid large sums of money to play ball for the New York Yankees. It’s good work if you can get it, and the stars are aligned in such a way that 2016 might not be the end of the road.

Teixeira is coming off a renaissance season in 2015, as he finished with a .906 OPS and 31 home runs in only 111 games. After a year like that, it’s hardly an eyebrow-raiser that the soon-to-be 36-year-old first baseman who is going into the final year of his contract has a hop in his step and big plans for his future.

“I think I have a lot of good years left in me especially after last year,” Teixeira told reporters last week, per Wallace Matthews of ESPN.com. “I’d love to play five more years; I’d love to play until I’m 40. My body feels so good, why not play until I’m 40? Being the kind of hitter I am, I can be a DH the last few years of my career, which could really prolong it. I would love to play that long.”

As to whether Teixeira would prefer to stay in pinstripes for the duration, well, duh.

“That’s the easiest question you could ask me,” he said. “I’d love to stay here, but we’ll see what happens at the end of the year.”

The Yankees have paid Teixeira north of $20 million per year throughout the eight-year, $180 million contract they signed him to in 2008. Now, one presumes he’s so gung-ho about staying with the Yankees because he knows how deep their vaults go and, also, what kind of position he’s in.

At the prospect of Teixeira earning another big-money contract with a huge walk year in 2016, two versions of history are throwing back their heads and doing the Ganondorf laugh.

One is Teixeira’s own recent history. He’s an old man by baseball standards, and 2015 was the first time in a while that he didn’t look the part. Injuries limited him to just 261 games between 2012 and 2014, in which he also OPS’d just .751. After a stretch like that, 2015 looks suspiciously like an outlier.

Then there’s baseball history. Teixeira may have redeemed himself in his age-35 season last year, but the track record of 36-year-olds doesn’t like his odds of a repeat. Only 11 players have topped a .900 OPS and 30 homers in their age-36 season. For that matter, only 35 players have ever done so well as an .800 OPS and 25 homers.

While we’re checking off reasons not to be optimistic, we should also address the theory that players in walk years are likely to benefit from extra motivation. Studies done on that subject—such as the one that the St. Louis Cardinals did on their own, as reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch—have generally concluded in shrugs. For every Zack Greinke, there tends to be an Ian Desmond.

So why be optimistic about Teixeira, then? Oh, you know. Reasons and such.

Despite his recent trouble with injuries, it’s actually easy to take Teixeira’s word for it that he’s feeling good going into 2016. The injury that ended his 2015 season was a broken leg brought about by fluky circumstances. Up until then, a new diet and enough time to recover from previous injuries had him feeling the best he’d felt in years.

“I’m just very thankful,” Teixeira told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News last June. “I’m very thankful for the health and I just hope that continues.”

Teixeira also benefited from taking a different approach into 2015. After getting routinely humbled by infield shifts in previous seasons, he told Erik Boland of Newsday that his plan to fight back against the shift was to render it moot.

The plan in his own words: “Hit more home runs, hit more doubles and walk more.”

And it worked. Teixeira’s 12.8 walk percentage was his highest since 2010, a byproduct of his lowest chase rate (25.4 O-Swing%) since his first year in pinstripes in 2009. And he did indeed turn up the power, posting his best slugging percentage in years.

As Dylan Higgins notes at FanGraphs, that had a lot to do with Teixeira turning fly balls into home runs at a career-best 23.5 percent clip. Considering his advanced age, that makes it too easy to wonder if a regression is in order. 

However, Teixeira didn’t just say he wanted to hit for more power and make it happen with a snap of his fingers. He helped himself by pushing his overall fly-ball percentage back over 40 in just the way he needed to. With an assist from FanGraphs, here’s a graph that shows he pulled a lot more fly balls without sacrificing any hard contact on fly balls:

That’s a combination that would lead to more power. A healthy fly-ball habit is the best baseline for a consistent power stroke, and a pull habit produces more power than an opposite field or up-the-middle habit. As for the benefit of consistent hard contact, well, use your imagination.

If Teixeira’s plan for 2016 is to stick with what worked in 2015, it could work again. That would help his case for a new contract, and what might help even more are various circumstances that could make his production look especially important.

As impressive as Teixeira’s turnaround in 2015 was, it got overshadowed by what Alex Rodriguez was doing. Despite being sidelined for all of 2014 and posting steadily dwindling numbers even before then, he OPS’d .842 with 33 home runs while serving as the Yankees’ everyday designated hitter.

But where Teixeira’s return to relevance in 2015 passes the believability test, it’s harder to give A-Rod’s season a passing grade.

Rodriguez completely ran out of gas at the end of the year, by which point he was striking out in nearly 30 percent of his plate appearances and struggling to make consistent hard contact. Basically, he finally started looking like a 39-year-old on the downswing of his career. 

And for A-Rod’s age-40 season in 2016, he’ll be attempting to repeat production (.840-plus OPS and 30-plus homers) that only one player in history has achieved at such an advanced age. That is, the odds would seem to be way more against him than they are against Teixeira.

If Teixeira indeed continues to rake while A-Rod plummets, the Yankees are inevitably going to find themselves wary about cutting Teixeira loose and trusting A-Rod to be their primary slugger in the final year of his contract in 2017. That could inch them closer to satisfying Teixeira’s wish of a new contract.

Of course, the alternative would be to hand Teixeira’s first base gig to his heir apparent, Greg Bird. But with the 23-year-old out for all of 2016 following shoulder surgery, doing so would require a leap of faith on his health and readiness.

With Teixeira openly—and likely strategically—expressing his willingness to move into a full-time DH role down the line, the Yankees could re-up with him on a multiyear deal and then play some musical chairs after 2017. They could wave goodbye to A-Rod, move Teixeira into his vacated DH spot and move a fully recovered Bird into Teixeira’s vacated gig at first base.

As for what kind of contract could keep Teixeira around, there’s not exactly a clear picture of what constitutes fair compensation for a slugger heading into his late 30s. But two recent deals stand out: Victor Martinez signing for four years and $68 million coming off his age-35 season and Carlos Beltran signing for three years and $45 million coming off his age-36 season.

A new deal for Teixeira could fall somewhere in the middle of those two. To throw something out there, perhaps three years in the $50-55 million range. To sweeten it, the Yankees could throw in an option for a fourth year that would keep him in New York through his age-40 season.

It may not sound like much relative to the $180 million deal that Teixeira will be wrapping up this season. But it would make him a significantly richer man all the same, and it would fit reasonably well in the Yankees’ future.

Now that we have it all figured out on paper, all Teixeira has to do is go and do more or less exactly what he did in 2015. If he can manage that, he may retire a Yankee after all.

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

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New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has been suspended 30 games by Major League Baseball for his alleged involvement in a widely publicized domestic violence incident, as first reported by Billy Witz of the New York Times.

The bigger news, though, is that MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred have taken a strong and unambiguous stand against domestic violence. And if their policy isn’t zero-tolerance, it’s close to it.

In a statement, per Maury Brown of Forbes, Manfred said his staff conducted a “comprehensive investigation” into the incident, which occurred Oct. 30 at Chapman’s home near Miami.

“After reviewing the staff report, I found Mr. Chapman’s acknowledged conduct on that day to be inappropriate…particularly his use of a firearm and the impact of that behavior on his partner,” the statement continued.

That “use of a firearm” bit refers to Chapman firing eight shots from a gun into the wall of his garage. Chapman’s girlfriend also said the pitcher choked and shoved her, though she later recanted and no charges were filed, per Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media.

“I never hurt anybody,” Chapman said Feb. 23, per Kuty. “Never in my life.”

The flame-throwing closer didn’t budge from that claim Tuesday, but he sounded a more contrite note after the suspension was announced.

“Today, I accepted a 30-game suspension from Major League Baseball resulting from my actions on October 30, 2015,” he said in a statement, via Witz. “I want to be clear, I did not in any way harm my girlfriend that evening. However, I should have exercised better judgment with respect to my actions, and for that I am sorry.”

Chapman said his decision not to appeal was made “in an effort to minimize the distractions” to the Yankees and his family.

The Yankees will be impacted regardless, though they have Andrew Miller waiting to resume ninth-inning duties. But that’s analysis for another day. For now, back to the message Manfred sent.

A 30-game suspension is far more than a token punishment. Chapman is entering a contract year. Now, he’ll have just four-fifths of a season to set up his next payday.

Remember, this isn’t the only domestic violence case MLB is mulling. Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes was recently placed on paid leave pending an investigation into an alleged incident of abuse against his wife that took place Oct. 31 at a luxury hotel in Hawaii.

And Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig could face sanction after a reported altercation at a Miami bar in November.

Now that the Chapman shoe has dropped, it would seem to increase the likelihood of suspensions or some form of discipline for Reyes and Puig.

All of this, it must be said, is taking place against the backdrop of increased scrutiny of domestic violence committed by athletes, particularly those in the National Football League. In November, Ken Belson of the New York Times branded it the NFL’s “recurring quandary.”

“Public-relations nightmare” might be more accurate.

Of course, domestic violence touches on far bigger issues than the PR status of a professional sports league. This is grave stuff with far-reaching social and legal ramifications.

But let’s face it: Pro sports is a business, and bad publicity hurts the bottom line. No doubt Manfred and Co. watched the NFL fumble the issue and declared, “We can do better.”

Whether they have—or will—is open to debate. Some might view the Chapman suspension as too light, even given the lack of legal charges. If a positive performance-enhancing drug test can trigger an 80-game suspension, for example, shouldn’t troubling incidents like these be given equal or greater weight?

The takeaway, however, is that MLB is serious. The new domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy the league and players’ union agreed to in August has teeth.

After dragging his feet and drawing out the Chapman decision, Manfred drew a line: Domestic violence won’t be tolerated or swept under the rug. Whatever your take on this particular case, that’s unequivocally good news.

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New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman is awaiting potential suspension from Major League Baseball for his involvement in a domestic dispute with his girlfriend.

Continue for updates.

MLB Expected to Rule on Potential Suspension This Week

Monday, Feb. 29

MLB reportedly will decide if Chapman will be suspended this week, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.  

“This could be one of those (situations) where an appeal could be expedited,” MLBPA union chief Tony Clark told Jayson Stark of ESPN.com on Monday, speaking about Chapman’s hearing and potential appeal. He added, though, there was no concrete understanding in place between the union and the league.

Chapman, 28, already told Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media he would appeal any suspension by the league.

His teammate, Alex Rodriguez, spoke to reporters about the advice he would give Chapman in the event the talented reliever is suspended, per Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News:

In October, Chapman’s girlfriend, Christina Barnea, claimed the pitcher choked and shoved her after a dispute over something Barnea had discovered on Chapman’s phone. Authorities also verified that Chapman had discharged a shotgun eight times in his garage after the dispute.

Barnea later recanted her claims of assault, however, and Chapman wasn’t charged with a crime for the incident.

The closer, who was acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in December for minor leaguers Caleb Cotham, Rookie Davis, Eric Jagielo and Tony Renda, is expected to lock down the back end of a solid Yankees bullpen that also includes Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances.

Chapman, who regularly hits 100 mph on his fastball, finished the 2015 season 4-4 with a 1.63 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, 33 saves and 116 strikeouts in 66.1 innings pitched. His addition could give the Yankees one of the best bullpens in all of baseball, with Betances, Miller and Chapman locking down the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

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It’s spring training, so everyone can dream. And the biggest dream shared in the early days of New York Yankees camp was the one about Michael Pineda.

“I want to throw 200 innings this year,” Pineda said, per Erik Boland of Newsday. “That’s my goal.”

Everyone can dream, even a guy who has had so much trouble staying healthy he has totaled 408 innings in the five seasons since he made his major league debut. He didn’t pitch at all in two of those seasons, but that’s still only an average of 136 innings in the three seasons he did make it to the mound.

Everyone can dream, and the Yankees can dream that Pineda will even approach 200 innings for the first time in his career. And that Masahiro Tanaka‘s elbow will stay healthier than it has in his first two big league seasons. And that Nathan Eovaldi‘s rebuilt elbow ligament isn’t reaching its limit now that he’s nine years out from Tommy John surgery. And that…

Is there anything certain in this Yankee rotation?

The high-end possibilities are exciting enough that it’s possible to see the Yankees as a playoff team in 2016. Pineda was brilliant at times last year, including in a 16-strikeout game against the Baltimore Orioles. Eovaldi looked like a breakout star until elbow problems ended his season. Tanaka had enough good starts that people stopped demanding he be given immediate Tommy John surgery to repair his partially torn ligament.

Luis Severino looked so good in his 11 starts that he could have been the choice to start the Wild Card Game. CC Sabathia pitched better once they found him a good knee brace.

Give these guys 200 innings each and you’ve got one of the best rotations in the game. But can any of them pitch even 170 innings? Last year, not one of them did.

The only other team in baseball without a 170-inning starter was the Colorado Rockies.

There’s so much uncertainty here that when columnist Joel Sherman of the New York Post went searching for a Yankee pitcher who might qualify for the ERA title (minimum 162 innings) with an average or better adjusted ERA, he came up with Severino as the most likely possibility.

He took the kid, the guy who turned 22 just this week, the guy the Yankees have treated so carefully that his 161.2 combined innings in 2015 were easily a career high.

At least Severino didn’t spend any time on the disabled list. He’s the only Yankees starting pitcher who can say that.

Most of the focus in Yankees camp has been on the bullpen, and especially on Aroldis Chapman. That’s understandable, because the bullpen is exciting, and Chapman is the newest reason it’s exciting—and he’s potentially facing a suspension for a domestic violence incident.

But the Yankees bullpen was one of baseball’s best last year, with only 12 blown saves (tied with the Cleveland Indians for the fewest in the majors). And while the back end of the bullpen may be more exciting with Chapman, the overall pen may not be any deeper.

No matter how much the Yankees talk about shortening games, and no matter how much baseball has embraced the bullpen game that helped the Kansas City Royals win a World Series, the bigger key to this Yankee season is whether the fragile rotation holds up.

They’ll need innings out of their starters, and more than that they’ll need starts out of their starters. The trade for second baseman Starlin Castro cost the Yankees Adam Warren, who was part of their bullpen depth but was also a useful fill-in for the rotation. General manager Brian Cashman went into the winter hoping to acquire a controllable young starter, but it was the one goal he couldn’t accomplish.

For now, the Yankees have six starters (Tanaka, Sabathia, Eovaldi, Pineda, Severino and Ivan Nova), and little reason for confidence in what comes behind them. Besides Sabathia, who is 35 years old with bad knees, they have just one pitcher who has made 30 starts in a major league season. Eovaldi started 33 times for the Miami Marlins in 2014, then dropped back to 27 starts in 2015.

Maybe this is the year they all stay healthy. Then again, spring training has just begun and the Yankees still aren’t sure Tanaka will be ready for Opening Day.

Maybe he will be. Maybe Sabathia bounces back. Maybe Severino carries last September’s success over a full season. Maybe Eovaldi‘s elbow holds up.

And maybe this is the year Michael Pineda really does throw 200 innings.

Hey, it’s spring. Everyone can dream.

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 New York Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman gets suspended for an alleged domestic dispute, he will reportedly not be able to serve part of it during spring training.  

According to a Tuesday report by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, citing a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to discuss it, Chapman’s potential suspension will not include exhibition games.    

Shaikin’s report noted that the commissioner ultimately decides suspensions under the domestic violence policy, whereas the drug policy mandates suspensions include only regular-season and playoff games. 

On Feb. 20, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reported that part of Chapman’s punishment could include a ban from participating in spring training. 

A source told Feinsand that “while a spring training ban is hardly a certainty, nothing could be ruled out since the new agreement leaves MLB and its players ‘in new territory’ when it comes to discipline in domestic violence cases.”

Joel Sherman of the New York Post echoed Feinsand’s report, adding that “at the request of the club and with the consent of the Commissioner’s Office, the player may participate in non-public workouts or at the club’s spring training facility.”

On Feb. 21, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney wrote that suspending a player for spring training games under the domestic violence policy would “be seen as an empty gesture by a lot of players and fans. There is no way around that.”

Tim Brown and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports obtained police reports in which Chapman allegedly fired a gun eight times in the garage of his home in Miami and his girlfriend told police he “‘choked’ her and pushed her against a wall.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers originally agreed to a deal with the Cincinnati Reds to acquire Chapman, but moved on from the left-hander following the domestic violence allegations, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The Yankees dealt four minor leagues to Cincinnati on Dec. 28 for Chapman. 

Rafael Olmeda of the Miami Sun Sentinel reported on Jan. 21 that Chapman wouldn’t face criminal charges in the case. 

However, per Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said on Feb. 19 he expects “that we will have some action on at least two out of the three [domestic violence cases] in the next few days.”

Chapman has stated to the media he plans to appeal any suspension MLB hands down in the case. It’s unclear how many games the 27-year-old could be suspended for, as Manfred can decide appropriate punishment at his discretion, per terms of the agreement between MLB and the union. 

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All New York Yankees can check their attitudes at the door—along with any other excessive outward emotions or opinions.

Following the trend of encouraging progressively more prescribed athlete reactions, the renowned baseball organization aimed to instill within its players the makings of a proper postgame interview.

Their subjects of study? Quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Cam Newton.

According to ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand, the session went something like this: 

During the Yankees’ media training, the Super Bowl is being used to portray the right and wrong way to act. Part of a video shown to pitchers and catchers compares how Cam Newton handled his Super Bowl loss to the way Russell Wilson dealt with his defeat the previous year.

Sports fans are already well aware of the dichotomy between Wilson’s polite bow and Newton’s abrupt exit, but as many have pointed out, passion is a difficult thing to quell.

Wilson’s teammate Richard Sherman was mightily criticized for his own postgame outburst. Recently, fellow Seahawks defensive back Earl Thomas took to Twitter to criticize the NFL’s restrictions on individual expression. 

The various personalities seem to suit Seattle, but don’t expect the Yanks to be embracing the assortment of commentary. If tight-lipped is what they’re aiming for, however, perhaps Marshawn Lynch would have been the best example of all. 

[Yahoo Sports]

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New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been through some dark times during his 21-year MLB playing career.

For starters, playing for a club like the Yankees can bring a lot of pressure.

“I think it always starts on the field, especially when you’re a New York Yankee,” Rodriguez said, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “You expect to go to the World Series every year. But in a world where we get judged by wins and losses, home runs and RBI, I started thinking about other things.”

He’s dealt with injuries and fan disdain, but a yearlong suspension during the 2014 season resulting from the Biogenesis scandal was his lowest point. However, after resurrecting his career with 33 home runs and 86 RBI in 2015, Rodriguez said he is in a great place now, per Nightengale:

There were a lot of doubts, a lot of sleepless nights. But I think the suspension in many ways was a catalyst for me. It really helped me.

In order for me to move things forward and to really understand myself, I was going to have to have a paradigm shift.

It’s propelled me to be in a much better place.

That’s a major revelation for a player who at 40 years old is defying the odds and still producing in a game meant for the young and spry. The steroid scandal would have been the end for a lot of players. However, Rodriguez has always been stubborn, and he fought through it, according to friend and mentor Jim Bernhardt, per Nightengale:

He has grown up and has started to accept who he is. The difference in him now is night and day. To watch his progress is fascinating.

When he first came back, he told me, “Mr. Bernhardt, I made a lot of mistakes. I’m going to surround myself with better people. I want to meet good people.” That’s one of the things that got him into a lot of trouble. He was hanging with the wrong people.

You look at him now, and he not only has lived through it, but, really, he has become a true man. He took a few different side roads to get here, but now he’s heading down the right path.

While Major League Baseball handed out the yearlong suspension, and Rodriguez sued MLB and the MLBPA, he also was at odds with the Yankees, with whom he had signed a 10-year, $295 million contract in 2008. Initially refusing to pay Rodriguez’s home run bonus, New York barely acted like he existed outside of putting him in the lineup.

Now, it’s scheduled Alex Rodriguez Bat Day for May 14 and has plans to celebrate if he hits 27 home runs and ties Babe Ruth for third on the all-time list with 714, per Nightengale.

Rodriguez seems like he’s at peace for the first time since the Seattle Mariners took him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1993 draft, per Nightengale:

One of the things I focused on a lot serving my suspension was the impact my actions had on other people. Just the responsibilities for my actions. I spent a lot of time thinking about that.

I’m a better teammate now, a better father, a better friend, a better partner in business. Really, everything.

I’m in a good place now. A great place, really. I never knew it was possible for me to feel like this.

It seems as though he’s happy being around a baseball diamond, even if it’s at the home of the Miami Hurricanes and not Yankee Stadium:

While focused on playing, Rodriguez is also putting his talents and fame to good use. After New York was knocked out of the playoffs last season, he served as a commentator with Fox Sports and received rave reviews from executive producer John Entz, per Nightengale:

I’ve never seen anybody hit the ground running like Alex did. From Day 1 on the air, it was hard not to stop what you were doing to hear what Alex had to say.

I think people had this image of Alex. But once you got to know him and people saw his personality, how humble he was and how much passion he had for the game, they really embraced him. His ceiling now is through the roof.

Rodriguez also said he wants to be more involved in helping the Hispanic community around the country, especially focusing on financial literacy, per Nightengale.

It’s quite a turnaround for a player many thought would never step foot on an MLB field again after his 2014 suspension, and it was easy to root against the player who seemingly had it all and threw it away with unethical decisions.

He has paid his dues and is looking to give back to the game, and everyone else around him, as much as he can, per Nightengale.

“I know I’m only going to be a player for a short time longer, but I know I can make a difference off the field forever,” he said.

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The New York Yankees have the right idea. The bigger question is whether they have the right players.

The Yankees are trying to rebuild without rebuilding, to get younger and better without coming close to any charge of tanking a season. The process is difficult enough that they haven’t won a playoff game since 2012 but so far painless enough that they’ve stayed in the 84-87 win zone that at least guarantees some form of contention.

They spent 100 days in first place in the American League East last year, with a team built mostly on the very old (Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira) and the fairly young (Didi Gregorius, Nathan Eovaldi, Dellin Betances). They hung on to win a spot in the American League Wild Card Game, in large part because when they needed late help, then-22-year-old Greg Bird and 21-year-old Luis Severino were there to provide it.

So now we come to 2016, after another winter where the Yankees stayed out of the free-agent market and their biggest position-player acquisition was again a 20-something infielder acquired in a trade. If new second baseman Starlin Castro does as well as his new double-play partner Gregorius did in his first Yankee season, the building process will be seen as working.

But just as the Yankees eventually needed Bird (after Teixeira got hurt) and Severino (after Eovaldi got hurt), they’re sure to need help from the farm system again this year. That’s even more true now, with Bird out for the season after shoulder surgery.

And that’s why two of the first players featured in stories coming out of Yankees camp were outfielder Aaron Judge (by Dan Martin in the New York Post) and catcher Gary Sanchez (by Anthony McCarron in the New York Daily News). They’re not the two best prospects in the Yankees’ improved farm system—20-year-old shortstop Jorge Mateo is an even better long-term bet—but they could be the ones who make a difference in 2016.

Neither figures into the Yankees’ projected everyday lineup, but when your everyday lineup includes seven guys on the wrong side of 30, it’s best to figure some of those guys won’t make it every day. The Yankees got 500-plus plate appearances out of A-Rod, Beltran and catcher Brian McCann in 2015, and 462 from Teixeira, but a plan built around them better include backup plans.

That’s especially true behind the plate, with the Yankees trading John Ryan Murphy to the Minnesota Twins in the deal for outfielder Aaron Hicks. While Sanchez hasn’t been handed the backup spot behind McCann, the path is certainly open for him.

One rival scout who follows the Yankees system closely predicted Sanchez will open eyes this spring with his powerful arm and powerful bat, but he said big questions remain.

“His bat’s going to play,” the scout said. “But defensively, he’s got a really long way to go. He doesn’t block balls well, and he doesn’t have good hands. He’s probably a 35-40 [on a 20-80 scouting scale] defensively.”

Sanchez, who will play all this season at 23, hit 18 home runs in 365 minor league at-bats in 2015. He led the Arizona Fall League with seven home runs in 88 at-bats.

He still may not have as much power as Judge, the 6’7″ outfielder who has 37 home runs in two minor league seasons.

The trade with the Twins that potentially opened a spot for Sanchez created something of a roadblock for Judge, with Hicks now an option to start in the outfield if one of the three starters (Beltran, Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury) is hurt. One scout who follows the American League Central said Hicks could be a surprisingly important addition.

“I think he’s ready to click,” the scout said.

Judge will still get attention, and with his .224 batting average and .680 OPS after last year’s midseason move to Triple-A, you could argue he’ll benefit from some more minor league time.

“Every place he’s gone, he’s gotten better the longer he has stayed,” said the scout familiar with Yankee prospects. “The slider is still an issue for him, and he tends to be tentative, taking pitches and getting himself into bad counts.

“But he has monster power.”

That power has had Yankee fans wanting to see more of Judge, and it earned him the top spot among Yankee prospects in a winter ranking by MLB.com. It’s why Judge will be one of the biggest names to watch when the Yankees start playing exhibition games—and why he could be one of the Yankee keys later this summer.

It may not matter, if the fragile starting rotation doesn’t hold together. It may not matter, if all the old guys start to show their age.

But if this latest stage of the Yankees’ building plan goes pretty much the way the last few have, there’s going to be a point during the season when they’ll need a boost. There’s going to be a point when they’ll need some help.

Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez could be the two guys who provide it.

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

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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