New York Yankees 2011 season preview

Derek Jeter / Chris Ptacek

 The 2011 Major League Baseball season is among us and the Yankees have already played three games here in New York. The "Bronx Bombers" kicked off their first series against the Detroit Tigers. They are off to a great start considering all of the speculation about their potential. In a recent article, The Detroit Press even considered the Yankees as underdogs this season. One of the main factors that could hinder the Yankee's success is the correlation between age and skill among the players they heavily rely on the most such as Derek Jeter. Last year Jeter faced troublesome contract negotiations with the Yankees; however, manager Joe Girardi said, "I really believe he's going to have a good year," when referring to this season.

Many critics argue that Jeter is losing his ability to play at peak performance as he will turn 37 this June. When playing against the Tigers recently, the shortstop showed some trouble reacting to balls hit to either side of him. Last season, Jeter's batting average sunk to .270, marking his first time going below .300 since 2004. In fact, this year he was bumped to number two on the hitting lineup after Brett Gardner took the top spot. Gardner serves well as a leadoff hitter since he has managed to yield a stable .379 on base average since 2009. It will take the right collaboration between returning stars and new talent in the Yankees roster to create an effective hitting line up this year.

On the other hand, the Yankees must also keep into account their pitching rotation since they were not able to make key acquisitions. Earlier in February 2011, we witnessed the retirement of pitcher Andy Pettitte after several months of public speculation. This event followed an earlier disappointment in December of 2010, when the Yankees failed to sign star pitcher Cliff Lee. The Yankees will have to make good use of relief pitcher Rafael Soriano and starter C.C. Sabathia. Manager Joe Girardi realizes Sabathia's worth and plans not to overwork him after Tuesday night's impressive performance against the Minnesota Twins. After seven innings, the pitcher had allowed only two hits and left the Twins scoreless until Soriano took over. Tonight's game against the Twins; however, proved to be a different story, as Soriano did not allow a single run in the eight inning. Only time will tell whether the Yankees will indeed play the underdog card or find themselves heading straight towards their 28th World Series Title.