WE STAY FOR ALL NINE!

If I had a penny for every time someone told me that the bullpen would be the most exciting part of the Yankees team this year I would have a small fortune. I could take a nice vacation, put a dent in my car payment and maybe payoff my small balance left on my student loan. I'm dreaming here I know.....but still, why don't people have faith in this team?

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to start an Internet feud with  Wally Matthews, we like him here at BYB, but sometimes I just don't agree. That's the beautiful thing about this blog and sports journalism in general. It is OK to have a different opinion. We happen to have a good relationship with Wally. He's a smart and honest writer. In this case, I just happen to disagree. Shocking, I know.

So on Tuesday Wally Matthews came out with THIS article. I understand why people are scrutinizing the state of the Yankees rotation and offense. Even I have concerns, but the last thing I am going to do is count this team out. Our bullpen is going to be impressive. That is something any baseball enthusiast will agree with. However, don't discredit the rest of this team. Sure, the back end of the bullpen is going to be exciting to watch but the Yankees have other things going for them.

Wally mentions the best chance to even get to see Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, or Aroldis Chapman is if Masahiro Tanaka is the starting pitcher. Not to knock on Tanaka, but I think we are still waiting to see more from him.

We want to see more than 25 starts a season and we want to see him be effective and pitch deep into the game without giving up a bunch of runs. Right now, I would say he has underachieved.

I am still anxious to see if Luis Severino can pick up where he left off and if Nathan Eovaldi can bounce back from his injury. He was such an important piece of the rotation last year and when he went down he was noticeably missed.

I think Wally underestimates the offense here too. Last season the Yankees were second in the AL in runs scored. They have proven that they can score the runs and if Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran can stay healthy this season they could put up big numbers. This team is not reliant on the pitching. We were also fourth in attendance last year with over three million seats sold only behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, St Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants so people are still coming to watch the Yankees no matter how much attention people want to try and bring to the empty seats.

So I do not understand this "no need to rush" to the stadium concept. This team has a lot of potential and the draw of the game shouldn't be to watch the game from the sixth inning and on. We don't spend our hard earned money for three short innings of relief appearances and the Yankees are finally getting young again! I can't wait to see how this team gels together. I just have a feeling that there is going to be some amazing team chemistry that is going to lead to an impressive season.

Big things are coming this year, and you can quote me on it. So grab your tickets while you can (just remember not to print them out!) and break out the old score cards. There will be plenty to watch from first pitch all the way to that last pitch from Chapman......I can feel it.



   
--Jeana Bellezza, 
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 
 





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