J.A. Happ ready to show off this season
New York Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ, due to injuries to Luis Severino, who will be out the entire season, and even though James Paxton, who is still rehabbing from back surgery, may be ready when the season finally starts. Happ finds himself in the number 3 or 4 slot in the Yankees starting rotation. Happ was coming off a mixed result 2019 season. He wants to show he is a much better pitcher than he exhibited last year. He was 12-8 but with a relatively high ERA of 4.91.
The New York Yankees are happy they decided to keep Happ around during the postseason. Even though he had a winning season, it was still a disappointment to the Yankees as when he came over from the Toronto Blue Jays late in the 2018 season, he astounded going 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA. Happ wants to show that he is that pitcher, and with the injuries and shortened season, the New York Yankees need him to perform.
During spring training that was dramatically shortened by MLB due to the spread of the coronavirus, Happ was well on his way to proving his worth to the Yankees. Jordan Mongomery impressed the least as he pitched to an ERA of 7.40 in four games, newly acquired ace Gerrit Cole only managed an ERA of 7.00, Masahiro Tanaka was second best, in three games had a 1-0 record with an impressive 2.08 ERA. The best pitcher in spring training was J.A. Happ; he went 2-0 with an incredible 1.38 ERA in 14 innings. Happ hopes to carry his performance into the regular season, and have an impact getting the Yankees to the World Series.
Judge, Stanton, Sanchez, and Torres, 150 home runs? They will have help!
Whether the New York Yankees can beat there 2nd in the majors home runs in 2019 pace, depends a lot on if Giancarlo Stanton can live up to the expectations that the Yankees have never really seen. In 2017 the National League MVP hit 59 home runs. In the two years that he has been with the Yankees, he has hit only 41 long balls.  Although his 2018 total of 38 home runs were acceptable, he hit only 3 in 2018 while appearing in only 18 games due to injuries.
Aaron Judge hit only 27 home runs last season playing in only 102 games. Gary Sanchez, who was riddled with injuries, hit 34 long balls while appearing in only 106 games. Gleyber Torres last season was the breakout home run hitter with 38.
The secret to the Yankees beating those totals is that all these power hitters must stay healthy and off the IL. Stanton has the ability to hit 40 easily, Judge will be Judge, and one can expect Torres to continue where he left off last season. Whether the Yankees can beat last year will rely on Gary Sanchez remaining behind the plate. The wild card this year is the impact Miguel Andujar can have on that total.
Miguel has the talent to hit a lot of homers. In 2018 Andujar hit 27 home runs while hitting .297. In a dramatically shortened, he could still hit 18-20 home runs. The New York Yankees missed having Andujar in the lineup as he was out recovering from shoulder surgery. If Andujar can hit 20, Stanton 25, Judge 25, Sanchez 22, and Torres 22 that’s 114 bangers.
With 306 home runs last year, half as many games would cut that total to 152 home runs. But these four players will have a lot of help reaching that pace. Gardner hit 28, LeMahieu 26, Voit 21, Urshela 21, half of their total is 48, add that to 114 and that’s 162 which far exceeds last season’s pace, and that does not include home runs that could add to that total from Mike Tauchman, Aaron Hicks, and Mike Ford.