A complete guide to the 2009 Major League Baseball season. In depth analysis of all thirty teams with sections dedicated to: management, starting lineups, starting pitching, bullpen and bench along with predictions for the upcoming season and a projected record.
Who will win the World Series?
Who will and won't make the playoffs?
Which players will win the MVP, Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year?
Everything you need to know for the 2009 baseball season is available within these pages.
American League East
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox *
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Toronto Blue Jays
* Denotes predicted Wild Card winner.
New York Yankees
2008 Record: 89-73; Third Place, American League East
2008 Recap:
For the first time since 1993, the playoffs did not include the New York Yankees. The reasons for this event are as follows, in order: they relied too heavily on their vaunted trio of rookie pitchers Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy; they were unable to withstand injuries to key players in Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, Chien-Ming Wang, Chamberlain and Hughes; the Rays were made an unanticipated leap into contention right over both the Yankees and Red Sox; they were trying to transition smoothly from former manager Joe Torre to the young, inexperienced and drastically different Joe Girardi; and their bench was undermanned and unable to pick up the slack effectively for the missing stars.
Considering everything they had to endure and that the world seemed to end because they missed the playoffs, it’s easy to forget that they still managed to win 89 games. In an ordinary season, with the Rays not improving so drastically, the Yankees would probably have made the playoffs again, and their issues wouldn’t have been so glaring.
Girardi experienced a rough transition into the Bronx Zoo on and off the field. Veterans that were used to Torre’s ways—even if they didn’t like him personally—at least knew what to expect. Realistically, with all the injuries, the season probably would’ve ended in a similar fashion had Torre been there, but since Girardi was the main difference between then and now, he took the brunt of the blame; in fact, it was likely the injuries that saved his job.
Mike Mussina stepped into the breach created by the injuries to Wang, Chamberlain and Hughes and won 20 games for the first time. Both Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera had terrible seasons; Cano appeared as if he was disinterested and going through the motions for a big chunk of the season and Cabrera lost his starting job. Even with the flurry of deals that GM Brian Cashman pulled off to fill the Yankees holes with established players Xavier Nady and Ivan Rodriguez, their deficit was too great; their lineup stunningly shaky; and their injuries too much to overcome to reach the playoffs again.
2009 ADDITIONS: LHP C.C. Sabathia signed a 7-year contract.
RHP A.J. Burnett signed a 5-year contract.
1B Mark Teixeira signed an 8-year contract.
OF/1B Nick Swisher was acquired from the Chicago White Sox.
SS Angel Berroa signed a minor league contract.
RHP Kanekoa Texeira was acquired from the Chicago White Sox.
C Kevin Cash signed a minor league contract.
2009 SUBTRACTIONS: RHP Mike Mussina retired.
RHP Carl Pavano was not re-signed.
1B/DH Jason Giambi was not re-signed.
C Ivan Rodriguez was not re-signed.
OF Bobby Abreu was not re-signed.
INF Wilson Betemit was traded to the Chicago White Sox.
RHP Jeff Marquez was traded to the Chicago White Sox.
RHP Jhonny Nunez was traded to the Chicago White Sox.
RHP Darrell Rasner was sold to Japan.
C Chad Moeller was not re-signed.
RHP Chris Britton was released.
2009 PROJECTED LINEUP: C-Jorge Posada; 1B-Mark Teixeira; 2B-Robinson Cano; 3B-Alex Rodriguez; SS-Derek Jeter; LF-Johnny Damon; CF-Brett Gardner; RF-Xavier Nady; DH-Hideki Matsui
2009 PROJECTED STARTING ROTATION: C.C. Sabathia; A.J. Burnett; Chien-Ming Wang; Andy Pettitte; Phil Hughes; Joba Chamberlain (?)
2009 PROJECTED BULLPEN: Mariano Rivera; Jose Veras; Damaso Marte; Edwar Ramirez; Brian Bruney; Jonathan Albaladejo; Phil Coke; Alfredo Aceves; Joba Chamberlain (?)
2009 BENCH: OF/1B/DH-Nick Swisher; C-Jose Molina; INF-Angel Berroa; OF-Melky Cabrera; INF-Cody Ransom
2009 EXTRA PITCHERS/PROSPECTS: Ian Kennedy; Humberto Sanchez; David Robertson; Anthont Claggett; Eric Hacker; Dellin Betances
2009 EVERYDAY PROSPECTS: Juan Miranda; Chris Malec; Seth Fortenberry
ASSESSMENTS:
MANAGEMENT:
Hank Steinbrenner bloviated throughout the season and nothing much was done to follow through on his ranting; his father George would’ve been firing people left and right during and after the season had he been running things as his $200+ million roster was falling behind the Rays and Red Sox in the last season at Yankee Stadium. More and more, it’s becoming clear that Hank is little more than a nuisance who explodes, bullies, threatens…and does nothing to follow through on his emotional reactions. His brother Hal is more levelheaded and deferent to the baseball people in their decisions and the Steinbrenners still spend money to put a superior product on the field.
General Manager Brian Cashman re-signed to stay with the Yankees after the season—a season in which Cashman’s vision of having his manager Girardi; his prospects in the young pitchers; and his desire to be given similar credit that other GMs like Theo Epstein and Billy Beane receive for their work—ended in a Yankee-level disaster (as far as 89 wins can be called a disaster) by missing the playoffs. The charade was over as soon as the season ended; the Yankees were going to do what the Yankees do and that’s spend, spend, spend to fill their holes.
The perception is obviously that the Yankees and Cashman are throwing money at their problems and are therefore increasing their league-high payroll even further, but with the departures of the likes of Pavano, Mussina and Jason Giambi, the Yankees payroll should be, at most, the same as it was last season. That reality isn’t going to change the implication that Cashman’s ideas and goals of being feted as a “genius” on the level of other GMs is being soiled by the failures of his young players; the change in philosophy from development to imports; and that he had little choice but to sign players to fill the holes that his misjudgments created. Cashman’s safe in his job, but his image is taking a big hit and no amount of winning is going to bring it back because it’s a return to business as usual with the Yankees.
Manager Joe Girardi will begin the 2009 season on the hot seat, and rightfully so. Girardi made the obvious types of mistakes that a young manager will make in terms of strategy and personnel, but that paled in comparison to the stories that were coming out of the Yankees clubhouse that the veterans couldn’t get used to the new manager and his cold, aloof manner after so many years with the charming and bigger than life Joe Torre.
Girardi has many attributes that make him look like a solid manager in the future. He’s intelligent; well-spoken and will learn from his mistakes as he goes along. It’s unlikely that he’ll repeat the same errors from last year, at least off the field. On the field, Cashman fired one of Girardi’s hand-picked coaches in third base coach Bobby Meacham and that was more than a GM simply making a change to a different third base coach; that Meacham was fired should be seen as a shot over the bow at Girardi because if it were only a matter of Meacham’s third base coaching skills, then he could’ve been moved to first base or to the bench; firing him was a message that Girardi could be next if things don’t get better in 2009.
This team spent almost half-a-billion dollars in contracts to bring in Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira; if they don’t perform any better than last season’s inconsistent and sniping group, Girardi has to know that he’s the o
