The New York Yankees have managed to stay afloat among injuries, old age and lackluster play at home so far. A lot of it can be attributed to Mashahiro Tanaka, the Bullpen as a whole, timely hits from bench players, a few streaks by Teixeira, and for unheralded players like Yangervis Solarte and Dellin Betances. The Bronx Bombers will have a tough time competing without the likes of Sabathia, Nova and Pineda for the next stretch, and will not see Nova for the whole year.

The Yankees spent $503 MIL on player salaries in the offseason, and half of the roster is comprised of different guys from last year.

It was a team that also splashed the biggest International signing plus posting fee with their 7 YRs/$175 MIL pact with acquiring Masahiro Tanaka.

Going into the second game of a 7 game homestand versus the Twins (3), a makeup game vs Mariners on Monday, then concluding with a 3 game set against Oakland., the Bronx Bombers are 28 – 25, and 2.5 Games Behind AL East leading Toronto.

While it is too early for the standings really, if the playoffs were to start today, the Yankees would be playing against the Angels in the Wild Card playoff spot.

Fresh from a 5 – 4 road trip through Chicago (both teams) and St. Louis, the team did well to salvage the trip after dropping the 1st two contests to begin with.

For 3 straight weekends in April – May, Mark Teixeira hit HRs in back to back games. He has begun his 2014 season with power we haven’t seen from him in a few years. Tex is on pace to have best year for power since 2009, and with the pitching having several ailments, they desperately need for him to stay in the lineup

At 53 Games Played, the Pinstripers have played 30 games away on the road, compared to just 23 at home.

New York is 11 – 12 at Yankee Stadium, and the squad is 17 – 13 when not feasting on home cooking.

CC Sabathia is out until the ALL – Star Break, and never pitched well to begin with.

The team is missing Robinson Cano (their perennial SS and GG 2B), from last year’s squad.

Ivan Nova is out for the season with TJ surgery.

Michael Pineda is on the mend again, and we are still not sure he has done any throwing legitimately every in his life.

Hiroki Kuroda is throwing the ball to his worst numbers ever as a player in the MLB.

Carlos Beltran is also on the mend, and isn’t living up to his contract yet, putting forth a 3 Slash Line of .234/.286/.410 – with 5 HRs and 15 RBI.

Derek Jeter is doing about as best as you could expect him with a .269 BA so far.  There is hope #2 will heat up as the second half comes around, but he will see his 40th birthday on June 26th.

Brian McCann has 7 HRs and 23 RBI thus far which is alright, but he is featuring only a .657 OPS.

Alfonso Soriano has been okay with his 6 HRs and 19 RBI during the campaign, but he was operating at about a 15 HRs and 45 RBI clip for the same amount games he put forth last year – once he joined the club.

When you look at baseballreference.com, they say the Pythagorean Theory calls for them only to be 25 – 28 right now.

So how are they doing it?

Masahiro Tanaka is the biggest reason of them all.  He is 7 – 1 with a 2.29 ERA, and has been virtually unhittable in all of his starts.

The 25 Year Old Japanese star also is holding a WHIP of 0.974.

Mark Teixeira:  .853 OPS

Yes he is hurt again with wrist problems, but this 1B was playing at his best stretch of play since his 1st year with the Bronx Bombers.

Tex has 9 HRs and 25 RBI in the 125 official AB he has served up this season.  When he is hitting like this, it gives the clubs a bonafide cleanup batter.

The Bullpen

Adam Warren and Dellin Betances have done spade work out of the Relief Core.  Both have lugged over 30 Innings each – with barely having WHIPs of over 1, and ERA’s in the mid 1’s.

David Robertson has picked up where Mariano Rivera has left off, converting 11 out of 12 Saves, with a sparkling 2.20 ERA.

The Pitching Staff in general has had several unsung efforts to speak of.

Chase Whitley and David Phelps have saved the back end of the rotation with decent starting numbers to dare.

Preston Claiborne has also done a fantastic job in late inning relief in the last few weeks.

Bench Play

Great play from Ichiro Suzuki, and timely hits from J.R. Murphy and Brendan Ryan have also helped

Offensive Players of the month April – Yangervis Solarte .865 OPS in April filling in admirably for suspended Alex Rodriguez    (& Jacoby Ellsbury:  .312 BA/.821 OPS and 8 SB and 14 RS in 23 GS.

Offensive Player of the month May – Brett Gardner 18 runs in 24 Games Played, a .771 OPS, and crazy awesome defensive play.

New York is 11 – 11 at Yankee Stadium, and the squad is 17 – 13 when not feasting on home cooking.

Joe Girardi

This guy is also doing a fantastic job running the staff and making key moves within the lineup.

With Beltran  hurt, the OF has only 5 HRs combined between, them – and then you add Jeter and Brian Roberts to the fold, and there is only 3 more added.

Teixeira being on the shelf long term would also be horrible.

Solarte, McCann and Soriano have been okay with the lumber so far on the squad.

If you were to judge the rotation, it is also incredible this squad is surviving.

Tanaka is no doubt an ace, but Kuroda is throwing like a #5, and the Whitley, Phelps are holding up their end, but are no better than #4’s.

Vidal Nuno may need to be replaced shortly.

Pineda coming back into the mix would do the team wonders in going forward.

New York is 10 – 7 in Interleague to make up the most of the difference in games over .500.

The Yankees only have a 3 game series at home against the Reds in July left.

The squad has a bunch of pivotal divisional rival games with the Blue Jays and Rays this month.

By hook or crook, the Pinstripers must stay in contention until the cavalry comes back.

The team should not go forth with any changes either way until after the ALL – Star Break.

The best case scenario is to have Beltran, Teixeira, Sabathia and Pineda all back by July 15th.  The odds are maybe only 2 of them will return back.

The Yankees are sitting at a payroll of about $198 MIL.  If they fall out of contention at any point with meager results, the franchise could trade a few pieces away to fall under the Luxury Tax Threshold – and therefore have a reset.

You could effectively trade Kuroda, Robertson, Suzuki, Soriano, Roberts, Kelly Johnson and Matt Thornton to fall under the mark of $189 clip.

All of those guys are in walk years except for Thornton.

On the flip side, if New York is still in Wild Card contention, or better yet for the Division, lets take a look at players they could pick up the other way.

The caveat with this is that they will look solely to acquire guys on the book only for the remainder of the 2014 campaign.

New York will still be in the position to reset the Luxury Tax Threshold when the 2015 season happens

Even with Alex Rodriguez coming back into the picture, Jeter, Kuroda, Robertson and Johnson, Soriano and Roberts all come off.

You still factor in the raise for Gardner going forward, and it will be about even to this year.

Solarte could take over as a Utility Infielder  – probably to take some serious reps at 2B.

Ryan is coming back, and you have an OF that is made up of Gardner, Ellsbury and Beltran.

They are many players that could be signed as a DH on the open market.

AS for players they could trade for this season..

Seth Smith, Ian Kennedy, Adam Dunn, Chase Headley, Jeff Samardzija, Brandon McCarthy, Jason Hammel, Emilio Bonifacio, Josh Willingham, Kevin Correia, Justin Mastersonm and Carlos Santana,

and a list of others from teams that may still fall out of contention.

The key is to survive the next month – to 6 weeks and give Brian Cashman and management brass a reason why to deal for some help there. If they can’t do maintain, they might as well fall under the luxury tax this year by selling some guys themselves

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***

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