2023 New York Yankees season preview

I'm Chris Rahi. Welcome to CBS News New York opening day's presentation. It's been 158 days since the Yankees were swept by their arch rivals, the Houston Astros. And for many fans, it's still a sting that lingers. But with a new season on the horizon, excitement couldn't be higher for another season. And of course, another chance to win another world championship for the Yankees. It would be number 28. Let's take a look at the lineup for today's game against the San Francisco Giants. Gary Cole will take the mound for the Bombers. D. J. LeMahieu will lead off in the lineup, playing second base Aaron Judge starting in center field and batting second. Anthony Rizzo back at first base. Giancarlo Stanton batting cleanup playing right field today. Josh Donaldson will patrol the hot corner for the Bombers. Claybert Torres will serve as the D. H. Today. Oswaldo Cabrera will play left field. Jose Trevino at the backstop position and the new start of the lineup. New Jersey's very own Anthony Volpe will be making his first major league start at shortstop. He is the product of Del Barton School in Morristown. He was the 30th pick in the first round of the 2019 Major League Amateur Draft and our Steve Obermeyer. Our first round pick is at Yankee Stadium, where we're less than 30 minutes away from first pitch. Steve Volpe, all the hype surrounding him this season, but he went out in spring training. He earned the job. He got the job. And now the 21 year old makes his start in the center of the infield later today. Yeah, I mean, he hit 302 this spring. He did a tremendous job. This was not a job that was gifted to him. And when we walked into this, think about when we first went down there for spring training, we weren't sure who the who the shortstop was going to be. Was it gonna be I. K. F. Was it going to be Cabrera? Wasn't going to be peraza. We didn't know any of the others. Sorry about that. We didn't know any of those. But nonetheless, the sorry apologize. I shouldn't turn my phone off in the middle of the live shot. But nonetheless, we didn't know who the starting shortstop was going to be. But still, it was this rookie who kind of came out of nowhere. And let's be honest with you, Chris. The Yankees have pinned a lot of their hopes on Volpe becoming the guy that he is right now. Remember, over the past couple of years, they had chances to go after guys like Manny Machado and Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa. But they always believed that somebody in the system is going to rise up, and that is the homemade kid in Anthony Volpe. Did you, by chance, did you get a chance to see the viral video that obviously went viral of of Aaron Boone telling him that he made it to the majors? I did. Yes, I thought that was a great way to welcome. I lost you there for a second there, Chris. But I will say that the that that that turned into something that was just just an amazing moment. And that is something that, by the way, has become a I guess something that managers have been doing year in and year out to try to throw players off the scent by telling them, you know, we only have 26 guys that are going to be available. But instead, we're actually gonna make you part of the team. I spoke with his coach about this, and his response to seeing that video was a little two sided. Take a listen. I thought it was pretty cool. And the other part of me said, Man, that's pretty cruel, you know? But you know, anyway, you find out you're gonna be starting on opening day for the for the Yankees is just terrific. Anthony is not the biggest guy. He's not the fastest guy, but he's a baseball player. And to the Yankees credit, you know, they believed in everything they saw to him. Yeah, well, they believed in him, and clearly he's someone that Derek Jeter even believes in. I mean, this is a kid who, when he was growing up, idolized Derek Jeter. And again, that was really only just a few years ago, because the kids only 21 years old. So Jeter actually tweeted at him and basically said, Welcome to the club. Welcome to the club of being a shortstop at with the Yankees and a shortstop at Yankee Stadium. It's just something that this is just something that makes opening day so special to see a young kids wildest dreams come true. And now he's gonna be patrolling the same dirt that Derek Jeter patrolled at shortstop at Yankee Stadium. So can I can I ask you, Steve, about the pressure that is on him? He'll be wearing number 11. Obviously, the 1st 10 options were not available by the Yankees. So number 11 is the next available number, because every number is retired. But how much pressure is on this young man? He's 21 years old. You even heard his old coach from Del Barton say he's not the biggest. He's not the fastest, but obviously he's got some intangibles because, as you mentioned, Brian Cashman, the rest of the Yankees organization has basically made him untouchable for any type of trade over the last few years. So they have had this kid earmarked for this position for quite some time. Well, yeah, and I think that is the intangibles that you talk about. I mean, it's that he's a good teammate. He was. The coach basically told us that he was the leader of this team, but he wasn't an outspoken leader pounding his chest, rah rah and overconfident. He had this calm confidence ever since he was in little league that he's taken with him now to the major leagues. That calmness has actually become his trademark and being able to manage your anxiety is something that you have to be able to do as a major leaguer. As a matter of fact, that's something that made Darren Jeter who he was. His ability to calm himself down in those clutch moments. We're gonna find out whether or not his anxiety management skills have that carried him to the majors will be able to help him through. And I would imagine the answer to that is absolutely yes. You know, he has this ability to just kind of settle himself down according to his coach and rise up in the most important moments. And I guess we're gonna find out this year whether or not it carries over. It is definitely going to be a baptism by fire. They're not using him in at all. Opening day. You're out there at shortstop, young man. So we wish him obviously the very best because we want to see he's a good kid. He's got a great family. We'd love to see him have success there at that position. Let's talk about the rest of this team. We know how Yankee fans are, especially with the chase for 28 right now. The last couple of years, they've obviously hit a roadblock called the Houston Astros come the end of the season. You got a guy like the captain. Aaron Judge has a record breaking your last year. Does he need to match those numbers or dare I say even improve on them to get the Yankees over the hump this year? I think that he certainly has that number in his mind. He doesn't think that 62 is his ceiling. He believes that 73 could be his ceiling. But he also reiterated in spring training that this isn't about his home run chase. It's about their record and about their wins and whether or not they get to the World Series. Does he need to be the guy for this offense? I mean, absolutely. He is the catalyst for this team, but the guys, the rest of the team just needs to stay healthy. If you remember at the end of the season last year with D. J. LeMay, you got hurt. You saw the offensive numbers just falter and no matter what Aaron Judge does, he can hit a 500 ft home run. But if there's nobody on base in front of him only counts for one run, you need guys on base. And I think that when you see the rules changes that we've had this year, Major League Baseball, you're going to have a lot more base runners, which is going to increase the value of the home run because it's no longer a solo shot. You're going to get to a three run shots, but you're going to see a full team to you're going to need this, this entire roster to rise to the occasion if they want to get over the hump. And as you said, you know, beat the Houston Astros. Yeah, having having a healthy D. J. LeMay. You obviously will will be a huge step in that direction. Let me ask you, you mentioned some of the rule changes. I know it's spring training. Obviously you're with both the Mets and the Yankees. What's everybody saying about these new rule changes? I know it's short in the game, which I think for the fans, the average fan out there, that sounds like a great idea to get you in and out of there in under four hours. But what are the players thinking about things like the pitch clock and whatnot? I think it's certainly going to benefit the pitchers early on because the pitchers are the ones that are controlling the pace of it. Now, you gotta understand that the pitch clock go or it stops running as soon as the pitch goes into his motion. If you saw this past week, uh, you know, Nestor Cortez actually paused in the middle of his in the middle of his delivery, waited and then delivered the pitch. And then he quick pitched on the very next one. One of the keys to throwing hitters off is messing with their timing. That comes from the speed of the pitch, whether it's a fastball curveball, but it also comes with how fast the picture gets the ball to home plate, what his delivery method is. So guys that have awkward deliveries or can change their deliveries a little bit are absolutely going to change are absolutely going to have an effect on the hitters. So I would say it's going to benefit the pitchers a lot more right now. But as the season progresses, as we get closer to the end of the year and the hitters have become more acclimated to what the pitchers are doing, I bet you it's going to lean in that direction. Some of the other matters most some of the other changes we saw on the screen. Steve, while you were talking, you know, the base is being a little bit bigger, of course, helping to avoid collisions at first base, maybe a few more stolen bases out there and the shift no longer existing, which I think is going to be great for fans because now at least you're not going to see guys, you know, hitting a screaming line drive right to the guy playing short right field or short left field. So that'll add some excitement to the game. As I bring you back on camera right now, we can hear the cheers in the background because we know we're getting close to first pitch in about 10 minutes or so. Let me ask you about this lineup. Do you see, Steve, when you look at this lineup today, a player aside from Aaron Judge that needs to really step up this season in order for the Yankees to show some market improvement from where they were last year, which was by all accounts a great year, but just not a World Series winning year. I mean, I love seeing D. J. LeMay who in the leadoff role. I mean, you know, he is a table center. A lot of teams like to use the speed guys, someone that's going to bring in the wheels as a leadoff guy. I like the idea of getting D. J. As many at bats as possible. You know, I mentioned it earlier. We saw what happened to this offense with D. J. LeMay. He was out of the offense. You keep him in this lineup, you put him up there, you get a guy on base in front of Aaron Judge and anything can happen. I also like seeing the versatility of Cabrera. The idea is that he can play so many different positions that he can kind of be utility guy number one. So you can endure the injury to someone like Harrison Bader. So you can help yourself out a little bit by having that strong utility guy that can play so many different positions. So I would say LeMay human Cabrera are going to be kind of the key guys to helping keep and lengthen this offense as long as possible. Um, do we expect Rizzo to have a great year? Yeah, of course. He's got 100 R. B. I. S. In him stand. He's got another 100 R. B. I. S. In those guys in themselves this year. But you're gonna see some surprises maybe at the top and on the back end of the order. And if Volpe can do what we expect him to do, just get on base. The sky's the limit. I mean, they're gonna have to. I mean, the one thing I can say about this Yankee lineup not to play, you know, devil devil's advocate here for a second is the age. Everybody's getting a little bit older. You got Donaldson who's 37. I mean, even Aaron judges, you know, hit 30 and you've got D. J. LeMay. He was in his 30s. A lot of people. The third John Carlos Stanton is in his 30s. I mean, there is a very short window here. But again, rather than harp on their age because, you know, I'm gonna be 53. So I've got nothing to talk about. Let's do you think Aaron Judge coming off that season, getting that massive contract in the offseason, does Volpe being there at second at shortstop rather, does that take a little pressure off of Aaron Judge? Because so many eyeballs are gonna be on the rookie and maybe that takes a little pressure off of him so he can get off to a fast start. You know what? Actually, I think that's a great idea. I think that's a really good point because let's be honest, you know, this is Aaron judges first year as a captain. And of course, he absolutely earned this role. But the role of captain isn't just being the centerpiece of the offense. It's being the guy that other players look to in the clubhouse to lead the way. So job number one for him is going to be to try to ease the mind of Anthony Volpe. And if all the attention is on Volpe, then it allows judge to do what he does. We saw it did kind of get to judge maybe at the end of the season last year when it was getting closer to 60 61 to 62. Uh, it took a lot longer at bats and games for him to get those numbers because of the pressure that is on him. But I even asked him this spring whether or not this that he was going to be better prepared for the pressure he'll face this season. And he said, absolutely yes, he's looking forward to what pressure comes his way. And I'll be honest with what he saw last year. I don't think the pressure could get any greater. I was gonna say at this point, you know, with the bank that he's now secured and with the big C on his chest, I'm sure it will be a great season for him. Let me ask you one last question before I let you go, because we're getting closer and closer to first pitch. I know we're not in the prediction business, but judging on what the rest of the league looks like and where the Yankees kind of stand in that category, where would you say? What are you predicting this year as far as potential postseason wild card get through the division series championships here? Potentially world series. What do you think? Division World Series. I think we're gonna see a subway series this year. Rag. So get yourself prepared. October. Clear the docket. It's gonna be New York versus New York in the subway series for the World Series. All the expectations this offseason. Both teams won the offseason. The Mets clearly won the offseason because of how much they spent on all the players. The Yankees won the offseason because they didn't lose Aaron Judge to the Giants $360 million for this guy. That is the heart and soul of not only the franchise, but probably the face of all of baseball. So I can't wait for this season to play out, and I'm looking forward to a fun fall classic this year. Get all your Mets information well stocked for next week when they come home when we we do this again next week for the Mets. Great to see you enjoy opening day. It's a little cold out there, I know, but you're you're prepared for it with the overcoat and the sweater vest. So have a good opening day. We look forward to your reports later on today on CBS two. Thanks, Steve.