New York Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, left, is congratulated by third base coach Phil Nevin after hitting a solo home run against the Oakland Athletics during the eighth inning of the American League wild-card playoff baseball game, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Giancarlo Stanton will have a better season than Gleyber Torres
This one may come as a surprise to some Yankees fans, especially because Gleyber Torres is coming off of a dominant season in which he slashed .278/.337/.535 with 38 home runs and 90 RBI. Add on to that a .358 wOBA and a 125 wRC+ and one would think it’d be hard for Stanton to top that. Nonetheless a healthy Giancarlo Stanton, I think, can outperform Gleyber Torres in 2020.
What I like to do is compare FanGraphs’ Steamer projections for each player’s 2020 season. When it comes to Torres, Steamer has him to have a very similar year to his 2019 campaign. The model thinks he’ll have a .272/.339/.509 slash line with 34 home runs and 98 RBI. It also thinks that he’ll experience a five-point dip in wRC+ as well as a six-point dip in wOBA and finish with 3.5 WAR.
Stanton, on the other hand, is projected to finish with a .267/.355/.589 slash line with 49 (yes, 49) home runs and 115 RBI. Furthermore, the model thinks he will record a 142 wRC+ and a .385 wOBA to go along with a 4.3 WAR. By no means do I think these projections are law, and neither does FanGraphs, but they are usually fairly accurate. Also, even without these projections, I think Stanton will outperform Gleyber. I think a lot of people have trouble imagining that given the fact that he could not stay on the field in 2019, but a healthy Stanton is an elite player. He’ll prove that in 2020.
New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge heads to first with a solo home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in Boston, Tuesday, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Judge and Stanton combine for 100+ home runs
It still doesn’t feel like we’ve seen the true power of a Giancarlo Stanton-Aaron Judge duo, but perhaps we will see it in full force in 2020. By season’s end, we will see Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton combined for 100 or more long balls. How this will be distributed is up for interpretation, but I could see both guys hitting 50. Steamer projects Stanton to sock 49 while it has Judge at 41.
New York Yankees starting pitcher James Paxton delivers against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of Game 1 of an American League Division Series baseball game, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Paxton and Severino combine for 30 wins
How about another combo prediction to keep the theme going? While all of the offseason attention has been on the Yankees’ shiny new toy in Gerrit Cole, less so has been on James Paxton and Luis Severino. Well, with the decreased pressure on these two arms with the addition of Cole coupled with a great offense, I think these two can combine for 30 wins in a season where many expect Cole to carry the load.
The Yankees will win 110 games
This is a tall order for any team, but these are bold predictions for a reason. You may know that the Yankees’ dominant 1998 team won 114 games on their way to a World Series win, so why not see if this team can get to at least 110 this season. They are the odds on favorite to win the World Series, as well as the odds on favorite to finish with the best record in the MLB. For the sake of a bold prediction, I’ll say that the best record comes with at least 110 wins.
The Yankees will beat the Phillies for their 28th Championship
This one is fun. Not only is it a 2009 encore, but the Phillies hired Joe Girardi (who managed the Yankees to that 2009 championship) as their Manager and also signed Didi Gregorius to man the shortstop position. With a new, and a really good manager, and a team hungry to win I think they can make a run to the World Series. They’ll eventually fall short against the Yankees in six games.
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