2021 Roster Review: New York Yankees

92-70 (3rd in Division; 7th in MLB)

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SP Wins: 44 (14th)

RP Wins: 48 (3rd)

Saves: 47 (6th)

1+ Save: 7 (Aroldis Chapman 30, Chad Green 6, Jonathan Loáisiga 5, Wandy Peralta 3, Lucas Luetge, Albert Abreu, Zack Britton 1)

100+ Ks: 4 (Gerrit Cole 243, Jordan Montgomery 162, Jameson Taillon 140, Nestor Cortes 103; 3 super-close ones: Green 99, Domingo Germán 98, Chapman 97)

.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 4 (Aaron Judge .287, Giancarlo Stanton .273, DJ LeMahieu .268, Gio Urshela .267)

65+ Runs: 2 (Judge 89, LeMahieu 84)

65+ RBI: 2 (Judge 98, Stanton 97)

10+ HRs: 10 (Judge 39, Stanton 35, Gary Sánchez 23, Rougned Odor 15, Urshela 14, Joey Gallo 13 [total: 38], Luke Voit 11, LeMahieu, Brett Gardner, Kyle Higashioka 10)

5+ SBs: 4 (Tyler Wade 17, Gleyber Torres 14, Judge 6, Greg Allen 5)

BEST BUY: Giancarlo Stanton

It felt a little odd to land on Stanton here, but he basically replicated Judge’s season and he is about 60 picks cheaper. He also regained OF eligibility after being UT-only in most formats last season. Obviously he comes with higher health risk than an average hitter, but he is still one of the strongest bets for 30 HR in a given season.

ON THE RISE: Nestor Cortes

Cortes unexpectedly found himself in the rotation from July forward and acquitted himself so well that he should remain a starter for 2022. He posted a 3.07 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 20% K-BB is 73.3 IP as a starter and showed the ability to push deeper into games with four starts of 6+ IP, two of which saw him eclipse 100 pitches. He has a starter’s pitch mix which helps him keep a neutral platoon and there is enough swing-and-miss to sustain a full season strikeout rate in the 22-25% range.

OFF THE RADAR: Miguel Andújar

A severe wrist injury limited him to just 61 games across Triple-A (16) and MLB (45). He was great in the Triple-A sample (166), but couldn’t find his pop at the big-league level and managed just an 81 wRC+ in 162 PA. I imagine the wrist played some role, though he did finish his season in Triple-A and had a .529 SLG and .205 ISO in those 40 PA. He found more loft in the minors with a 43% FB rate, 12 points higher than his MLB work. At any rate, he is 27 years old with a strong contact profile and power potential that we did see on display in his only full season back in 2018. If they move him somewhere that opens up a path to playing time, I’d keep an eye on him during Spring Training.

HOT TAKE: Gleyber Torres has a 30 HR season.

Torres just dug himself into too large a hole with the first half (.634 OPS, 3 HR in 317) so it is easy to overlook that he was pretty solid in the second half (.794 OPS, 6 HR in 199 PA). That matches his career OPS and is essentially his 2022 projection. I’m comfortable with that projection, but Baltimore still hasn’t fixed their pitching so I just need 7-8 extra HRs off the O’s pitchers to reach 30 from his projection.

ICYMI: Chad Green (10) and Jonathan Loáisiga (9) combined for 19 Wins! They were fantasy studs in all formats given their ratios, strikeouts, chip-in saves, and those wins.