Besides the signing of Jeter, the Yankees had a pretty quiet off-season. Their rivals, the Boston Red Sox, made huge moves adding Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford to their already stacked line up.  Many people (including writers at Sports Illustrated) have the sAWks winning the World Series with Lester winning the Cy Young and Gonzalez winning the MVP—talk about a triple punch to the groin. The Yankees may not have made the most noise this off-season but that is no reason to doubt their powerful lineup or their potential to win the World Series. If you take a look at their lineup I think you’ll find one of the best starting 9 in baseball.

The batting order and staring line-up will shift slightly through out the season but I’m guessing it is commonly going to look something like this:

Brett Gardner CF – Gardner had his best and most consistent season last year and it came in a year in which he had his most plate appearances (569). In 150 games, Gardner hit .277 with a .383 OBP and 37 stolen bases. While it was his best ever, the Yankees still need everything to improve, especially his OBP, stolen bases and runs scored (97 runs in 2010). He is really, really fast, but seems to struggle when timing his jumps. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: sign Ricky Henderson for a 6-month coaching stint and teach this guy how to steal bases properly (you can probably find Ricky somewhere in the Northwest Territories playing for some Canadian Independent League). If Gardner gets on base more he’ll be a great man to have at the top.

Derek Jeter SS – Jeter is pissed. His off-season contract negotiations got a lot of press, some of which smeared his character and questioned his abilities. You don’t question Jeter and this season he’ll show you why not. I guarantee he hits at least .290 on his way to capturing his 3,000^th hit. You can expect more of the usual from Jeter this season and much less of 2010.

Mark Teixeira 1B – Tex wants to get on the field and forget about 2010 as much as anyone else in baseball. The funny thing is, his 2010 numbers, though frustrating and well below what the Yankees paid for, weren’t all that bad (.256 BA, 30 HR, 108 RBI).  His power numbers were there and his defense is always on point, but he has to become consistent and stop with this “slow-start, I can screw up in April as much as I want” hogwash. If he performed better in the first 6 weeks of the season last year he would have been a serious MVP candidate. He has to start strong right out of the gate and find a way to play a lot better in the playoffs. Teixeira is 30 years old and still in the meat of his prime so I’m sure he’ll make the adjustment and be the beast we want him to be.

Alex Rodriquez 3B – Call me crazy but I think he is headed for one of the best years of his career. At 35 years old, he has a lot of people questioning his durability. But if you ask him and if you were able to watch him play in March, you’ll find out that he may be in the best shape of his career. He starts the season sixth on the all time homerun list with 613 and will most likely pull ahead of Griffey Jr. (630) this season to become fifth on the list. For historic power hitters, 35 isn’t old. Alex Rodriguez has done a lot as a Yankee, more than he’ll every get credit for, and I think he is going to get his third MVP trophy in pinstripes and fourth over-all this season.

Robinson Cano 2B – In 2011 Cano will continue to be the best second  baseman in baseball. And while that statement may have the people in Boston screaming “PaDROY-AHHHH” I think his performance this season will shut them up…or at least quiet them down. Cano is coming off back-to-back seasons in which he hit at least .319 with 25 HR and is the perfect age for a dominating season (28). He is hands down the best defensive 2B in baseball and may be the best defensive middle infielder in baseball. He is comfortable, confident and explosive. Look for Cano’s RBI numbers to increase even more than last year’s total of 109. He’ll be an MVP candidate too, so I suggest you not sleep on him.

Nick Swisher RF – Swisher played very well last year and made it to his first all-star game. Swish gives the Yankees a lot of intangibles and is the heart of the team but last season he took it up a notch giving the Yankees the best season of his career (.288 BA 29 HR 89 RBI). He is a fan favorite in New York and the clubhouse glue. You figure that if he gives you anything between his 2009 numbers and his 2010 numbers you’ll be happy, but don’t count out even better numbers for him in 2011.

Jorge Posada DH – It may be weird to not see Posada behind the plate this season but I think it’s refreshing. The old man had to go and his struggles behind the dish were influencing his struggles at the plate. 2010 (.248 BA 18HR 57RBI) was his worst season since 1999 and his lack of plate appearance the past 3 seasons (caused by a slew of injuries) haven’t given him enough opportunities to right the ship.  I think he’ll make for a good DH this season but sadly I think it may be his last. This is the last season of his 3-year contract and he’ll turn 40 in August. Lets hope he says goodbye with a boom. Who knows, he could play well enough to grab a 1-year deal, but he’ll have to do it all from the batter’s box.

Andruw Jones LF – First of all who spells Andrew that way? Jones is best known in Yankee land for hitting 2 home runs against them for the Braves as a 19-year-old rookie in the 1996 World Series. But now they’ll get to know him as the goofy veteran who nonchalantly catches fly balls in left field. I really don’t know what to expect from him. Despite being relatively young (33), he has 15 seasons and 10 Gold Gloves under his belt and a whole lot of winning experience. He doesn’t tend to hit the ball often, but when he does it can go far. Besides that, there isn’t much on the plus side offensively. The yankees will be his 4^th team in 4 years, maybe it’ll breathe new life into him. I sure hope so but I am not expecting much.

Russell Martin C – I really love this signing. I think it is going to work out well for the Yankees who are in desperate need of an interim catcher to help move them through the lull of not having Posada and having rookies that aren’t quite ready. Martin is a leader behind that plate who calls a good game and has thrown out 31% of base stealers in his 5-year career (3 percent higher than Posada). He won’t give you the offensive production of Posada, but he’ll give you enough considering his average after 5 years in Dodger town is .272 with an OBP of .347. When you compare that to the alternative, you wind up being pretty happy. People have good things to say about him and as long as his injury from 2010 doesn’t affect how he plays in 2011, I think New York will be happy. Hell, I’ll be happy if he just figures out how to get the best out of AJ Burnett, but that might be asking too much.

With three players coming off their best seasons (Gardner, Cano, Swisher) and three veterans expecting to perform at and All-Star level this season (Jeter, Teixeira, A-Rod), I really like the look and feel of this starting 9. There are obviously question marks (Jones, Martin, Posada) but I’m feeling good about the way things are looking. Even Boston and Philly have question marks but the Bombers have 6 studs that look to be headed for a headline season and it’s their third year playing together. That’s not true in Boston. Nobody seems to think Boston will have any growing pains and that seems a little naive.

The Yankees had a stacked line-up last season that underperformed during the last 6 weeks of the season. If these guys come to play and finish strong, then there is no reason they can’t win the World Series. Maybe it’s from years of being a Yankee fan or the fact that opening day is tomorrow, but I’m excited and I’m confident.

Let’s play ball.