Tanaka to the Yankees.

[Halu Sination]

Non-Yankee fan chiming in.

I haven't seen Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts enough to know how good they are defensively, but I don't think the line-up is THAT bad. With good enough pitching, it seems competent enough to make a run for the play-offs. Unfortunately, they DON'T have good enough pitching lol.

That starting rotation is nowhere close to bring them into contention, and that's even if you assume Tanaka lives up to the hype. I don't know how willing Tampa Bay would be to make a deal with a rival, but if Yanks can find a way to get David Price, that would be amazing.

[MistaNova]

Again I said arguably...not definitely.

It's not even debatable. The argument begins and ends with "which team has more depth?" Boston has lots of inhouse talent to keep them afloat should their key guys get hurt, and even if their own prospects aren't ready they can always trade one of them for proven major league talent. The Yankees don't have that depth or the prospects to pull that off. And what's even worse is they have to rely on past-their-prime dinosaurs and men made of glass.
Although I do agree with you that the Yankees lineup is better than the one the Rays have.
As far as lineups in the AL East goes IMO it's
Red Sox > Orioles > Yankees > Blue Jays > Rays

The Orioles don't have the pitching to back up their lineup but on it's own it's still better than the Yankees's lineup.

Pitching...

Again, depth. The Red Sox have some inhouse options like Allen Webster (their equivalent of David Phelps) and Felix Doubront (their equivalent of Ivan Nova) and a few others in their system to keep the rotation afloat if/when their big guys fall to the DL during the season. The Yankees don't have nearly enough depth. Assuming that their fifth starter is Phelps that just leaves Pineda, Nuno and Warren as the only other options if any of the starters get hurt. We still have no idea if we'll even see Pineda this year, Nuno is injury prone and Warren's track record as a starter has not been great.
CC's troubles last year were mainly caused by his declining velocity. Unless's he learned how to throw off-speed pitches more effectively this offseason I have no reason to suspect that his troubles won't continue. At this point he's more like an expensive number 2.
And the Rays? Again, depth. They've always known that Price would be a goner (especially now thanks to the Felix, Verlander and Kershaw deals) and have a ready supply of pitching left and right, up and down throughout that system. Even with Price's depature the Rays are a team that I'm sure already has a plan B to soften the blow. Plus there's no garauntee that he'll be moved this season.

Non-Yankee fan chiming in.

I haven't seen Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts enough to know how good they are defensively, but I don't think the line-up is THAT bad. With good enough pitching, it seems competent enough to make a run for the play-offs. Unfortunately, they DON'T have good enough pitching lol.

That starting rotation is nowhere close to bring them into contention, and that's even if you assume Tanaka lives up to the hype. I don't know how willing Tampa Bay would be to make a deal with a rival, but if Yanks can find a way to get David Price, that would be amazing.

The Yankees lineup isn't THAT bad, it's got potential, but there are a lot of risks (mostly health related risks) and a lot has to go just right for the Yankees to really be a threat. And there's no way the Rays trade Price to the Yankees. More than anything because the Yankees don't have fucking shit to offer the Rays. The Rays want prospects and young guys they can control for years to come, the only AL East team that can make a legitimate offer for Price is the Red Sox. Price in a Red Sox uniform won't happen either since Tampa would probably prefer a trade with Texas or the Diamondbacks. Both teams have the pieces at least to get Price.

[Chamillitary Click]

So to clarify, your judging the lineups & bullpen based off of players filling in for guys who may or may not get injured. Fair enough. Full strength though, it's a coin flip. Fair enough.

I just never went into a season saying, "Well the Yankees lineup is weak because IF McCann, Tex & Beltran go down for the season we don't have anyone to replace them". I was just comparing full strength vs. full strength.

I do agree the bullpen is a big flaw, unless Robertson is lights out.

[MistaNova]

I was just comparing full strength vs. full strength.

While I'd like to think that you're baseball savy enough to already know this, you can never ever base your outlook on a team by looking at "full strength."
There has never been a team capable of performing at "full strength" for a full 162 games (and Spring Training and the postseason).
There's always going to be a hitter who gets hurt and misses most if not all of the year, there's always going to be a hitter or a couple of hitters who have a good month and be a waste of a roster spot for the rest of the year, there's always a pitcher who has an off year and can never seem to win, there's always a pitcher who gets hurt and misses a huge chunk of the season, and so on.
The Yankees are my prime candidate for a team that won't be at full strength even once in 2014. Too many geriatrics, too many declining players, there are no reinforcements to speak of in the minors, and too many injury risks. At full strength the Yankees might be able to fight with the Orioles for 3rd place in the division, at 50-75% strength (which they'll inevitably be at for most of the season) they'll be fighting for fourth place in the division.

[Hack Wilson - real]