December 31st, 2019: The Decade in Review

Welcome to the final day of 2019 and the final day of the 2010s. Did you know Marty McFly traveled to 2015 in Back to the Future 2? My hoverboard is five years overdue! Anyway, with the 2020s less than 24 hours away, I figured I'd break from the norm and use today's post to look back at the last decade of Yankees baseball. I listed my most memorable games of the RAB era earlier this year. Now let's review the rest of the 2010s, shall we?

The All-Decade Team

You've been bombarded with all-decade #content the last few weeks, so you know what this is. The best Yankees player at each position over the last 10 years. Some are painfully obvious. Others not so much. To the All-Decade Team.

Catcher: Gary Sanchez
Runner-up: Brian McCann

The Yankees went from Jorge Posada (2010) to Russell Martin (2011-12) to Chris Stewart (2013) to McCann (2014-16) to Sanchez (2017-19) behind the plate this past decade. One of those things is not like the others. Gary led all Yankees catchers in homers (by 25) and WAR (by 6) during the decade while being in a virtual tie with McCann and Austin Romine in games caught. Pretty easy call here.

First base: Mark Teixeira
Runner-up: Luke Voit

The two and a half years between Teixeira's last good season and Voit's arrival were the dark years at first base. There was the washed up version of Teixeira, Dustin Ackley, Greg Bird, Chris Carter, more Greg Bird, Chase Headley for a while, and somehow even more Greg Bird. Teixeira was solid from 2010-16, occasionally spectacular, and that makes him far and away the team's best first baseman of the 2010s.

Second base: Robinson Cano
Runner-up: Gleyber Torres

You think things were bad between Teixeira and Voit? It was nearly as bad at second base between Cano and Torres. Stephen Drew, Brian Roberts, and Rob Refsnyder bridged the gap until the cromulent Starlin Castro arrived. Cano led all non-Trout position players in WAR during the 2010s and he was easily New York's best at second base. Cano left after 2013 and still managed +30 WAR as a Yankee in the 2010s. Torres was second at the position with +7 WAR. Yeah.

Shortstop: Didi Gregorius
Runner-up: Derek Jeter

I can't imagine anyone is surprised. Jeter is an all-time great, but his decade consisted of one great season (2012), one injured season (2013), and three comfortably below-average seasons (2010, 2011, 2014). Sir Didi led Yankees shortstops in games played (by 100), homers (by 62), and WAR (by 9) in the 2010s. Jeter punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame in the 1990s and the 2000s. Gregorius owned the 2010s.

Third base: Alex Rodriguez
Runner-up: Chase Headley

I was surprised to see A-Rod played more games at third base (322) than at DH (269) in the decade. I thought it would only be slightly more, if anything. Alex also led Yankees third basemen in everything. Homers (by 23), WAR (by 5), you name it. Rodriguez was done as a full-time third baseman by 2013, but he did enough early in the decade to get the nod here. The Yankees somehow used 38 different players at third base in the 2010s -- that's nothing compared to their 61 (!) different right fielders -- including 14 at least 30 games apiece. The Miguel Andujar/Gio Urshela tandem is our reward for sitting through so much Jayson Nix.

Left field: Brett Gardner
Runner-up: Uh, Mike Tauchman?

The easiest call on the All-Decade Team. Aside from a few stints in center field, Gardner was left field for the Yankees in the 2010s. He played 959 games in left field in the decade. Andruw Jones was second with 86. Gardner led all Yankees in games (by 547), hits (by 485), and WAR (by 8) in the 2010s regardless of position. And yes, Tauchman is second in WAR among Yankees left fielders in the decade. Pretty crazy.

Center field: Curtis Granderson
Runner-up: Aaron Hicks

Fun fact: Jacoby Ellsbury led the Yankees with 484 games played in center field in the 2010s. Granderson was second at 466. The Grandyman has a 5 WAR lead over the runner-up (Ellsbury) and he accounted for 44% of all home runs hits by Yankees center fielders in the decade. Hicks and Ellsbury are roughly tied in WAR, but Hicksie played more than 100 fewer games, so he gets the runner-up spot.

Right field: Aaron Judge
Runner-up: Nick Swisher

Swisher hit .274/.366/.478 (129 wRC+) with 76 home runs and +10 WAR in 448 games as a Yankee last decade, and this race still wasn't close. Judge has nearly double the WAR and roughly 1.5 times as many homers in 52 fewer games than Swisher. Gardner, Cano, Judge. The three best Yankees position players of the 2010s.

Designated hitter: Alex Rodriguez
Runner-up: Giancarlo Stanton

Is it cheating to list A-Rod twice? I don't think so. The guy was legitimately the best player at two positions for the Yankees in the 2010s. Also, A-Rod was the team's only player to have an extended stint as the full-time DH. He played more than twice as many games at DH as any other Yankee in the 2010s, had more than twice as many homers, twice as many hits, so on and so forth. Stanton's 2018 alone nets him the runner-up spot over everyone else who managed to spend a season or so at DH (Posada, Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, etc.).

Starting pitcher: CC Sabathia
Runner-up: Masahiro Tanaka

Even with the lull in the middle of the decade, before he learned the cutter and reinvented himself, Sabathia was very obviously the Yankees best starting pitcher in the 2010s. He had three Cy Young caliber seasons (2010-12) and three other above-average seasons (2016-18). Sabathia led all Yankees starters in WAR (by 7), innings (by 681.2), and strikeouts (by 556) in the decade, distancing himself from second place Tanaka in pretty much every category. Sabathia was clearly the team's best starter in the 2010s and Tanaka was clearly the team's second best starter in the 2010s. Luis Severino and Hiroki Kuroda are the next tier, then Ivan Nova, Andy Pettitte, and Michael Pineda are the next tier. Fun fact: Phil Hughes was fourth among Yankees in starts in the 2010s behind Sabathia, Tanaka, and Nova.

Relief Pitcher: David Robertson
Runner-up: Dellin Betances

Y'all were expecting Mariano Rivera, weren't you? Rivera retired after 2013, however, and he missed pretty much the entire 2012 season with the knee injury. He was fifth in appearances among Yankees relievers in the decade. Robertson and Betances are the leaders in appearances by a mile, and their stats are close: 2.36 ERA vs. 2.50 ERA, 2.31 FIP vs. 2.64 FIP, 621 strikeouts vs. 567 strikeouts. I could tell you each set of numbers belong to either pitcher and you'd believe me. They were that close on a rate basis. Robertson gets the edge because he had roughly 20% more appearances, and longevity matters. Believe it or not, Boone Logan was third among Yankees relievers in appearances in the 2010s. How about that? Adam Warren was fourth, then Rivera.

Top Seasons at Each Position

In the previous section we selected the best Yankees at each position based on their total body of work in the 2010s. In this section we're going to look at the best individual seasons at each position. Onward.

Catcher: 2017 Gary Sanchez
Runner-up: 2019 Gary Sanchez

In 2017, Sanchez set a new franchise record with 33 homers as a catcher. In 2019, he broke his own record with 34 homers. Also, those are the two best homer seasons by a catcher in the 2010s. Mitch Garver (31 in 2019) and Mike Napoli (30 in 2011) were the only other backstops to reach 30 homers at some point in the decade. Gary had a significantly higher AVG (.278 vs. 232) and OBP (.345 vs. .316) in 2017 than 2019, plus a one-win edge in WAR, so 2017 gets the top spot.

First base: 2010 Mark Teixeira
Runner-up: 2011 Mark Teixeira

Tough call here. These were Teixeira's two fully healthy seasons in the decade and he hit more homers in 2011 (39 vs. 33) but had a lower OBP (.365 vs. .341), and roughly the same WAR. Flip a coin and pick one. I wouldn't argue much either way. I'm going with 2010 over 2011 because there's a big difference in OBP and the power numbers are still there. 2019 Luke Voit would've been a real contender here if not for the sports hernia.

Second base: 2012 Robinson Cano
Runner-up: 2010 Robinson Cano

As good as Gleyber Torres is, we're picking from Cano seasons here. Robbie set new career highs in pretty much everything in 2012 (doubles, homers, WAR, etc.), though his 2010 and 2013 seasons were right there too (2011 was pretty awesome as well). Because 2012 was just a smidgen better, that's the pick here. Cano played four seasons with the Yankees in the 2010s and they were the team's four best second base seasons of the decade.

Shortstop: 2018 Didi Gregorius
Runner-up: 2017 Didi Gregorius

Man, remember how good Gregorius was in April 2018? He was out of this world. Then he had a horrific May, and was very good from June through the end of the season. The end result was Sir Didi's (likely) career year and the best shortstop season of the decade for the Yankees. His 2017 season is an obvious pick for runner-up as well. Derek Jeter was very good in 2012 (216 hits and +2 WAR), but still quite a bit short of Gregorius.

Third base: 2010 Alex Rodriguez
Runner-up: 2019 Gio Urshela

2010 was A-Rod's last truly great season as an infielder. He slugged 30 homers and finished with +4 WAR, and, if runs batted in are your thing, he had 125 RBI in only 137 games. A-Rod had a +4 WAR season in only 99 games in 2011, mostly thanks to a dead cat bounce with the defensive stats, something that didn't match the eye test, so Urshela gets the runner-up spot. Rodriguez in 2010 and Urshela in 2019 were the only true I-see-it-and-I-can-believe-it +3 WAR seasons the Yankees got from their third basemen in the 2010s.

Left field: 2010 Brett Gardner
Runner-up: 2017 Brett Gardner

I really did not give Gardner enough love in the early days of RAB. My man hit .277/.383/.379 (112 wRC+) with 47 steals in 56 attempts and 79 walks in 2010. Add in the defense and baserunning and Gardner was a legitimate +7 WAR player in 2010. Looking back on it, I definitely did not give Gardner's 2010 season enough attention. He was awesome. His 2011 and 2017 seasons were pretty great too. Roughly the same WAR, but give me 21 homers and 23 steals over seven homers and 49 steals.

Center field: 2011 Curtis Granderson
Runner-up: 2018 Aaron Hicks

Granderson's overnight transformation was one of the most fascinating stories of the last decade. He had been struggling in 2010, sat out two games in August to work with hitting coach Kevin Long, then came back as a dinger machine. Granderson hit 41 homers in 2011, led the league in runs scored and runs driven in, and posted a .364 OBP. It all adds up to +6 WAR and an easy call for our center field season of the decade. Hicks had a +5 WAR season in 2018 thanks to 27 homers, 90 walks, and strong defense. Believe it or not, the Yankees got nine +3 WAR seasons from center field in the 2010s. 2015 was the only exception.

Right field: 2017 Aaron Judge
Runner-up: 2018 Aaron Judge

Again, Nick Swisher was awesome as a Yankee, yet he doesn't even come close to being the pick here. Judge's record-breaking rookie season (52 homers! 127 walks! .422 OBP! +8 WAR!) was the best season by a Yankee since A-Rod's MVP season a decade earlier. What a marvelous year. Judge's 2018 and 2019 seasons were nearly identical, but he got into a few more games in 2018, so that gets the nod as the runner-up. For many teams, Swisher would have dominated the decade in right field. For the Yankees, he plays second fiddle.

Designated hitter: 2018 Giancarlo Stanton
Runner-up: 2015 Alex Rodriguez

Stanton wasn't really a full-time DH in 2018. He played more games at DH (86) than in the outfield (72), but that's not full-time DH duty. A-Rod played 136 games at DH in 2015 and only six on the infield. That's a full-time DH. Because he played a full season and did DH more than he played the field, I'm counting Stanton as a DH, and his 2018 season was the best at the position in the decade. A-Rod was really good in 2015 though. He hit .250/.356/.486 (129 wRC+) with 33 homers in what would be his last hurrah.

Because there's no good reason not to, let's build a batting order using our all-decade single-season players:

1. 2010 Gardner
2. 2017 Judge
3. 2012 Cano
4. 2011 Granderson
5. 2017 Sanchez
6. 2018 Stanton
7. 2010 Teixeira
8. 2010 Rodriguez
9. 2018 Gregorius

The Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis Tool says that batting order with those player's stats would average 6.294 runs per game, or 1,020 runs per 162 games. That is surprisingly low! At least I thought it was, anyway. Wouldn't even be an all-time record (1931 Yankees scored 1,067 runs in 153 games). The 2019 Yankees scored 943 runs. The difference between the 2019 Yankees and the all-decade 2010s Yankees is less than half-a-run per game. Huh. The Lineup Analysis Tool is a bit outdated and doesn't factor in the rocket ball, so that probably explains it.

Starting pitcher: 2011 CC Sabathia
Runner-up: 2017 Luis Severino

I didn't realize how similar 2011 Sabathia and 2017 Severino were until I wrote this post. Nearly identical ERA (2.98 vs. 3.00), similar ERA+ (152 vs. 143), FIP in the same range (2.88 vs. 3.08), same walk rate (6.2% vs. 6.5%). They both struck out exactly 230 batters, though Severino had the better strikeout rate (29.4% vs. 23.4%). In the end, I gave 2011 Sabathia the top spot because he threw 44 (!) more innings and faced 202 (!) more batters. Also, Sabathia managed to allow four few homers despite throwing all those additional innings. Severino was ever so slightly better on a rate basis but I can't ignore such a huge difference in workload and homer rate. After those two, the next best starter seasons of the decade belong to 2010 Sabathia, 2012 Sabathia, 2012 Hiroki Kuroda, 2016 Masahiro Tanaka, and 2018 Severino.

Relief Pitcher: 2015 Dellin Betances
Runner-up: 2011 David Robertson

Man, Dellin was out of this world good in 2015. He threw 84 innings, struck out 131 batters, and held opponents to a .157/.266/.244 batting line. Ridiculous. As was the 1.50 ERA, 2.48 FIP, 39.5% strikeout rate, and +4 WAR relief season. 2011 Robertson was actually better on a rate basis (1.08 ERA and 1.84 FIP), but he threw nearly 20 fewer innings. Betances was great and a workhorse. So was Robertson at his peak, though he was always more of a 60-something-inning reliever whereas Dellin was closer to an 80-inning guy.

Ranking the 2010s Yankees teams

How do you rank the best teams of a decade? World Series championships don't apply to the Yankees, sadly. Winning percentage? The 2019 Yankees had the franchise's best record since the 2002 Yankees (well, tied with 2009). Run differential? The 2011 Yankees have that crown at +210. Deepest postseason run? The 2017 Yankees were one win away from a trip to the World Series whereas as the 2010 and 2019 Yankees were two wins away.

Baseball is the entertainment business, so, rather than regurgitate some numbers and rank the 2010s Yankees that way, I'm going to rank them based on how much I was entertained. How fun and exciting was the team, basically. This is crazy subjective and prone to recency bias, but so be it. We're just ranking baseball teams, not splitting atoms. Away we go:

1. 2017
2. 2019
3. 2010
4. 2012
5. 2018
6. 2011
7. 2016
8. 2015
9. 2014
10. 2013

The top and bottom spots were easy. The 2017 Yankees were an extremely fun story built around young players who exceeded expectations. Aside from a World Series winner, those are the most fun teams to watch, I think. The 2013 Yankees? Woof. The 2014 team actually won one fewer game despite the offseason spending spree, but 2013 was a special kind of miserable. Revolving door roster, Derek Jeter getting hurt, Robinson Cano's looming free agency, Sabathia starting his decline ... it was no fun.

Nos. 3-6 are pretty interchangeable, I think. All successful teams and you could put them in pretty much any order and justify it. The 2016 Yankees are logically ranked between the best teams of the decade and the worst teams of the decade. 2016 was a transition year. The Yankees sold at the deadline and called up Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge in August, and paved the way for the 2017 Yankees to do what they did.

Best Trades of the Decade

1. Aroldis Chapman for Gleyber Torres (and stuff)

In pure baseball terms, the series of Chapman trades was a masterstroke. The Yankees sent nothing in particular (Caleb Cotham, Rookie Davis, Eric Jagielo, Tony Renda) to the Reds for Chapman in Dec. 2015, then flipped him to the Cubs in July 2016 for a four-player package headlined by Torres. Between trades Chapman gave the Yankees 31.1 elite innings.

This will go down as the mother of all win-win trades. Chapman helped the Cubs end their 108-year World Series drought -- he appeared in 13 of their 17 postseason games -- and Gleyber is one of the best young players in the game, and already a core Yankee. Both sides got what they wanted. The Cubs got a title, the Yankees got a great young player.

But wait! There's more. The Yankees also reacquired Adam Warren in the trade, and he threw 117.2 innings with a 2.68 ERA in his second stint in pinstripes, then was flipped to the Mariners for international bonus money that was used to sign top shortstop prospect Alex Vargas. Billy McKinney also came over in the deal and was flipped for J.A. Happ last year.

Rashad Crawford, the fourth piece in the trade, didn't amount to anything, but that's no matter. Torres is a star, Warren was very good, and McKinney was a useful trade chip. Easily -- easily -- the trade of the decade. Maybe in all of baseball given Chapman's impact on the Cubs and their World Series run. All trades should work out so well.

2. Shane Greene for Didi Gregorius

The Yankees were after Gregorius for a long time. This trade was made in Dec. 2014 and the earliest entry in our Didi archive at RAB came in Dec. 2013. The Yankees eventually acquired their Derek Jeter replacement in a three-team trade that sent Greene to the Tigers and Robbie Ray (and Domingo Leyba) to the Diamondbacks.

Gregorius had some early hiccups in 2015 before emerging as the team's best shortstop of the decade. He never was selected to an All-Star Game but he had All-Star caliber seasons in 2017 and 2018, and he gave us several memorable moments, 2017 Wild Card Game homer and the two homers against Corey Kluber in 2017 ALDS Game 5 chief among them.

Greene was okay at best with the Tigers -- he threw 313 innings with a 4.74 ERA in Detroit -- before going to the Braves at this year's trade deadline. Detroit got the worst end of the deal. Gregorius was everything the Yankees could've hoped and Ray has been very good in Arizona. In any other non-Gleyber decade, this would've been the trade of the decade.

3. John Ryan Murphy for Aaron Hicks

I remember two things about this Nov. 2015 trade. One, it came out of nowhere. There were no indications the Yankees were after Hicks at all. And two, I didn't like it because I was the world's biggest JRM fan. He hit .277/.327/.406 (100 wRC+) as Brian McCann's 24-year-old backup in 2015 and I thought he was on his way to being a starting catcher. Whoops.

It took Hicks a year to settle in -- he hit .217/.281/.336 (64 wRC+) in 2016 -- but he broke out in 2017 and was excellent in 2018 as well. Injuries ruined his 2019, his final year of team control, but 2017-18 alone make this a massive win for the Yankees. Murphy has 390 big league plate appearances in the four years since the trade and has stunk.

A few other notable 2010s trades worth a mention:

• July 2014: Vidal Nuno for Brandon McCarthy
• July 2014: Pete O'Brien for Martin Prado
• Dec. 2015: Justin Wilson for Chad Green (and Luis Cessa)
• Dec. 2017: Starlin Castro, Jose Devers, Jorge Guzman for Giancarlo Stanton
• July 2018: Cody Carroll, Josh Rogers, Dillon Tate for Zack Britton
• Aug. 2018: Abi Avelino, Juan De Paula for Andrew McCutchen

There's also the big White Sox trade. The Yankees gave up Ian Clarkin, Tyler Clippard, Tito Polo, and Blake Rutherford to get rental Todd Frazier, a year and a half of David Robertson, and three and a half years of Tommy Kahnle. Clarkin and Polo flamed out, Rutherford is just an okay prospect now, and not having to watch Clippard anymore was a win all by itself.

Frazier solidified two infield positions -- Chase Headley moved over and put an end to the revolving door at first base -- and Kahnle and Robertson were instrumental in the 2017 postseason run. Robertson also chipped in a very good 2018, and Kahnle had a great 2019 after a down 2018. The Yankees have him through 2021 after sending him down in 2018 and pushing back his free agency. Quite a trade, that was.

The Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda trade can't be overlooked. The Yankees won the trade, technically, but neither team got what they wanted out of the deal. Still, it was seismic. The Yankees traded their best prospect -- one of the best prospects in baseball at the time -- for a rookie pitcher who just had an All-Star season. It was monumental. Imagine a Luis Robert for Mike Soroka trade. Kinda like that.

As for the worst trade of the decade, I guess it's Mark Melancon (and Jimmy Paredes) for Lance Berkman? Berkman hit .255/.358/.349 (91 wRC+) as a low impact rental DH while Melancon was among the decade's most successful relievers. He flopped during his few stints in pinstripes and I don't think anyone was sad to see him go at the time. I guess when that's your worst trade in a 10-year period, you're doing alright.

Honorable mention goes to the Eduardo Nunez-for-Miguel Sulbaran trade. We were all sick and tired of Nunez by time the April 2014 trade went down, but he found success with the Twins and Giants during his team control years, and Sulbaran threw only 181 minor league innings with the Yankees. He flamed out. I twice looked through the list of trades during the decade and still feel like I'm missing an obvious dud. 

The Best of the 2020s

A new decade is upon us and what's the point of an all-decade exercise if you're not going to look ahead a little bit? These will be the best Yankees at each position in the 2020s:

C: Gary Sanchez
1B: Giancarlo Stanton
2B: Gleyber Torres
SS: Francisco Lindor
3B: Miguel Andujar
LF: Aaron Hicks
CF: Jasson Dominguez
RF: Aaron Judge
DH: Joey Gallo 

SP: Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Severino
RP: Deivi Garcia

Don't ask me how Lindor or Gallo wind up in pinstripes, but they will. I'm gonna predict it right now because why not? There will inevitably be current non-Yankees on the 2020s All-Decade Team. They're as good a bet as anyone. Sanchez and Judge each have three years of team control remaining and they'll do enough in those three years to be the best player at their positions in the decade. I think that's an easy call. Plus they could stick around long-term.

Hicks moving from center to left is inevitable as he ages, and Stanton sliding over to first will happen at some point, I think. Only makes sense as he gets into his mid-30s. Nothing too surprising on the pitching staff. Cole and Severino are signed long-term and at the top of their game, and I think Schmidt settles in as a rock solid innings dude who is occasionally spectacular. Deivi in the bullpen is not meant as a slight. He could be awesome there.

At the start of the 2010s neither Judge nor Didi Gregorius were on our radar, yet they rank as the best Yankees at their positions for the decade. The same applies to Sanchez, who was barely on the radar after signing in July 2009. Cole and Torres are the only guys on the 2020s All-Decade Team that I listed with even a little confidence. I am certain that, come Dec. 2029, the All-Decade Yankees Team will look very different than what I listed above.  

(Send your questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)