You can envy the Yankees' history of success, their revenue streams or their exalted status in the framework of Major League Baseball, but you should never envy their expectations.
Through the first month of the season it's been hard to escape the sentiment that the team has been disappointing. Looking at the performances of their vaunted free agent signings and their bullpen backs up that notion, but their 13-11 record doesn't. Only 8 teams have a better winning percentage thus far, and a good number of those teams have had more things break right for them than the Yankees.
Those struggling big-ticket acquisitions have all still performed better than Chien-Ming Wang, while Alex Rodriguez hasn't taken an at-bat yet this season. Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte are on the disabled list, as is Xavier Nady, and Johnny Damon hasn't been healthy yet this season. Through all of that, though, the team is above .500 and they've got reason to believe that most of their struggling players will turn things around sooner rather than later.
They can't say the same about Wang, however, and they can't be all that certain in the performance of their patchwork bullpen in front of Mariano Rivera. Those spots weren't things they were particularly worried about before the season began, but will be trouble spots until they prove otherwise. The things they were worried about, the health of Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui as well as the lack of production in center, remain concerns even if they haven't hurt them to this point.
So, has the Yankees have a half a glass of water in front of them, but is it half-full or half-empty? As of now, you'd have to lean toward the former. CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira have track records that tend toward better results, while a relatively healthy Rodriguez will push this offense to great heights. There's a ton of baseball yet to be played, but the Yankees should be reasonably pleased with their position at this point in time.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
