The 2015 New York Yankees season was the 113th for the New York Yankees, who play in the American League East of Major League Baseball. The team finished the regular season with a record of 87–75, six games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for second place. They clinched the host Wild Card berth, but lost to the Houston Astros in the 2015 American League Wild Card Game.
This was the Yankees' first full season in over twenty years without team captain and shortstop Derek Jeter, who retired at the end of the 2014 season. In addition, the Yankees retired the jersey numbers of center fielder Bernie Williams (51), catcher Jorge Posada (20), and pitcher Andy Pettitte (46) during the season; doing so brought the total amount of retired numbers to 20, for 22 different players.
In 2022, a letter was released detailing the illicit use of technology to steal signs by the Yankees during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Offseason
The Yankees fired Kevin Long, the hitting coach, and Mick Kelleher, the first base coach on October 10. They also re-signed GM Brian Cashman to a three-year deal that same day.
On November 8, the Yankees re-signed free agent outfielder Chris Young to a 1-year, $2.5 million contract with incentives. On November 12, the Yankees signed left-hander José de Paula to a 1-year major league contract worth $500,000. That same day, the Yankees traded longtime backup catcher Francisco Cervelli to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for left-hander Justin Wilson.
On December 3, the Yankees signed reliever Esmil Rogers to a 1-year, $1.48 million contract. On December 5, the Yankees acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-team trade involving the Detroit Tigers. The Yankees sent Shane Greene to the Tigers as part of the trade. That same day, the Yankees signed reliever Andrew Miller to a 4-year, $36 million deal. On December 15, the Yankees re-signed free agent third baseman Chase Headley, to a 4-year deal worth $52 million. On December 16, the Yankees re-signed left-hander Chris Capuano to a 1-year, $5 million deal. On December 19, the Yankees traded utility infielder Martín Prado to the Miami Marlins, along with pitcher David Phelps, in exchange for pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, 1B/OF Garrett Jones, and pitching prospect Domingo Germán. Also on December 19, the Yankees acquired relief pitcher Gonzalez Germen from the New York Mets, in exchange for cash considerations. He was later traded to the Texas Rangers on January 20, again in exchange for cash considerations. On December 29, the Yankees traded reliever Shawn Kelley to the San Diego Padres, in exchange for minor league pitcher Johnny Barbato.
On January 1, the Yankees traded pitching prospect Manny Banuelos to the Atlanta Braves, in exchange for relievers David Carpenter, and Chasen Shreve. On January 6, the Yankees signed infielder Stephen Drew to a 1-year contract, worth $5 million with incentives. On January 11, the Yankees hired Jeff Pentland to be their main hitting coach, along with Alan Cockrell to be the assistant hitting coach. In addition, the Yankees also hired Joe Espada to be their third base coach. On January 13, the Yankees acquired reliever Chris Martin from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for cash considerations.
On February 16, the Yankees signed pitcher Jared Burton to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. In February, the Yankees announced they will retire Bernie Williams number 51 on May 24, Jorge Posada's number 20 on August 22, and Andy Pettitte's number 46 on August 23.
On March 11, Yankees pitcher Chris Capuano left a spring training game with a strained right quad. On March 26, the Yankees released pitcher Jared Burton, before resigning him three days later. On April 1, the Yankees acquired Gregorio Petit from the Houston Astros for cash or a player to be named later.
Notable transaction chart Subtractions Additions Players SS Derek Jeter (retired) OF Zoilo Almonte (signed with Braves) C Francisco Cervelli (trade with Pirates) RHP Shane Greene (trade with Tigers) IF/OF Martín Prado (trade with Marlins) RHP David Phelps (trade with Marlins) IF Zelous Wheeler (sold to Golden Eagles) RHP Preston Claiborne (waiver claim by Marlins) LHP David Huff (signed with Dodgers) OF Ichiro Suzuki (signed with Marlins) RHP David Robertson (signed with White Sox) RHP Shawn Kelley (trade with Padres) RHP Brandon McCarthy (signed with Dodgers) RHP Hiroki Kuroda (signed with Carp) LHP Jeff Francis (signed with Blue Jays) RHP Nathan Eovaldi (trade with Marlins) LHP Chasen Shreve (trade with Braves) RHP David Carpenter (trade with Braves) LHP Justin Wilson (trade with Pirates) IF Didi Gregorius (trade with Diamondbacks) IF Gregorio Petit (trade with Astros) 1B/OF Garrett Jones (trade with Marlins) RHP Chris Martin (trade with Rockies) RHP Jared Burton (free agent) LHP Andrew Miller (free agent) Personnel Hitting coach Kevin Long First base coach Mick Kelleher Hitting coach Jeff Pentland Third base coach Joe Espada Assistant hitting coach Alan Cockrell
Season standings
American League East
American League Wild Card
Season summary
April +Opening day lineupNumberNamePosition 22 Jacoby Ellsbury CF 11 Brett Gardner LF 36 Carlos Beltrán RF 25 Mark Teixeira 1B 34 Brian McCann C 12 Chase Headley 3B 13 Alex Rodriguez DH 14 Stephen Drew 2B 18 Didi Gregorius SS 19 Masahiro Tanaka P
The Yankees lost their Opening Day game on April 6 against Toronto, losing 6–1. The Yankees only accumulated three total hits that first game, with a home run by Brett Gardner accounting for the only run scored by the Yankees. They bounced back to win the next game 4–3 on April 8, which was the first Yankees win of the season. On April 28, ace pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a tendinitis in his right wrist and a slight strain on his forearm. It was not connected to the elbow injury he suffered in the previous season. The Yankees would later finish the first month with a 13–9 record atop the American League East division.
The success of the New York Yankees in April was a result of good hitting against opposing team's bullpens and good offense to keep games close. In fact, seven of the thirteen wins in April were decided by one or two runs. Mixing and matching both pitching and offense was also key in the part of manager Joe Girardi. Some notable contributions came from players such as Alex Rodriguez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Teixeira, Chris Young, Brett Gardner, Dellin Betances, and even from the Yankees closer Andrew Miller. Miller, who had joined the Yankees during the off-season, had been impressive with eight saves in eight chances in the month of April.
In April, Brett Gardner had also started the trend of having the team grow mustaches and it caught on.
May
The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4–2 on May 2, during which Andrew Miller had set Yankees club history by securing nine saves in the first 23 games the Yankees had played in a season. Mariano Rivera, the former Yankees closer who had retired following the 2013 season, had not even performed this feat during his 19-year career. It was the same game that Alex Rodriguez hit a pinch-hit home run off of Red Sox pitcher Junichi Tazawa, his first as a pinch-hitter, and tied Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time home run list at 660 homers. Rodriguez was emotional following the game. The Yankees not long after had announced they would not be paying Rodriguez the $6 million in bonuses that he was promised when he had signed a contract years before for reaching these marks.
On May 19, Jacoby Ellsbury was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right knee. This was his first DL stint in his career with the Yankees. May did not turn out well for the Yankees as they finished the month winning 13 ball games but losing 16.
June June saw a turn in play for the Yankees, as they won seven straight to begin the month of June. In the month, various achievements were reached. Alex Rodriguez hit his 3000th career hit at home on June 19, hitting a home run to right field off from Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. The achievement was similar to Derek Jeter's 3000th hit in 2011, when he homered to left off from Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price. Price and Verlander happen to both be winners of the Cy Young Award. Ironically, Price and Verlander were both members of the Tigers organization the date of Rodriguez's 3000th hit. A few weeks later, Rodriguez was given the ball back from Zack Hample, the fan who caught it.
In the same month, the disabled list saw a bit of action. Notable to mention, Jacoby Ellsbury's injury took longer than expected to heal up. His rehab assignment began on June 29. In a home series against the Philadelphia Phillies, pitcher Iván Nova had returned to the hill for the first time since being injured in the prior season, winning for the Yankees and preventing a sweep. Another notable injury-related movement was the placement of closing pitcher Andrew Miller onto the disabled list early in June with a strained forearm muscle.
The Yankees finished the month of June winning 15 games and losing 12.
July
When the roster for the American League all-star team was announced, Dellin Betances and Mark Teixeira were revealed to be on the roster, with Teixeira replacing an injured Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers. In addition, the final vote held Brett Gardner as a candidate. Gardner later was announced as the replacement on the roster for an injured Alex Gordon of the Royals. None of them were starters. On July 28 against the Texas Rangers, the Yankees score 21 unanswered runs – 11 of them in the 2nd inning – after giving up 5 runs in the first inning en route to a 21–5 win.
On July 30, the Seattle Mariners traded Dustin Ackley to the Yankees for José Ramírez and Ramón Flores. The next day, Garrett Jones was designated for assignment. (Jones was later re-signed in early August and then re-designated for assignment not long after)
The Yankees finished July with 17 wins and 7 losses.
August The beginning of August saw the Yankees begin to struggle. With the Toronto Blue Jays in a hot streak since the end of July (where they revamped their team with a few big name players), a once respectable lead in the division had shrunk down to just a half game ahead of the Jays by the end of August 11. That night, the Yankees had traveled to Cleveland to face the Indians. Entering that game, the Yankees had gone 31 straight innings without scoring a run. Despite having a 4–2 lead in the 10th inning, closer Andrew Miller blew the save. The game was decided in the 16th inning, where Michael Brantley had walked off for the Indians. The Yankees lost 5–4. They lost the next day and the Blue Jays took lead of the division by half a game.
On August 5, Luis Severino had his major league debut starting against the Red Sox.
On August 13 the New York Yankees called up Greg Bird who went 0 for 5 in his debut. He got his first career hit on August 15 and his first and second career home runs on August 19.