5 Burning Questions Spring Training Edition

Yesterday officially kicked off the 2012 New York Yankees season as pitchers and catchers reported for the first day of spring training.  Though the day consisted mostly of the players taking physicals and throwing long toss, without Joe Girardi, the idea of baseball finally starting up again was music to my ears.

As the rest of the players begin to arrive in Tampa, here are some burning questions to keep an eye on for the next six weeks as the regular season approaches.

1. After C.C. who's next?
Joe Girardi confirmed today in his first press conference, that C.C. Sabathia will be the Yankees No. 1 starter, which is not a surprise to anyone.  Sabathia showed up to Tampa noticeably slimmer, weighing  290 pounds, down from 315 which is the weight he finished last season at.  But after Sabathia, Girardi will have to consider how to round out his rotation.  He has the newly acquired Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda as well as Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia to round out his rotation. Thankfully, he has A.J. Burnett off of his hands. 

Too many pitchers is always better than having not enough.  Pineada will obviously make the rotation as will Nova and Kuroda.  This means the fifth starter's role will come down between Hughes and Garcia.  Earlier in the off season, general manager Brian Cashman said Garcia will not have to compete for a roster spot but, that was before the signing of Pineda and Kuroda.  If Garcia beats Hughes for the final spot, Hughes will obviously slide to the bullpen but will he be as effective? Hughes also showed up to camp looking slimmer as well while adding muscle.  Would Cashman trade Garcia if Hughes beats him out?  We'll see.

My guess: Sabathia, Nova, Pineda, Kuroda, Hughes. 

2. Who will be the primary back up catcher?
Girardi all but confirmed that Francisco Cervelli will resume his duty of Russell Martin's back up in today's press conference.  But, what if Cervelli's on again/off again concussion symptoms become a problem again?  After trading away Jesus Montero to the Mariners, the Yankees are down to one player who is on the active roster: Austin Romine.

Romine impressed the coaching staff last season when he appeared in nine games for the Yankees.  Though he is not as well equipped with his bat as Montero, his defensive skills go above and beyond Montero's.  Romine is just 23 years old and another season in the minors may help his bat develop.  But, if Cervelli or Martin down for an extended period of time, I expect Romine to be back with the club.  He has the benefit of having worked with Hughes and Nova in the minors while they were all teammates. 

3. The DH situation 
While this may look like it's resolved, with the signing of Raul Ibanez, I think the situation is anything but.  The reality is Ibanez will be 40 in June and in all likelihood, his best days are behind him.  The DH spot was already an overcrowded position for the Yankees, in my opinion.  Andruw Jones was brought back to hit against righties while the team also has two aging veterans, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, whose bodies would appreciate a little break every now and then at the DH position.  Ibanez, who will hit mostly lefties, knew what he was getting himself into though as his contract is incentive heavy contract.  Ibanez was signed to a $1.1 million contract but has the opportunity to make $4 million with incentives. 

4. The health of Alex Rodriguez 
It's no secret that Alex Rodriguez's best and healthy days are behind him.  Last season, Rodriguez was limited to just 99 games due to a lingering knee injury.  Because of the injury, Rodriguez's power numbers were down with only 16 home runs and 62 RBI's.  Everyone believed Rodriguez would continue to get healthy over the off season, but he had a mysterious knee surgery over the winter in Germany which was also performed on Kobe Bryant previously.  Rodriguez has not played in 150 games since the 2007 season and at 36, he's more likely to have injuries than a 26 year old.  For what it's worth, Cashman said that Rodriguez is healthy, but we'll see what happens once the grind of the 162 game season begins.

5. Will Mark Teixeira return to form?
Teixeira is an interesting player to take a look at.  In the 2011 season, he played in 156 games and hit 39 home runs while driving in 111 runs, but hit just .248. Teixeira admitted he was frustrated with his lack of consistency and did not like that he was hitting just mostly home runs.  Since Teixeira signed with New York, his number of hits per year has decreased dramatically.  In 2009, his first season with the team, he had 178 hits, 2010: 256 and last year 148.  It was particularly frustrating when runners were in scoring position and Teixiera often struck out or flew out to end a rally.

Fans should not be complaining about his production given the number of runs he drives in each year, but hearing that Teixeria is frustrated is comforting to know that he wants to improve and return to being the all around player he once was.  Sadly, his days as an American League All Star may be over as Albert Pujols makes the switch to the AL this season.  Teixeira will have to compete with Pujols, Detroit's Prince Fielder and Boston's Adrian Gonzalez to find a spot on the roster.


* Photos courtesy of:
AP
http://johnalbone.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/romine.jpg

Blue Jays take two of three from Yankees

Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays
Location: Rogers Center, Toronto, Canada
Yankees Overall Record: 35-22
Series LVP: Mark Teixeira (see below)
Quote of the series: comes from Joe Girardi on Mark Teixeira's struggles throughout the season.

“I think sometimes when you see players of Tex’s caliber, you think it’s easy,” Girardi said. “It’s not easy. It’s tough, and you go through physical battles. You go through mental battles. There’s a lot of things you have to fight through. When a guy like Tex is where he’s at right now, we’re all a little bit surprised because we haven’t seen it, but it happens.”

The trip to Toronto,  the first series the two teams have played against each other all season, was rather unforgettable for the Bombers

On Friday, AJ Burnett had his first truly bad start of the season since the Boston series in early April.  Burnett could not seem to get anyone out, allowing six runs in six innings.  Compared to his last start in which he had zero walks, Burnett had four, which for him is still pretty remarkable.  Unfortunately when his pitches missed, he paid severely.  The majority of the runs that were given up were via home run.  Toronto leads the league in home runs, so it was not that big of a surprise.  As for the offense, the Yankees would have been better leaving their bats behind in New York.  Rookie Brett Cecil held the Yankees to just one innings, which is pretty amazing considering the offense came off the dismal pitching staff of the Orioles.

Saturday's game, a 14-inning affair, came down to the battle of the bullpens between the two teams.  Unfortunately for the Yankees, they wasted another phenomenal start by starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, denying him his eighth victory of the year.  Pettitte pitched into the eighth inning once again and allowed just two runs.  He struck out ten, which he hasn't done in many many years and lowered his earned run average to 2.47.  The only offense of the day came via a Derek Jeter two-run home run.  The Toronto pitching staff was able to keep the Yankees from scoring again, which wasn't too difficult, as New York could not seem to string together hits when men were on base.  Chad Gaudin eventually gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

Sunday's game brought the Bomber's first win of the series while also allowing the offense to score more then two runs.  Javier Vazquez finally got his record back to .500 by earning his fifth win of the season.  Vazquez had one of his best games, going five innings and allowed only two runs, while striking out nine.  Joba Chamberlain returned to his role of the  MIA eighth inning relief man, and allowed one run in just a third of an inning.  Manager Joe Girardi was thrown out in the eighth inning for arguing a third called strike call against right fielder Nick Swisher.  In that same inning, second baseman Robinson Cano hit the go ahead two run single.  The team was held scoreless before the eighth inning, when Brett Gardner scored on a wild pitch and Derek Jeter also hit a RBI double.  Mariano Rivera earned his 14th save of the season.

So who was the biggest goat of the series?  None other then Mark Teixeira, the first baseman who has not been able to hit anything this season. Teixeira had many opportunities to pick up his team throughout the series when there were runners on base but, like the majority of the season he couldn't come up with the big hit.  Teixeira had one of his roughest games of the year on Saturday, by going 0-5 with five strikeouts.  Girardi needs to seriously considering moving Teixeira out of the three-hole until he can find his swing.  Seriously what is the point of having a hitter in the three hole strikeout every time before the clean up hitter, Alex Rodriguez can even make it up to the plate?

Next Up: The Yankees head to Baltimore for a three game series against the Orioles.  I will personally be seeing Phil Hughes pitch against Kevin Millwood tomorrow!

Tigers take three of four from Yanks

Opponent: Detroit Tigers
Location: Tiger Stadium, Detroit, MI.
Yankees Overall Record: 22-12
Series MVP: who else? Phil Hughes
Series LVP: Derek Jeter
Quote of the Series: comes from first baseman Mark Teixeira on the recent losing streak.

"Three and four road trips are going to happen,” Teixeira said. “As long as we keep playing the way that we’re capable of playing and don’t go crazy and pitchers starting walking guys and hitters start swinging at first pitches, popping everything up. We just keep doing our thing, we’re going to win games again.”

The Yankees continued their short road trip with a four game series against the Detroit Tigers.  The Yankees played like the weather that hindered over Detroit for the week, ugly.  The offense went MIA as did much of the pitching.

Monday's game, a 5-4 loss was all about Detroit.  The Yankees managed to crawl their way back to make the game close but were unsuccessful.  Former Yankees Phil Coke and Johnny Damon really hurt their old club.  Coke pitched a decisive eight inning, allowing nobody to score with the bases loaded.  Damon hit his second home run of the season which extended the lead for his new club.  Magglio Ordonez made the game saving catch though in the eighth.  He took what would have been a double down the line from Jeter to end the inning.

Tuesday's game was postponed due to wicked rain that was in the Detroit area meaning the two teams had to play a double header Wednesday.  Javier Vazquez started game one and even though he took the loss, he pitched much better then he had in the past.  Vazquez was even pitching on about one week's rest after having his turn skipped in the rotation during the Boston series.  He pitched into the seventh inning and only gave up two runs.  Unfortunately for him, the offense did not show up to the game, but saved everything else for Phil Hughes in the nightcap.

Hughes, once again was outstanding.  He pitched seven outstanding innings, allowed just five hits, no runs and had eight strikeouts.  Six of his strikeouts came with the bases loaded in the first and third innings respectively.  He lowered his ERA to 1.38 and became the first starter to win his first five decisions.  The decision to put Hughes in the rotation as the fifth starter, well now fourth, has really paid off for the team.   The offense showed up to this game also.  They exploded for eight runs, six of which were scored in the ninth inning.  Mariano Rivera also got into his first game this month and was perfect and struck out one.

Thursday's game was back to the anemic offense that haunted the Yanks this whole series. They were also hurt by an unusually wild CC Sabathia who allowed his highest amount of runs all season.  He pitched six innings, gave up nine hits and allowed six runs.  After the game Sabathia said his mechanics were off on his fastball and that's why he was getting hurt.  The offense also had to deal with the fastball throwing machine of Justin Verlander.  Verlander allowed just four hits for the entire game while pitching into the seventh inning.  The final score of the game was 6-0.

The Yankees could not get out of Detroit fast enough following this series.

Next Up: The Yankees return home and take on the Minnesota Twins.

Yanks take two of three at Fenway

Opponent: Boston Red Sox

Location: Fenway Park, Boston, Ma.

Yankees overall record: 21-9

Series MVP: Francisco Cervelli

Honorable Mention: Brett Garnder, Nick Swisher, Phil Hughes

Quote of the series: comes from Mark Teixeira on Cervelli

"He comes up (last year) and everyone talks about his defense. He’s going to catch, he’s going to throw, he’s going to be great behind the plate,” Mark Teixeira said. “This guy is impressing me more and more every day. He stepped up for a future Hall of Famer. He’s stepping up and doing a great job for Jorge.”

The Yankees were able to continue their winning ways before losing the series finale to the Red Sox, this past weekend.

Friday's game was a clear demonstration of how patient this Yankee offense can be.  Going into the game, the thought was the game was going to be a pitching battle between Red Sox starter Josh Beckett and Yankee youngster Phil Hughes.  Hughes was able to out battle a wild Beckett.  Beckett simply unraveled and allowed 8 runs in the sixth inning while also hitting Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter.  Jeter's plunking came with the bases loaded to allow another run in.  Hughes meanwhile, continued his dominant start to the season by pitching seven effective innings, allowing two runs.  His season earned run average sits at a miniscule 1.69.  This is what manager Joe Girardi had to say about Hughes' start from Friday.

“Beckett struck out five of the first six hitters and it’s not looking like you’re going to get a lot of runs,” Girardi said. “And (Hughes) just matched him.”

Saturday's game was a bit of a back and forth game until the two teams hit a one hour and twenty minute rain delay in the fifth inning.  CC Sabathia was unable to get the win, after only pitching 4 and 2/3 innings.  He needed one more strike to qualify for a win but the umpires called a rain delay before he was able to complete the at bat.  Alfredo Aceves came in and got the win following the delay, yet he had to come out early due to a stiff lower back.  He is considered day to day and the Yankees have no plan to put him on the DL.  The offense exploded following the delay.  Teixeira hit 3 home runs and is finally over his April slump.  Cervelli had five RBI's from Saturday's game.

Sunday's game, mothers day, brought the Jekyl and Hyde  AJ Burnett once again to Fenway.  Up until Sunday's game, Burnett has been virtually unhitable.  Boy did that change.  Burnett allowed eight runs in an overall ugly game.  The defense was not the best and the weather was simply miserable; cold and windy.  With the wind the temperatures were down into the low 30s.  Girardi was ejected for protecting his player, Marcus Thames.  Unfortunatley it did nothing to inspire the team.  Jon Lester was pitching too well to get a hit.


Next Up: The Yankees head to Detroit for a four game series against the Tigers.  Former teammates Johnny Damon and Phil Coke all now play for the Tigers. 

World Champs visit the President

The 2009 World Series Champions, The New York Yankees resumed their victory tour yet again today. Yet they weren't visiting a Yankees fan.  In fact the team visited a White Sox fan.  (Relax, I said WHITE sox fan not RED sox fan).

So who was the lucky guest of honor?

Oh, just Barack Obama, the President of the United States.

The team visited with the president to celebrate their world championship from last year and presented him with a number 27 jersey.  Normally the championship teams that visit the president give him the number jersey which represents his presidency.  In Obama's case, number 44 is retired and belongs to Reggie Jackson.

Obama stressed the importance of the athletes giving back to the community while still enjoying their fame.  He specifically mentioned Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira.  He even shared an anecdote about Teixeira and his first big contribution to his former high school.

“Before he was a three-time Golden Glove winner, Mark was a 21-year-old kid fresh out of Georgia Tech,” President Obama said. “Shortly after signing his first Major League contract, Mark visited his old high school and asked how much it would cost to set up a scholarship in the name of a friend who had been killed in a car accident. And when he was told it would cost $75,000, he wrote a check on the spot.”

The players and the rest of the delegation also visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Here's a funny quote from the President himself I'll leave you with before showing off some pictures.

“It’s been nine years since your last title—which must have felt like eternity for Yankee fans. I think other teams would be just fine with a spell like that. The Cubs, for example,” Obama said, drawing laughs from players, coaches, members of his Cabinet and Congress and other guests.

Courtney 

Yankees Second Annual "Game Break" from Baseball

The Yankees participated in their second annual day away from camp today.  Last Spring Training, in sticking with his promise to loosen up, Joe Girardi made one of the normal training days a team bonding experience and brought all the players to a pool tournament.  This year, to try something different Girardi and the gang headed to a local arcade and participated in different games.  This years tournament included games such as Indy Car Driving, Skeeball and Pop-a-shot.  This years winners included A.J. Burnett, Andrew Brackman and Royce Ring.

When Girardi started this last year I thought it was a phenomenal idea.  It served as a time for the all the players to get to know each other.  This includes both major league and minor league players.  Andy Pettitte last year was paired with Mark Teixeira in the pool tournament.  Pettitte said it was a great way to get to know Teixeira as an individual outside of the field.  Teixiera himself summed up the event the best.

  “It was a great day,” Teixeira said. “The fact that we get three or four hours not to have to worry about baseball and not have to compete on the baseball field, it was fun. Playing video games, we felt like kids again. It promotes a light-hearted atmosphere."

I'll leave you with one more picture with Teixeira playing Skeeball with familiar faces Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera in the background.  

-Courtney 

BALL GAME OVER!!! YANKEES WIN...THEEE YANKEES WIN!!!

The Yankees beat the Twins in the 11th inning after Mark Teixiera hit a tie-breaking home run with no outs in the the bottom of the inning. More to come with Teixiera's reaction.

Oh and the yanks could not have won without Arod's home run in the 9th to tie it up!