It's not how you start, it's how you finish.

Another national sports writer picks the Yankees for last place in their division.

The overall theme seems to be that the Yankees are old and therefore unproductive. "Out with the old, in with the new." This narrative is seemingly fulfilled when multiple players start the season on the DL (regardless of their age).

Girardi understands that the Yankees won 95 games last year without Gardner, ARod, Teixeira, Sabathia, Joba, and Mariano. They even won 95 games last year without Pedro Feliciano.


I'll be the first to admit that predictions are stupid. I am pretty sure I picked the Nationals for last place in 2012 and the Marlins for first place. So I could be way off with the 2013 Yankees. I'm not being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. I just think everyone is missing the boat:

"5. Yankees: Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez open on the disabled list. Vernon Wells opens in left field, Brett Gardner in center and Lyle Overbay at first. Joe Girardi's spring comment that the Yankees are a 95-win team is funnier than anything Craig Ferguson said this spring."

The Opening Day lineup is garbage, I will grant that.

However, I don't think that Granderson and Jeter are expected to be out long. ARod is due back around the All Star break. Teixeira, it's hard to say, especially given his well-known grittiness ... but I guess I'd be surprised if it was a season-ending injury.


May 1 lineup

Ichiro
Jeter
Cano
Youkilis
Granderson
Hafner
Nunez/Overbay
Catcher
Gardner



August 1 lineup

Ichiro
Jeter
Cano
Teixeira
Youkilis
Granderson
ARod/Hafner
Catcher
Gardner

Bench: Wells, Nix, Overbay, Nunez.

Is this really a terrible lineup?


If the injuries continue to pile up ... if ARod and Teixeira are still not healthy (or serving PED-related suspensions, as the case may be) ... then maybe the Yankees acquire Morneau and Mauer.

But he brought a winning culture.

"And as gallant as he was that night and as much as he fought back to get back on the mound in 2012, all he does now is go in with so many other bad contracts the Mets have given out, the money they wasted on guys like him and on Jason Bay and on Pedro Martinez, the insane contract they gave to Bobby Bonilla once, a contract that seems to have Bonilla somehow cashing Mets money from now until the end of time."

Funny how Lupica finally concedes, indirectly, that the Pedro Martinez contract was a bust.


"Maybe CC Sabathia will be an exception with the Yankees, maybe he won’t break down eventually even though he has already had his first elbow surgery in pinstripes. But if he had gotten hurt sooner, say in 2009, then maybe the Yankees are looking at him differently and maybe the Yankees are still looking for their first World Series since they beat the Mets in 2000."

Just a reminder that the 2009 World Series is the only Championship that doesn't really count.


"Maybe if Pedro had stayed strong, the Cardinals wouldn’t even have pushed the Mets to Game 7 in ’06, maybe they would have won that NLCS before the Mets and Cardinals got anywhere near that fat pitch that Aaron Heilman threw to Molina that night at old Shea. Before the game ended with the bat on Carlos Beltran’s shoulder in the bottom of the ninth."

Maybe CC, maybe Pedro, maybe Schilling, maybe anything.

If the things that happened had never happened, our memories of the events would be different. Far out, dude.


"There is so much conversation now about the Mets bringing Santana to town, especially now that there is the chance that he could set a world’s record and become the first pitcher to have anterior capsule surgery twice. It just makes this the capital of short memories all over again, because when the Mets made their play for Santana in the first place, it was treated like one of the best plays they had ever made."

Wrong.

In fact, Mike Lupica from Dec. 2007 disagrees with you:

"The Yankees have already spent $400 million the past few weeks and you know what that means, right?

They're ready to spend more!

They're ready to break the bank for Johan Santana and thereby go against all the data on signing starting pitchers to longterm deals.

Why?

Because they want him.

Why else?

Because the Red Sox do.

Why won't Santana break down sometime during the length of his contract?

Because he's going to be a Yankee, that's why.

...

Johan Santana is a great pitcher, no doubt.

He isn't the Bionic Man just because the Yankees want him, and the Red Sox might get him."

Yankees criticized for reacting calmly.

Juan Rivera was released today and Lyle Overbay made the team:

"There’s going to be platoon action somewhere in the lineup, so why can’t it be at first base? Overbay starts and plays there against RHP with Youkilis at third, and against lefties Youkilis can slide over to play first with someone like Ronnier Mustelier or Jayson Nix playing third.

Does that sound like a better scenario than any one that includes Rivera?"

It doesn't sound like a particularly better option because it involved "someone like Ronnier Mustelier or Jayson Nix."

No offense to people like Ronnier Mustelier or Jayson Nix.


"Maybe, maybe not. But that’s where the Yankees stand when it comes to filling out their bench this season; just trying to find the right mix of guys who can hopefully be league average. It’s not like Rivera or Overbay are going to put the lineup on their backs and carry them until Teix returns. Maybe the defensive skills are enough to give Overbay the nod and Rivera the ticket outta town."

That's just what happened.

If Teixeira's injury is severe, the Yankees make a (much-criticized) trade for Morneau.

Why not wait and see what happens with Teixeira's injury?

Even Accuscore doesn't like the Yankees.

Though, to be fair, 85 wins is more than most of the human predictions I've been seeing.

85 wins and barely missing the playoffs doesn't seem unreasonable to me. 70 wins and last place seems quite unreasonable to me.

Yankees are underdogs.

Yet another neutral party picking the Yankees for last place.

Perhaps I'm the delusional one. I just think this team is way underrated -- something you can't usually say about the Yankees.

Derek Jeter may never play shortstop again!

"So much for the notion that Jeter, at 38 going on 39, could come back from an injury as severe as this and defy all odds by picking up right where he left off as still one of the premier shortstops in baseball, with no discernible loss of range afield or speed on the basepaths."

That is quite a run-on sentence.


"I don’t know which was more painful Saturday at the Himes Ave. Yankee minor-league complex — Jeter loping and limping to first base on four infield groundouts, or watching him."

Most painful was reading your recap. Complete with the panicky conclusion that Derek Jeter will never play shortstop again!

I'm calling shenanigans.

First, the headline:

"Improved defense has Nunez ready to play shortstop."


Followed by Yankee propaganda:

"Nunez joked this week that he has not been throwing as many balls in the stands behind first base this spring, but that has not been by coincidence."

I'm not laughing.


"Nunez has been working with infield coach Mick Kelleher on his arm action, something he showed off on a fourth-inning play Sunday. Nunez whirled behind second base on Shelley Duncan's grounder up the middle, throwing accurately on a bounce to first baseman Juan Rivera, who did not scoop the infield hit."

So the evidence of his improved defense is an infield hit.


" 'He's bouncing it there on purpose,' Girardi said. 'It's on the money, and it's a good throw.' "

I'm quite sure Nunez meant to do it.

Take the Canseco challenge.

Vernon Wells to the Yankees?

I am not sure if this is a good trade for the Yankees.

It's difficult to assess because ... well ... because the article doesn't say who the Yankees are trading.

ESPN's Manny Acta is on record.

... and he might be right, but I sure don't see it.

He just said that the 2013 Blue Jays will have three starters compete for the Cy Young Award.


R.A. Dickey moved from the NL East to the AL East. He moved from CitiField to Rogers Centre.

Josh Johnson has a career record of 56-37. If the Yankees were paying him $14 million, he'd be known as "A.J. Burnett."

In 2005, when he was 26 years old, Mark Buehrle's record was 16-8/3.12. He came in 5th in Cy Young voting. He has never received another Cy Young vote in his career. (For what it's worth, Travis Hafner was 5th in MVP voting in 2005. So Hafner will probably compete for the AL MVP in 2012.)

Keeping score.

"The Yankees get increasingly touchy when asked about their farm system, but why aren’t Yankee fans allowed to ask how come they had to go get Kevin Youkilis to play third when A-Rod went down, and had to go sign scrubs from other teams to replace Curtis Granderson?

And when Teixeira goes down, the team known best for retired numbers had to start calling retired players."

"The Yankees get touchy." I suppose he is referring to Cashman?

Youkilis can play 1b and Nunez can play 3b, for what it's worth.

Youkilis wasn't signed to replace ARod. He was signed to get 600 at-bats and drive in 100 runs, playing 3b, 1b, and DH.


By the way, how many superstars are available ... short-term, mind you ... for CF and 1b?

Who is the superstar 1b who's going to replace Teixeira for a month? What are they going to do with Teixeira when he comes off the DL?

Bench players are just that. Nobody is questioning the low-risk/low-reward signings of Brennan Bosch and Dan Johnson.


"The farm system absolutely produced Robinson Cano, who has a chance to be one of the best pure hitters in all Yankee history.

There was Austin Jackson, whom they traded for Granderson.

And the suddenly irreplaceable — and much loved — Brett Gardner.

That’s it lately, if you’re keeping score at home."

Hughes, Nova, Phelps, Robertson, Nunez, Cervelli, Mesa.

If you're keeping score at home.

If you're keeping score at home about a meaningless measurement nobody cares about.

I miss you, Joe Torre.

" 'I grew up with three teams in New York, so you figure everybody watches somebody on TV every day. But two young players, and of course I think both of them ‑‑ which is not easy these days, because we’re so anxious to predict somebody is going to be a star — but these two guys have lived up to the advanced billing.

'The most impressive thing is the fact that they both play well under pressure.' "

He's talking about Robinson Cano and David Wright.

One of whom recently experienced an 0-for-29 streak in the playoffs. The other has a career playoff batting average of .216.

Sweat.

Joba would have to waive the no-trade clause in his contract that prohibits a trade to any area of the country that is not a part of Taco Bell's Cool Ranch Doritos tacos test market:

"Sensing the Yankees might have bullpen depth, the Rangers are following Joba Chamberlain."

Joba will definitely be able to handle the 100-degree heat in Texas.

Jog in from bullpen. Throw 8 warmup pitches. Pass out.

Sure, you can have the fruits of our labor.

"The Miami New Times announced on Tuesday that it will not release documents to MLB that possibly illustrate a relationship between some two dozen major leaguers and Biogenesis, a clinic that has since been shut down."

We only want two things in return:

1) A list of all players who have tested positive.

2) The financial records for all MLB teams.

Thanks for the scoop, fellas.

Toronto GM.

"In the recent past, the Yankees could count on their offense to do a fair amount of bludgeoning, especially at home, to inflate their win-loss record. But that strategy is gone for at least April while Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira convalesce, and perhaps all season due to the irreversible impact of injuries and offseason defections."

If Nick Swisher was worth this much, then he should have been named AL MVP in 2012.


"The loss of offense, combined with the roster’s advancing age and the belief the AL East is going to play stronger from top to bottom than at any time in history has created a sense these Yankees might not even contend this year. Except the general manager of the flavor-of-the-month team in the AL East doesn’t believe it."

The AL East has quite a history. I think the 2013 AL East is weak compared to recent years because the power has shifted a bit to the AL West and AL Central. While there may not be any pushovers, the power teams are no longer power teams.


" 'A few things about the Yankees,' said Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos. 'People want to count them out because of the injuries. Last year, Mariano Rivera, A-Rod, Joba [Chamberlain], [Brett] Gardner and [Andy] Pettitte were out for extended periods and they still won 95 games."

And Teixeira missed a month.


" 'Just look at their rotation. You might not want it in five years, but I think just about any team would take their rotation in 2013. Tampa has shown in this division what you can do with a strong rotation. Last year the Rays lost [Evan] Longoria for most of the season, their offense probably wasn’t as good as the Yanks have now even without Teixeira and Granderson — and they still won 90 games. I am not counting the Yanks out, no way.' "

What he said.

Sportswriter criticizes managerial prowess during the World Baseball Classic.

I'll start this blog entry with the following Jeff Passan punchline:

"One of Torre's greatest strengths is explaining the rationale behind certain decisions."

Oh, boy.

This is going to be good:

"Two shadows cast themselves over Team USA on Sunday afternoon. The first peeked through the open roof at Chase Field and bathed home plate in darkness, making the already-trying task of picking up a 95-mph pitch from 60 feet away that much more vexing."

That's vexing for the Team USA batters, but good for the Team USA pitchers.


"Even worse was the other, impossible to see but easy to sense: The United States, where baseball was invented, was about to bomb out of the World Baseball Classic, and the lasting pall would be far greater than anything the clouds and sun ever could muster."

Yeah, the lasting pall would have been far greater than anything the clouds and sun could ever muster.

Figuratively.


"Despite Joe Torre managing as though the analytical breakthroughs of the last 20 years never happened – bunting three times with a lineup of All-Stars, shrugging off matchup-relief situations, walking a career-long scrub to load the bases with a new reliever coming in and keeping the player who led the major leagues in slugging percentage last year on the bench all game despite struggling for runs over the first seven innings – Team USA turned into Team USA over the final two innings, dropping seven runs and joining Italy, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in Miami."

That is the longest sentence an American sportswriter has ever dedicated to the World Baseball Classic.


"By doing their duty, the players rescued Torre from a rightful filleting after turning a lineup of mashers into practitioners of small-ball tiddlywinks. With runners on first and second and no outs in the second inning, he bunted Jones – 2012 numbers: .287/.334/.505 – and didn't score. Same scenario in the fourth and once again, a bunt with Ben Zobrist – 2012 numbers: .270/.377/.471 – went for a hit only because Canada's third baseman, Taylor Green, isn't an altogether competent third baseman. And the worst was in the eighth, when, down a run, Torre called for Zobrist to bunt one more time – and he popped out to the catcher.

Jones, the next hitter, also saved Torre from having to explain how he can say this – 'We really don't have a soft spot in that lineup' – and then manage like he has a lineup of nine David Ecksteins." 

Torre's reputation would have been fine.  Because nobody cares about the WBC, that's why.

Sultan of saves.

It took a long time for Mike Lupica to acknowledge the greatness of Mariano Rivera.  So while Lupica comes up with a pun and explains the greatness of Mariano Rivera to New York area baseball fans by comparing Rivera to Babe Ruth, I'd like to remind everyone that it wasn't too long ago that Lupica was comparing Rivera unfavorably to Jonathan Papelbon.

I guess I'm way bullish on the Yankees.

Forget the World Series or even the playoffs. Rany Jazayerli doesn't think the Yankees will make it to .500.

Vegas odds put their Championship chances in the middle of the pack.


I think they will improve in on-base%, speed, defense, situational hitting, and clutch hitting.

I also think their starting rotation is quite good and their bullpen is excellent.

I can't predict injuries, but, like Jeter said, it's better to have injuries in March than in September.  The 2013 Yankees have been pre-disastered.

I don't know -- I kinda think they're going to be good.

Gritty.

Girardi thinks too much.

"Asked why Brett Gardner started in left field against Boston on Sunday in Fort Myers, with Melky Mesa in center, Girardi revealed Gardner likely will shift back from center to left once Curtis Granderson broken forearm) returns from the DL. The Yanks, Girardi said, don’t want Granderson to try learning a new position during regular-season games or for such a switch to affect his hitting."

At Yankee Stadium, May regular-season games are kinda like Spring Training games.


"Girardi added he’s considered various outfield permutations in Granderson’s absence — involving Gardner in either center or left — depending on who makes the team among Mesa, Juan Rivera, Matt Diaz, Zoilo Almonte and Ronnier Mustelier."

Golly, I hope the flip-flop doesn't affect Gardner's hitting.

I guess I am way bearish on the Blue Jays.

Everybody loves the Blue Jays and R.A. Dickey.

Kind of like how everybody loved the preseason 2012 Marlins and the preseason 2011 Red Sox.

Well, you didn't take them to inhibit your performance, right?

"KD: You’ve kind of become a spokesman for anti-steroids. You’re a good guy, you’re accessible and you’re quotable. At the end of your career, guys were probably using. You played into the ‘90s.

...

 KD: Do you feel the same way about guys who used greenies?

GG: Oh, You’re not even talking about the same. …I used greenies. I’ve done them. I didn’t have to get up unless I drank a case of beer and stayed up all night. I might take a greenie just to stay awake in the bullpen. But it wasn’t a performance-enhancing drug.

KD: It was illegal, though, right?

...
GG: Greenies is like me drinking 10 cups of coffee.

KD: Yeah. Except it’s illegal"