Michael Pineda Coming Along

After being acquired from the Seattle Mariners in the trade that sent Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Mariners, Michael Pineda may be making his way back into the Major Leagues. Last spring, Pineda came into Yankees camp twenty pounds overweight, was ineffective all spring, and finally suffered a major shoulder injury that sidelined him for the entire 2012 baseball season. The Yankees were upset at their star acquisition having to miss out on the 2012 season, but at the same time were hopeful that Pineda would be able to come back in 2013 with higher velocity and a fresh outlook on his pitching career.

When he met with the media today in Tampa, Michael Pineda expressed his negative feelings regarding last spring training. Regretting coming into Tampa twenty pounds overweight, Pineda said that it was a "mistake" and that he will do everything he can in order to come back stronger than ever before. Shoulder injuries are very tricky and often times, people do not come back from labrum tears. Being a pitcher, Pineda relies heavily on his shoulder for obvious reasons. However, Pineda came to camp weeks earlier than the official reporting date and has been gradually working up toward a comeback to the Yankees.

Just today, Pineda advanced to throwing off a full mound and did so without any discomfort, which is vital for his progression. Girardi has made it known that Pineda will probably not pitch in any spring games, but his arrival in the Bronx could come as early as June. If the Yankees rotation is already effective and injury-free, it should be an interesting situation for Girardi if he has a surplus of pitching come mid-season.

Judging from Pineda's attitude, he has matured greatly. The shoulder injury has taught him that things don't come easily in life, and even less easy in the unforgiving game of baseball. Michael Pineda has a huge upside, and I am looking forward to watching him thrive in pinstripes for years to come. I will go out of a limb assume that Pineda shares the same sentiments.

Yankees Spring Training is Here!

Today is the official reporting day for pitchers, catchers and injured players. This is also the day that Girardi will make his annual "State of the Yankees" address. There will certainly be some interesting questions asked, including ones about Gardner in center field, the Alex Rodriguez story, among others. Also, this is the final year of Joe Girardi's contract with the Yankees. There will likely be a question asked to Joe about the status of his contract, but Girardi knows the Yankees policy and will comply by saying that his contract will get taken care of after the conclusion of the season.

Derek Jeter ran on a treadmill yesterday for the first time since his surgery. Jeter is expected to field more grounders today, as well as ranging to his sides. Jeter is coming along quickly, and expecting him to be the Yankees shortstop on Opening Day in 48 days will likely happen.

Lastly, many other questions will be answered through the duration of Spring Training including who will fill the final spot in the rotation, how the bullpen will be structured without Rafael Soriano and who will split DH time with Travis Hafner.

Happy Spring Training Day! I am looking forward to this season and a wealth of new posts throughout the duration of the season. Hope you come along for the ride with me.

Bourn Agrees to Terms with Indians

Just when you thought the Indians had a formidable outfield, they add Michael Bourn to the mix. According to Jon Heyman, the Indians have agreed to terms with center fielder Michael Bourn on a 4 year/$48 million deal with a vesting option for a fifth year if Bourn amasses 550 plate appearances in his fourth season. Until earlier today the New York Mets were favorites to land the outfielder. According to multiple outlets, they made an offer of four years/$48 million but two things got into the way. First, the Mets are intent on not giving up the eleventh pick of the draft. If they signed Bourn, the Mets would need to go through an arbiter to figure out which pick would be forfeited. Also, the team did not believe that Bourn would be able to obtain a fifth year on his contract. Scott Boras proved another team wrong when the Indians included the vesting option based on plate appearances.

Bourn will play center field for the Indians, while Nick Swisher will be the team's every day right fielder and left field will likely be a platoon of Brantley and newly acquired Drew Stubbs. Suddenly, the tribe has an excess of outfielders. They will want to unload one of their players in order to get a prospect. They certainly have options, as their outfield is more crowded than the Yankees' nursing home suites. However, pitching is still the key to the kingdom and the Indians have an awful rotation. Despite their added offense, I don't see them competing for the central title this season.

Hitting the Corners

For the first time since 2008, the Yankees will be starting a season without Nick Swisher saluting the fans in right field. Since Nick Swisher is now a member of the Cleveland Indians, the Yankees will have a new addition to their outfield.

It's not often that the Yankees don't have corner outfielders with power. In 2013 however, the Yankees are heading into camp with Brett Gardner as their every day left fielder and newly re-signed Ichiro Suzuki to play right field. While there won't be much power to go around in the outfield, the pair bring a different dynamic to this Yankees team that the Bombers lacked in 2012. With the speed and defense of Gardner and Ichiro, they can contribute to the team by saving runs defensively as opposed to driving runs in offensively. Sabermetricians would probably agree with me, but the baseball purists out there are probably reading this and thinking that I have no clue what I'm talking about.

Let's start with Brett Gardner. He was injured throughout the entire 2012 season other than playing in a handful of games in early April and at the end of September. The team missed Gardner's speed and defense, and the sluggers weren't doing the job because there weren't guys in front of them that were getting on base. Gardner provides the on-base factor and can force a pitcher to make a bad pitch by distracting him from focusing on the hitter. Gardner's legs are bionic, and he can out-run the majority of the league. In order for pitchers to be more paranoid with Gardner on base, Brett has to take more chances. If he doesn't attempt to steal a base his statistics won't suffer, but he needs to take more chances and run early in counts instead of waiting a pitcher out for two at-bats. I love Brett Gardner, but I believe he can be a bona fide star in the league if he took more chances and hit more consistently. He is a gold glove caliber outfielder who should be playing center field. I still tend to believe that Granderson will play left field at some point in the year, because Gardner is just too good defensively to play a corner outfield position.

Ichiro is entering his first full season in pinstripes. I have not seen enough of Ichiro on the Yankees to make an accurate assessment, but from what I have seen of Ichiro tells me that he will be a great addition as the Yankees every day right fielder. For much of his time with the Yankees in the second half of last season, he was forced to start mostly in left field because Swisher was the every day right fielder. Out of his comfort zone in left field, Ichiro still made sparkling plays that Swisher could only dream of making in right. Ichiro showed that he still has something left in the tank, and he put on a hitting clinic in late August heading into September and the postseason. Ichiro likes playing for the Yankees because the locker room is filled with professionals. While playing in Seattle, most of Ichiro's teammates were young and inexperienced. After setting foot in the Yankees clubhouse, Ichiro was in his comfort zone. With players like Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira, Ichiro felt like he fit the team perfectly. I agree with his sentiments and I expect him to have a solid year for the Yankees this year. With the short porch and playing with the Yankees for a full season, Ichiro could provide more power to the Yankees lineup.

As you can tell, I like the speed element in the Yankees outfield this year. Gardner and Ichiro are great compliments to one another, and they can provide the team with a spark when the offense is struggling.

My predictions for Gardner: .280 BA, 12 HR, 58 RBI, 56 SB

My predictions for Ichiro: .298 BA, 15 HR, 65 RBI, 25 SB

The Captain: Derek Jeter

When the words "the captain"are muttered anywhere in New York, you automatically know that Derek Jeter is the man who is being talked about. Jeter has proven all of his critics wrong after having what some may call a career-type year in 2012 as a 38 year old. Jeter was regarded as one of the two best hitters in the Yankees lineup last year, and to him age is nothing but a number.

In 2012, Derek Jeter hit an astonishing .316, smacked 15 home runs and was a singles machine. He led the Major Leagues in total hits, which is something I didn't think I would see Derek achieve again in his remarkable career. Last season, he set out to prove all the nay-sayers wrong who thought that Jeter was on the decline. After a horrid 2010 (by Jeter's standards) and a sub-par early 2011, people were calling for Jeter's retirement. However after he hit that ball out of the park for his 3,000th career hit, all bets were off. He would have a resurgence that lasted through the end of the 2012 season, before he ultimately ended up getting hurt in the postseason against the Tigers in an extra inning game. What many people don't know is that Jeter played most of September and all of October with a bum ankle. Jeter would never tell you that, and quite frankly you wouldn't think twice about questioning him after he continued to get hit after hit on his bad ankle.

I respect Derek Jeter not only as a baseball player, but also as a man with pride and integrity, a perfect embodiment of what the Yankees have represented themselves as since the beginning of the franchise. Jeter always puts the team ahead of himself, doesn't bask in his own glory and most importantly, Jeter never gives himself credit. He is a humble man who goes about his business and plays the game the way it was meant to be played. That is why Derek Jeter is the most revered athlete in professional sports.

Entering his age 39 season, I am not shocked with anything Jeter does on the field anymore. He has proven everyone wrong time and time again. With a healthy ankle, I expect great things out of Jeter. There is no reason to believe that he will slow down even after suffering a major ankle injury which required surgery in the off-season.

My predictions for Jeter in 2013: .308 BA, 12 HR, 60 RBI, 190 hits.

State of the Yankees: Third Base

With Alex Rodriguez's return in 2013 seeming to be more and more unlikely by the day, this post will focus on the Yankees third baseman of 2013: Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis was acquired by the Yankees via free agency on a one year contract to fill the void left by A-Rod's unexpected hip surgery. Youkilis will be getting paid $13 million by the Yankees for one year. The third baseman took the contract with the Yankees over the Indians offer because despite getting more years from Cleveland, Youk can build his value over one year with the Yankees and demand a larger deal in free agency after the 2013 season. Youkilis was not playing at full strength last season with the Red Sox and White Sox. His numbers have been declining over the last several years and he suddenly finds himself to be a shell of his former self.

Youkilis sat down with Jack Curry of the YES Network and informed Curry that he has been working hard to be his former self that garnered so much respect while in Boston. Youkilis is 33 years old and his defense is suspect, but one thing that you can take to the bank is his ability to perform with the lights shining brightly. He proved in unforgiving Boston that he was a clutch player, before a falling out with the manager, Bobby Valentine, which signaled his ultimate departure from Boston.

I expect a re-energized Kevin Youkilis this season who will help the Yankees offense. He is an on-base machine. He draws plenty of walks and has the ability to hit the ball out of the park. His improved hitting mechanics should bring him back to something of his former self after watching video of his 2008 season where he mashed 29 homers and drove in 115. Youkilis can be a valuable asset to the Yankees this year, and I sure can't wait to see what happens the first time the Yankees visit the Red Sox is Beantown.

My 2013 predictions for Kevin Youkilis: .260 BA, 18 HR, 72 RBI

More Alex Rodriguez PED Drama

A story uncovered by the Miami New Times earlier this week broke a story of an anti-aging clinic supplying Alex Rodriguez, as well as a few other Major League players with performance enhancing drugs as recently as the 2012 season. The Rodriguez story comes as a bit of a surprise to most, simply because he did not perform well in 2012 at all. His power numbers were down all season and he did not hit for a high average. It's a scary thought to wonder how Rodriguez would have performed in 2012 without HGH injections. The owner of the clinic, Anthony Bosch has detailed records of payment amounts and other documents that would be difficult for these players to deny. Of course, in typical A-Rod fashion he and his lawyers have already denied these allegations despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against him in the case. As recently as this morning, a report surfaced that discussed Anthony Bosch injecting Alex with HGH at his Miami home last spring. The report states that Rodriguez was getting angry at Bosch because Bosch was having trouble locating a vein in order to inject A-Rod. Subsequently, Rodriguez kicked Bosch out of his house and later complained that he was "bleeding everywhere".

Other prominent MLB players involved in the scandal are LHP Gio Gonzalez, OF Nelson Cruz, OF Melky Cabrera and RHP Bartolo Colon. The latter portion of players on the aforementioned list were already suspended by Major League Baseball in the 2012 season after testing positive. Rodriguez has never been suspended, because he was caught before the new CBA that set into place all of the violation rules that MLB abides by today.

It would be nice if the Yankees could void A-Rod's contract, but chances of that happening are slim to none. Rodriguez is owed over $114 million from the Yankees over the next five seasons. The Player's Association will fight tooth and nail for the terms of the contract to be honored. The only way that the Yankees can rid themselves of that salary is if Rodriguez announces retirement because of injuries. At that point, the insurance company would step in and would have to work something out. Alex Rodriguez has already stated that he will not be retiring and is looking forward to getting back on the field as soon as he can. The Yankees will probably not play him at all this year, even if he returns from the disabled list before the season ends. They want to save money, and $25 million would be a nice chunk of change to put in their back pockets for future acquisitions. As I stated early in the off-season, I still believe that Alex Rodriguez may have had his final at-bat playing for the New York Yankees.