It's prospect ranking season again, and with the multitude of top prospect lists that will be coming out, farm system rankings are also going to make the rounds. Kiley McDaniel had a glowing evaluation of the Yankees organization, ranking them 11th overall in MLB. Keith Law has now released his own list, but it seems he feels much differently about the state of the franchise, placing them 20th overall.

The Yankees' system still has more talent than production, as several key prospects continued to have trouble staying on the field, but a very strong 2013 draft class and a blowout year on the international front have the system trending up again.

Law's ranking wasn't exactly fueled by dislike of what the Yankees have, just the unfortunate reality of prospect development. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't, and according to him, the Yankees are currently on the upswing despite the beat down some of their key prospects have recently received. With Aaron Judge, Ian Clarkin, and Eric Jagielo moving through the system, Luis Severino, Jorge Mateo, and Greg Bird tagged for big years, and the addition of one-third of the top 30 international prospect class, the Yankees are due for an even bigger year in 2015.

Between Fangraphs and Keith Law, it's a huge difference in opinion that makes it almost impossible to know just how good the Yankees prospects are. Do you trust Fangraphs with their scouting reports, but possibly biased opinion (McDaniel was previously a member of the Yankees front office) or do you prefer Law's more cautiously optimistic view? As McDaniel states, "the idea of ranking the systems depends on what you want to emphasize, since there isn't an objective method for this yet." It might be better to not take either as definitive views on the system and as mere reflections of the same argument.

McDaniel likes high-upside prospects and Law likes major league-ready talent. Pinstripe Alley will be releasing our own top prospect list, but will it favor players with more promise or actionable talent? And what do you prefer when you evaluate prospects? Are you looking for someone like Jorge Mateo, who possesses the tools and talent to be a star, but hasn't had enough time to prove it on the field yet, or do you prefer someone with a more established track record like Greg Bird? As McDaniel says, there is no objective way of doing this, though I'm sure at some point we'll make it possible. Hopefully what Keith Law says comes to pass and this split between rankings will ultimately mean nothing when the Yankees find success either way.

After looking through each position in the American League East yesterday, today I turn to the pitching staffs across the division.

After spending yesterday going through the position players in the American League East, it’s time to do the same with the pitchers. As a quick reminder, rosters will be determined by roterresource.com, and I'm looking just at 2015 value. Here is a look at what I’m using for Boston’s roster.

SP1: Rick Porcello

SP2: Wade Miley

SP3: Justin Masterson

SP4: Clay Buchholz

SP5: Joe Kelly

CL: Koji Uehara

SU: Junichi Tazawa/Edward Mujica

Let’s get started.

SP1

The competitors: Porcello, R.A. Dickey (TOR), Chris Tillman (BAL), Masahiro Tanaka (NYY), Alex Cobb (TB)

Cobb

Tillman

Porcello

Tanaka

Dickey

As a quick note, Roster Resource had C.C. Sabathia as New York’s number one, but I thought that was a little ridiculous so I switched him with Tanaka on my own. On talent alone, Tanaka would have been number one, but I have him ranked so poorly because of his health issues. It appears there’s a decent chance he’ll need Tommy John sooner rather than later. Alex Cobb and Chris Tillman have proven to be a couple of the most underrated pitchers in the game. While I like Rick Porcello and I think he’s more of the 2014 pitcher than the earlier versions of himself, I can’t bring myself to rank him higher than three on this list, and if Tanaka was healthy, the Red Sox ace would be fourth.

SP2

The competitors: Miley, Mark Buehrle (TOR), Wei-Yin Chen (BAL), C.C. Sabathia (NYY), Drew Smyly (TB)

Smyly

Miley

Chen

Buehrle

Sabathia

I’m also a big Wade Miley fan, and think he’ll be a fine player for the Red Sox. A lot of his struggles in 2014 were due to a poor defense in Arizona (especially in the outfield), and a tough pitchers park out there. For as a big of a fan of Miley that I am, though, I’m a bigger fan of Smyly. He has a great track record, and while most of that is out of the bullpen, he was outstanding in his first full season starting in 2014. Sprinkle in a little Tampa Bay magic, and he has to be the lone SP2 ahead of Miley for me.

SP3

The competitors: Masterson, Drew Hutchison (TOR), Bud Norris (BAL), Michael Pineda (NYY), Chris Archer (TB)

Archer

Pineda

Masterson

Hutchison

Norris

Considering how inconsistent Masterson has been in his career, it’s hard to put a finger on what to expect from him. If he pitches to his highest potential, he could be number one on this list. If he pitches to his floor, though, I could just as easily put him at number five. Splitting the difference seems reasonable. Archer continues the run of strong, young, underrated Rays pitchers atop their rotation. Pineda has had some injury problems, but he should be healthy heading into spring training, and he has the talent to be a dominant pitcher, which he showed for much of last year.

Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

SP4

The competitors: Buchholz, Marcus Stroman (TOR), Miguel Gonzalez (BAL), Chris Capuano (NYY), Jake Odorizzi (TB)

Stroman

Gonzalez

Odorizzi

Buchholz

Capuano

Take all of the inconsistencies that I was talking about with Masterson and multiply them by 1,000,000 for Buchholz. He’s an enigma wrapped in an enigma, and no one knows what to expect from him. Because of this, Capuano is the only pitcher I feel comfortable ranking him ahead. Stroman was terrific in his rookie season, and gave us every reason to believe he can keep it up. Gonzalez has continued to post surprisingly good results despite mediocre peripherals. Odorizzi has never put together a season like Stroman, but he’s a young pitcher with a lot of talent whose peripherals suggest improvement in 2015. I couldn’t, in good conscience, put Buchholz ahead of any of these players despite the fact that it's not impossible for him to be the very best pitcher in the division.

SP5

The competitors: Kelly, Daniel Norris (TOR), Kevin Gausman (BAL), Nathan Eovaldi (NYY), Alex Colome (TB)

Gausman

Kelly

Eovaldi

Norris

Colome

This was the hardest slot to rank for me, as its a strange smorgasbord of swingmen, unproven youngsters and underachievers. Gausman has the most experience of the three young arms in this group, and arguably the highest ceiling. The only thing holding him back is Buck Showalter’s apparent grudge against him. I put Kelly second despite not being as high on him as many people. It’s more about the pitchers behind him than being overly confident about Kelly, though he should still be a solid back-end starter. Norris and Colome both have the potential to jump ahead on this list, but take the bottom spot because they are rookies who some project to end up in the bullpen eventually.

SP Depth

BAL

BOS

TB

NYY

TOR

While the Red Sox have a large stable of potential back-up starting arms, many of them are young and unproven. Baltimore, on the other hand, has Ubaldo Jiminez as their sixth starter. While he’s been extremely shaky in the past, his stuff is still very enticing for a sixth starter. Along side him is the ridiculously talented Dylan Bundy. That kind of ceiling is hard to beat, even for a team with Henry Owens, Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Barnes, Brian Johnson and now Robbie Ross. Tampa Bay’s ace in the hole will be Matt Moore, but he won’t be ready to return until at least mid-May. The same goes for the Yankees and Ivan Nova. Toronto’s sixth best starter is Aaron Sanchez who, while very talented, almost certainly fits better in the bullpen.

CL

The competitors: Uehara, Brett Cecil (TOR), Zach Britton (BAL), Dellin Betances (NYY), Kevin Jepsen (TB)

Betances

Uehara

Cecil

Britton

Jepsen

There’s a couple of things holding me back from putting Uehara in the top spot here. The most important is age. He’s entering his age-40 season, and although I’m expecting a similar caliber of play, I’m also expecting it will be at a lower frequency. He needs to be rested throughout the season. The other reason is that Betances, on top of being younger, is also coming off an insane season. Seriously, if you haven’t before, go to his Baseball-Reference page. It’s 2013 Koji-esque. These two are neck-and-neck for the top spot in the division, and the bottom three are clearly a step or six behind.

Set-up Men

The competitors: Tazawa/Mujica, Aaron Sanchez/Aaron Loup (TOR), Darren O’Day/Tommy Hunter (BAL), Andrew Miller/Adam Warren (NYY), Brad Boxberger/Grant Balfour (TB)

NYY

BOS

BAL

TB

TOR

Everyone who knows me knows that the only pitcher I’m a bigger fan of than Junichi Tazawa is Andrew Miller, and his presence is enough to put New York’s set-up man atop this list. Miller has proven to be dominant in his shift to the bullpen, and I’m expecting more of the same in New York. Warren, for his part, has been very good as well. Still, Tazawa and Mujica could provide plenty of value coming in ahead of Uehara. O’Day and Hunter are very close to overtaking them for the two-spot, with it coming out virtually a tie in my eyes.

Rest of Bullpen

BAL

TB

BOS

NYY

TOR

While I have a ton of confidence in the back of Boston’s bullpen, I’m not as sold on the rest of the group. I like the idea of Workman finally shifting to a relief role full time, as he could excel there. The addition of Varvaro should help offset the loss of Burke Badenhop (who could still come back). The big concern is the lack of a big lefty on the roster. Craig Breslow and Robbie Ross are fine, but I would’ve preferred if they spent a little more capital to bring back a better strikeout southpaw.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with how the Red Sox pitching staff graded out. By average position, Boston ranked second behind Baltimore, and right ahead of Tampa Bay. All three were separated by almost negligible margins, though. I’d probably say the Rays are in better shape, as their top three starters are much better, and the eventual return of Moore will put them over the top. Still, for a team that had to rebuild close to their entire pitching staff, they rank surprisingly well. Looking at how each team ranked across the roster, I’m fairly confident in saying the Red Sox are, on paper, the team to beat in the AL East.

Keith Law only just released his farm system rankings, placing the Yankees at 20th overall to the disappointed surprise of many. Now he's released his top 100 prospect list and only two Baby Bombers made the cut, but it's not the duo you would expect it to be. Law placed Aaron Judge and Greg Bird among his top 100, leaving off a few notable names in the process.

Aaron Judge made the list as the no. 23 prospect in baseball, which is a huge leap forward for him after going unranked by Law in 2014. Granted, he hadn't played professionally yet at this point last year, but it's still a big step forward either way. Like many others, Law was pleasantly surprised by Judge's hitting abilities given his monstrous frame:

Judge's size was expected to be an impediment to his ability to hit, but so far it hasn't proven to be an obstacle at all. He showed outstanding plate discipline and ability to make contact in his first full year in pro ball while giving glimpses of the huge raw power you'd expect from someone of his build...Judge has a short swing, surprisingly so given the length of his arms, and very strong command of the strike zone (which is partly why I didn't like seeing him in low-A to start the year). The challenge for him will be to learn when he can uncoil and turn on a ball without losing that compact stroke, which keeps his contact rate up.

He also pinned him for 30-home run a year potential and believes he is an above-average defender in right field. If the Yankees can produce that, it would be a huge coup for the organization after years of disappointment from many of their position prospects, and especially since Judge was a compensation pick for losing Nick Swisher in 2013, a move that is looking more and more like the best decision Brian Cashman has ever made.

The other Yankee to make the list was Greg Bird. Yes, GREG BIRD. After two years of success and an MVP-winning Fall, Bird has finally arrived on the prospect map. He was ranked the no. 3 first baseman prospect in baseball by MLB.com and the organization's No. 3 prospect by Fangraphs. Ranking him at No. 80, it would seem that Law believes Judge and Bird and the team's top two prospects entering the 2015 season. He's considered to be the full package as far as hitting goes:

Bird's swing is very short to the ball, and he accelerates his hands quickly for hard contact to all fields, rarely putting the ball on the ground because he squares it up so frequently. He's a high-IQ hitter with outstanding plate discipline and understanding of how to work a pitcher, giving reason to think he'll continue to post high OBPs even though he'll probably hit only .250-260 with a lot of strikeouts.

The only real concern with regards to Bird's major league potential is whether or not he can improve his defense at first base, namely on ground balls, and how he can hold up health-wise. He's not missed tim with two back injuries and if it becomes a chronic issue it could mean the difference between being Mark Teixeira's replacement and the next Nick Johnson.

In a surprising move, it seems that Law did not include Luis Severino in his top 100. Perhaps he believes the right-hander to be the organization's third-best prospect due to the concern of him ultimately ending up as a reliever, but the talent is there and it should have gotten him a top-100 nod. Also missing is Gary Sanchez, who he ranked 68th overall last year. This is less surprising given the way his stock has fallen over the last few seasons, but now that he's completely off the list it's telling just how evaluators consider his catching skills and the ability for his bat to make up for it.

As we wait for Yankee Baseball to come back into our lives, the predictions are starting to come out about their chances this year. Maybe it's time for a PSA road trip to Las Vegas. Pitchers and catchers report in 22 days.

Yankee Baseball. It's still not here yet. However, the predictions are beginning to come out on what the Yankees chances are this year. I think it's pretty much what everyone imagines. I don't know about you, casual Pinstripe Alley reader, but I think it's time for a PSA Road Trip to Las Vegas. Who's in?

Comments of the Day

Perhaps if we do hit the jackpot in Vegas, we can get LTL the help he truly needs.

Sure, the #FaceOfMLB thing is pretty silly. That's even more reason why Brett Gardner deserves to win more than anyone.

Although, one could make a very strong case for these puppies to win.

GIF of the Day

Yesterday was pretty GIFless. There were no GIFs given.

Honorable Mod Mention

Today's HMM award goes to Jason Cohen, who has agreed to pay for all of us to fly to Las Vegas. Everyone give Jason a big round of applause and hey, buy that man a drink!

• What's your preferred method of "legal" gambling, whether at a casino or elsewhere?
• Name a Jeopardy category that you think you'd excel in!

What's so great about this particular track from Hans Zimmer is that it's two songs in one, and both parts of it elicit different emotional responses. From the powerful, fun beginning to the poignant, beautiful end. To this day, Rain Man remains one of my favorite movies of all time. As always, please link us your Song of the Day.

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. Who would be down for a PSA trip to Las Vegas?

K-Mart Sucks!

The Yankees seem intent on sticking Alex Rodriguez as a full-time designated hitter. But the Yankees may have more versatile players on their roster that can provide similar production in Chris Young and Garrett Jones.

The Yankees have made a habit out of sticking all manner of former great players in the designated hitter spot in an effort to squeeze as much out of the twilight of their careers as possible. Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, even Derek Jeter spent a lot of time as a one dimensional player in his final season. One thing that was a commonality among those players was they were all beloved by the organization. While it wasn't always best for the organization, there was a trust that those players would be able to contribute and a respect for what they had accomplished in New York. It doesn't really need repeating, but none of that similar goodwill exists between the organization and Alex Rodriguez. So their attempts to squeeze out whatever juice is left in A-Rod's bat is for the sole purpose of getting some sort of pop into an otherwise dreary lineup. But can we be sure he would actually produce at an even adequate level?

Steamer has Rodriguez projected for a paltry 96 wRC+, which would be below average for a third baseman and bad for a designated hitter. Such are the expectations for old players coming off a year break. The maligned Carlos Beltran put up a similar 95 wRC+ last season. And while I don't have much faith in Beltran bouncing back, he is slightly younger and doesn't have the baggage that Rodriguez does. The Yankees may be crazy enough to try Beltran out in right again, but making him the designated hitter would be best for his health. That would open up the right field to the generally unimpressive Garrett Jones and Chris Young. On their own, they've had middling careers for the most part. But even middling players can be useful if they are deployed properly.

Their splits could make them a formidable platoon. Young has a career 116 wRC+ versus left handed pitching, while Jones has a 121 wRC+ versus right handed pitching. If we want to be kind to A-Rod and use his prior two seasons rather than projections, he had a 113 wRC+. So even if Rodriguez returns to his 2012-2013 form at age 40, he still wouldn't match the career numbers of that proposed platoon. Now Jones is the guy to inevitably step in when Mark Teixeira gets hurt, but as the lefty in the equation it still doesn't really make A-Rod essential. Basically why do you need to have spare designated hitter on an older team that needs as many able bodies as it can get? Particularly with production that is not difficult to replace. Throw on top of there that you dislike the guy and have already gotten prepared to fight with him over money he could be owed.

If Rodriguez surprised us and the team and shows he is still an asset in the field, it changes the equation completely. Thus far the only person that seems to think that thus far is Rodriguez himself, so I don't expect much. We've already gotten our share of Rodriguez drama and it's only January, but really all that's secondary. The team just doesn't need a 40 year old designated hitter that projects to hit worse than a trade throw-in (Jones) and a guy who got cut by the New York Mets (Young). Maybe if he tears the cover off the ball in Spring Training the team will keep him around, but there's a very real chance he's not good enough to be worth devoting a roster spot to.

MLB.com ranks the Yankees prospect the 7th best second baseman in the minors.

MLB.com is running an interesting program this offseason. In addition to the more traditional top 100 prospects and the team-by-team assessments, they're ranking the top ten players at each position throughout the minor leagues. If you have't seen it yet, I encourage you to check it out.

There are bunch of Yankees on the list: Luis Severino is listed among the top ten right-handed pitchers, Greg Bird ranked 3rd among first basemen, and Gary Sanchez is not among the catchers (a clear sign of just how far his stock has fallen since he's already earned 130 ABs in Trenton at only 21 years old).

It's instructive to see how position breakdowns impact a list like this. Greg Bird, while he is an exciting player in the Yankees' system and likely to make a big league impact soon, would make very few top 100 prospect lists because he is limited defensively. A first base minor league prospect has to hit a ton to make up for the fact that he's already a first baseman. When you look around the league, you're reminded that Mark Teixeira came up playing third, as did Miguel Cabrera and Edwin Encarncion and Albert Pujols. Carlos Santana and Joe Mauer were catchers (though at opposite ends of the defensive spectrum). Brandon Moss has played more outfield than first, and even Billy Butler, James Loney and Eric Hosmer have gotten at least a little time in the outfield.

It's useful to remember, while we can acknowledge Refsnyder's limits (or else he'd be playing shortstop in Triple-A), he plays at least well enough to deserve more time to develop. MLB.com ranks Refsnyder the #7 second baseman in the minors. If you've been hanging around Pinstripe Alley this offseason, then much of what's there will be familiar:

[Refsnyder] has established himself as the best pure hitter in New York's system, leading Yankees farmhands with a .318 average, 38 doubles and 256 total bases in 2014. His ability to recognize pitches and control the strike zone translates into consistent line drives to all fields.

He has made progress [as a second baseman] but still struggles with his footwork and probably won't become more than an adequate defender.

Refsnyder's big league dreams truly hang on his ability to become an adequate defender at second base. While I could see him falling back into the outfield if he can't cut it at second (remember Refsnyder was an outfielder in college), without the dynamic speed that earns a Brett Gardner-type player a good long look, Refsnyder simply doesn't have the power to avoid getting slotted into a fourth outfielder role and missing his chance.

I hope Refsnyder gets a shot this season. I'm not surprised he's likely to start the year back in Scranton; he's not on the 40-man roster yet, and he's played fewer than 80 games in Triple-A. There's still plenty for him to learn at that level. That said, if he continues to hit the way he did in 2014, and if the Yankees' offense struggles like I expect it to, the kid will get his chance yet.

The popular projections are in, and the Yankees look to be about an average team.

If you're an avid reader of this site, then you are probably familiar with some aspects of sabermetrics. We talk about sabermetrics a lot, and much of that talk revolves around projection systems. The grandfather of all projection systems is PECOTA. If you don't know already, Nate Silver, now founder of Five Thirty Eight, once was a writer for Baseball Prospectus way back in the day, and he was well known for creating an advanced baseball projection system called PECOTA, or " Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm". It was also named after Bill Pecota, as his lifetime .249 batting average was a perfectly average PECOTA projection. Silver went on to create famous election prediction models, but his child still remains as a staple of the sabermetric landscape.

And so, like every year around the same time, Baseball Prospectus has released PECOTA projections for this upcoming season. I can't divulge every bit of the data in their spreadsheet, but I can at least talk a bit about the projected standings and why they are the way they are. Below, you shall find the projected AL East standings for 2015:

Well, that's not great. According to these projections, the Yankees would be outscored by their opponents, would finish fourth in the AL East, last in True Average, and second to last in Fielding Runs Above Average. That's... not good at all. Let's go into why that is.

A disclaimer first: before you go crazy about these projections, understand that these statistical models are imperfect, and they are also very conservative. Many fans do mental accounting to assume that certain players will get better or worse; PECOTA does not do this mental accounting. It takes statistics adjusted for context and tries to make a best guess at what will happen in the future. And while there are going to be cases where it is blatantly wrong because it cannot include qualitative analysis, it is still a better guess than what we can do in our heads.

Now, on to the details. On the position player side, it looks to be as mediocre as it has been for the past few years. There look to be improvements from the likes of Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, and even Jacoby Ellsbury, but there are a few problems: firstly, PECOTA and FRAA do not like Chase Headley as much as Steamer and ZiPS do, and they think he is much closer to a two-win player as opposed to a four-win player. He's still a good value either way, but that's a pretty big difference. PECOTA also does not see Didi Gregorius as the shortstop of the future, and that could be problematic if he lives up to his projection.

Pitching wise, they're kind of in better shape, depending on how you look at it. CC Sabathia looks to give slightly below average performance, and I would take at this point. Michael Pineda gets the drool-worthy PECOTA comp of Madison Bumgarner, and Masahiro Tanaka gets to have an excellent year. Of course there are injury concerns, so we must take those with a large grain of salt. PECOTA also has pretty dreadful numbers for both Chris Capuano and Nathan Eovaldi, but I honestly don't believe the latter. Unless he has a habit of beating his FIP in a negative way, I find it hard that he'll have an ERA in the high-4.00's. And when it comes to bullpen projections, I wouldn't pay much heed. Dellin Betances' projections, for example, are heavily skewed because of his poor starting performances in the minors, and I even asked Editor-in-Chief Sam Miller about that:

@ihateprospects That goes about triply for Betances, because it really struggles with role conversions

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) January 28, 2015

@mattprov94@ihateprospects We're talking about it, so hoping next year we've made progress. But...

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) January 28, 2015

@mattprov94@ihateprospects humans have insight into skill/role compatibility that might always keep projection systems a bit behind

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) January 28, 2015

@mattprov94@ihateprospects Also, reliever innings totals are so small it's especially hard to overwhelm hundreds of bad starter innings

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) January 28, 2015

When it comes to relievers, those are the obvious limitations, so keep that in mind.

And, I would not pay too much attention to the fact that other teams have leapfrogged the Yankees in either direction. The whole difference between the Red Sox and Yankees, for example, can be attributed to two players (Mookie Betts and Rusney Castillo) that have never had a full season of major league playing time, so I wouldn't hand them the AL East title before Opening Day.

Overall, the Yankees look to be pretty mediocre even with accounting for PECOTA's limitations, but that does not mean the Yankees won't be competitive. I would assume that a lot of teams in the AL East and American League will hover around the Yankees' talent level, so barring some catastrophe, they go into the season as a peripheral contender.

Masahiro Tanaka's elbow feels good as he prepares for spring training; Tyler Austin could make his MLB debut this season; Underrated prospects and how they could help the team in the future.

CBS Sports | Larry Hartstein: Masahiro Tanaka has reported that his elbow feels good as he prepares for spring training after partially tearing his UCL last season, and subsequently missing time on the disabled list.

Newsday | Cody Derespina: This could be the year that Yankees' outfield prospect Tyler Austin makes his major league debut, and one of the ways he could find himself called up is if Mark Teixeira lands on the DL.

NJ.com | Joe Giglio: The Yankees may want to fight Alex Rodriguez on the home run bonuses that are set to go into effect, but he deserves it since the team made millions of dollars off of him following his PED confession back in 2009.

Pinstriped Prospects | Marcus Zappia: A look at some of the underrated prospects in the Yankees' farm system and how they could potentially help the team.

The Yankees have a luxurious bullpen and a bare bones rotation. Should they take from the rich to give to the poor?

We know about the issues with the Yankees' starting rotation as it stands right now. It's lost four of its top six members from 2014 according to fWAR. Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia all battled serious injuries last year. Nathan Eovaldi will need more swings and misses as he transitions from the NL to the hitter-friendly AL East, and Chris Capuano at 37 hasn't been an every fifth day regular for anyone since 2012. We also know that the Yankees' bullpen looks like a powerhouse heading into 2015. Newly acquired human K-counters Justin Wilson and David Carpenter will try and set the table for Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances who were two of baseball's top seven relievers in fWAR, FIP and K-rate. Later-season contributions from near-ready prospects like Jacob Lindgren, Nick Rumbelow and Chasen Shreve could make the unit even stronger.

Should the Yankees tap into their strength to find a possible solution for a probable weakness? At 27, Adam Warren figures to have a key role in the retooled pen, but he spent his entire minor league career as a starter, and he wasn't bad at it. Between being selected in the fourth round of the 2009 draft and ascending to the big league bullpen in 2013, Warren managed a 3.11 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP across four levels of the Yankee farm system. He logged 305 AAA innings in 2011 and 2012, so his workload wouldn't need to be heavily limited as a fifth starter. Warren acts more like a starter than a short reliever in that he makes use of four different pitches. Whereas more typical late-game arms like Betances, Miller and Carpenter are almost exclusively fastball-slider, Warren went to the heater at a less-than 50% rate in 2014, while routinely mixing in a slider (32.9%), a change (16.2%) and a curve (9.4%). All that in mind, there's a solid case to be made that he's a better bet than Capuano or Bryan Mitchell, whose minor league numbers have yet to level up with the superior stuff that he flashes.

So why not let Warren compete for a rotation spot this spring? Since moving to the pen, he's made improvements that might not translate to longer outings. After sitting in the low 90's in college and the minors, Warren's been able to increase his fastball velocity as a reliever. He started off 2013 - when he pitched mostly in long relief averaging 2.16 innings per outing - hitting 92.9 mph with his four-seamer in April and finished the year at 94.8 mph. His growth continued as a setup man in 2014 and by September, the same pitch was averaging 95.4 mph. Although the fastball was his most hittable pitch, the better zip allowed him to set up his secondary pitches more effectively. Last year, he held opposing hitters to a 35 wRC+ against the change and a 67 wRC+ against the slider. Warren's overall performance in the setup role dwarfed what he did as a starter, at least at the AAA level, where he had stalled somewhat, posing FIPs of 4.09 and 3.68 and K-rates of 6.56 and 6.31 in his two seasons there. As a reliever in 2014, Warren was impressive with a 2.89 FIP, a 1.10 WHIP and an 8.69 K-rate.

The decision of where to use Warren this season comes down to whether the extent to which he'd be better than Capuano, Mitchell, or eventually a rehabbing Ivan Nova outweighs the loss of him as a very good reliever. While his solid control and versatility might make him a workmanlike back-end option, he's unlikely to be anything more than that, especially if his fastball dips back toward its low-90's origins. It's debatable whether that sort of output justifies jeopardizing the comfy niche Warren's carved for himself in the pen. While he might rank behind Betances, Miller and probably Carpenter and Wilson on the depth chart, it won't hurt Joe Girardi to have more right choices, especially if Capuano and Eovaldi, who has averaged fewer than six innings per start for his career, wind up comprising two-fifths of the rotation.

The Yankees seem to be all about the long run these days, and in that long run, it's wiser to put players in the position that maximizes their skills, not the one that desperately plugs and immediate need. There's no reason not to stretch Warren out this spring - just in case - and there may arise some nuclear winter scenario where the Yankees have no choice but to have him start games. But if that doomsday doesn't come about, they're better off letting him build on what could be a promising bullpen career.

We've heard from Keith Law and now we have another take on the top 100 prospects in baseball. Scout.com has released their list and this time three Yankees are on the list. Luis Severino, who was left off of Law's list, is the 51st best prospect in baseball. Aaron Judge is on the list at no. 57 and Greg Bird, in his first year as a top-100 prospect, just makes the list at no. 96. Severino ranks as the 23rd-best pitching prospect, Judge the 14th-best outfielder, and Bird the 3rd-best first baseman in baseball. While he doesn't make the top-100 list, Eric Jagielo ranks as the 13th-best third baseman as well.

While Judge and Bird might rank lower than they did on Law's list, it's worth mentioning that only the most elite prospects have a consensus surrounding them. This is just another person's opinion on 100 young players that are going to be difficult to project over the course of the next few years. It might be better to consider that it doesn't exactly matter where you rank, as long as you're on the list. It's also nice to see Jagielo get some recognition, even if many think he's been a disappointment to this point.

That being said though, and just for fun, here are some prominent prospects that rank below the Yankee trio: Rob Kaminsky, the guy many people linked to the Yankees for the 2013 draft; notable prospects Colin Moran, Brandon Finnegan (the guy who pitched in the College World Series and the MLB World Series), Cuban free agent Yoan Lopez, Tim Anderson, Brandon Nimmo, Austin Hedges, and former first overall pick Mark Appel all rank below Severino and Judge. Trea Turner, who was recently traded to the Nationals, is a few spots under Severino. None of this means anything, but it's just nice to see someone who thinks the Yankees have something better than what many people around baseball have hyped up.

The Super Bowl is coming up. Perhaps some rum is in order? Yo ho. Pitchers and catchers report in Paul O'Neill days

Last night/this morning, Djokovic and Wawrinka played one of the best, most intense tennis matches I've ever seen. That is all.

Comments of the Day

Luis Severino is welcome to prove Law wrong.

The bond between Greg Bird and Tanya was forged in the fires of passion, dingers, and irate security guards.

From Celebrity Jeopardy to drug money laundering, Pinstripe Alley has it all.

Don't think it can be stressed enough how much money the Yankees are required to pay Alex Rodriguez.

Go Win won again!

Sick. burn.

That take was hotter than hot.

It's not a wild guess until PECOTA gets wasted and puts on a toga made of cheetos!

On the other hand.

GIF of the Day

Nope. Sorry. No GIFs today.

Honorable Mod Mention

Greg Kirkland gets the HMM for staying up super late to finish this post after a long night of palpable tennis! Good job, Greg.

• Classic nerd question. Which is better: Ninja or Pirate?
• If we did a PSA Yankees/Baseball Jeopardy style thread or liveblog one day, how do you think we should proceed?

One thing I've noticed about Hans Zimmer is that if he has to do a sequel soundtrack, like with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest or The Dark Knight, it pretty much always improves upon the first soundtrack. While the first Pirates movie is definitely better than the second, the soundtrack to Dead Man's Chest is better. This track is one of my all time Zimmer favorites. As always, please link us your Song of the Day.

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the day.

Drink up me hearties!

More prospect lists!!! Keith Law was not very high on the Yankees farm system when he ranked them 20th overall in baseball, so here's now a look at his top 10 prospects in the organization:

1. Aaron Judge, OF
2. Greg Bird, 1B
3. Gary Sanchez, C
4. Luis Severino, RHP
5. Tyler Austin, OF
6. Jorge Mateo, SS
7. Domingo German, RHP
8. Ian Clarkin, LHP
9. Luis Torrens, C
10. Eric Jagielo, 3B

It's good to see Aaron Judge and Greg Bird so high up on the list, but not only was Luis Severino not considered a top-100 prospect by Law, but he's not even in the top three in the system as Gary Sanchez is ranked higher than him. He's clearly not a believer in what Severino has done so far. Aside from that, he's also still high on Tyler Austin, likely seeing his second-half resurgence as his return to being a top prospect. He's also high on Jorge Mateo and the recently acquired Domingo German in there as well. The usual suspects of Ian Clarkin, Luis Torrens, and Eric Jagielo make up the remainder of the group.

Law also gives us a look at the guys who nearly made the list, with Rob Refsnyder, Miguel Andujar, Jacob Lindgren, Tyler Wade, Brady Lail, and Ty Hensley ranking 11-16. He's not much of a believer in Refsnyder, but I don't think his reasoning is very legitimate:

Refsnyder received a lot of attention for his hot start in Double-A last year, but didn't maintain that level of production in Triple-A, and his secondary skills -- patience, power, fielding -- are all weak. He might play second every day for someone, but I don't think it will be for the Yankees, who will want more defense or more pop at that spot.

Didn't maintain the level of production? He hit .300/.389/.456 with eight home runs, so sure, he didn't maintain his impossible .342/.385/.548 levels from Double-A, but he didn't exactly struggle. And as for his walk-rates, he had an impossibly low 5.7% BB/9, mostly because he was aggressive at the plate, he was hitting everything, and didn't need to be patient. Once he began to cool down, or the league started figuring out that he could hit, he started becoming more patient, like he was at High-A Tampa in 2013, and walked at a rate of 12.3%. Sure, maybe it's something to keep an eye on going forward, but I wouldn't consider it "weak." The only thing he really needs to work on is his defense, as we already know.

The BP annual always has superb insights on the game, and the Yankees section is no exception. Check out some of what they have to offer and go buy it to read the rest!

We've been doing countdowns to the date when Yankees pitchers and catchers report for spring training, but few signs are as indicative of the season being just around as the corner as the arrival of the new Baseball Prospectus annual. The 2015 edition is a milestone issue for BP, as it marks the 20th year of publication. That's right--BP has been making these longer than Yankees prospect Luis Torrens has been alive.

As an unabashed supporter of BP, I wrote an article last year giving a slight preview at what the 2014 annual had to offer in relation to the Yankees. My 2015 annual arrived this week, and I'm happy to offer another sneak peak at what BP produced this year. The names of the people involved in this year's annual are quite awesome--there's BP editor-in-chief Sam Miller, former BP EIC/current Grantland writer Ben Lindbergh (who wrote the Yankees essay), and SB Nation writers Grant Brisbee, Bryan Grosnick, and Patrick Dubuque (who wrote most of the Yankees player comments). It's all terrific information, and it's available on Amazon for just $18.50. (The Kindle edition is coming soon, and last year, that was only about $10.) Considering all the content, that's not a bad price to pay at all.

Like last year, I'm definitely not going to divulge everything BP had to say on the Yankees because that wouldn't be fair to their hard work. As an incentive to hopefully get you to buy it though, I've included a sample of notes below that I found particularly interesting in this year's book:

• Lindbergh's essay is excellent, as it somehow hits on almost every aspect of the Yankees' 2014 campaign in just a few pages. There's the internal conflict of how much Derek Jeter's farewell tour was actually worth to the Yankees beyond the playing field (SABR President Vince Gennaro estimated at least $25 million in revenue from Jeter alone). There's analysis about the Yankees' strategy of investing heavily in the free agent market and how it did not work as well as it had in the past, even though the team's average age wasn't much older than it was during their championship years. There's even a little bit about their skills at spotting veteran talent, and how their international spending on amateurs could plant the seeds for a big reward. It's really a must-read.
• A telling comment on Chase Headley: Anyone expecting 2012 is going to be disappointed, but that does not mean his contract was a poor investment. Given his excellent glove and still-potent bat at the plate, BP argues that while Headley won't be a star, he'll "provide nearly the value of one." I'd sign up for that in a heartbeat.
• In 2014, Nathan Eovaldi had the fourth-fastest velocity among all qualified starters in baseball. That's impressive. He's still certainly an unfinished product though, and if he doesn't start missing bats, it could be problematic.
• Brett Gardner's power in 2014 was definitely exciting for longtime fans, especially the crowd at Pinstripe Alley. Take it with a grain of salt though. He might not receive as many fastballs right in his wheelhouse in 2015, so hopefully his offensive production can compensate for the possible decline in dingers.
• It's hard to be optimistic about CC Sabathia at this point in his career given his degenerative knee and declining production, but if you're looking for a silver lining, here's one. Even though he made just eight starts and struggled to push his fastball past 90 mph, his strikeout and walk rate were among the best in his career. Maybe if CC has a little more luck in 2015, he can fare better? We can only hope, given how much the Yankees owe him.
• There was one small blemish on Masahiro Tanaka's brilliant debut aside from the agonizing UCL tear: His fastball needs work. Obviously his splitter and slider were more than enough to keep his strikeouts way up, but imagine how awesome could be if he stays healthy and his fastball gets even just a little bit better.

Some quick minors notes:

• This shouldn't surprise anyone, but BP's top Yankees prospect, Aaron Judge, has "above-average power without even trying." Not only that, but he's an even more advanced hitter than just being a pure slugger, as evidenced by his .308/.419/.486 triple slash in A-ball. Judge has the offensive talent to breeze through the system. Keep your eye on him as he takes on high minors pitching. Hold them in contempt, Judge.
• Although some are intrigued by his Triple-A numbers, Jose Pirela looks like another Willie Bloomquist. Yippie...
• That was a bit of a bummer, so here's some nice words about under-the-radar third base prospect Miguel Andujar: "The scouts swear that there's both power and defense hiding deep within him, waiting to be unlocked by a grizzled coach or a voyage of self-discovery." Quest onward, Miguel!
• A fellow you don't know: 2012 international signee Luis Garcia. How's this for a quote?

"Imagine playing Pin The Tail On The Donkey, but with an assault rifle. That's Luis Garcia, who hit 99.5 mph in a September game."

If you enjoyed this sneak peak, there's so much more, like an ode to Brian Roberts with a comparison to telomeres receding and a cell dying, Didi Gregorius/Derek Jeter subliminal messaging, and, of course, encouraging Alex Rodriguez to embrace villainy, then you should definitely check out the annual. You won't regret it.

It seems that the Yankees offseason isn't over just yet. With Chris Capuano pencilled in as the fifth starter right now and the unreliable Bryan Mitchell and recovering Ivan Nova the only two pitchers available as realistic backups, the Yankees have decided to bring in another player into the mix.

#Yankees become latest team to try to reclaim value from veteran RHP Scott Baker, signing him to minor league deal, like #Rangers last year.

— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) January 30, 2015

Scott Baker is a 33-year-old right-handed pitcher who once performed at an above-average level before injuries wrecked his career over the past few seasons. Baker had Tommy John surgery in 2012, missing the entire season and almost all of 2013 before making an underwhelming return in 2014. I previously identified him as a potential rebound candidate that the Yankees should consider signing, even if he's not a perfect fit:

As a big fly ball pitcher he won't make the most sense, but he's not going to get in anyone's way and could be useful in case of an emergency. At his best, Baker could be an alternative to Chris Capuano.

I would have preferred Chad Billingsley, but neither will likely be too much of a factor for the 2015 season. Baker will get an invite to spring training and be a solid addition to the Triple-A rotation if he's healthy. He's one example that Tommy John isn't always 100% successful, so we'll see. Nonetheless, it's a solid signing on a minor league deal.

Don't worry, Yankees fans, he won't be blocking anyone in the organization because he's no sure thing himself. Best case scenario is he's completely healthy and offers a solid fifth starter for the Yankees to rely on if Capuano and Nova don't work out.

The Yankees recently rebuffed an attempted olive branch by their much maligned superstar. Should they be treating him better if they expect him to contribute?

Via the New York Daily News, a story came out over this past weekend that the much maligned Alex Rodriguez had reached out to the Yankees in an attempt to set up a meeting with team officials. It seems the purpose of this meeting was for Alex to clear the air and even apologize for his actions leading up to his suspension. Unfortunately for the Yankees DH, it seems team officials have no interest in any such reunion, and simply told him they would see him in spring training. Ouch. Was this the right move for the Yankees, or should they be more willing to make nice with Rodriguez? It's hard to say, really.

There are plenty of reasons that they should be nicer to him. First of all, he's currently penciled in as their DH for the 2015 season – at least most fans and experts are assuming that to be the case, since Chase Headley is all over third base for the team. One would think, knowing they'll probably be counting on him to provide some offense for this club, that they would want to at least meet him half way on this one. Why risk further alienating him from the club if they need him to be happy and perform come April? In telling him "thanks, but no thanks," when all he wants to do is offer an apology and move forward, the Yankees are basically telling him apology not accepted and that they really don't want to deal with him until they absolutely have to. That doesn't exactly send the best message, does it?

Then there's the other side of this coin. If anyone has alienated Alex from this team, it's Alex. He's the one that did all the PEDs. He's the one that tried to buy all the evidence against him like a super-villain. He's the one that accused the team of hiding, and possibly lying about MRI reports on his bum hips. He even sued their team doctor. Alex was absolutely desperate to save himself and his career – I believe he said he was "fighting for his life" – and was basically trying to tarnish as many people as he possibly could in the process. For everything he did – to the team and to the league – Alex deserves the cold shoulder, if not a lot worse, from the Yankees and everyone in their organization.

Here's what I think: The Yankees clearly hate A-Rod. Everything they have done so far this offseason, from trading for Garrett Jones to signing Headley, has sent the message that they don't expect him to do much. Brian Cashman has even basically said that the team expects nothing from him. It's even rumored now that they'll try to get out of paying him the performance-based incentives in his contract. It seems to me that, if Cashman has his druthers, he'd release A-Rod tomorrow. The Yankees GM is basically being forced to keep Alex on the roster because of money, and I don't think he's handling it very well. I feel like, if this was any other player in the league, the Yankees would be getting a lot of criticism for the way they're speaking about and handling the Alex Rodriguez situation. However, Alex really is on an island unto himself out there nowadays. Nobody likes him. Nobody wants him around. The only reason anyone tolerates him is because he makes way too much money and the team desperately needs offense. I think the Yankees can handle A-Rod any way they want, and nobody will as much as blink. He's getting what he deserves at this point.

That being said, any sort of public negativity doesn't look good for either party, and kind of puts a bit of a dark cloud over the offseason. I expected there to be an A-Rod circus a month from now, but it looks like we've started early. It's been fun not having to deal with this for the last year. Final word on this: I hope Alex uses it as motivation to go out and perform, because sadly, the team needs him.

Brian Cashman said in an interview Wednesday that Drew will be the starting second baseman, but does he deserve it and what should they do if he's terrible?

In case there was any doubt in your mind, Brian Cashman stated in an interview on Wednesday that Stephen Drew would "hopefully" be the Yankees starting second baseman. Furthermore, he rounded out the infield as consisting of Chase Headley, Mark Teixeira, and Didi Gregorius. It was pretty clear when they signed Drew that he would be given a starting position, whether it be at second or shortstop, but is that actually beneficial to the team and does he deserve it?

Considering that Drew couldn't have had a worse 2014 season, there is a good case to be made for Pirela starting instead of him. It only makes sense to give Drew the second base job if the Yankees will be willing to swap in Jose Pirela or Rob Refsnyder if Drew plays poorly. The word on the street is that Refsnyder needs more seasoning at second base before he can break into the majors, and that's fine. Let him get more experience and maybe he can come up in September. That argument doesn't apply to Pirela, though. He started last season in Triple-A and he played phenomenally, hitting .305/.351/.441. It may be a small sample size, but he also hit well in the 25 plate appearances that he made with the Yankees in September (.333/.360/.542 with two triples and a double).

Cashman also said this about Drew: "At very least, he can play multiple positions and he's a helluva defender." Last year's infield was mostly poor defenders and poor hitters. This year, they've certainly improved defensively by re-signing Headley, and trading for Gregorius, but this infield has the potential to be abysmal offensively. With Brendan Ryan already on the team, the infield is sorely lacking power hitters, even if Tex and Brian McCann have bounce back seasons.

Of course there's the argument that they could just cut Drew if he performs terribly, but how many chances would the Yankees give him before they would even consider that? Although Cashman said that "performance or injuries" could change the Yankees infield, I'm not sure how much I trust that. Just look at how long they kept Brian Roberts and Alfonso Soriano around last season. Roberts was batting .237/.300/.360 with 84 wRC+ when he was finally designated for assignment on July 31st to make room for Drew (who, sadly enough, ended up being a downgrade from Roberts). Even worse, Soriano was batting .221/.244/.367 with 64 wRC+ through 238 plate appearances when they Yankees decided to release him in July. There's also the troubling fact that the Yankees didn't call Pirela up to play second base sooner in the season, even though Drew played so, so badly. If 2014 Drew shows up, the team can't afford to wait until halfway through the season to cut him if they have any hopes of being competitive in the AL East.

Do you think Drew should be the starting second baseman? At what point in the season do you think the Yankees would actually consider designating him for assignment?

The right-hander will compete for a job in spring training.

The Yankees have signed right-hander Scott Baker to a minor-league deal, as first reported by Matt Eddy of Baseball America. The deal will include an invitation to major-league spring training, so Baker will have the chance to compete for a spot on the team's major-league roster. As reported by Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, Baker will earn $1.5 million if he makes the major-league team.

Baker, 33, drew interest from multiple clubs this winter and was said to be holding out for a major-league contract before agreeing to join the Yankees without a guaranteed roster spot. The current Yankees' rotation is filled with question marks about the health of starters Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka, so the team has tried to stockpile some arms this winter with the signings of Baker and Capuano as well as their trade for Nathan Eovaldi.

Baker spent last season with the Rangers' organization, posting a 5.47 ERA in 25 appearances (eight starts) in the majors. He is the owner of a lifetime 66-52 record and 4.25 ERA in nine major-league seasons with the Twins (2005-2011), Cubs (2013) and Rangers (2014), but missed almost two full years due to injury and has been unable to regain the form that led him to being a reliable starter for Minnesota.

OFAC clears Moncada, "Dellin Betandrew" projects to wreaks havoc, Sterling copes with loss, and winter ball prospects excel

MLB.com | Jesse Sanchez: The Office of Foreign Assets Control reportedly has officially cleared highly-regarded Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada for signing. All that must be done now is for MLB to give him the official OK. So... get it done, Cash.

RotoGraphs | Robert J. Baumann: Whoever the Yankees pick as closer, the two-headed monster called "Dellin Betandrew" is going to be a chore for opposing teams to handle at the end of games.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: These Yankees prospects did not simply rest during the off-season; standout performances in the Arizona Fall League and winter ball should help catch the Yankees' eyes. So which prospects played the best?

MLB.com | Barry M. Bloom: Yankees broadcaster John Sterling has been doing well over the past couple weeks in wake of the Edgewater, NJ fire that destroyed his apartment building and many of his possessions. He's been staying temporarily in the home of a Yankees fan in Upper Saddle River who is away for the winter. Great to hear.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Stephen Drew and Mark Teixeira rank as two of the most underappreciated Yankees at the moment. Even if we're not optimistic about them, they deserve a chance.

Ichiro seems to have taken an unnecessary parting shot at the Yankees on his way to Miami. Someone needs to settle him down.

On Thursday, our very own Jason Cohen posted about a statement Ichiro made regarding how he was courted by the Marlins. Just to review, here's the tweet:

Presenting: "The $13 Million Sobfest," starring Ichiro. pic.twitter.com/sKn6MMLqEO

— Pinstripe Alley (@pinstripealley) January 29, 2015

If Ichiro is saying what it seems like he is saying, which is that he felt unappreciated over his last two seasons with the Yankees, then he's either crazy, or he had a little too much bubbly at the celebration of his Marlins contract. Jason summed this situation up pretty well when he said "$13 million is a lot of money to feel you're unappreciated," but I wanted to really dig into this, to see if there's any real reason why Ichiro should feel slighted by his time on the Yankees. Spoiler alert: there isn't.

Ichiro first came to the Yankees in a bit of a shocking trade in 2012. After a well documented Hall of Fame career in Seattle, Ichiro asked to be dealt to a contender. The Yankees happened to be in town, so before the first game of a three-game series, Ichiro packed his bags and moved from the home clubhouse to the visitor's clubhouse in exchange for Danny Farquhar and D.J. Mitchell. It was pretty bizarre to see Ichiro play his first ever MLB game not in a Mariners uniform against the Mariners, but it was great that the Seattle fans got a chance to immediately thank him for all the great seasons he had for the M's.

Ichiro must have been invigorated by the pennant race, because he was excellent for the Yankees. He put up slash lines of .322/.340/.454, an OPS + of 113, hit 5 homers, drove in 27 runs and stole 14 bases in just 67 games with the Bombers. He helped the team make it to the ALCS, and the Yankees were impressed enough that they signed him to a two year, $13 million contract during the offseason. That number seemed a bit high to most people at the time, but the guy had just had a blistering second half, so we all kind of accepted it and welcomed him back into the fold. Who doesn't love Ichiro? The guy is a legend, right?

Words can't really express how terrible Ichiro played for the Yankees over the next two years. He didn't hit .220 or anything, but I just never got the feeling that I was ever watching the real Ichiro out there, or even the Ichiro we saw in the second half of 2012. In 2013, as the league's 39th highest paid outfielder (according to Sportrac) Ichiro's slash lines were .262/.297/.342, and he only managed a 77 OPS+. He somehow managed to hit 7 balls over the fence and stole 20 bases, but it was painful to have him in the lineup almost every day.

When the Yankees retooled their entire outfield for 2014, Ichiro was expected to be the fourth outfielder. I was OK with it, because a terrible fourth outfielder won't ruin a team. In fact, Ichiro hit very well early on in his part time role. Unfortunately, an injury to Carlos Beltran made the Yankees have to play Ichiro just about every day, and he was exposed to be the washed up old guy he really was. Again, as the 39th highest paid outfielder in the league, he slashed .284/.324/.340 with an OPS+ of just 89. He only managed 1 homer and 22 RBI in 143 games. The real crime there is that he played 143 games, but the Yankees didn't have much of a choice.

That brings us to Ichiro's new contract with the Marlins. He will serve as the fourth outfielder behind Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, and Giancarlo Stanton, and will earn $2 million. This is exactly the kind of contract I wish Ichiro had been under during his tenure with the Yankees. The fact that the Yanks let him play in almost 300 games, and paid him $13 million to do it, should be appreciation enough, no? I mean what did he want them to do? Carry him out to right field on a day bed and fan him with ostrich feathers? He was terrible, and they didn't replace him until they got Chris Young in late August. He should be thanking them for all the money and playing time he received.

As angry as that statement made me, I'm actually a little sad about it. I've been hoping Ichiro sticks around somewhere for a couple of years so that he can get to 3,000 MLB hits (he's currently sitting at 2,844), but now that he's bitten the hand that overfed him for the last two years, I'm not so sure about that. The bridge is burned, Ichiro. Enjoy Miami.

Ichiro's final Yankees homer:

Talking to Ken Rosenthal, new commissioner Manfred is willing to accept A-Rod back into baseball, seemingly with no hard feelings. Also, perhaps a ban of the shift isn't such a certainty after all. Get ready for pitch clocks though.

Commissioner Rob Manfred sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports earlier this week, discussing everything from the need to make baseball more accessible to younger generations and marketing the sport's biggest stars, to the issue of PED's and what might possibly have been a subtle dig on Bud Selig as someone who relied more on politics than facts or deep knowledge. If you missed the airing on Wednesday night you can find a highlight clip of the interview, along with the full transcript, linked here on the FOX Sports website.

Among the topics addressed were Manfred's two reported meetings with Alex Rodriguez as he attempts to reintegrate himself into baseball after his year-long suspension. Manfred declined to get into the specifics of those discussions, but it certainly seems like any apology Rodriguez might have issued had the intended effect. Manfred essentially confirmed the widely rumored episode where A-Rod cursed and stormed out of an arbitration hearing, but played it down as a single heated exchange and instead talked about the relationship between the two that apparently still exists. Manfred went on to say that, having served his punishment, A-Rod will be welcomed back by baseball to resume his career. No mention of his contract with the Yankees certainly, and the milestone bonus clause, but no suggestion of A-Rod's scorched earth tactics when arguing the Biogenisis suspension leaving any lingering resentment, in the Commissioner's office at least.

Add this to the Player's Association being willing to defend Alex Rodriguez's right to receive those bonus payments and all of a sudden the New York Yankees could find themselves on the unpopular side of this dispute. While this might not stop the Yankees from pushing to void the milestone markers in A-Rod's contract ahead of having to pay him the first $6 million installment - for passing Willie Mays on the home run list - it likely rules out Rodriguez simply choosing not to contest for fear of further alienating any remaining support. Unless the Yankees clearly feel they have strong legal merits for their case, this might factor into a decision on the value of taking on a protracted legal challenge without any allies. After all, look how well that served A-Rod last year.

Another interesting question was Rosenthal's follow-up to Manfred's previous mention of banning defensive shifts. The commissioner was careful to frame his previous answer as one topic on which he would be willing to have a conversation. Manfred suggested not to read too much into his previous comment, going as far as to suggest it might not even be needed should hitters naturally adapt towards hitting against defensive shifts. While the commissioner didn't rule out the possibility banning the shift, he gave no indication that the idea had moved beyond the conversation stage. It seems likely that any push to introduce a rule restricting defensive movement is a ways away, if it is introduced at all. He certainly seemed very aware of the reaction he received to his previous comments, leading to a more measured tone on the topic.

What seems much more likely to be introduced in the near future are pitch clocks. Commissioner Manfred appeared to treat the idea of cutting down average game times as a high priority, if for no other reason than the symbolism of proving to be listening to fans who have raised the issue. When asked about introducing pitch clocks at the MLB level, the commissioner clearly stated that it will be a topic for negotiation with the players union, as he did regarding the international draft. A sign perhaps that his own mind on both topics are very much made up.

Among other topics that were addressed, was international expansion. Manfred didn't appear to push it forward strongly, but he didn't rule out further international expansion - the MLB is of course already a multi-country league with the Toronto Blue Jays franchise - in the next 10 years. While expansion into South America would appear to make the most sense given existing demand, Manfred chose to refer to the whole Western Hemisphere as a possibility, It didn't seem to be anywhere as high a priority as the NFL's current efforts to build a market in London for example though, probably reasonable given the unique travel pressures of playing games daily.

I thought Commissioner Manfred came across as a measured reformer. Some of his ideas might generate strong debate, though I expect he'll get strong agreement behind his primary goal of maintaining labor peace. No strikes or lockouts during his tenure would likely make for a solid enough legacy all by itself.