Could we see Alex Rodriguez at first base this season?

There's been quite a bit of speculation this offseason that Alex Rodriguez might see some time at first base in 2015, and on Friday, that' just where A-Rod found himself.  During some fielding practice for pitchers, Rodriguez got a shot to man first base, and while the drill reportedly wasn't very demanding for him, it did give him a chance to at least get a little practice at a position he has never played before in the majors.

Though the drill didn't seem too strenuous, manager Joe Girardi did think that it gave A-Rod some valuable experience.  "As we go through these drills, I think it's important that he go over there and tries to get a better understanding of what the position entails, the spots he's supposed to be at," Girardi said, according to Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees blog (check out this link to see some video of A-Rod at first at LoHud).  All in all, while this doesn't mean we'll see Rodriguez at first much this year, it seems clear that the Yankees will at least entertain the idea, and would certainly like to have some extra contingency plans in case Mark Teixeira finds himself missing some time again this season.

Still, it figures that A-Rod is probably the third option for time at first base, as the Yankees (doing what they failed to do last offseason) acquired a backup first baseman this year in Garrett Jones.  Jones, who came over from Miami in the same deal that brought Nathan Eovaldi to New York, has spent his career at first and right field, and figures to give them a decent power bat off the bench.  Sporting a .253/.314/.450 triple slash with a  107 wRC+ over his career, Jones should be perfectly adequate to fill in occasionally for Teixeira, as well as Carlos Beltran in right.

Even though it's unlikely that Rodriguez will play much first, base, if he's able to do so decently once in a while, it will give Joe Girardi a lot more flexibility to DH different players.  With a lot of aging DH-types on the team (A-Rod, Beltran, Teixeira) that all have significant injury concerns, A-Rod's ability to step up and play first will give Girardi a lot more options to rotate all his older players through the DH spot, and will give the Yankees an option at first if Beltran and Teixeira both go down at the same time.  If Girardi can cycle Teixeira, Beltran, and A-Rod all through the DH spot every so often, perhaps he can keep everyone healthier in 2015 than they were in 2014. Obviously A-Rod's not going to bring a whole lot of value to the team with his glove work at first (that will still come from his bat), it's certainly not bad that he's trying to learn some new tricks.  And while any stints he has at first will not make or break this season, any additional versatility he can add to his game at this point in his career will help the Yankees.  If sparing Tex for a few games here and there can do its part to keep the Yankees healthy, then I'm all for A-Rod playing some first.

What do you think about Alex Rodriguez's potential at first?  Do you think we'll actually see him there any this season?

In addition to workouts, yesterday was photo day down in Tampa. Our photo editor is filling up fast. It is glorious!

Only a few more days until we see the Yankees play their first spring training game. In the meantime, workouts and photos were on the agenda yesterday. Judging from all the pictures that showed up in our photo editor, I'd say it went pretty well. Not enough smiles though. Ah well, it is still early.

Comments of the Day

Smug Hippo heard the words, but all the [expletive deleted] he gives are nowhere to be found.

Still no sign of those [expletive deleted] anywhere. Keep looking.

Live long and prosper. R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy.

Few heroes have the courage to drink sand like Chris Stewart.

Let's forget about 2014 and move on, shall we?

Although, this happened in 2015.

To all Mets, Diamondbacks, Twins, Rockies, and other fanbases who read the original comment that prompted Harlan's reply, you have my apologies.

GIF of the Day

No GIFs to be had yesterday. Sorry everyone.

Honorable Mod Mention

No honor yesterday. Just none.

• Which type of exercise do you like the most? (walking, yoga, swimming, bicycle, etc.)
• If you could incorporate any special animal trait onto yourself, which would you choose?

Yeah, I had to end Animal Week with this classic gem. Since animal week is ending on Pinstripe Alley, do we have any special theme ideas for next week? Please let me know in the comments. As always, please link us your Song of the Day.

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. We're almost there.

Breaking down the outlook of the 2015 Yanks' bench

As things currently stand, we have a fairly solid idea of what the 25-man roster will look like a month from now, barring any injuries. The positional battles at second base, shortstop, backup catcher, designated hitter, and seventh reliever (or, less likely, sixth starter) will flesh out the remaining roster spots and determine what the team's bench looks like. With any club, the four, or sometimes five, players that make up a team's bench are the unsung heroes of the team. The guys who pinch hit, pinch run, serve as defensive replacements, platoon, cycle in for starts at various positions to spell the everyday players, and sometimes even pitch are integral cogs in any machine set to last the duration of the marathon that is the MLB season.

The early favorites to take the bench spots are John Ryan Murphy, Chris Young, Garrett Jones, and Brendan Ryan. Obviously, a lot can change over the course of the next month but at the very least Young and Jones are locks for their respective bench roles. Again, this is working under the assumption, albeit an unlikely one, that there are no injuries that lead to them having to become everyday players.

The Yanks will have Eddy Rodriguez and Gary Sanchez in camp, but the battle for backup catcher comes down to Murphy and Austin Romine. Both have dabbled at the big league level over the past three seasons with varying degrees of success. Murphy is the younger option with the better bat, and Austin is more defensively sound and is out of options should the Yanks try to send him to AAA. On the surface Murphy seems to have the edge, but Romine has been working his tail off in preparation for this spring ever since Francisco Cervelli was dealt.

The fourth outfielder spot belongs to Chris Young. The 31-year-old managed to be both a big disappointment as a starter for the Mets last season, and a pleasant surprise for the Yankees as a September call up. Should an injury thin the outfield during the season, either Tyler Austin or Ramon Flores are the most likely candidates to get the call to take Young's spot.

Nathan Eovaldi was the cornerstone of the Martin Prado trade, but Garrett Jones was a fairly important piece as well. Jones will serve as a corner outfielder and DH, and could be a valuable left-handed power bat to give Mark Teixeira the occasional day off at first against a righty. He won't necessarily defend any position well, but he's at least a body that can be used at more than one position off the bench, which is the most valuable thing they lost when the utilitarian Prado was shipped to Miami.

The middle infield is where things can get pretty interesting this spring. Safe money is that we see a Gregorius-Drew tandem, with Brendan Ryan able to back up each infield position (hopefully Didi holds his own at the plate well enough to avoid the necessity of a platoon with Ryan). Another possibility that might be appealing to some is, if Ryan were to be cut loose, Drew assuming his backup infield duties, Rob Refsnyder took the second base job, and Jose Pirela took on a super-utility role. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the spring.

If the Yankees want to stretch the definition of who is worthy of Monument Park, that's fine, but these older players should be included as well.

Earning a plaque in Monument Park has always been an esteemed honor for people associated with the Yankees, from players to managers and even broadcasters. After the Yankees honored Hall of Famer Red Ruffing with a plaque in late 2004 though, the metaphorical doors to enshrinement were basically closed for a decade. The only people receiving recognition between 2005 and 2014 were George Steinbrenner with the infamous Steinbrenner Face monument in 2010 and Mariano Rivera with the dual-retired number 42 in 2013.

However, 2014 witnessed a flurry of inductions which will be followed by even more in 2015. While most of these plaques were dedicated to Yankee greats from the '90s and 2000s who were basically just waiting for inevitable enshrinement (the only real surprise in there was Tino Martinez), the team also made efforts to honor older players who had been waiting quite awhile for their plaques. Flamethrowing closer Goose Gossage was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008, but his plaque in Monument Park did not arrive until 2014. Willie Randolph had a hell of a career which is borderline Hall of Fame-caliber, but he spent 13 seasons with the team as a player (three years as co-captain) before serving as a coach on the team for 11 more, collecting six World Series rings in total. Taking time to recognize Randolph's contributions was long overdue, and Randolph will finally get his day on Old Timers' Day 2015.

The Yankees' work recognizing older players is not done though. There are still several Yankees who should be given plaques in Monument Park. The ones below in particular have waited far too long.

Graig Nettles

This isn't the first time I've written about why Nettles needs to be in Monument Park. I don't really understand why the Yankees have been so slow in honoring Nettles, and I'm not only person covering the Yankees who feels that way. Nettles was absolutely pivotal to the Yankees' success from 1976-81, a very successful period that included five AL East titles, four AL pennants, and two World Series crowns. The big names in the lineup were obviously Reggie Jackson and Thurman Munson, but Nettles was always a threat. People forget that he once led the league in homers; 32 bombs in '76 were enough to secure the crown during the more pitcher-friendly '70s. Only nine Yankees have ever hit more homers than his 250 dingers

It's no coincidence that his arrival in a trade with the Indians during the 1972-73 off-season happened just as the Yankees began to burst with talent. In his prime, he was sensational, hitting .263/.332/.465 with a 125 OPS+, 99 doubles, 117 homers, and 23.8 WAR between 1975-78. Fans shouldn't be fooled by his career .253 average in pinstripes--his plate discipline and power more than made up for it. Take all that offensive prowess and combine it with one of the best gloves baseball has ever seen at third base, and Nettles becomes a borderline Hall of Fame player. Had he not played at the same time as Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt, people would know a lot more about Nettles's defense. It was never better than in the '78 World Series against the Dodgers, when he flat-out robbed Tommy Lasorda's crew of hits left and right:

Now that's defense. So Nettles was consistently the second or third-best hitter in the lineup, he provided outstanding defense, he was a team captain for two years, and the Yankees found great success with him on the team. It's time to give Nettles his own plaque in Monument Park, so here's hoping that they'll follow in the tradition of the past couple years and honor him on Old TImers' Day 2016.

Tony Lazzeri

For all the hubbub surrounding Randolph and the sadly since-departed awesomeness of Robinson Cano, there's still a good case that Lazzeri was in fact the best second baseman in franchise history. He was also a fan favorite and helped to make the Yankees a popular team in Italian households, as he earned the nickname "Poosh 'em up Tony" for his uncanny ability to drive in runs and for how it sounded when Italian fans cheered him on. Ten years before Joe DiMaggio made a splash with the Yankees, Lazzeri was the Pacific Coast League import arriving in the Bronx with some serious hype. After all, he had hit .355 with a .721 slugging percentage the year before with the Salt Lake City Bees, smashing 60 homers in 197 games. There were questions about how well he could play though, since the PCL even then was known for notoriously inflated power numbers, and the fact that Lazzeri was epileptic scared some scouts away.

Fortunately for the Yankees, Lazzeri met the challenge and then some. He slotted nicely into the legendary lineup which would be called "Murderers' Row" for its domination. The Yankees won the pennant in each of his first three years, as he hit .302/.370/.488 with 87 doubles, 33 triples, 46 homers, a 124 OPS+, and 13.6 WAR. The Yankees won back-to-back titles in '27 and '28, and Lazzeri was still around when they returned to the Fall Classic in '32 after a few years away. He was just as good then, batting .300/.399/.506 with a 138 OPS+ in the championship campaign. Hell, Lazzeri remained at second base long enough to play with DiMaggio and the Yankee Clipper's first two teams. By the time he called it quits, Lazzeri had five World Series rings, 169 career homers, and 48.3 WAR in pinstripes, 11th-best all-time.

Lazzeri was enshrined in Cooperstown by the Veterans' Committee in 1991. So if he had a Hall of Fame career while persevering through a difficult disease that affected him off the field, what's the holdup? I don't know if Lazzeri even has family who would be present for a Monument Park induction ceremony, but it's kind of silly that he's not out there yet.

Bobby Murcer

I'll admit that Murcer is more of a sentimental pick, but given his years of service to the organization, I don't think anybody would pitch a fit if the Yankees decided to honor "Bobby Ray." As a prospect in the '60s, Murcer was given a truly impossible task: Replace Mickey Mantle. Now Mantle was able to succeed to replacing Joe DiMaggio because he was one the greatest natural talents to ever play the game, but understandably, Murcer wasn't quite at that level. Nonetheless, when he returned to the Yankees in 1969 after two years of military service, he did a pretty damn good job. He hit 49 homers over two seasons (including a record-tying four bombs in a row during a doubleheader in '70) before exploding in 1971. That was the season Murcer was named to the first of five straight All-Star teams. He led the AL with a .427 on-base percentage and a 181 OPS+. He fully took advantage of the short porch in right field at the original Yankee Stadium during its final three seasons, as he hit .308/.381/.513 with 80 homers, a 160 OPS+, and 19.7 WAR from 1971-73.

It was too bad that the Yankees decided the next two years would be focused on remodeling the old Yankee Stadium, as the next year at pitcher-friendly Shea Stadium hurt Murcer's numbers, even though he remained productive. He was dealt from the Yankees after that year in a trade for Bobby Bonds, and by the time he returned for about three and a half more years in midseason of '79, he was more of a reserve outfielder and DH. (At least he finally got to experience some playoff baseball.) Murcer's lifetime of service to the Yankees continued in 1983, his final year as a player--he immediately moved to the broadcast booth after retirement and spent the next 24 years calling games for whatever TV network the Yankees were on. His brain tumor diagnosis in 2006 sent shockwaves through the fanbase, and after one more season behind the mic, Bobby Murcer passed away on the eve of the 2008 All-Star Game, which happened to be held at Yankee Stadium. You'd be hard-pressed to find a single Yankees fan who wasn't heartbroken by the news.

Murcer was, by all accounts, one of the most genuinely nice guys in the game, and the YES Network still misses his voice. He was an excellent player too, and his near-50 years with the Yankees should grant him a plaque in Monument Park. Make no mistake--Bobby Murcer was the man.

***

These are just three players who could stand to improve Monument Park. Just because it's a little silly that they've retired so many numbers doesn't mean that they need to be stingy about plaques. There are certainly more people who probably deserve recognition as well. Joe Gordon, Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, and Earle Combs are all in the Hall of Fame with Yankees hats, but they don't have Monument Park plaques. Going beyond them, Charlie Keller, Tommy Henrich, Roy White, Mel Stottlemyre, and Mike Mussina all have fine cases as well. Hell, I don't think anyone would be upset if the organization gave plaques to longtime trainer Gene Monahan and super-scout/GM Gene Michael, either.

As far as honoring the team's history with plaques in Monument Park goes, the more the merrier. The first steps should be honoring Nettles, Lazzeri, and Murcer. It's time.

It's been a week of owner meddling, disinterest at first base, and commissioner comment parsing.

Capital New York | Howard Megdal: I know this is a couple days old, but I'm still re-reading it and its linked articles.

The real worry out of the Moncada incident is this: Just how much will the gap between what Hal Steinbrenner thinks he knows about the baseball business, and what he actually knows, cost the New York Yankees? Increasingly, it looks like it could be quite a bit.

For the most part, I was glad when Hal pushed Hank out of the spotlight. But meddling with your baseball professionals seems to be a family trait.

New York Times | Billy Witz: I'm glad Alex Rodriguez is taking reps at first, but the media seems to think he's not taking the work seriously.

What was most striking about Rodriguez’s first workout at first base was how disengaged he appeared to be. While other Yankees did the drills at close to game speed, pitchers pouncing off the mound and fielders focusing on their footwork, Rodriguez went about his work with a degree of nonchalance.

Teixeira, a former Gold Glove first baseman who made the transition from third base early in his career, carried on a dialogue after each grounder with Roller about the finer points of footwork, balance and taking proper angles to the ball. Rodriguez, as if he were a third wheel, did not participate in the discussion.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Obligatory "where's Derek Jeter?" article.

Beyond the Box Score | Chris Teeter: Teeter gives some serious thought to Rob Manfred's comments on potentially returning the season to a 154 game schedule. He sees opportunities for play in better weather, extra off days, and potential to reduce injury. And then he goes off into wishful-thinking land suggesting eliminating the wild card play in. I don't blame the guy for dreaming.

New York will have the sixth largest bonus pot for signing drafted players.

The order for the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft was largely set after James Shields signed in mid-February, and the New York Yankees will pick twice in the first round, at #16 and #30. John Manuel at Baseball America published updated bonus figures earlier this week, drawing from sources who have reviewed an internal MLB memo to teams.  Despite not picking in the first half of the first round, the Yankees will have the sixth largest bonus pot overall at $7.885 million. The compensation pick for losing David Robertson is of course a big reason why.

These team values are naturally a function of their draft position, with each individual pick having a graduated slot value based on an internal MLB formula. Having a relatively large bonus pot will provide flexibility for signing higher rated prospects, perhaps offering the option to go over the slot levels on an individual pick where needed. In another sense, it does allow for comparing the overall 'value' of a team's selections heading into the draft. For example Arizona has the #1 overall pick but Houston has the largest total pot due to having two picks in the top five, including a compensatory pick for failing to sign last years top pick Brady Aiken.

Certainly the Yankees will be more involved early on in the 2015 draft compared to 2014, where they did not have a first round pick and the second smallest bonus pool overall at $3.202 million. A key element of the New York Yankee farm system revival has been the minor league success of recent high picks. Aaron Judge and Ian Clarkin were taken with compensatory picks in 2013, and despite not having a first rounder in 2014 the Yankees added top relief prospect Jacob Lindgren who is already knocking on the door of the majors. Continuing to add quality talent though the draft, particularly at the top of the draft, will be essential to the franchise developing a stable pipeline of talent up to the Bronx. Particularly in 2015, where New York won't have the ability to spend $30 million to sweep up multiple talented 16 year olds in the international amatuer free agent market.

In recent days, the conversation about the Yankee farm system has largely revolved around the missed opportunity to vault up rankings by adding a consensus top-15 prospect in Yoan Moncada. Think back a couple of weeks though, and the farm system was drawing positive sentiments for what has felt like the first time in a while. You've probably seen the individual pieces published on 30 key Yankee prospects here, and even if the majority of those prospects don't help the team in 2015, the hope is in the coming years the Bronx Bombers can develop talented starters in-house.

It is worth remembering the momentum that the New York Yankees seem to be carrying with internal player development. Signing one of the Yoan's, Moncada or Lopez, would have helped accelerate the rise of the franchise up farm systems rankings in 2015 and more importantly improved their chances of getting major league talent out of the farm in coming years. However, there will continue to be opportunities to add talent to the system, and with two top-30 picks, four in the top-100, and the sixth largest bonus pool heading into the upcoming first-year player draft, the Yankees have a particularly big one coming up.

It will be an important run-up to June for the amatuer scouting wing and key draft decision makers of the organisation.

The sports doldrums that are February are now over with. It's March, the time of rebirth. Only a couple more days until the first spring training game of the year.

Baseball is coming. Soon, my friends. Very soon.

Comments of the Day

Versatility is nice to have. This is why I think we all want to see Alex Rodriguez throw some bullpen sessions, AMIRITE? (I'm not right)

Oh 2013 Yankees Team. You were something alright. I still don't know what, exactly.

This will probably be a topic of discussion for a long time. Thanks Hal!

GIF of the Day

No, I don't want no Scrubs. A scrub is a gu...oh wait, the TV show Scrubs. That's okay!

Honorable Mod Mention

Andrew, for his well detailed list of former Yankees who need some more recognition in Monument Park.

• Name some of your go-to channels when you're looking for something to watch.
• If you were given a choice, which would be harder for you to give up: meat or alcohol?

Time to "Get the Led out" as Q104.3 here in NYC says. It's Led Zeppelin week on Pinstripe Alley. As always, please link us your Song of the Day. Except for Stairway To Heaven!

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. Just a couple more days now.

"And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles..."

The oddsmakers out west are envisioning another mediocre season for the Yankees in 2015.

Heading into 2014, expectations were high for a Yankees team that had just spent nearly half a billion dollars on improving their roster. Many fans and sportswriters had the Yankees pegged as the favorite to take home the AL East title. However, oddsmakers out west weren't fooled. Depending on the source, sportsbooks in Nevada expected the Yankees to win somewhere between 83 and 86 games last year. Sure enough, they fell right in that range with just 84 wins. They didn't just fail to contend for a division title, they were actually one win worse than the disappointing 2013 Yankees who inspired the spending spree in the first place.

After a much more subdued off-season, Vegas has set the line for Yankee wins in 2015 at just 81.5. Can this team really be worse than last year's stink bomb? By comparing the win values of Yankee regulars in 2014 to the projected win values of the expected regulars in 2015, we can make an educated guess. Three different projection systems, all courtesy of FanGraphs, are used below. Two of them, Steamer and ZiPS, have become something of an industry standard in recent years, while the Fans projections use the "wisdom of crowds" and tend to be very optimistic. For more detailed information on the Steamer, ZiPS, and Fans projection systems you can click here and here.

Both Steamer and ZiPS agree that they Yankees should improve by around three wins in 2015 thanks to a full season of Chase Headley and upgrades by default at shortstop and second base. The view through the rose-colored glasses of the fans yields a much more dramatic improvement of about 12 wins this year. Using 84 wins as the baseline, that means the Yankees should expect to win around 87 games this year with a 95-win season still within the realm of possibility. In this scenario, betting the over on that Vegas line is a no-brainer.

However, in 2014 the Yankees surrendered more runs than they scored for the second straight year, so their 84 wins was not representative of how they truly performed. According to their run differential they played more like a 77-win team last year. If 77 wins is used as the baseline heading into this year, Steamer and ZiPS sees them as about an 80-win team with a ceiling of around 88 wins via the fans.

Yankee fans may not like it, but the underwhelming wins line set by Las Vegas seems to be accurate. The hope, though, is that another mediocre season will be indicative of growing pains and not a team that's continuing to spiral downward. There's currently more young talent in the Yankees organization than there's been in a long time. If one or two of those players establish themselves as legit major leaguers by season's end, it won't be considered a total loss.

Tell us how many games you think the Yankees will win in 2015 below.

How are you feeling about Brian Cashman's work?

At the end of last month, Caitlin surveyedYankees fans to see what they thought about GM Brian Cashman. Monthly GM polls have produced some intriguing results throughout SB Nation, so we figured it couldn't hurt to bring the idea to Pinstripe Alley as well. In the poll on January 28th, 72% of Yankees fans approved of Cashman's off-season moves, and 28% did not.

Not much has gone in Yankeeland since the last poll, but it would still be interesting to check the pulse of Yankees fans regarding Cashman. The news was more about who the Yankees did not sign; James Shields ended his off-season of silence and signed with the Padres. However, the most attention was paid to Cuban phenom Yoan Moncada, who signed with the Red Sox. Whether or not that actually reflects on Cashman though is unknown because shortly after the news broke, some writers revealed that Hal Steinbrenner limited how much Cashman could spend on Moncada. As far as actual Yankees transaction news, the only information of note was the list of spring training non-roster invitees. The non-prospect names there are unlikely to make much of an impact in 2015, but you never know. (Reliever Jared Burton was also added to the list of NRIs when he was signed shortly after the list was announced.)

So how are you feeling about Cashman at this point? About the same as last month? Do you think he could done more to sway Hal's checkbook? Do you think it's good that they maintained some payroll flexibility by not inking the the 33-year-old Shields to a four-year deal or making a big commitment to a 19-year-old who remains a bit of a mystery? Regardless, let us know by voting in the poll! We'll revisit the results next month, when spring training will finally be at an end.

More than just 2015 rides on the frayed ligament of the Yankees ace.

I don't think anyone would quibble if I said Masahiro Tanaka's elbow is the most important elbow in the Yankees' spring training. Given that the 2014 Yankees missed the playoffs by only five wins, and that they got only 20 starts from their most dominant starter, it's not a particular stretch to imagine them taking a Royals-like run to the World Series had they gotten a little bit more from their young ace.

Aside from A-Rod's return, Tanaka's early workouts have been the biggest story out of camp. Is he pain-free? What does his velocity look like? How is his command? For a team that's not going to become an offensive juggernaut overnight, a healthy Tanaka atop the rotation is obviously the keystone in Operation Back in the Playoffs.

But sometimes, I forget just how central the Yankees have made Tanaka to their long term plan, too. Courtesy of Baseball Reference:

Look again at 2016 and 2017. None of the biggest contracts come off the books this year. In fact, for the ten players who arguably make up the Yankees' core, payroll actually increases from $177.5M to $179.5M.

If you're raging because Hal Steinbrenner drew a line in the sand on Yoan Moncada and Max Scherzer and other free agents, go ahead and bottle that. You will likely need to break out the same wine next off-season. When Tex and Beltran come off the books after the 2016 season (nearly $40M combined), then maybe we can see this team take some steps forward again.

But look again at that chart. Unless CC Sabathia's brace and stem cell injections prove to be a miracle for his knee (I'm not betting on it), then Tanaka needs to carry the Yankees' rotation. There won't be superstar reinforcements coming unless something dramatic happens. Making matters more concering is that the fact that if Tanaka's elbow gives out and he needs Tommy John surgery, then the Yankees are likely thinking about a dark 2016, too.

Maybe they can retire #21 for Paul O'Neill and #24 for Tino Martinez and re-retire #9 for Graig Nettles. That's sure to take my mind off of the team's problems.

Obviously, a strong return from Ivan Nova could take a lot of pressure off Tanaka. Michael Pineda throwing the first healthy season of his Yankees career would be a big boost. But when I looked at it in cold numbers on that Baseball-Reference page, it's really striking just how much is riding on the success of Tanaka's rehab program.

Fernandez threw off of a mound for the first time since Tommy John surgery. Plus links on Dan Haren and Giancarlo Stanton.

Marlins News

Jose Fernandez threw his first bullpen session of the spring on Sunday afternoon in Jupiter. Fernandez is returning from Tommy John surgery, and according to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro, is still expected to pitch with Miami in June or July.

Fernandez, who was diagnosed with a torn UCL after his eighth start last season and had surgery May 16, warmed up on flat ground for several minutes Sunday morning before heading to the mound at the Roger Dean Stadium complex. He threw 10 warmup pitches, then fired 15 fastballs to bullpen coordinator Jeff Urgelles as pitching coach Chuck Hernandez watched from the side.

Dan Haren is expected to make his first start as a Marlin on Thursday against the Cardinals. While Haren was initially not thrilled to be in camp with Miami, he is excited to start the season with the Marlins.

Once spring games start, the MLB pace of play changes will be on display. Manager Mike Redmond noted "it will be an adjustment," according to Frisaro, but the club will be familiar with the new rules as spring games progress.

Giancarlo Stanton was hit by a Henderson Alvarez pitch during a simulated game on Saturday morning. Stanton is okay after the pitch hit his hip.

Finding at-bats for Ichiro may be a challenge in 2015. And Suzuki will be fighting for playing time this spring.

Michael Morse is excited about returning to South Florida and playing alongside Giancarlo Stanton.

Marlins Park may be getting another makeover soon. After hosting a bowl game last winter, the Marlins are interested in hosting a hockey game in the future.

The Marlins do not use analytics too frequently. But they are not alone.

Does Giancarlo Stanton feel pressured? It is possible, but maybe not realistic.

Around The League

Bryce Harper wants to step up for the Nationals. That could make the NL East even tougher.

Pablo Sandoval was rather quiet in San Francisco. But the Red Sox are impressed by his leadership.

Matt Wieters is back and appears to be healthy.

Which non-roster invitees are worth watching this spring?

At FishStripes

-2015 Miami Marlins Season Preview: Michael Morse - Fish Stripes

Michael Morse will take over the first base spot and the Marlins are hoping it brings power and offense to the position for a change.

-Miami Marlins' Jose Fernandez throws off mound - Fish Stripes

-Ichiro Suzuki happy to be away from New York Yankees - Fish Stripes

Joe Girardi did not always use the 41-year old outfielder as expected, and as a result, Suzuki is happy to be a Marlin.

-Hypothetical arm wrestling with Giancarlo Stanton - Fish Stripes

What would happen when your average Joe goes up against the best power hitter in the game?

-Miami Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton hit by pitch in intrasquad contest - Fish Stripes

The 25-year outfielder was hit on the elbow by a Henderson Alvarez pitch but is still healthy.

Gregorius has flown under the radar at spring training thanks to attention on A-Rod; Yankees have decided who will start first three ST games; Pineda talks season goals; Ellsbury's drop in production last year partially due to luck.

NJ.com | Ryan Hatch: One of the perks of Alex Rodriguez's return and all of the media attention that he's getting is that it's allowed Didi Gregorius to fly somewhat under the radar since spring training started.

LoHud Yankees Blog | Chad Jennings: The Yankees have set their first three starters of spring training and it will be Adam Warren in the opener, Nathan Eovaldi for game two and Esmil Rogers for game three. Chase Whitley will piggyback one of those starts.

MLB.com | Barry M. Bloom: Michael Pineda threw his first live batting practice of spring training on Sunday without a hitch. Afterwards, he told the media that his goal for the season is to stay healthy.

New York Post | Ken Davidoff: In his first year as a Yankee, Jacoby Ellsbury experienced a drop in production from his 2013 year with the Red Sox, and some of that can be blamed on bad luck.

Tomorrow is the Yankees' first spring training game of the year. Make sure not to miss it.

There is a spring training game tomorrow. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited. Make sure to join us.

Comments of the Day

You know, I wonder if ESPN will have a special "A-Rod Watch" whenever Alex Rodriguez comes up to the plate. If he does, that is. If he doesn't, I'm sure there will be some discussion about it.

"If the Boss were here..."

I do believe we've found PSA's most positive commenter. And I'm not talking about me.

Always nice to welcome new members to Pinstripe Alley. Especially those with great taste in Led Zeppelin songs.

O Beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain...

The Phillies should be something to watch this year.

GIF of the Day

Rah. Rah.

Honorable Mod Mention

No one wins. Sorry. Tomorrow though, there shall be honor. There shall be glory. There shall be baseball.

• What is your favorite letter in the Alphabet? (Bonus points if you respond like you would if you were on Wheel of Fortune)
• Preferred type of phone: iPhone, Android, non-smart phone, home phone, fun toy phone with the wheels on it?

The best part about Led Zeppelin week is that I get to play these songs while writing these articles. The worst part is that it takes me a bit longer cause of my need to air guitar or air drum the hell out of them. As always, please link us your Song of the Day.

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. Are you excited about baseball tomorrow? Will you be joining us on the site while it's on? I sure hope so.

"Don't it make you feel bad when you're trying to find your way home, you don't know which way to go?"

According to some, the only thing exciting about the Yankees right now is A-Rod. Do you agree?

Whether you like him or not, there's no denying that Alex Rodriguez has quite a personality, from his presence in interviews, to the faces he makes on the field. The media has been obsessed with him all offseason, and reporters are even keeping track of the exact number of pitches that he faces during batting practice, along with how many balls he's hit for home runs. He's clearly been the center of attention at spring training, but is he the only person keeping the Yankees from being boring in 2015?

According to Ryan Hatch of NJ.com, "Alex Rodriguez is saving the Yankees from being wholly inconsequential." Although I don't really agree with that sentiment, it does seem like the Yankees are gearing up for a down year. Last year's team was mediocre, but Derek Jeter's farewell tour brought a lot of fans to the stadium to see him play in person for the last time. The Yankees have already announced their plans to honor Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams this season by retiring their numbers and giving them each a plaque in Monument Park. As much as those guys deserve to be honored, it does feel partially like a gimmick to make money. Fans have also expressed strong opinions over Yoan Moncada signing elsewhere and some have discussed not spending money to watch the team this year. The Yankees aren't expected to be at the top of the AL East so it likely will be a down year, but if anything is going to draw in fans, I wouldn't think it would be A-Rod.

The only thing interesting about Alex Rodriguez at this point is the question of how he will do hitting-wise. We already saw team's react negatively to his return in 2013 (See A-Rod vs. Ryan Dempster), so we might be able to anticipate that the same thing will happen when the regular season starts. Maybe we can hope that teams are so distracted by their dislike of A-Rod that they focus more on that than on playing well against the Yankees. Other than that, the media has covered his return so thoroughly that I'm tired of hearing about him. I'm also tired of talking about him, but felt the need to defend the rest of the team. There are far more interesting things happening on the Yankees than what Alex Rodriguez ate for breakfast.

First of all, this is the first spring training without Derek Jeter in a very long time. That means we get to see an actual new person play the position of shortstop, and that's exciting to me, especially after Jeter's shoddy defense the past few years. How will Didi Gregorius do in his place? Who knows, but we get to find out. No Jeter also means that the "2-hole clause" is gone and the order of the lineup can be totally re-arranged. If Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner lead off, the team already stands a chance of being better than last year.

Fans will also get to see the Yankees go through the process of picking a new closer. After Mariano Rivera retired, David Robertson got the job by default, but now there are two players who are both strong candidates for the position. We get to see whether Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances can both follow up the strong performances that they had last season, and which of them will be named closer.

There is also a strong case to be made for Masahiro Tanaka being the most exciting Yankee to watch. In fact, when healthy, the majority of the rotation has the potential to be really good. I'm intrigued to see how they all progress through spring training and whether they can stay off of the disabled list.

Finally, there are a lot of prospects close to breaking into the majors. Young prospects like Rob Refsynder and Jacob Lindgren have a real shot at breaking camp with the team or being called up at some point to contribute, and that is something to look forward to. In his article, Hatch noted that the small number of fans who have showed up at George M. Steinbrenner Field to watch spring training workouts have only cheered for A-Rod. There have been claps for players who hit home runs out of the stadium, but the fans have even been cheering for Rodriguez when he runs off the field. Maybe the casual Yankee fan doesn't know enough about the prospects to be excited to see them up close during spring training. Then again, is it really fair the judge how interesting the team is (or how excited fans are about the team) based on the number of fans who have showed up to Tampa to watch the team workout before spring training games have even started?

So, what do you think? Would the 2015 Yankees would be "boring" without Alex Rodriguez?

As of right this second, the Yankees have only lost Brendan Ryan to the injury big for a few days, but they could end up losing catching prospect Luis Torrens for even longer, depending on what the doctors say. According to George King of the New York Post, the 18-year-old is currently undergoing tests to determine the severity of a shoulder injury. Depending on what comes back, it could mean the entirety of his 2015 season.

Torrens already dealt with a shoulder injury last year when he missed over two months of the 2014 season. He struggled early on in his time with the Low-A Charleston RiverDogs before disappearing from games between mid-April to mid-June when he was reassigned to short season Staten Island after a brief rehab stint in the GCL. As an 18-year-old in the Sally League, the assignment was pretty aggressive, so you can't be too disappointed by his struggles in the small sample size. After returning from the injury, he seemed to be perfectly fine as he hit .337/.378/.500 through the end of July, though he eventually leveled off to hit .270/.327/.405 in the New York-Penn League for the year. It seemed his troubles were behind him until now suddenly things have moved in the complete opposite direction.

If Torrens were to miss the entirety, or even the majority, of the upcoming season, it would be a huge blow to his prospect status. Thankfully, he's still so young that he'd only be 20 for the 2016 season, so it's not like time is running out for him. The biggest problem would be from a severe lack of development time over the last two seasons that could ultimately hurt his abilities behind the plate in the long run. While many evaluators like him as a catcher, despite his lack of experience there, he's still going to need plenty of work to make it.

Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and Fangraphs all rank Torrens among the organization's top 10 prospects and many believe he has overtaken Gary Sanchez, after a few years of disappointment, as the team's "catcher of the future." At one point the organization was saturated with catching talent, but now the failure of Torrens could leave the system with no promising catching prospects coming through the pipeline, other than John Ryan Murphy and Sanchez.

As of right now we don't know much of anything and neither do the Yankees apparently:

Regarding Torrens: Eppler says Yankees should know more in next 24 hours or so, but still figuring out severity and next step.

— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) March 2, 2015

We'll see what the tests say, but as we all know, prospects will break your heart. Hopefully this one won't be too bad, even if he does have to miss the season.

A YouTube channel dedicated to short songs about Major League Baseball players.

It has come to my attention that there's a YouTube channel called "Epic Baseball Songs." The channel consists entirely of of one minute-long songs that are dedicated to a Major League Baseball player, and some of them are pretty hilarious. The channel has 25 of these songs in total, and more than a few of them feature Yankees players -- past and present. The songs are very short, and the lyrics are pretty repetitive, but that's part of what makes them great. Here's a look at few of the Yankees-related ones.

The "Masahiro Tanaka Song" - Very Mortal Kombat-esque.

"The Jacoby Ellsbury Song" - Because maybe the most attractive player in the MLB deserves some smooth disco.

"The Ruben Sierra Song" - This one's sung to the tune of Outkast's "The Way You Move," which was Ruben Sierra's actual walk-up song!

"The Hiroki Kuroda Song" - Kuroda's ode is sung to the tune of... Danza Kuduro. Because Kuroda sounds like Kuduro, I guess?

"The Derek Jeter Song" - Also check out the otherDerek Jeter Song.

"The Chase Headley Song" - This joint proves that no one should mess with Chase Headley.

Although its not a Yankees-related song, this one's my personal favorite: "The Matt Kemp Song," accompanied by the smoothest of smooth jazz.

A-Rod will make his spring debut on Wednesday; Luis Torrens may miss an extended period of time; A Yankee fan takes on an ambitious trek for charity, and more

LoHud Yankees Blog | Chad Jennings: The Yanks held an intrasquad "game" on Monday. I put the word game in quotes because hitters faced a pitching machine and most of the rules were foregone in favor of working on situational hitting and defense. Jennings has some video and a scrapped-together box score.

ESPN NY | Wallace Matthews: A-Rod won't be playing in tomorrow's spring opener against Philadelphia. We'll have to wait until Wednesday for our first look at Rodriguez actually playing baseball in 2015.

NY Post | George A. King III: King has some news and notes from camp, including word that catching prospect Luis Torrens is having his injured throwing shoulder evaluated and he may miss the entire season. As Jason Cohen pointed out, while this would be a pretty rough blow to his development, Torrens is only a couple of months from his 19th birthday and this would certainly not be the nail in the coffin for his career.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: It was about a week ago when Ichiro Suzuki expressed his pleasure to be away from the Yankees. Yesterday we learned that David Robertson is feeling just fine calling someplace other than Yankee Stadium home, even if he doesn't sound nearly as salty towards his former team as Ichiro.

Yahoo! Sports | Mark Townsend: 65-year-old Richard J. Albero, a retired naval officer and teacher, is beginning a 20-mile-a-day walk from George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project in honor of his nephew who passed in the attacks on 9/11. Alberto is accepting donations through his website.

The New York media would have you believe that Alex Rodriguez not playing in the spring opener is the biggest storyline of the day, but they're wrong.

The New York media would have you believe that Alex Rodriguez is the most important person in Yankees spring training this year. Don't believe me? Here's proof:

@anthony_scotto that's like telling the White House press corps to stop covering Obama

— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) February 27, 2015

Because apparently A-Rod is the president?

@BobKlap only story? How about closer? Didi? Refsnyder? Prospects? Tanaka? CC? Rotation? Beltran? McCann? Teixeira? New coaches? Dellin?

— Jason Cohen (@Jason00Cohen) February 27, 2015

It feels like some New York-based journalists have gotten lazy over the years and Alex Rodriguez just makes it easy to write columns, because they couldn't be more wrong about this. Not only is he not even close to the most important person on the team when discussing their 2015 success, but there are far more interesting story lines going on in camp this year as well.

Now they want you to think that the team's spring opener is also all about A-Rod because he won't be playing in it:

A-Rod is playing in today's #Yankees intrasquad game but not in tomorrow's Grapefruit League opener. http://t.co/S4p72dGdwu

— Ken Davidoff (@KenDavidoff) March 2, 2015

A-Rod won't play in the #Yankees exhibition opener vs the #Phillies on Tuesday. http://t.co/DNntrZECqK

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 2, 2015

Alex Rodriguez won't play in New York Yankees' spring opener http://t.co/ToYap2z0AO

— ESPN New York (@ESPNNewYork) March 2, 2015

KEEP WAITING: #AROD will not play in the #Yankees' exhibition opener on Tuesday. | http://t.co/cTKhmDpanH#NYY

— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) March 2, 2015

This is obviously all based on the fact that the team released the list of players who will be traveling to Clearwater for the first spring training game of the year and Rodriguez wasn't on it:

Travel roster for tomorrow's game in Clearwater. Red means you're on the bus pic.twitter.com/rJv1BSdw31

— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) March 2, 2015

But you know who else won't be traveling over to face the Phillies? Almost all of the team's projected starting lineup. Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury will be the only ones there. You know what's a bigger story? How about the fact that Carlos Beltran won't appear in a game for another five days because they don't want to break him too quickly? What about Mark Teixeira, Didi Gregorius, Chase Headley, Stephen Drew, and Brian McCann? No one in the projected starting rotation will be there, since Adam Warren is getting the start. Zero of the locks for the 2015 bullpen will be attending either. It's almost like this is spring training and these things don't matter.

If we want to talk about the importance of the roster in Clearwater, there are plenty of storylines surrounding the players who will actually be there. Greg Bird could be the starting first baseman. Rob Refsnyder could be the starting second baseman. We'll be getting our first look at Chasen Shreve. Luis Severino, Jacob Lindgren, and Tyler Webb will all make an appearance. The battle between John Ryan Murphy and Austin Romine will begin. Aaron Judge, Jake Cave, and Tyler Austin will all be in the outfield. Are these storylines as headline-happy, drama-filled, and controversial? No, but they aren't completely overplayed and nauseating at this point.

Oh hey, it also turns out A-Rod will make his debut soon anyway:

Girardi said A-Rod will play in Wednesday's game, and will DH. Might see some work in the field next week. #Yankees

— Brendan Kuty (@BrendanKutyNJ) March 2, 2015

It's like we made a big deal about nothing. Let's calm down and enjoy spring training for the real reasons we enjoy spring training; it's not for the circus.

They deserved it, as did the other dude who got suspended from college.

We understand if you normally roll your eyes when Curt Schilling speaks -- hell, Curt probably understands -- but what he had to say about inappropriate tweets directed at his daughter was worth listening to. The Hall of Fame hopeful just wanted to congratulate his 17-year-old progeny on Twitter for getting into college where she could play softball, and instead he received vulgar, sexual responses -- even ones mentioning rape.

Schilling's answer was to screenshot some of these tweets and write a blog post about them, so he could identify the two worst of the bunch publicly. It turns out that doing so got one of the awful people, Sean MacDonald, fired from his job as a part-time ticket seller for the Yankees. In addition, his fraternity from Montclair University, Theta Xi, spoke out against the inappropriate tweets.

As for the other awful human being, Adam Nagel has been suspended from Brookdale Community College, and the local police are looking into the matter. Who knows if they will actually punish him for his threats -- threats made on the Internet are still actual threats, no matter how much people want to pretend otherwise -- but at least he's going to have to squirm for a bit while he awaits his fate.

Good on Schilling for exposing these guys for their awful behavior. Social media users could use more consequences for their oft-occurring horribleness.

BASEBALL!!!! BASEBALL BASEBALL BASEBALL BASEBALL BASEBALLLLLLLLLL!!!!

BASEBALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

Sure, it is somewhat meaningless baseball. But who cares? It's baseball, nonetheless. Some of the Yankees' prized pinstriped prospects will be on display today. It's been way too long. Baseball is back on. Rejoice!

Comments of the Day

/pours one out for Kenny Lofton

/still pouring

I don't know what this says at all.

Oh right. It's NoMahbles birthday today. Happy Birthday. Here's hoping you got some nice presents.

Hey look at that. Mahbles!!

I'm pretty sure a lot of other fans will be watching to check in on the villainous Alex Rodriguez.

What Harlan said. Any baseball beats the hell out of no baseball.

GIF of the Day

No GIFs. Who cares, it's baseball season.

Honorable Mod Mention

Tanya wins the HMM award. No real reason why!

• What are you hoping to see in today's spring training game?
• Pick a Yankee. What would this Yankee player's Wrestling Finishing Move be called?

You know, there are many Led Zeppelin songs that I could choose as my "closer entrance" song. This song is always on that list. The soft, blues intro into one of the most bad-ass rock riffs ever. Mmmmmmmppff. The soft intro is probably a bit too long though for entrance music. Either way, I thought this would be appropriate choice for today's song. As always, please link us your Song of the Day.

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. There is a baseball game on in two hours on MLB.tv. Our first spring training Game Thread will be up at 12:30PM. Join us, won't you?

go yankees go spring training baseball