Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• Ex-Yankees and their spring training results
• Yangervis Solarte makes Yankees' Opening Day roster; Eduardo Nunez optioned to Triple-A
• Yankees spring training ends with a rainout; final 25-man spot still pending
• Spring Training Game Thirty-One: Yankees vs. Marlins cancelled due to rain
• Fangraphs ranks the Yankees positional strength
• Yankees Opening Week predictions competition
• How often should we expect to see Ellsbury & Gardner run this year?

Yankees News

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews:Yangervis Solarte made the roster, but at one point he thought for sure he was cut.

Bombers Beat | Bryan Hoch: The lineup that Joe Girardi scheduled for Saturday's game is likely going to be the Opening Day lineup.

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews:Dellin Betances feels like he finally earned his spot on the team.

The Wall Street Journal | Brian Costa: Everything you need to know about baseball's new replay system.

GQ | Daniel Riley: Robinson Cano talks about his career with the Yankees.

Pinstripe Pundits | Chris Mitchell:Adonis Garcia might be someone to watch this year in Triple-A.

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews: Masahiro Tanaka is calm, cool, and collected about his transition to MLB.

The Hardball Times | Matt Swartz: Predicting the future escalation of player salaries.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: Predictions for the Yankees 2014 season.

Fangraphs | Eno Sarris: See where David Robertson and the Yankees' relief corps ranks against the rest of MLB.

ESPN: Predictions for the 2014 playoff teams.

Saying farewell through some of Nunez's most memorable GIFs.

Eduardo Nunez has officially been optioned to Triple-A in favor of Yangervis Solarte making the roster instead (Woohoo!). While this doesn't necessarily mean that the Yankees have seen the last of Nunez, a brief reprieve seems like a good reason to celebrate with some of his most memorable GIFs.

Nunez to Triple-A means...

No more flying helmet

I still don't understand why they couldn't find him a helmet that fit.

No more tripping around the bases

No more creative errors

Why throw the ball in the air when you can double hop it instead?

No more everyday injuries

I can just hear him saying "Freddy tripped me!!"

He did have a heck of a series against the Tigers in the ALCS though

Too bad he couldn't hit like this all the time.

Nunez to Triple-A, Solarte on the roster Opening Day:

Feel free to post your favorite Nunez GIFs below. Hat tip to Andrew and Matthew Floratos for the non-SB Nation GIFs.

Most baseball fans know that spring training stats mean next to nothing. The sample sizes are tiny and opposing rosters are often filled with guys from Double-A. This explains how no-name players like Jon Weber and Jorge Vazquez can put up OPS's north of 1.000 in March, only to go back to being minor league fodder once the calendar turns to April.

Nonetheless, there are certain statistics that are more meaningful than others in small samples. For both batters and pitchers, it's been established that stats like strikeout rate and walk rate -- which don't depend on lucky bounces or the quality of defense -- take the least time to become reliable. If any spring training stats were to have any predictive value, it would probably be these. This isn't to say other stats can't be predictive of a player's performance, but they tend to be all over the place across such a small number of games.

Of course, simply looking at these stats doesn't take into account the quality of competition they faced. No matter how well a player performs, it's pretty much meaningless if it comes entirely against players from A-ball. Luckily, Baseball-Reference puts out a stat that attempts to quantify the quality of a player's performance. The stat assigns each player a number from 1-10 representing his average competition: 7 = Double-A, 8= Triple-A, and a score of 10 means the player faced only big-leaguers.

Russell Carleton of Baseball Prospectus estimates that walk and strikeout rates start to become somewhat reliable at the following thresholds:

Hitter K%: 60 Plate Appearances

Hitter B% 120 Plate Appearances

Pitcher K%: 70 Batters Faced

Pitcher K%: 170 Batters Faced

Most players fall short of these totals in just one month of spring training, so I've included all Yankees who made it half-way to the strikeout thresholds, along with the average level of competition they faced.

So based on all of this data, these are the Yankees I reckon have the best chance of over-performing their projections based purely on their spring training stats:

Ichiro Suzuki:

K%: 4% BB%: 6% Opponent quality: 9.3 (Quad-A)

On the surface, it looks like Suzuki had a terrible spring. His .240/.283/.280 batting line is significantly worse than you'd expect from Ichiro, even following his dismal 2013 campaign. Still, Ichiro faced mostly major league pitching and the underlying numbers suggest he was actually pretty decent. Suzuki walked more than he struck out this spring; and although the results weren't there, his .250 BABIP suggests he got a little unlucky. This isn't to say Ichiro was good this spring, but his peripherals suggest he was significantly better than his .283/.317/.372 Steamer projection.

Ivan Nova:

K%: 26% BB%: 3% Opponent quality: 9.2 (Quad-A)

Nova posted a respectable 3.66 ERA in camp this year, but his peripherals show that he was much better than that. Nova's FIP was a sparkling 1.25 this spring, propelled by a 21:2 strikeout to walk ratio. That's about as good as it gets. His performance is even more impressive considering the majority of his completion was big-league caliber.

And the under-performers:

Brian McCann:

K%: 22% BB%: 8% Opponent quality: 9.1 (Quad-A)

McCann's .200/.265/.333 triple slash pretty much tells the story. The Bombers' newly minted catcher struck out in nearly a quarter of his trips to the plate and walked less than he usually does. The only thing falling in McCann's favor is that he faced his share of major league pitching: The average quality of his competition was slightly closer to MLB than Triple-A.

Danny Burawa:

K%: 5% BB%: 8% Opponent quality: 8.8 (Quad-A)

Although he had an impressive 1.93 ERA this spring, Burawa didn't really pitch well at all. The hard-throwing reliever walked more batters than he struck out, earning him a 4.96 FIP. His opponent quality also wasn't great and suggests his average opponent mirrored an average Triple-A player. Burawa got really lucky in his 9.1 innings this March, which allowed him to post a sub-two ERA. Otherwise, there's not a lot to like.

And loud springs that may not be as great as they look:

Yangervis Solarte:

K%: 15% BB%: 11% Opponent quality: 8.1 (Triple-A)

Solarte went H.A.M. this spring. The little-known Non-Roster Invitee hit a disgusting .429/.489/.571, which was enough to land him a spot on the Yankees' Opening Day roster. Solarte certainly hit the snot out of the ball, but there are reasons to be skeptical going forward -- even beyond the typical spring training caveats. Solarte actually put the ball in play less than he usually does: He struck out three percentage points higher than he did in the minors last year. More than anything, his spring performance was driven by lucky bounces, as evidenced by his .457 BABIP. And lastly, Solarte had the lowest opponent quality score of any Yankee in camp. He basically did what he did against Triple-A pitching.

Dellin Betances:

K%: 23% BB%: 8% Opponent quality: 8.6 (Triple-A)

Like Solarte, Betances impressed enough this spring to earn a niche on the Opening Day squad. He posted a 0.73 ERA in 12.1 innings, but his 11:4 strikeout to walk ratio wasn't quite as impressive. On top of that, his opponent quality was one of the lowest on the team. There's no denying that Betances had a very good spring, but based on his strikeouts and walks, he wasn't as uber-dominant as his ERA implies.

Admittedly, this was probably a frivolous exercise. Pretty much anything that happens on a baseball diamond in the month of March holds very little water and your opinion on these players should be more or less the same as it was two months ago. Nonetheless, if I had to identify players who "turned the corner" based purely on spring stats, Ivan Nova and Ichiro Suzuki would be my bets.

Miguel Cabrera is now the highest paid player in baseball history and it isn't the Yankees who are paying him. How can New York adapt to baseball's ever-changing financial landscape?

This weekend, an MLB team agreed with a player on the richest contract in American sports history in overall guaranteed money. In a shocking turn of events, that team was not the New York Yankees.

Instead, it's the Detroit Tigers who've set a new financial bar in baseball. The kitty cats of Motown came to terms with two-time defending American League MVP Miguel Cabrera on an eight-year extension worth $248 million. Add in the $44 million they already owed their soon-to-be 31-year-old first baseman through 2015 and you're looking at a $292 million commitment over the next ten seasons. Move over, A-Rod. Move over, Albert. There's a new big fat albatross in town.

The eight new years tacked onto Cabrera's deal carry an average annual value of $31 million, topping the $30.7 million that Clayton Kershaw got from the Dodgers when he inked his seven-year, $215 million agreement in January. Kershaw, though, is only 26. He'll be 32 when the deal ends, or, more likely, 29 if he exercises his 2018 opt-out. Although he's been worked hard in his early twenties, there's a good chance Los Angeles didn't pay for any decline years. Cabrera, on the other hand, will finish his new contract in 2023, at the age of 40. He isn't exactly known as a physical specimen. How many more MVP-type years will the Tigers get for their money? Baseball's brief and painful history of ten-year contracts for players in their thirties tells us it won't be as many as they'd like.

The most surprising aspect of the Cabrera deal is the timing. Sure, the Tigers don't have to play the next two years with the 800-lb gorilla of Cabrera's impending free agency squatting in the corner of every clubhouse they enter, but they've turned a position of financial strength into one of weakness. This wasn't Kershaw, who was entering his final year of arbitration, or Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols or Robinson Cano, all free agents who could entertain multiple bidders. The Tigers had the best hitter in the game under control for two more years at a team-friendly price. Odds are he'll get worse, not better in that time, given his age. Would they really have had to pay more than 8/248 to a 33-year-old Cabrera in 2016 had they waited things out?

As the preeminent big spenders in baseball, the Yankees are affected by Miguel Cabrera's new deal as much as anyone. The Tigers' commitment exemplifies the futility of the sort-of fiscal restraint the Steinbrenners employed in letting Cano head off to Seattle. The Yankees may have seen the error of the A-Rod deal first hand, but other teams haven't, not with millions upon millions in TV money bursting from their pockets. New York's financial advantage over other clubs - at least those at the top of the spectrum - is getting smaller and smaller. In the future, the Yankees won't be able to reel in the biggest free agents without conceding a price that's absolutely ridiculous.

There aren't any huge names on the current roster who'll need to be re-signed soon. After a winter spending spree that eclipsed the annual GDP of every nation in the world outside the top twenty, David Robertson is the only Yankee who's nearing a multi-year contract. Still, the price just went up for players on other teams. Hanley Ramirez will be entering his age 31 season next year, just like Cabrera is now. If he can stay healthy and produce like he did in 2013, is a ten-year deal unrealistic? What about Max Scherzer, who the Tigers probably can't afford now? Another elite season from the 29-year-old could propel him into the Kershaw stratosphere. In six years, Mike Trout could hit free agency. If Cabrera can get ten years at 31, how many can a player with superior all-around skills get at 28?

Since the Yankees can't control the market for baseball's top players, they'll need to decide if it's one they want to shop in, or if they'd prefer to pursue a slightly less expensive breed of free agent like they did this offseason. You can put together a pretty good roster from the likes of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Masahiro Tanaka - and there are more of those on next year's free agent radar - Chase Headley, J.J. Hardy and Justin Masterson, to name a few. Yes, it's sad that $150 million-plus deals are now "second-tier", and this isn't the "best guy out there every year" credo that the Yankees lived by in the mid-2000's. But other teams have done well signing role players over outright superstars, even if that approach requires a more substantial contribution from the farm system than the Yankees have received of late.

Or maybe Cabrera's new deal isn't as bad as it looks. With baseball revenues completely out of control, $300 million doesn't mean what it once did. Under that lens, Miggy's contract isn't really the largest in history, as MLB dollars seem to inflate at a much faster rate than those in the general economy. According to Fangraphs' Jeff Sullivan, Cabrera's contract will represent just 0.64% of the $38.8 billion teams are projected to spend on opening day payroll between 2016 and 2023. That's not even in the top 20 all-time, falling in well beneath A-Rod's 2001 deal with the Rangers (1.09%) and his 2007 agreement with the Yankees (0.87%). According to Sullivan's numbers, plenty of deals the Yankees have given out before - Jeter, Giambi, Sabathia - were way farther out of whack with baseball's overall spending than Cabrera's is now. The Yankees survived all those contracts just fine, and in the case of the ten years and $189 million they gave Jeter in 2001, they came out looking pretty good.

Ultimately, the Yankees should pick their spots. During the Cano saga we heard a lot of fan talk amounting to "I want him back but only for..." Sorry, but it doesn't work like that. Teams don't get to choose the price - only if they're willing to pay it. In the end, I was okay with not going ten years for Cano before the Cabrera news broke, and I still am today, but concrete, hard line policies are never a great idea. I'm not in favor of giving that kind of contract to Hanley Ramirez next year. If Scherzer can be had for seven years like Kershaw was, even at $30 mil per, I'll put him down as a maybe. Then there are the special cases. What if Bryce Harper hits the open market in 2019? (coincidentally, a year after the Yankees are done paying A-Rod)? What if Trout gets there a year later? Then the Yankees should be all in, regardless of consequence.

The Yankees wisely chose Yangervis Solarte over Eduardo Nunez for the team's final bench spot; what can we expect out of the former now that he got his chance?

After a bit of an extended wait, the Yankees have decided to take Yangervis Solarte over Eduardo Nunez to Houston come April 1. For me, Nunez not making the team isn't much of a surprise, considering the team has lost faith in him in recent years. The surprising thing, though, is Solarte making the team in the end. Well, at least if you told me at the beginning of camp that Solarte, a journeyman minor leaguer who has never seen the big leagues, would crack New York's 25-man roster. Based on his strong performance this spring, however, Solarte deserved an extended look.

In his minor league career, Solarte is a .286/.336/.397 hitter through 2804 plate appearances and eight seasons. In his two most recent seasons at the Triple-A level, 2012-2013, Solarte is a .282/.332/.404 hitter through 1145 PA's in the Texas Rangers' organization. While a .736 OPS doesn't appear to look too bad on the surface, it totals out to just a ~91 wRC+ because of the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.

A switch-hitter, Solarte has fared much better as a right-handed batter than he has as a lefty the last two years. As a righty, Solarte has an .824 OPS against left-handers, whereas he has just a .699 OPS against right-handed pitching. Because of this, Joe Girardi would be smart to insert him against left-handers, perhaps in favor of Kelly Johnson (who has struggled against lefties in recent years) at third; maybe not as a straight platoon, since the Yankees have said they won't necessarily go that route, but perhaps to give Johnson a breather. Speaking of breathers, the Yankees could afford to give the fragile Brian Roberts a breather every now and then; Solarte has experience at second base, too.

As you probably might have guessed, Solarte is versatile. Versatile in that he can at least "play" a lot of positions, with his work coming at second base (325 games), third base (137 games), left field (76 games), right field (56 games), shortstop (30 games), and even center field (two games) and first base (one game). Solarte is said to be at his best at second base, mainly because his bat profiles better there, but since he's a utility man on this team, he'll play wherever he'll be needed.

Because he has seen most of his time at second and third, Solarte should figure to see the majority of his time there when Johnson/Roberts could use a day off. Solarte does, as noted, have experience at shortstop (albeit pretty little experience), but he should be the third option there anyway since Dean Anna is Derek Jeter's primary backup at the moment. Although I'd like to see more than his 47 spring PA's against mostly Triple-A competition (8.1 opponents' quality, per Baseball Reference) to become a full believer in Solarte, I do think he has a chance to be a fairly useful utility man at the big league level (at least until Brendan Ryan gets healthy), given his ability to hit left-handers; he at least got his chance to try to prove so.

Hello, and welcome to Opening Night of the 2014 MLB regular season. Of course, we've already seen two games in Australia. And only one game is going on today and everyone else plays tomorrow. Except for the Yankees, who don't play until Tuesday. So, Happy Opening Week? Whatever, real-life baseball is happening.

Tonight, the Dodgers face off against the Padres and because of stupid things like physical bodies, Clayton Kershaw will not be starting because he's going on the disabled list. Instead, Hyun-Jin Ryu will face off against Andrew Cashner.

Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• Opening Night game thread: Dodgers vs. Padres
• What can Yangervis Solarte bring to the table for the Yankees?
• How does Miguel Cabrera's new contract affect the Yankees?
• Yankees spring training: Trying to find meaning in small sample size statistics
• Eduardo Nunez GIF appreciation post

Yankees News

Pinstripe Pundits | Chris Mitchell: As the Mets continue to lose, more New Yorkers will grow up as Yankees fans.

Newsday | Mark Herrmann: A look back at how a rookie Derek Jeter started his glorious career.

The Star-Ledger | Jorge Castillo: After a long road, Yangervis Solarte has final made it to the majors.

It's About the Money | EJ Fagan: After an injury-filled 2013, it's nice to see the Yankees be one of the few healthy teams on Opening Day.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Every member of the roster has some good they bring to the team and something to worry about.

The Record | Bob Klapisch: The fact remains that Alex Rodriguez never tested positive for PEDs, so there are likely still cheaters out there.

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews: A completely new lineup brings new hope for the Yankees in 2014.

The Times-Tribune | Donnie Collins: A look at the likely Opening Day RailRiders roster.

The Star-Ledger | Jorge Castillo: Derek Jeter retiring is finally the end of a very long era in baseball.

New York Post | George A. King III: If you want to know what it's going to be like for someone to replace Derek Jeter, just ask Tino Martinez.

NoMaas | SJK: What to expect from Kelly Johnson this year.

New York Post | George A. King III: There might be a velo-watch starting up on David Robertson.

CBS Sports | Dayn Perry: Ex-Yankees Graig Nettles, Dave Winfield, and Kenny Lofton belong to the once played college basketball team.

Astros pull out all the stops for Opening Day against the Yankees.

I realize I may be preaching to the choir; if you read TCB, you probably know all about the pageantry of Opening Day. But, I would like to speak to the fans that haven't gone to an Opening Day or still on the fence about going. GO! Outside of the day your team clinches a playoff spot, there isn't a better day of baseball then Opening Day. It's a child's game at it's most formal. The entire support staff, 25-man roster, and the coaches are announced. They all line up on the chalk line. The teams were their home white and their road grays - no alternate, special edition, or throwback uniform. A giant American (and Texas flag in the Astros' case) flag are brought on the field. The national anthem is sung by local star, and there's much thought that goes into who will throw out the first pitch. It's a snapshot of Americana.

Last year, the Astros opened the 2013 season for all of baseball. Lyle Lovett sang the national anthem and JJ Watt threw out the first pitch. The Astros were on top of the baseball all be it for one day after taking game one against the Rangers. Opening Day in a nutshell, is the anticipation of another baseball exploding onto the field.

Now let's take a look what the Astros have planned for this year.

13th ANNUAL OPENING DAY STREET FESTIVAL
Before all of the action starts on the field, the Astros will kick off Opening Day festivities with the 13th Annual Opening Day Street Festival, with special thanks to Budweiser, from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Crawford Street. This year's festival once again has no admission charge and will have a fun, upbeat atmosphere that will include live music performed by the Scooter Brown Band on the Budweiser stage, an interactive vendor expo, local food trucks, drinks, prizes and activities for all ages. Fans will also be treated to a rock wall, mechanical bull riding, face painters, caricature artists, bungee runs, a dunk tank and more. Astros mascot Orbit will also be in attendance, getting fans pumped up for the 2014 season. All activities and appearances are subject to change.

OPENING DAY PREGAME FIELD CEREMONIES
The Astros Opening Day Pregame Field Ceremonies are jam-packed with guest appearances, kicking off with a special flag ceremony featuring 150 Astros Season Ticket Holders. The famed Budweiser Clydesdales will also take the field in grand fashion to deliver a ceremonial game ball to Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow, and the NiXg Skydiving and Entertainment team will also make an unconventional entrance to deliver the ceremonial first pitch ball. Country music legend Clay Walker will perform the National Anthem and return to the field for God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch.

OPENING DAY SCHEDULE - TUESDAY, APRIL 1
12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: 13th Annual Opening Day Street Festival on Crawford Street
1:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Pep Rally featuring Reid Ryan, emceed by Robert Ford, on the Budweiser Stage
3:00 p.m.: Gates open to the main concourse
3:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Pep Rally featuring Astros players, emceed by Steve Sparks the Budweiser Stage
4:00 p.m.: Full ballpark access to the public
5:30 p.m.: Pregame field ceremonies begin
6:10 p.m.: New York Yankees at Houston Astros
Postgame: Special classic rock-themed Opening Day fireworks display, presented by Marathon Oil Corporation

The Astros have also announced who will throw out the first pitch.

Two Astros legends will assume their original playing positions for the ceremonial first pitch on April 1 during the Astros 2014 Opening Day pregame festivities. Former Astros ace and current Executive Advisor Nolan Ryan will take the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to Craig Biggio, who first started in the Astros organization as a catcher, and now serves as a special assistant to the general manager. In Biggio's first year in the Majors, he caught Nolan Ryan's 100th win as an Astro while they were both on the 1988 Astros squad.

Additionally, Astros Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Milo Hamilton will address the crowd to kick off the 2014 Astros season, and Astros primary TV play-by-play announcer Bill Brown will introduce the starting lineups for both teams. On field pregame festivities will begin at approximately 5:30pm, and the 2014 Opening Day game between the Astros and New York Yankees will be broadcast on CSN Houston at 6:10pm CT. Coverage can also be found on the Astros flagship radio station, 790 KBME AM and our Spanish flagship station KLAT 1010 AM.

Again, if you haven't been to an Opening Day - go. Out of town or not, find the Opening Day near you. If you are in Houston, why not go this year to Opening Day. If you do come; say hi, TCB will be around.

This is silly. Can we just get this done, people?

I'm struggling with how to start this piece. I toyed with the idea of calling it "Matt gets drunk and complains about Jon Lester not getting an extension" but then I thought that would be too crude. Also inaccurate as I'm not drunk. I'll say this though, the day Jon Lester signs with the New York Yankees is the day I will get powerful drunk. And powerful sick. Also I'll probably break some things. Nothing valuable. But based on the recent news, I'm setting some breakable yet cheap items aside, because that day is coming people. That day is coming.

In case you spent the entire first paragraph thinking 'what the heck is he talking about,' the Red Sox and Jon Lester have "amicably" "tabled" their talks on a contract extension for Boston's Opening Day starter. Lester is entering the final season of what has become a six-year, $43 million contract, which he signed back in March of 2009, and barring a change of heart on the part of the team and the player, he will hit the market at the conclusion of this season. He'll be 31 and, pending the outcome of this season, one of the best starting pitchers to hit the free agent market. Probably the second best behind Max Scherzer.

So that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Jon Lester leaving the Boston Red Sox. It might be for the Yankees, it might not. But mark my words, if this extension doesn't happen, he's gone. They're not going to sign him after he hits free agency. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs wrote about this in his write-up on Miguel Cabrera's extension. He said, in part,

...elite players who aren’t signed to long term extensions simply do not re-sign with their original clubs when they hit the free agent market. It just doesn’t happen. Over the last five off-seasons, there have been 30 free agent contracts signed with a total value of $50 million or more. Of those 30 free agent contracts, exactly one — Derek Jeter— re-signed with the team that passed on giving him an extension before he got to free agency.

I'm not sure I'd have correctly guessed the severity of the numbers, but that make sense. And for Lester it means, without this extension, good-bye, Boston. So sign him now or not at all seems to be the Red Sox choice. Lester has publicly stated on numerous occasions that he wants to stay with the Red Sox. He wants to spend his whole career in Boston and he's willing to give the team a home-town discount on his contract to do it.

Everything was lined up. And now nothing is happening. Why?

Photo credit: Rob Carr

Well of course I don't know specifically. The team and the player didn't line up on the terms of the deal. It's easy to speculate that the Red Sox are the ones at fault here, because Lester clearly said he'll give the team a discount. Here's the thing though. Sometimes the car dealership down the way puts BMWs on sale. When they do I don't rush out and buy one. They're fine cars and if anyone wants to give me one, I'll be grateful, but whether it's a $65,000 BMW or a $59,000 BMW makes no difference because I can't afford either one. It's possible when the Red Sox got to the bargaining table and saw Lester's price tag, the discount didn't matter because the price was just too high.

This is bugging me though because, baring something nuts at the negotiating table, the price shouldn't have been too high. The Red Sox are in a great position regarding their farm system. Their Triple-A team features four highly thought of prospects who could become good major league starting pitchers one day soon. They also have Felix Doubront for three more years after Lester's deal expires, another year of John Lackey at the league minimum (with a chance to leverage that into a cheap-ish extension), and Clay Buchholz will be around through the 2017 season. They have options, is what I'm saying. Lots and lots of options. And with starting pitchers, you need lots of options. That's great. It's all great and the organization is better off for all of it. But none of it is likely to replace the quality and quantity that Jon Lester provides.

We'd all love to think differently, but the chances that just one of Matt Barnes, Anthony Ranaudo, or Allen Webster turns into a number three starter are not all that high. It's even money they're all relievers in the long run. All those guys have talent, but ain't one of them a sure thing. Even sure things aren't sure things when you're talking about minor league pitchers. In Lester the Red Sox have a guy they know can throw lots of good innings, who came up in the organization, who beat cancer as a Red Sox, who is a good guy, a strong citizen, a positive in the clubhouse, and a leader on the pitching staff. What's more, because of those young pitchers and their young hitting brethren, the Red Sox payroll stands to shrink in the coming seasons. That's not a reason to throw money away, but it does mean the team will have money to spend. What better way to spend it than on Jon Lester?

The guys at Sons of Sam Horn were discussing this and whether they'd rather have probable free agent Max Scherzer or Jon Lester. No doubt Scherzer is an amazing talent and he is probably the better pitcher going forward, except there are a few mitigating factors. You can guess what they might be, but the point isn't to compare the two pitchers, so much as to say that the Sox know Lester. They've seen him excel under the bright lights of October, they've seen him struggle and come out the other side to succeed again, they've seen him face the strongest lineups in the game, and they've seen him do all these things year after year after year. What's more, they've got him now! Right now! He's sitting at the negotiating table, pen in hand, saying "I want to be here." They have the money, they have the need... and yet, nothing.

I don't want to see Jon Lester in pinstripes. I don't want to see Lester in a Mariners hat. I want Jon Lester, ace or not, to stay with Boston because it's what I want, but also because it's what I believe is best for the team. Sometimes it's difficult to separate analyst and fan. In this case, there's no need to separate because we both want the same thing. The Red Sox should sign Jon Lester, and if they don't do it soon, they're going to regret it.

Tino Martinez resigned halfway through last season, and despite a temporary silence, has made known his belief that Miami's hitters are "soft." Martinez was reportedly unpopular with both players and fellow coaches.

Tino Martinez resigned as the Miami Marlins' hitting coach on July 28th of last season. Handpicked and directly hired by owner Jeffrey Loria, Martinez was given the challenge of trying to develop several of Miami's young bats. In midst of allegations that he physically and verbally abused players, one of which was Derek Dietrich, Martinez remained quiet-until now.

Like Loria, Martinez apparently enjoys the negative publicity. Why he decided now was the best time to comment is questionable, but months after his resignation in an interview with WFAN in New York, Martinez called Marlins hitters "soft."

"I was just trying to get them to understand, take advantage of this and make yourself a better player. They were very soft. They were very soft and that was the disappointing part, but I thought I was doing my job as a coach to try and get the most out of them."

Martinez is a former player himself, and when he worked as a hitting coordinator in the Yankees' system, none of their prospects were ever spoken of in such a way. An immediate, and perhaps even psychological analysis, would suggest some type of envy. But Martinez spent 15 years in the major leagues, and believed that he was doing what was best for the organization a year ago.

The Marlins' front office, and even Manager Mike Redmond, have admitted that last season the team lacked a veteran presence and the leaders necessary to create a winning atmosphere. By signing Casey McGehee, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jeff Baker, and Garrett Jones, the team added valuable leadership to a notably youthful squad.

In addition to expressing his belief that the team's significantly young lineup was "soft," Martinez was bothered by the fact that those young hitters did not take advantage of the opportunity,.

I was tough on some of the young players I thought needed to be, not disciplined, but they were walking around like they were 10-year veterans and I was trying to teach them the right way to do things. I was trying to teach these guys. These guys had a great opportunity. They didn’t belong in the big leagues.

Miami is known for rushing top prospects to the big leagues, however last season's early promotions had just as much to do with injuries at the major league level as they did performance. Marcell Ozuna was productive before getting injured, and Christian Yelich, Donovan Solano, and Dietrich all had to gain experience and make adjustments.

Martinez was not only unpopular among players, either. A Sun-Sentinel report quotes an anonymous member of last year's staff stating "he wasn't the most popular guy here. I'm disappointed he can't let go."

Last season was deemed a "rebuilding" year before it even started, and Martinez knew that. He was hired to teach rookies how to become productive major league hitters. It was not his place to comment on the given opportunities. He was getting paid to teach inexperienced major league players, and his inability to do that likely factored in his behavior.

Baseball is here and the major league rosters are decided, however, the minor league affiliates are still being finalized. That means players are on the move and not all of them can fit. Some of the more disappointing players have been released by the Yankees organization and will have to figure out where they will go from here -- to a new organization or a new career.

The Yankees released seven minor league players, including RHP Kenedy Agramonte, RHP Zach Arneson, RHP Adam Smith, RHP Zach Varce, RHP Derek Varnadore, 3B Kevin Mahoney, and OF Kelvin De Leon.

Agramonte was signed out of the Dominican Republic before the 2010 season, but has remained in rookie-ball for the last three years after transitioning to the bullpen. At the age of 23, he has a 2.03 ERA with a 4.6 BB/9 and 11.5 K/9 in 115 innings pitched.

Drafted in the ninth round of the 2011 MLB Draft, Arneson reached High-A Tampa in 2013 where he struggled to the tune of a 9.97 ERA in 21.2 innings. In his professional career, he has a 6.49 ERA with a 6.5 BB/9 and 9.1 K/9 in 51.1 innings out of the bullpen.

Taken in the 25th round of the 2011 draft, 24-year-old reliever Adam Smith was finally taken down by persistent control issues. After his second season with the Low-A Charleston RiverDogs, Smith posted a 4.0 BB/9, which was actually his career-best. In three seasons he accumulated a 4.81 ERA, a 6.1 BB/9 and 8.1 K/9 in 63.2 innings.

Varce was taken in the 11th round of the 2010 draft and reached High-A Tampa in 2013 at the age of 25. He's been extremely limited by injuries, only pitching 19 innings over the last two seasons, but overall he thew 131.1 innings and put together a decent line with a 4.45 ERA, 3.1 BB/9 and 9.9 K/9.

Varnadore was picked in the 9th round of the 2012 draft, making him both the highest pick and the prospect with the  least time as a professional out of this group of cuts. The 23-year-old reached Low-A in 2013 and had a 3.66 ERA with a 2.4 BB/9 and 6.6 K/9 in 118 innings. That's really not bad.

Mahoney was taken all the way back in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft and finally reached Triple-A for the first time in his career this past season. He's moved all around the diamond, spending time at first base, second base, third base, and even saw some time in the outfield. There was one time he even pitched! He hit .252/.344/.404 in his five seasons, which is a better line than Cito Culver and Dante Bichette have mustered. Unfortunately, with no prospect hype to speak of and after undergoing surgery at the age of 26, it's no wonder the Yankees released him.

Probably the biggest disappointment on this list is Kelvin De Leon, who the Yankees signed out of the Dominican Republic for $1.1 million, the second biggest bonus paid out during the 2007 international signing period. In six seasons, he only managed to play 21 games in High-A, all of which took place in 2012. Most of his time in the organization was spent in Low-A Charleston where he was relatively unimpressive. He hit .236/.304/.371 as a professional hitter, but it's not all bad. Amazingly, he's still only 23 and has already made over a million dollars, so he's set for life and has plenty of time to enjoy it!

The Yankees had already released a grand total of 33 minor league players back in December, so if you're keeping track at home, that's now an even 40! An entire 40-man roster of career-minor leaguers has been dropped by the Yankees organization in three months!

One more day until baseball!

Baseball season has finally started! We have to wait another day for the Yankees first game, but in the meantime we can discuss the Opening Day lineup, which has officially been set.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF
2. Derek Jeter SS
3. Carlos Beltran (DH/RF?)
4. Brian McCann C
5. Mark Teixeira 1B
6. Alfonso Soriano (RF/DH?)
7. Brett Gardner LF
8. Brian Roberts 2B
9. Kelly Johnson 3B

This is the lineup that was set for Saturday's game that ended up being rained out. On Saturday, Beltran was going to DH and Soriano was going to play right field, but that could very well be swapped on Tuesday. There are no real surprises in the top of the order. You were kidding yourself if you didn't think Jeter would bat second. Here's hoping that Ellsbury gets on base a lot, and that's he's good for 40-50 steals, so that he can try to take Jeter grounding into a double play out of the equation.

I think it's interesting that Tex had been batting cleanup off and on for the past few weeks, but they decided to move him down in the order. McCann makes more sense as the cleanup hitter, especially because Tex is prone to starting the season really slowly and is coming back from the wrist injury. If it were up to me, I would probably shuffle up the bottom third of the lineup, because I'm somewhat concerned that Gardner's speed will be wasted with Roberts and Johnson batting behind him.

Overall, this lineup is a major improvement from last year's Opening Day lineup of: Gardner, Nunez, Cano, Youkilis, Wells, Francisco, Suzuki, Nix, Cervelli. Pretty cringe-worthy. In fact, Gardner is the only player to make a repeat appearance in this year's Opening Day lineup. It is astounding that this team was still in the playoff race in September.

What do you think of the lineup? What changes would you make if you could?

Despite a strong showing this spring, David Phelps lost the battle for the fifth spot in the starting rotation to a resurgent Michael Pineda. However, recent history tells us that it won't be long before he's needed in the rotation anyway.

Advocates for David Phelps must be pretty bummed at the news that Michael Pineda has beat him out for the fifth spot in the Yankees' rotation. Both pitchers were brilliant this spring, but in the end Phelps' versatility proved to be his enemy. Pineda hasn't pitched out of the bullpen since his days in Double-A ball whereas Phelps has thrived there when called upon over the past couple years. Therefore, placing Pineda in the rotation and Phelps in the bullpen was the logical move.

This puts David Phelps in a familiar situation. In 2012 and 2013 he was the first alternate for the Yankees rotation. That is, he was the sixth unique pitcher to start a game for the Yankees in both seasons and will certainly be that man heading into 2014. So will he have to wait long to get a start? Just how soon is that pitcher typically needed? Let's take a look at the past ten years to find out (data courtesy of Baseball Reference):

It looks like strange things can happen to a rotation before the season is even a month old. No-names get spot starts, never to be heard from again and lifelong relievers like Brian Bruney get pressed into emergency duty. This recent trend tells us that it's likely Phelps will get a start by the quarter mark of the season and probably even well before that, just as he did the past two years.

Once he breaks into the rotation he might also be needed there long-term. For the first time since Andy Pettitte established himself in the mid-90's there is no sure thing among the Yankees' starting five. CC Sabathia is coming off the worst season of his career, Hiroki Kuroda struggled in the second half of 2013 and just turned 39, Masahiro Tanaka has never pitched an MLB inning, Ivan Nova's career has been marked by its inconsistency, and the aforementioned Michael Pineda has missed two full years due to injury. The Yankees have even subtly acknowledged their tenuous situation with their roster moves. Outside of Phelps they will round out the pitching staff with even more arms capable of starting should they be needed.

So even though he lost the battle, David Phelps may still win the war. At 27, he's entering his prime years and should get his best crack at a full-time starting gig in the coming weeks. Cue Eminem.

Despite some early theatrics from Mike Trout, the Mariners defeated the Angels 10-3 on Monday, winning their eighth-straight season opener. Felix was Felix.

The ball left Felix's hand and touched Mike Trouts bat for just a second, and then it went really high up in the air and really far away, like so far that it went beyond the fence away from where any of the baseball players could get at it, which is kind of crazy in principle if you think about it.

For a second, it felt like the game was already over. The bottom of the first had passed with no incident, including Robinson Cano's first Mariner at bat: a groundout to first he dogged out to end the inning. It was met with cheers, because he was met with boos as soon as he left the on-deck circle for the first time wearing a hat that had the letter 'S' on it.

Most of those boos came from this man, Herbert "Hank" Jepsen, an unemployed former private security guard and expatriate Yankees fan living in Sacramento, who--feeling betrayed upon learning of Robbie Cano's departure from the pinstripe empire--saved up for opening day tickets to make his displeasure known on national television, where his ex-wife Carol would finally be able to see that he's still got some cool left in the tank, despite the unfortunate fact that he was wearing his wedding ring on the very hand that held up the sign he made at the Roseville Fedex/Kinkos only three hours earlier:

But Hank isn't the story here. Nope. The story, for a second, was the epic, colossal, behemoth home run from Mike Trout off of Felix Hernandez, who was pitching on a national stage and was quickly behind 2-0 after Trout's home run. It really felt over for a minute, and even though these Angels have been so terrible for two years, the voices of forty thousand cheering the best position player in the past 50 years home while Albert Fucking Pujols came up to the plate was kind of terrifying.

But even that wasn't the story of the night, despite whatever ESPN may tell you. It didn't ultimately matter. Robinson Cano wasn't up to bat and Hank was busy texting Carol with his sign between his legs, mashing the buttons on his Blackberry Bold with oversized thumbs and completely ignoring King Felix racking up eleven, yes eleven Angel strikeouts in his six innings pitched. No, Hank didn't notice when Erick Aybar reached on a throwing error from Kyle Seager, or when Aybar scored after Albert Pujols crushed a baseball past the head of Dustin Ackley, who immediately took about six routes at the same time to catch it, smashing his body into the outfield fence in terror, realizing that they never asked him if he wanted to be a leftfielder and oh god this is terrifying what have I gotten myself into

Felix followed this up with a walk to Josh Hamilton, drawing a visit to the mound from pitching coach Rick Waits. You kind of have to wonder who said what here, because while Rick Waits is the pitching coach on the Mariners, and he's 61 wise years old, he was talking to a pitcher who is someday going to be in the Hall of Fame. A pitcher who once pitched a perfect game, whose nickname alludes to a dark time in human history where incredibly violent and corrupt political and social stratifications bestowed favor onto a select few who were closer to gods than men. That's the person Rick Waits was talking to. King Felix.

As previously mentioned, Felix had 11 strikeouts through six innings. His little bit of trouble against Trout and in the fourth racked up his pitch count a bit, which is kind of a bummer because he was straight dealing through the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Had he settled in quicker, thrown less pitches, who knows how many strikeouts he would have had by the game's end, possibly breaking his own record of 12 on Opening Day in 2007.

But Hank--poor Hank! Felix had to sit down eventually, and while he was waiting for Carol to text him back--she never did, of course--he noticed Robbie Cano coming back up to bat. His blood pressure skyrocketed, and he dropped his Diet Coke while scrambling for his blackberry and custom sign now cherished like his firstborn. Right then and there, he decided to abandon the whole Carol project and text his old security buddies from the Bronx, snapping a blurry pic of Cano taking practice swings as he typed gonna jog out another grounder and 240 million for a lazy bum is what I say. Then Cano walked into the batter's box and did this:

Hank was furious--dumfounded. The legs, running out a dribbler that should have been an easy out in any other circumstance. But things were different. Something was in the air. Jered Weaver was pitching a pretty great game, high-eighties fastball and all, but his command was all over the place. He didn't have much help from home plate umpire Joe West's zone, but when everyone is getting shafted at least the playing field is equal.

Weaver walked three Mariners tonight, two of which scored in the top of the sixth. With Justin Smoak and Logan Morrison standing on base, Kyle Seager ripped a double over the head of right-fielder Kole Calhoun, sending Justin Smoak home to score and bring the game within a run. 2-3. But then the windmill arm of Jeff Datz Rich Donnelly took off and Logan Morrison rounded third. The ball was home before Logan Morrison was ten feet away from the plate.

For some reason, the M's bats continued through the game, and they drove Weaver to yell bad words into his mitt on the way back to the dugout to sulk in the seventh. In the seventh, Dustin Ackley scored after a Mike Zuninotriple, coming after two at-bats that saw the Mariners' catcher reach for bendy things that seemed to blow his 23-year old mind. The game was tied at 3, and Mike Scioscia brought in reliever Fernando Salas to get out of the inning. The good news was that Felix was going to be pulled after this, and the loss, however stupid the whole thing may be, was now going to be pinned on someone else thanks to Zunino.

But then Salas gave up a double to Abraham Almonte, your 2014 Mariners leadoff hitter. 4-3 Mariners. Felix was in line for the win. The entire city of Seattle erupted with incredulity and excitement. Felix shook his fist and yelled a bunch of things in Spanish and had this huge, shit-eating grin on his face because his team was finally, finally looking like it was capable of giving him run support after ten years. During this, Hank was scrolling through his Blackberry's archive and reading old texts from Carol between sips of his Diet Coke he salvaged, now half empty and sharing space on the concrete floor and inside the plastic commemorative Angels cup that cost more than his usual bar tab.

It would be lying to say the next few innings were anything short of trauma inducing--Yoervis Medinasomehow getting Chris Iannetta to pop out before letting Aybar single his way on base, Charlie Furbush getting the second out before he was pegged in the shin on a Mike Trout comebacker, and Tom Wilhelmsen pitching in a major league baseball game. But Tom had a--gasp--great outing today, striking out only David Freese but disposing of every batter he faced through 1.1 innings, ensuring that as long as all went well the M's wouldn't have to face Mike Trout again in the month of March.

As Kevin Jepsen took the mound for the Angels to face Zunino, M's closer Fernando Rodney was warming up in the pen. Hank had actually put his phone in his pocket, realizing that he had maybe one chance left to boo the ever-loving shit out of Robin$on Cano, and was looking at the lineup card folded inside his one-dollar commemorative game program he bought outside Angels Stadium from an unmarked vendor. Surrounding him were Angels fans, nervously biting their nails and hoping their new $144 million dollar man could come up to save the day in the bottom of the ninth. Hank hoped for this too, and failed to see the irony in the whole thing.

The Mariners were on their way to letting that happen. Mike Zunino and Almonte quickly struck out, leaving Jepsen only an out away from getting into the eighth to possibly earn his first win of the 2014 season. Instead, Brad Miller singled. Robinson Cano doubled. And then, friends, the first Mariner home run of the year came off the bat of Justin Smoak, scoring Miller and Cano and sending wishy-washy Angels fans out the exit turnstiles and into the brisk California evening. Three minutes later Logan Morrison and Michael Saunders had walked, and Dustin Ackley scored them both with an RBI triple. 10-3 Mariners. What.

Hank had left Angels stadium long before this. It was, by all accounts, quite the selective evening for the guy--he didn't even notice poor Angels' hitting coach Don Baylor break his leg while catching the ceremonial first pitch, nor did he stick around to see Robinson Cano's double or the M's blowout victory come to fruition with a perfect ninth from Danny Farquhar. He wasn't around to see Fernando Rodney blow a save because it didn't happen. He wasn't there to see the Angels trounce the M's because they didn't. All those things will happen over the next few weeks, but Hank didn't care, because he was in the car and was reading a text from Carol.

Was that you on TV? it said

Yes he responded, with pride.

Christ, Herbert will you ever grow up?

Hank put his phone in the cup holder and turned on REO Speedwagon so loud that it shook those loose screws between the armrest on his drivers door and the rusting burnt sierra painted metal frame it sat on. By then, he was already on I-5 with the windows down, his Yankees windbreaker and Yankees long sleeve undershirt and Yankees custom jersey blowing in the midnight air. It was an important thing, what he did. Someone had to tell off that traitor, after all, and if Carol didn't understand then she didn't deserve him in the first place. It's a lot of work, being a fan of the greatest team to ever play the game of baseball.

Hank realized that they weren't all going to be good days. He wondered how other fans felt after going through long periods of suffering and disappointment--an altogether unfamiliar experience to him. But he stopped thinking about it there, and he didn't bother thinking about the other part: the part that shows what its like when fans used to disappointment feel something altogether unfamiliar and new. That concept never even occurred to him.

The Mariners are probably going to do a lot of stupid shit this year. They are going to strikeout when they need big hits, and they are going to send some really sketchy arms out to pitch some really important innings. Someone is probably going to get hurt. The outfield defense is going to be gross. But for the first day of 2014, the Mariners did something kind of unfamiliar and new, even though it was their eighth-consecutive Opening Day victory, and that's something to write home about. In two years Hank is going to have his Yankees back up and running. Until then, the Mariners are going to surprise everyone, one way or another.

Today's links try to make us feel better about leaving runners on base and get us excited about a trip to the White House as well as the sartorial choices of Jonny Gomes.

While the Sox may have left 12 runners on base, feel comfort in knowing it was all a part of the plan. (Brian MacPherson; Providence Journal)

Although the team can't outspend the Yankees, it appears the fans may end up doing so. (Nick O'Malley; Masslive.com)

Three takeaways from Opening Day. (Jeff Pini, Boston.com)

Mookie Betts is ready to take the next step, but whether it's to the left, right or way behind second base is anyone's guess. (Matt Huegel; SoxProspects)

It'll take a lot of work (and even more luck) for the Red Sox to beat baseball's 13-year curse. (Scott Lauber; Boston Herald)

But, even if they don't, they'll still always have today's trip to the White House. (Tim Britton; Providence Journal)

And these snazzy outfits courtesy of Jonny Gomes (including one specially ordered for a certain someone.) (ESPNBoston; Gordon Edes)

Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• David Phelps will be starting sooner than later
• Yankees' Opening Day lineup set
• Yankees release seven minor league players
• MLB Opening Day Open Thread
• Pinstripe Alley's 2014 Yankees and MLB predictions

Yankees News

New York Post | Joel Sherman: Hal Steinbrenner believes in the decision he made to abandon the $189 million plan, but he still has not forgotten about the the farm system.

Newsday | Erik Boland: Michael Pineda's command is much more important to his success than his velocity.

The Wall Street Journal | Daniel Barbarisi:Masahiro Tanaka is not just getting along with Hiroki Kuroda, but the relievers as well.

ESPN New York | Andrew Marchand:CC Sabathia used to be stability, but now he's kind of an unknown.

It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski: There's a lot that makes sense in the Opening Day roster.

Pinstripe Pundits | Chris Mitchell: How valuable is pitch framing to a pitcher anyway?

Baseball Sabant: See how far the Yankees will travel during the 2014 season.

Swimmingly | Molly Fitzpatrick: Surprisingly, the Yankees are one of the cheaper teams if you want to propose at one of their home games.

SB Nation | Grant Brisbee: Facebook shows us exactly where every team's fanbase is located.

Time to shake off the bad feelings of 2013. A new season starts today with a brand new Yankees team (almost).

Last year was a pretty awful time to be a Yankee fan. Fans of other teams don't want to hear it and that's understandable, but watching that team with those players take the field each night really sucked a lot of the fun out of baseball. It wasn't so much the fact that they were bad and missed the playoffs, as it was the fact that they did it while insufficient backups took on starter roles for the sake of frugality and a new player got injured every other day. Except for the terrible Chris Stewart was made of the thickest Valyrian steel and couldn't be gotten rid of at any cost. The team somehow managed to overachieve; even with the cast of characters they had who barely resembled the real Yankees. The memory of 2013 will probably be nightmare fuel for a lot of us for the foreseeable future.

When the Mariners signed Robinson Cano to a ten-year deal, my unhappiness as a Yankee fan seemed to hit rock bottom. My favorite player was gone, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte had retired, and Plan 189 still hung like a weight over everything. Cano leaving wasn't supposed to be an option but it happened anyway. Little by little, it seemed like reasons to not feel like this season would be a repeat of last started to fall together. It took half a billion dollars to get there, but seeing this team in spring training was exciting. Seeing them take the field tonight will be even more exciting. There are reasons to be skeptical, but there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful. If you can't find hope on Opening Day, then when can you? Here are the reasons why I am optimistic about the Yankees' chances this year.

1. Masahiro Tanaka: How I fell in love with a splitter

If Cano was the 1A top prize of the offseason, Tanaka was 1B. The 25-year-old Japanese phenom was finally able to make his way to the United States after a long process that saw the posting system between NPB and MLB change dramatically. It looked for a second as though the Rakuten Golden Eagles may not allow Tanaka to leave after the system changed to give more money to the player and less to their former team. Tanaka was posted and the Yankees were able to come up with the highest bid, leaving Plan 189 behind.

Tanaka looked every bit like the pitcher he was billed as in spring training, striking out ten Marlins in his final six tune up innings. His splitter is devastatingly beautiful. The way that hitters make themselves look silly attempting to hit Mo's cutter or David Robertson's curveball is the same way they look when matched up against Tanaka's splitter. It's a thing of beauty. Should he continue his Japanese and spring success, the Yankees are looking at a new young superstar in their pitching rotation with serious Rookie of the Year potential.

2. Goodbye Chris Stewart, Hello Brian McCann

The first splash of the Yankees' offseason was signing the former Braves catcher to a five-year deal. Anyone would have been an upgrade over the catching situation of 2013, but McCann is one of the best in the game. The pitchers had nothing but rave reviews for him all spring training long and his left-handed swing is perfectly suited for long homers to right field. Getting offense and defense from the catcher's spot? It's been a while since the Yankees have seen that on their team. It's not always easy to be the new guy who has to replace the old guy, but in this case it couldn't be easier.

3. Re-emergence of Michael Pineda

Pineda hasn't been healthy in two full seasons and recovery from a torn labrum is never a sure bet, but Pineda came out this spring and proved he can still be a force to be reckoned with in the Yankees' rotation. The 98 mph velocity is not there, but his slider is still very much present. He had stiff competition with David Phelps, Adam Warren, and Vidal Nuno all turning in really impressive spring performances of their own, but Pineda managed to be the most impressive of them all, despite the fact that the job was always supposed to be his if he was healthy.

A healthy Pineda can be a total game-changer in the rotation. He's slotted in the fifth spot, but his potential is obviously much higher than that. The Yankees are going to want to work him back into a full season's workload gently, but there are a lot of reasons to think and hope that he'll be much more than a No. 5 pitcher before the season is out. Spring training gave us glimpses of how good he can be, even without the fireball velocity he had in Seattle.

4. Water covers 70% of the Earth, the rest is covered by Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury

The Yankees have had to put some interesting defensive characters in their outfield over the course of the last few seasons, such as Raul Ibanez, Vernon Wells, Andruw Jones.... you get the picture. Brett Gardner's claim to fame has always been his tremendous outfield defense that should have already won him a Gold Glove by now. Jacoby Ellsbury has been one of the best center fielders in the game. Now, they are going to man the same outfield. How will anything get down out there?

Ellsbury's addition made it seem like Gardner might be out the door after the season, but the Yankees locked up the latter to keep both of them in New York for at least the next few years. The speedy duo can cause mayhem on the bases for pitchers and mayhem in the outfield for batters looking to have their hits fall in. Good defense isn't always as sexy as good offense, but these two should make it really fun to watch this season.

5. Health!

First base, shortstop, third base, and center field: All of these positions were filled by non-starters when the 2013 season began for the Yankees. With the lone exception of infield backup Brendan Ryan, the entire roster left Tampa wholly intact. Knock on wood, of course. Part of the frustration last season was seeing players that were ill-equipped to be starting MLB players thrust into the role of starter for much longer than anticipated. Lyle Overbay manned first base all season. Shortstop was a black hole all year. The Yankees used approximately 65 third basemen. Curtis Granderson got himself broken by pitches twice.

Derek Jeter is healthy and running as well as you can expect a 40-year-old shortstop after ankle surgery to run. Mark Teixeira is mainly recovered from his wrist surgery, except for mentally overcoming the fact that he doesn't need to stop his swing early to protect his wrist. CC Sabathia is healthy and claims that he feels much better than he did a year ago, despite his velocity still not being where it was. Ellsbury's calf was enough of a non-issue that he would have played in the spring training finale if it wasn't rained out. The players who are supposed to be starting are going to be starting. That alone is a huge step up over the situation last year.

So, that's only a fraction of why I am excited about the 2014 Yankees. Five hardly encompasses them all, so feel free to add your own. Just don't rain on my parade today. Opening Day is when we can look forward to a season with all the hope in the world, and there is a whole lot to like about this team.

Something isn't working and everyone knows it

It's no secret that Hal Steinbrenner was disappointed with the Yankee farm system after what happened in 2013. The Yankees had a rash of injuries and when the minor leaguers got the chance to help out, they weren't exactly very helpful. Surprisingly, despite his unhappiness, no major changes were made to the organizations. They added roving baseball instructors like Jody Reed, Mike Quade and Trey Hillman to help prospects with various parts of their game, but neither Mark Newman or Damon Oppenheimer were really punished for failing at what they're supposed to be doing – finding and developing players. It was all quite head-scratching.

If you want to look for someone who was truly unhappy with what the farm system offered the big league club, it might be Joe Girardi you should be looking at. Long has he had the reputation for defending his players to the bitter end, no matter how bad they are or how much they might struggle at times. It seems that what he says in front of his team and to the media is much different than what he says behind closed doors, though. In a recent interview with The New York Post's Joel Sherman, Hal revealed how Girardi really felt:

When Joe and I had a conversation at the end of the season, even before he agreed to come back, he said, ‘Look, I got guys coming up here who don't even know how to run the bases, guys coming up that don't know how to bunt. Something is clearly being missed at some levels.'

That's very un-Girardi-like to admit that his players are not good at doing things since he's defended Jayson Nix and Eduardo Nunez for years. While we all felt the unhappiness with the farm system meant they needed to change something in order to develop better prospects, apparently it all had to do with Girardi's comment about their lack of fundamentals.

The obvious question you're going to ask is who could he be talking about. In 2013, the Yankees went through many different position players in an attempt to fill injuries and then replace those injury replacements when they went down in turn. Out of the 'guys coming up,' assuming he's talking about internally developed players, since that's the context the quote was taken from, it could be any of David Adams, Austin Romine, Zoilo Almonte, Melky Mesa, and Corban Joseph. Two of them are no longer in the organization and the rest were never really given much of a chance to make the Opening Day roster this spring. It's probably safe to say that, according to Girardi, these players weren't exactly "playing the game the right way."

People already think that Yankee prospects are a joke. When one is considered valuable, like Gary Sanchez, the lack of depth in the system makes him seem like he's benefitting from no competition around him. Whether that's true or not, it's the perception the organization gives off; that they have no one of consequence, and the guys they do have are massively overhyped. Now something like this, even if you think bunting is stupid, will only make the farm system look worse. Being good at bunting doesn't make you a good player, but things like running the bases are baseball fundamentals, and when you don't have top-tier talent, any little thing you can do well will help.

Besides bunting and running, there's an even bigger issue here that actually needs to be given more attention, and it's the fact that this kind of confirms that there really is no accountability inside the Yankees organization. Sure, these minor parts of the game are not going to turn anyone into legitimate prospects, but if the coaches and instructors are not teaching their players how to run the bases the right way, what exactly are they doing?

This leads to a bigger question of whether or not Mark Newman should be held responsible for essentially neglecting a part of the developing process. He oversees development, he presumably hires coaches and plans out what the organization will teach and what they won't. For all we know, bunting and baserunning could just be the tip of the iceberg and Yankee prospects aren't being instructed on how to do incredibly more important things, like pitch recognition or timing, or whatever. We don't know, but it's clear that at least Joe Girardi knows that something isn't right.

Expanding the instructional textbook to include baseball basics is not what I would consider much of a development for a farm system that hasn't produced many position players in the last few years. They're already behind the curve, so now maybe they're back to zero, at best. I suppose adding fundamentals into the curriculum could allow potential depth to be a little more useful, but it isn't going to transform middling prospects into everyday players. Hal Steinbrenner says he expects an improvement this year, but I don't think that these changes will really bring about anything better than what we've already seen. He says that firings are possible, but I think we're already there. We've been there for awhile now and it's time to finally act.

I know that Newman and Oppenheimer have been around since his dad was in charge, but it's time for Hal to see that it's his team now and when employees don't do their job, they should be replaced. Of course, firing people isn't always the solution, but it doesn't look like not firing people is the solution either. Clearly it's time to get some new people in to change things up and try something else. They would have the opportunity to outline exactly what they want from their minor league pipeline because what they have right now is clearly not working and they know it. I think.

Twenty-five years ago, future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt pulled the plug on his career after a slow start. Could Derek Jeter go the same way?

Even though I was raised a Yankees fan, I saw a lot of Mike Schmidt when I was growing up. That's because my father was (and is) an oppositional guy. When cable television became widespread, he was a holdout. He just wasn't interested in spending the money. Sure, we had a roof over our heads and food on the table (often frozen or carryout, but still), but no cable. Clearly someone should have called social services.

Dad was, or claimed to be, satisfied with the seven channels we had: CBS, NBC, NEW (ancient cartoons in the afternoon and repeats of "All in the Family" at night); ABC; WOR (Mets games and original programming like "The Joe Franklin Show," which was an inert talk show filmed in a closet that mostly focused on the hot entertainment topics circa 1922); PIX (Yankees games and a nice block of "Odd Couple," original "Star Trek," and "Twilight Zone" repeats at night); and PBS.

I know it's hard to believe now, but kids, that was all we had. Sort of. There was this whole other band of channels on something called UHF, Ultra-High Frequency. "Regular" TV was on VHF, Very-High Frequency. UHF was a weaker signal that allowed New Jerseyans to pick up programming from faraway Philadelphia and see ancient "Dr. Who" repeats and Phillies games, sometimes both at the same time:

The Doctor: The brontosaurus is large and placid!

Harry Kalas: Greg Luzinski crashes into left-field wall trying to get that shot off the bat of Brock, looks like a sure triple.

The Doctor: Something's going on contrary to the laws of the universe. I must find out what!

Harry Kalas: Brock goes into third standing up. Boy, that Greg Luzinski sure can hit.

Weird Al Yankovich made a movie more or less based on this same premise. (If you haven't seen it, it's actually good.)

The immortal Steve Jeltz (Getty Images)

Unfortunately, UHF reception was never great because it just wasn't as strong as your standard signal, and your typical TV sets of the day, which were made out of the same primitive materials with which the Clovis peoples pricked the wooly mammoth out of existence, didn't quite know how to decode the signal, so in general the picture was on the snowy side. Nevertheless, as a very enthusiastic young baseball fan, I found that UHF was my ideal fallback for those times of day when the Yankees or Mets were not playing. The Phillies weren't very good at that point -- this was during the 10-year dry spell that was bookended by their 1983 and 1993 World Series losses -- a period epitomized by their 1985-1988 starting shortstop Steve Jeltz, a career .210/.308/.268 hitter. They also had a marquee player, though, a guy everybody knew was a future Hall of Famer, slugging third baseman Michael Jack Schmidt.

It has been 25 years since Schmidt last played, so a brief refresher is in order: He was the greatest third baseman of all time. Okay? Done. A three-time MVP award-winner and nine-time Gold Glover who was worthy of his defensive reputation, Schmidt averaged .267/.380/.527 in his career and hit 548 home runs. Those numbers are plenty good on their own (and for those of you into wins above replacement, Schmidt was well over 100 for his career), but translate them to almost any era except the one in which he played and he adds another 100 round-trippers and his batting average rises up into the .290s.

My goal in watching Phillies games was to see the great player, who already had close to 500 home runs when I discovered the wonders of the UHF dial, hit a home run or two. I never did. I watched around two dozen Phillies games a year for a period of about five years and somehow never caught a game in which Schmidt launched one. This remains a subject of some bitterness with me, and there's not a thing I can do about it. Part of the problem, and indeed the point of this whole reminiscence, is that my televisual quest came to an abrupt end on May 29, 1989, when Schmidt unexpectedly retired.

Schmidt, 39, had had an off year in 1988 due to a rotator cuff injury, playing in only 108 games. As far as anyone knew, 1989 would be just another season in his career. There was no preseason announcement that this was his last hurrah, no farewell tour planned. Yet, when he struggled throughout the first quarter of the season, hitting .203/.297/.372, Schmidt concluded he just couldn't do it anymore and tearfully hung up his spikes.

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You know the Derek Jeter story. He's a 40-year-old attempting to play shortstop after a layoff of more than a year due to his broken ankle (his 17 games last year notwithstanding). He hit .137 (7-for-51) in spring training. Jeter had already been evolving into a ground-ball machine even before the injury, and part of what was so disturbing about spring training was that a guy who in his last full season hit into a twin-killing in roughly a quarter of his opportunities piled up five GDPs in those 51 at-bats, a frightening rate. Last year, during that attenuated comeback, he was close to a 40 percent double-play rate. The major league average was 11 percent. Think about that: Last year, Dustin Pedroia led the majors with 168 double-play opportunities. He hit into 24 double plays, a rate of 14 percent. Given the same number of chances, Jeter would have hit into 40 double plays at his 2012 rate and 64 at his small-sample 2013 rate.

In contrast, Jim Rice, who led the AL in grounding into double plays four times and set a single-season record with 36 in 1984, never had a double-play rate higher than 20 percent, and just to characterize Jeter's ground-out/fly-out ratio of 2.75 from 2009 to present, Tommy John, sinkerball pitcher par excellence whose career ended the same day as Schmidt's, had a career ratio of only 2.31.

Unlike Schmidt, Jeter's retirement is planned. A farewell tour is envisioned that will no doubt resemble last season's Mariano Rivera lovefest. And yet, it is not difficult to envision a scenario in which Jeter just can't do it and takes Schmidt's road out. Yes, spring training stats are the ultimate small sample. Yes, perhaps the guy was just getting his timing untracked after the long layoff... Or maybe not. Jon Heyman quoted the scouts last week:

"He looks old and frail," one AL scout said. "He looks like he lost 10 to 15 pounds rehabbing his ankle and the biggest difference is in his strength. He always had the strength to muscle that pitch on the inner half to right field for a base hit. (I) don't see it anymore."

If the strength is a question to this scout, so is the speed. For the first time, Jeter is something other than an excellent or very good runner, at least according to this fellow with a stopwatch.

"Those infield hits are going to be limited now because he is a tick below average runner with a [bad] ankle," that scout also said. "He always figures out a way defensively, but you have to hit to be a regular. If anyone can prove me wrong it's Jeter. But the Yankees are going to have to make some really tough decisions if he doesn't start off well offensively."Twenty-five years ago, future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt pulled the plug on his career after a slow start. Could Derek Jeter go the same way?

Photo credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees begin the season on Tuesday evening at Houston. Pay close attention to Jeter. You might be expecting to say goodbye to him at leisure, but it might be over much faster than that. Oh, and hooray for cable TV. My father held out for years. I waited until he left town on a long vacation and had it installed without telling him. He hasn't looked back since, the old hypocrite -- and he watches the ballgames, too.

Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran (among others) will make their Yankees debut in the starting lineup today on Opening Day. Can their performances match these great introductions to Yankees fans?

The Yankees' Opening Day lineup is set for tonight against the Houston Astros, and remarkably, five Yankees are appearing their first career games with the team. The big names are major free agent signings Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran, but infielders Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts will also be donning Yankees jerseys for the first time. Given the nature of baseball, the majority will probably have unremarkable debuts like CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeiradid in 2009, unless Astros pitching decides to be especially awful tonight (which can't be ruled out by any means), but one or two of these newcomers could have first games worthy of remembrance. It's always nice to leave a solid first impression, and new Yankees of Opening Days past certainly did.

Curtis Granderson

April 4, 2010 vs. Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park
1-for-4, HR, BB, K

The Grandyman was known for two things during his four years in New York: dingers and whiffs. He provided both during his Opening Day debut in 2010, striking out for the first of 549 times in his Yankees career, but also belting the first of his 115 homers in pinstripes. Best of all, it occurred in his very first at-bat, on a full count pitch of a tough at-bat against a then-still good Yankees nemesis, Josh Beckett, and Granderson absolutely destroyed the payoff pitch:

It was a long way out to center field, but Granderson drove it 455 feet for the Yankees' longest homer of 2010. Unfortunately, his slugging debut was ruined by the... uncomfortable debut of reliever Chan Ho Park. Oh well.

Johnny Damon

April 3, 2006 vs. Oakland Athletics, McAfee Coliseum
3-for-7, 2 2B, RBI, K

The Yankees signed Boston's center fielder away from them during the 2005-06 off-season, and the now-clean shaven Damon immediately took his place at the top of the lineup with an excellent performance on Opening Day in Oakland. Although he fanned in his first at-bat, he lined an RBI single in his second, part of a seven-run inning capped by an Alex Rodriguez grand slam off Barry Zito. Damon doubled in his last two at-bats, the Yankees won a blowout over the eventual AL West champions, 15-2. It was their biggest Opening Day drubbing of another team in 51 years.

Randy Johnson

April 3, 2005 vs. Boston Red Sox, Yankee Stadium
6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K

The "Big Unit" had an up-and-down couple years in the Bronx, but he got off to a good start by beating the Yankees' biggest rivals on Opening Day with a refreshingly solid outing. As the Yankee Stadium crowd booed former Yankee David Wells on the mound for Boston (wearing #3, no less), Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui provided big hits in the decisive three-run third inning. Tony Womack also had a three-hit game in his Yankees debut, though none of his hits led to a rally and in fact his outs squelched a couple rallies. He was thankfully replaced at second base before too long.

Alex Rodriguez & Gary Sheffield

March 30, 2004 vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Tokyo Dome
1-for-4, 2B, R, 2 K (A-Rod)
2-for-2, 2B, 2 BB, RBI (Sheffield)

Much of the Yankees' first Opening Day was forgettable, as Mike Mussina was hit hard by a Devil Rays lineup that actually boasted pretty decent names in it, including former Yankee Tino Martinez. However, Gary Sheffield had a perfect debut after being signed to a three-year, $39 million deal in the off-season. A-Rod also registered a double and scored the run on Sheffield's double that briefly put the Yankees in a 3-2 lead during the sixth inning. Outside of them though, the Yankees' lineup only registered five baserunners against Victor Zambrano. Gross.

Hideki Matsui

March 31, 2003 vs. Toronto Blue Jays, SkyDome
1-for-4, RBI

It was not the flashiest of debuts for the man hailed as "Godzilla," but it was highly relevant in that Hideki Matsui became the first Japanese position player to suit up for the Yankees. On the very first pitch he saw against eventual Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, he grounded a base hit through the left side, scoring Derek Jeter, who doubled:

Matsui later had an even bigger Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, when he belted a grand slam against Joe Mays. Although the Yankees won, that is all we will discuss about Opening Day 2003. Friggin' Ken Huckaby.

John Wetteland & Tony Fernandez

April 26, 1995 vs. Texas Rangers, Yankee Stadium
2-for-4, 2B, 2 R (Fernandez)
1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (Wetteland)

Due to the long players' strike, it was a delayed Opening Day, but 1995 finally kicked off in late April and two new Yankees made themselves noticed. Shortstop prospect Derek Jeter had been considered for the Opening Day roster, but since he was recovering from an injury, the Yankees decided to sign former Blue Jays shortstop Tony Fernandez. Their closer, Steve Howe, was a perpetual question mark due to his drug problems, so when the Montreal Expos were letting their best players go in a quick firesale before the season, the Yankees acquired John Wetteland for spare parts. Both played a role in the season-opening 8-6 win over Texas, longtime captain Don Mattingly's final opener. Also participating was a young up-and-coming center fielder named Bernie Wililams, who slugged a homer against reliever Terry Burrows.

Fernandez registered two hits and score two runs, and Wetteland abandoned his normal high-wire act in favor of a perfect ninth inning to secure his first of 74 saves in pinstripes before turning the closer's job over to some Rivera kid. Fernandez wasn't particularly good in '95, and the Yankees did eventually tab Jeter to be their shortstop in '96, Wetteland would go on to recover from an awful '95 postseason to have a terrific '96, locking down World Series MVP honors in the end.

Paul O'Neill & Jimmy Key

April 5, 1993 vs. Cleveland Indians, Municipal Stadium
2-for-5, R, K (O'Neill)
8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (Key)

A new-look Yankees team took the field with a new ace and right fielder for Opening Day '93. After failed pursuits of Greg Maddux and David Cone, the Yankees signed former division rival Jimmy Key from the Blue Jays, and they swapped All-Star outfielders with the Reds, dealing Roberto Kelly for Paul O'Neill. Both newcomers got off to a strong start during a 9-1 victory in Cleveland. Key was perfect in six of his eight innings, allowing just a few hits and a run on a sacrifice fly. O'Neill had a multi-hit game and scored on a three-run homer by catcher Matt Nokes. In the home opener the next week, O'Neill was even better, going 4-for-4 and falling just a homer shy of the cycle. Key would be crucial (or, sorry, key) to the Yankees' '96 championship, and O'Neill remained a stable presence throughout the late '90s dynasty.

Dave Winfield

April 9, 1981 vs. Texas Rangers, Yankee Stadium
2-for-3, 2 BB, R

The Yankees made a splash during the 1980-81 off-season by signing former Padres All-Star Dave Winfield to a 10-year, $15 million deal, the biggest in baseball history at the time. They went to the World Series in his first season as a Yankee, the only one in which he paired with slugger Reggie Jackson to form a devastating Hall of Fame duo in the middle of the lineup. Winfield walked in his first at-bat, then notched two singles, including the leadoff hit in a five-run seventh capped by Bobby Murcer's pinch-hit grand slam. The Yankees crushed the Rangers, 10-3.

Reggie Jackson

April 7, 1977 vs. Milwaukee Brewers, Yankee Stadium
2-for-4, 2 R

You just knew that Reggie would find a way onto this post. Signed to a five-year, $2.96 million contract prior to '77, Jackson immediately made an impact by tallying two hits and scoring two of the three runs in the Yankees' 3-0 opening victory over the Brewers. Some power was actually provided by former Astros "toy cannon" Jimmy Wynn, but Reggie went with the small ball approach on this afternoon. He hit a leadoff single in the fifth and scored on a squeeze play called by Billy Martin and executed perfectly by Willie Randolph, then hit a leadoff single in the sixth and eventually scored on a wild pitch. It was, of course, the beginning of a tumultuous but championship season for "Mr. October" and the Yankees.

Roger Maris

April 16, 1960 vs. Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park
4-for-5, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 4 RBI, 2 R

Dial up the wayback machine. Maris might have had the greatest Opening Day debut of any Yankee in history, as he demolished Boston pitching for 11 total bases in an 8-4 win. Curiously batting leadoff by manager Casey Stengel's edict, he took starter Tom Brewer deep to right field twice, foreshadowing his back-to-back AL MVP seasons and still-AL record 61-homer campaign in '61. Both squads ran roughshod over the American League, reaching the first two of five World Series in a row, winning in '61 and '62.

New Yankees can only dream of opening games like Maris's. Take note, McCann, Ellsbury, and Beltran. (You know they're obviously up on the blog beat.) Hell, if Roberts wants to go deep twice in the opener and stun all of us, he is more than welcome. Play ball.