Friday Afternoon "Holy S#@t! Andy's Back!" Linkapalooza: 3/16

*(Note- All of this was written prior to the big breaking story of the day)*

Three quick non-Yankee thoughts before we get to the links:

1) Now that the Mike D'Antoni has quit (because that's what he did) on the Knicks, can they just get rid of Carmelo too?  Better yet, can Evil Stern step in and just take the team from Dolan and contract them?  What a disgraceful organization.

2) Not a good time for the Rangers to be stumbling and bumbling and struggling with injuries.  They've had a great year, and I think they can still go far in the playoffs this season despite being so young, but not without Ryan Callahan.  He's a great player and I feel he's under-appreciated.  You can really see how much he means to their success when he's not on the ice.

3) Pathetic showing by UConn last night.  Talent-wise they were probably a top 5 team in the country and this is how the season turns out for them.  I hate to say it, but Calhoun needs to step down.  His shtick isn't working with the kids anymore, and there's never any continuity in coaching style because he's always missing games with some sort of physical ailment.  Retire and start fresh with Kevin Ollie.

Now the links:

- On Monday, Brien Jackson of IIATMS pondered the merits of re-signing Curtis Granderson and how that would fit into the $189 million budget plan.

Also on Monday, Matt S. of Yankees Fans Unite continued their stellar streak of prospect interviews with this Q&A with soon-to-be Charleston SS Cito Culver.  Good to know he hit the gym this offseason to prep for his first year of full-season ball.

- On Tuesday, Rob Steingall of Pinstripe Alley took a look at Baseball America's top 10 Yankee prospects from 2005-2010 to determine if the supposed "Yankee bias" applied to them.  While there isn't a lot of elite Major League talent there, the Yankees have definitely churned out a lot of quality ballplayers over that period of time.

- If you're a fan of torture, or just looking to meet your weekly quota of eye rolls, Mark Feinsand of the Daily News was nice enough to put together a collection of Bobby V quotes from the first Yanks-Sawx encounter of 2012.

- On Wednesday, friend of the blog Larry Koestler did for RAB what I was too lazy to do for AB4AR and compiled all the 2012 projections to create one aggregate projection line for each member of the Yankee lineup.  Lot to like there, even if only a handful of guys are projected to outperform their 2011s.

- Also on Wednesday, Larry's RAB compadre Joe Pawlikowski examined Brett Gardner's 2011 ups and downs to point out that he's not as inconsistent as people seem to think.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had some details on Raul Ibanez's slow start, including Joe's thoughts on the matter.  I'm still willing to be patient with Ibanez, but if he's going to wear C-Dick's number he needs to represent it a little better.

- Steve Goldman of Pinstriped Bible had a very well-worded reaction to the "Michael Pineda to the Minors" trollfest instigated by a certain member of the WWL.

- Gregory of Evil Empire Prospects had a piece discussing Zoilo Almonte and how he fits into the Yankees' future outfield plans.  EEP is a relatively new blog so give it a shot.

- SJK of NoMaas had the latest offering from the "Stealth Bomber" series with this interview with Ben Gamel.  He's a little underrated because of all the high-profile prospects on his team, but this kid is legit.

- Bryan V of The Greedy Pinstripes supported the idea of D.J. Mitchell getting a shot at the rotation next season.  As somebody who's always been high on Mitchell, Bryan is speaking my language.

- It was a killer week for Mike E. at TYA.  On Wednesday he took an firm stance on the "to Curtis or not to Curtis" in 2014 issue and supported the idea of letting him walk after next season.

- Then on Thursday he spat in the face of the ESPN-centric trolling of Pineda with this hilarious spoof.  I'm sure you'll do a double take when you read the headline just like I did.

- Last but not least, I linked to this last night, but if you missed it, TYA's EJ Fagan and a team of writers have put together their annual Yankee magazine.  This year's edition is online-only and you can find the details for it right here.

With tomorrow being St. Patty's Day, it's only appropriate to have a little Dropkick for the Friday Afternoon Jam.  Typically I wouldn't put these guys on here because of their connections to Fraud Sawx Nation, but St. Patty's Day is the one day where it's acceptable, and there's an almost 100% chance that I end my night tomorrow at some bar belting this bad boy out.



Hope everybody enjoys themselves tomorrow.  Get drunk, have fun, don't drive, and stay safe.  If my day goes as well as I hope it does, there's almost no chance you'll hear from me until some time late Sunday afternoon.  Cheers, gang!

BREAKING NEWS: Yankees Bring Back Andy Pettitte

I'm a little later than most on this because I was out at lunch when the story broke, but according to Jack Curry the Yankees have signed Andy Pettitte (yes, THAT Andy Pettitte) to a 1-year/$2.5 million MiL contract.

There are still very few details about this move, but a conference call is scheduled this afternoon to formally announce the signing and Pettitte himself will be on the call.

I really don't know what to say about this.  I can't imagine why the Yankees felt they needed to bring Pettitte back, and I'm shocked that Pettitte is interested in playing again.  He sounded like he was enjoying retirement when he showed up at camp a few weeks ago and spoke to reporters.  But it's never a bad thing to see Andy Pettitte in a Yankee uniform, and as an added bonus I have a reason to use this Photoshop again.

** UPDATE- 1:35PM- Curry has a story on YES.com describing how some of this came up.  It all goes back to Andy's visit to camp three weeks ago. **

** UPDATE- 2:09PM- According to Mark Feinsand, the deal was finalized last Saturday.

** Via Joel Sherman, a Yankee source on the Yankees' position with Pettitte- "If he wants to come back, we say yes."

ST Thoughts & Afterthoughts: Part Deux

(Please don't worry about this guy.  Courtesy of The AP)

It's been a while since I mused on the happenings in Yankee camp, and there have certainly been some major developments since then.  My takes on those developments, and a few more random thoughts after the jump.