Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/10/13

No time for jibber jabber today.  Onto the links!

- On Monday, Alphonso of It Is High... asked if Austin Romine had already been banished to the bench full time after his poor debut.  I certainly hope not.  I don't want 60 days of Stewart while Cervelli is on the mend.

- Mike Axisa of RAB started identifying potential need areas and trade deadline targets to fill them.  Never too early to start thinking about that when your team is as banged up as the Yankees are.

- On Tuesday, Martin Riggs of NoMaas pointed out some negative trends in the Yankees' BB and Swing rates this season.  Not a fun connection to the last year those rates were this low/high.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud commented on the varying levels of replacement-level production the Yanks have gotten for all their injured players.

- On Wednesday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits compared the Yankees' early production to the preseason projections to see who's been hauling the mail and who's lagging behind.

- Alex Pugliese of Yanks Go Yard traced the up-and-down career of Phil Hughes to present day to see if we are finally witnessing Hughes become the pitcher we all hoped he'd be.

- Jason Cohen of Pinstriped Bible offered up some sobering analysis on hot prospect Rob Refsynder.  Yes he's hitting the daylights out of the ball, but it's always good to stay grounded with college hitters in A-ball.

- Mike Eder of IIATMS/TYA plotted Andy Pettitte's release points by start to show how big a difference there's been and what the cause(s) might be.

- On Thursday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog, on the heels of Joe's decision to bat David Phelps 8th the other night, looked back at some past instances of similar lineup moves.

Josh Norris of Minor Matters released a series of scouting report posts on various levels of the Yankee MiL system.  We've got Trenton here, Tampa here, and Charleston here.  Little surprised to read the report on Tyler Austin.

- Steve Lombardi of Was Watching put together a list of other Yankees you probably never thought you'd see at third base.  Bet none of 'em made a play as slick as Vernon Wells the other night.

- On Friday, fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite wondered if this year's Yankees are the 2013 version of last year's Orioles.  The team's penchant for winning close games certainly makes it a fair question to ask.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes approached the Stewart/Romine situation from a different angle, arguing that Romine shouldn't get more PT if Stewart gives the team a better chance to win.

This week's Friday Jam is "Stranglehold" by The Nuge.  Perfect tune to unwind to after work before a big old night of playoff basketball and hockey.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.