AB4AR's 2013 "Best And Worst Of The Year": The Regular Season

(This never gets old.  Never.  Courtesy of MLB.com/ESPN)

Yesterday we took a look back at the best and worst blogs AB4AR had to offer from January 1st of this year to March 31st, and I have to say that I almost impressed myself going back over that early-year work.  It was decidedly more good than bad, even if my umpteenth post jumping the gun on Michael Pineda was completely ludicrous.  Time to see if that trend held when the regular season started.  Today we're reviewing the highs and lows of that long, often times boring, sometimes downright painful block of time from April 1st to the end of September.  Let's dive right in.


- "Youkilis' Power Potential Key To Yankees' Early-Season Success."  Yeah, Brad.  Sure it is.  Those gaudy ST numbers weren't a mirage at all.  Not off to a good start here...

- "Hughes' Inability To Pitch Inside Isn't Doing Him Any Favors."  It was true after only 2 starts and it was true at the end of the season when he had David Huff handcuffed to him.  Hopefully Phil is able to figure that out now that he's out of Yankee Stadium because it absolutely killed him while he was here.

- "On Joe's Lack Of Pinch Hitting Logic."  While I thought Joe did an excellent job this year and agreed with the majority of moves he made, his early insistence on letting the Stewarts and Franciscos of the world hit in key situations was maddening.

- "Bob Klapisch Should Probably Stop Talking."  There was no shortage of ridiculous anti-A-Rod articles this year, and I tried to call as many of them out as possible.  Klapisch's smear piece from May was probably the worst of the bunch.

- "Vernon Wells Was Never Slumping."  Dude literally stopped hitting for the rest of the season right after I wrote this post.  This might be the worst thing I wrote all year.  Classic AB4AR jinx.

- "First Impressions Of Adams And Romine." Speaking of the AB4AR jinx, I was impressed enough with what I saw out of these 2 to trick myself into thinking they could be above-average Major Leaguers, and then they were pretty awful for the rest of the year.  Still holding out hope for Romine...

- "Is There A Problem With The Yankee Training Staff?"  Bringing in a new strengh and conditioning coach is a start, but I still feel like there's something amiss with how the Yankees diagnose and treat injuries.

- "Defending Robbie Cano."  Probably my top rant of the year, even if it looks kinda weird now that he's gone.

- "The Yankees Are Rushing Jeter Back, Aren't They?"  Yes they were.  And it went exactly as I predicted.  Score 1 for your boy B-Rad.

- "Boone Logan's Deceptively Down 2013."  That reverse platoon split and uptick in HR rate make it much easier to let him walk for $16 mil, no?

- "Sabathia's Fastball Struggles Continue."  If he's going to rebound next season, it needs to start with much better fastball command.

- "Searching For The Cause Of Kuroda's Regression."  It's still not a 100% certainty what the cause has been the last 2 years, which is a bit unnerving heading into 2014.

- "Yanks-Sawx 'Yankee Stadium Weekend' Thoughts & Afterthoughts." My take on my first YS3 experience, the 4-game weekend series in early September.

- "The Incredible Righty-Mashing A-Rod."  It would have been fun to see how Alex's end-of-year numbers turned out if he didn't get hurt again.  Dude was straight raking there for a while.

- "Do People Really Still Think Eduardo Nunez Is A Thing?" Let this be the final lesson to those of you who do, he's not.  And he's never going to be.

- "Let's All Calm Down About The Reported Cano Contract Figures."  Or, you know, don't calm down.  Since it turns out I was wrong and he did find a team willing to give him a 10-year deal, stupid as that move may have been.