Bob Klapisch Should Probably Stop Talking

("Hey, Alex, can you talk more about what it's like to be a poopyhead?"  Courtesy of the AP)

Lot going on in Yankeeland right now.  They're exceeding expectations early despite non-stop injury problems, and traveling out to Colorado to play a series in a National League park with what could be a severely shortened roster.  They've got 2 pitches expected to carry the load struggling with velocity and command problems, a pitcher most weren't sure what to expect from pitching lights out, and an early AL MVP candidate in Robbie Cano.  No shortage of legitimate, relevant topics to write about with respect to this team right now, which can mean only one thing... It's time for some good old-fashioned A-Rod trolling!!!!

Alex Rodriguez was part of the parade of injured rehabees who made the trek to the team's Tampa complex yesterday, and of course that got every MSM beat writer aflutter as their A-Rodars started beeping out of control.  Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record took it a step further with a truly asinine article about the Yankees being better off without A-Rod.  I know I shouldn't link to this, because this type of attention and cheap pageviews is exactly what Klap is going for, but I can't help it.  Something this stupid needs to be given its moment to be recognized for its stupidity and then torn apart for it.

Cervelli Going To Be Out Longer Than Six Weeks

It doesn't come as much of a surprise, given how quickly the injury was diagnosed and the fact that he was recently moved to the 60-day DL, but Francisco Cervelli is not going to be back in 6 weeks as originally estimated.

Anthony McCarron is down in Tampa covering the massive Major League DL rehab effort ramping up there this week and he spoke to Cervelli earlier today.  According to Frankie, he's 3 weeks away from starting hand strengthening exercises and 5 away from starting baseball activities again.  It goes without saying that a catcher recovering from a broken throwing hand is going to need more than 1 week of rehab games to get back into full game shape, so expect Cervelli to be out of action until early July.

This news is another blow to a roster already stretched to the point of breaking.  They could be just 23 guys strong tonight with Nunez and D-Rob still nursing smaller dings, 22.5 if you factor in Travis Hafner's lack of a defensive position.  The obvious downside to this is more Chris Stewart in the lineup; the only upside is a longer opportunity to get a look at Austin Romine.

Prospect Stock Up & Stock Down: April 2013

(Well done, Mr. Murphy.  Courtesy of Michael Mancuso/The Times)

Slight change to the AB4AR in-season prospect coverage format this year.  There are already a ton of bigger blogs doing regular prospect coverage, so the idea of doing a full monthly recap really doesn't make a lot of sense.  By the time I get to it, y'all already know who's been playing well and who hasn't.  Instead, this year I'll close every month with just a quick hit on a prospect at each level who's performing well and could be in line for a promotion and one who's not.  Pretty simple, pretty standard, and yet still a pretty effective way to get an idea of what's going on in the system if you aren't a regular prospect watcher/hugger.

So without further ado, here are the "stock up/stock down" prospects for the first month of the season.