A Look At The Current 2014 Roster

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

To further drive home the point that the Yankees have a ton of work to do this offseason, and to start to quell any high expectations you may still have for a bounce back season in 2014, here's what the 2014 Opening Day Roster could look like if it was comprised of only returning organizational players:

Lineup:

 C- Austin Romine
1B- Mark Teixeira
2B- David Adams
SS- Derek Jeter
3B- Eduardo Nunez
LF- Alfonso Soriano
CF- Brett Gardner
RF- Ichiro Suzuki
DH- Vernon Wells

Thursday Late Morning Food For Thought

Hiroki Kuroda 2012: 3.32/3.86/3.67, 18.7% K rate, 5.7% BB rate, 3.7 fWAR
Hiroki Kuroda 2013: 3.31/3.56/3.60, 18.2% K rate, 5.2% BB rate, 3.8 fWAR

Kuroda 2nd Half 2012: 3.14/3.63/3.34, 19.1% K, 4.3% BB
Kuroda 2nd Half 2013: 4.25/3.51/3.46, 18.9% K, 5.4% BB

Kuroda September 2012: 4.71/4.03/3.57, 20.3% K, 7.0% BB
Kuroda September 2013: 5.70/3.85/3.82, 20.0% K, 8.9% BB

What's more important to you?  The strong overall numbers or the late season decline?  And do you have faith he can do it again at 39?

Yanks Reportedly Make Offer To Joe

One thing's for sure, the Yankee front office doesn't appear to be wasting any time getting to work on their offseason to-do list.  They sat down with Joe and his agent yesterday, as previously announced by Cash, and reportedly made him an offer for a new contract in the course of the meeting.  According to Jon Heyman, Joe and his team didn't accept, but responded with a set of terms for his return and the 2 sides agreed to meet again today.

This all comes as positive news if you're in the camp that wants Joe back.  The team is being aggressive in their pursuit to re-sign Joe while they still have exclusive rights to negotiate with him.  Joe's current contract isn't up until the end of this month and with the Cubs reportedly preparing to make him a "significant" offer of their own, the Yankees can and should be using the time they have wisely.  The fact that another meeting was scheduled for today strongly suggests that yesterday's discussions went well and both sides are happy with where the talks are progressing.

It's still early for predictions, but if things keep up at this pace it's unlikely Joe ever gets out on the open market for the Cubs to make their pitch.