2013 Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Rotation)

(Courtesy of the AP)

There was a time in the mid-aughts when it felt like the major talking point every offseason was "the Yankees need more starting pitching" and there were always new faces being brought in to achieve that goal.  It even carried over into and after the 2009 season when they won the World Series.  In the past few seasons, however, that talk has quieted and the Yankees have established some consistency with their starting rotation.  They entered 2013 with the same projected starting 5 they had in 2012, and even added a little more younger depth behind it than they'd had in years past.

That all looked like a good sign for a club that was going to need to lean on its pitching to be successful this season, although there were still a few questions that needed to be answered.  Those answers turned out to be the ones the Yankees didn't want to hear and 2013 ended up being a tougher year for the rotation than they hoped for.

There's Mutual Interest Between The Yanks And Beltran Because Of Course There Is

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

To say that yesterday's news of there being mutual interest between the Yankees and free agent to be Carlos Beltran was unsurprising would be a gross understatement. My reaction to Mark Feinsand's report was a pretty simple, "duh."  The Yanks and Beltran have been loosely linked for almost 10 years now, and Cash is still probably kicking himself for not getting a deal done with Beltran back when he was in his prime in 2005.  Now that Beltran is 36 going on 37, he's much more in line with the current Yankee business model.  He's a former All Star on the downside of his career looking for one last contract and the Yankees are the safest of havens for those types of players.  The only thing surprising about this story is that it came out this early while Beltran was still playing in the postseason.

10 Years Ago Today...

Do you remember where you were for this 10 years ago?  I sure as hell do.  In my family's living room, screaming my head off and jumping around the house to the point that it woke my old man up to come down downstairs and see what was going on.  Easily my favorite Yankee game I've ever watched and I watched every pitch of this one.  Aaron Effing Boone.  Classic.

P.S.- Joe Buck still sucks.

The A-Rod Hearing Is Really Getting Good

The hearing for Alex Rodriguez's suspension appeal is scheduled to resume today, and if there wasn't already enough anger and hatred on both sides of the table, this fun little story from ESPN NY yesterday about A-Rod's lawyer getting into it with Anthony Bosch's lawyer should add a little extra heat to the fire:

"Told that MLB might need several more days to question Bosch, Tacopina was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying, 'Well, I guess we have all of October, and by then Mr. Bosch will be in jail.'

'If he is, he is not going alone,' Ayala is alleged to have retorted, prompting Tacopina to 'bull rush' Ayala, according to the source. Tacopina was restrained before any blows could be exchanged."

FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!  Seriously, how can people not love this stuff?  There should be a new 24/7 ESPN channel dedicated to showing everything that's happening inside and outside that meeting room.  If I'm scoring the bout, I'm going to have to give the nod to Ayala (Bosch's lawyer).  The "not going alone" line is a pretty good comeback on the spot like that, and the fact that Tacopina responded by rushing him proves it got under his skin.  Rookie move by Tacopina too.  Everybody knows you don't escalate to physicality after the first insult, bro.  You should have come back with the "you bob for apples in the toilet, and you like it" line and seen where it went from there.  Amateur.