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.

What Do The Yankees Still Need To Do This Offseason?

(Will we get another big introductory presser?  Hope so.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

A week ago today we reached the official halfway point of the 2013-2014 offseason.  53 days had passed since the last out of the World Series was recorded and 53 days remained until pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to spring camp.  The Yankees headed into the holiday break last week with a lot already accomplished.  They had retooled their outfield, improved their infield depth and bench for next season, replaced their primary lefty out of the bullpen, and brought back one half of the 400 innings Cash said he wanted to add.

Despite losing Robinson Cano to Seattle it's been a pretty productive offseason thus far.  If I were handing out offseason midterm grades, I'd have the Yankees in the B- to B range.  With the calendar close to turning to 2014 and with the start of next season now closer than the end of last season, there's still work to be done to improve that grade up to an A level.  The Yankees have a little under 7 weeks until pitchers and catchers report, and here's what they need to do before then to finish this offseason successfully.

Winter League Wrap-Up

Not sure how much any of it really means in the grand scheme of things, but most of the Winter leagues have wrapped up or are in the process of wrapping up this week and the Yankees had their fair share of notable prospects participating.  Here's a quick look at how some of those notable names performed.

• Zoilo Almonte: .316/.343/.454 w/ 4 HR and 20 RBI in 43 Dominican League games
• Gary Sanchez: .267/.330/.367 w/ 1 2B and 2 RBI in 12 Domincan League games
• Ronnier Mustelier: .270/.386/.360 w/ 2 HR, 27 RBI, and 28 BB in 53 Mexican Pacific League games
• Adonis Garcia: .325/.347/.502 w/ 15 2B, 8 HR, and 39 RBI in 53 Venezuelan League games
• Jose Pirela: .335/.419/.510 w/ 25 XBH, 41 RBI, and 33 BB in 61 Venezuelan League games

I touched on Almonte the other day, but very good performances from Garcia and Pirela as well.  They're fringe prospects at best, but they could find their way onto the 40-man if injuries allow it and could be useful bench pieces down the road.  Disappointing lack of power from Musty.  Sadly it looks like the ship carrying his roster spot chance may have passed.

For a full recap of the Yankee Winter League participants, check out Axisa's post from yesterday afternoon.