2012 AB4AR Season Review: The Lineup

(Last time we'll see these 3 together in a Yankee uniform.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

The older, veteran-heavy lineup that the Yankees finished 2011 with was basically back intact for 2012. With their ever-present need for starting pitching and their new need to get younger AND trim payroll costing them their best young hitting prospect in decades, that group of veterans was once again going to be looked to as the major source of offensive production even as signs were pointing towards the days of elite-level production being over for some. We knew that some of the older players in the lineup were starting to decline going in, and we learned that in some cases that decline has been accelerated and in some it’s been temporarily halted coming out. What remains unknown after this season is how much longer this infield core is going to stay together.

Despite the continued aging of the Yankee lineup, and the addition of even older players to fill the gap left by the departed Jesus Montero, the Yankee lineup remained one of the most potent in all of baseball again in 2012. The lefty-heavy group leaned on their bread-and-butter formula of power and patience, using the short porch in right field to their advantage as they slugged their way to a team record 245 home runs, a ranking at or near the top of most important offensive categories, and another postseason run. That formula was exposed in the postseason, however, and it’s starting to become more apparent that this group needs a shakeup in both personnel and approach to combat the issues that age-related regression is causing.

Thoughts On Baseball America's Top 10 Yankee Prospects

(How high did BA rank Mr. Williams?  Courtesy of Roger Peterson/MiLB.com)

You know it's officially the baseball offseason when the major publications start putting their top prospects lists out, and Baseball America is always one of the most anticipated lists.  This list isn't supposed to be officially released until Friday, but luckily for us Josh Norris, Mr. Everything Trenton Thunder, was able to get the advanced scoop on Baseball America's top 10 Yankee prospects list for 2012-2013 and was gracious enough to tweet it out this past weekend in order to get the always-fun prospect debates going nice and early.  After the jump, check out BA's top 10 and my quick takes.

A Much Needed Change In The Minors

(Not a success story.  Courtesy of the AP)

It was almost a throw-away part of Thursday's story in The Post about Rafael Soriano opting out of the final year of his contract, but the report on MiL pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras being reassigned and Gil Patterson being hired away from the Oakland A's to fill the position is actually a much more significant and newsworthy story.  This move comes on the heels of longtime VP of Player Personnel and former pitching coach Billy Connors being fired, and signifies that the Yankee brass has had enough of the team's inability to develop quality starting pitching.  The team hasn't been short on young pitchers with the potential to make an impact over the last couple years, but they've been woefully short on guys actually making that impact.  Too often, we've seen the organization's top pitching prospects fail to reach their ceiling or even reach the Majors, and it's clear that a change was needed.

BREAKING NEWS: He's BAAAAAaaaaaack (Again)

Via George King of the NY Post:

"The iconic closer told Yankees general manager Brian Cashman on Friday that he wants to return in 2013."

That's good enough for me.  My expectation all along has been that Mo was going to honor his word and come back for 2013 after not being able to go out on his own terms this season.  But there was a bit of doubt cast recently after reports of Mo having second thoughts.  Cash said he wasn't surprised, and I'm not either, but hearing it from someone as closely involved as Cash makes it all but official.  For one more year, we'll get the privilege of watching the G.O.A.T do his thing.

Larry Rothschild May Have Just Killed The Pineda Trade

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there aren't a whole lot of times when Larry Rothschild is speaking in great detail about his pitching staff.  So when he does, I tend to pay a little more attention to it than I normally would.  Yesterday, Chad Jennings of LoHud posted some highlight quotes from an interview Rothschild did on Sirius talking about his pitchers, and his comments on Michael Pineda were troubling:

"With shoulders, really, I think you take him off the radar screen, bring him back as the injury allows. But I don’t think we can count on him for next year at all. And hopefully he comes back and it’s a great addition, but if you count on him and think he’s going to be back by a certain point, you have a pretty high percentage of being disappointed with that. So I think you’re better off just approaching it that he’s not going to be back next year."

Recently, we were told Pineda was looking at a June 2013 return, something that would limit his innings and basically be more about preparation for 2014 than anything but would still get him back on the mound pitching in games.  But if there is weight to what Rothschild is saying, and 2013 is going to be another completely lost season for Pineda, that trade officially becomes a complete loss for the Yankees.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: Part I Down

Well the lessons have been learned from 2012, some good and some bad.  With what this season taught us and the Yankees, we're already settling in for another busy offseason that could lead to some big changes for 2013 or could result in us seeing a team that looks very, very similar to the one that took the field for most of this past season.  But it's not quite time to start focusing all the AB4AR energy to next season just yet.  Part I of our "Season Review" series is complete, but Part II still needs to be done and it will begin next week with the review of the 2012 lineup and culminate in the final review of my 2012 predictions.  If you missed any of the "Knew/Learned" series from this past week, here's your opportunity to get caught up and head into next week on the same page as me (assuming you think being on the same page as me is a good thing).

- The Infield

- The Outfield

- The Rotation

- The Bullpen

- The Bench

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 11/2

Honestly, I don't even know what to use as my arbitrary intro to this week's linkaround.  Nothing really noteworthy happened while I was at my company trade show, there's nothing else going on in the world of sports that I'm dying to talk about, I don't give a fuck about politics, and I don't feel right talking about the hurricane anymore than I already have as somebody who wasn't directly affected by it in any way.  I'll just say that this week's episodes of "South Park," "Always Sunny," and "The League" were hilarious and I greatly enjoyed them.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes argued against bringing Ichiro Suzuki back as a full-time OF option in 2013.  Amen, Bryan.  Amen.

- On Tuesday, Vizzini of NoMaas made a very compelling case for why the Yankees should go after Dan Haren as a rotation option for next season.  And he did it before I did.  Damn!

- Benjamin Orr of Yanks Go Yard discussed which current Yankees and current Yankee prospects should and should not be trade bait in their efforts to get younger.  A few names in there might surprise you.

- Delia E. of Yankees Fans Unite looked at the group of arbitration-eligible Yankees and what they can expect to receive for their 2013 salaries.

- On Wednesday, Chad Jennings of LoHud connected the dots between last offeason's big moves and this offseason's situation to try to build the path the team might take this year.

- Mike Axisa of RAB reviewed the good and the bad from Ivan Nova in 2012 and how they combined to put him in a position of uncertainty heading into next season.

- El duque of It Is High... gave his take on the big new contract that Robinson Cano is going to eventually get and the impact it could have on the Yankee payroll beyond 2014.

-Robert Casey of Bleeding Yankee Blue brought up the idea of going after Kevin Youkilis as a part-time 3rd base option.  Not sure I like that idea, and as Robert said, I'm not sure Youkilis would either.

- William Tasker of IIATMS stoked the fire of excitement for Mark Montgomery and the boost he could provide to the bullpen.

- On Thursday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstriped Bible proposed 2 names to fill the Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones bench roles next season.  I won't give them both away, but I will say I want no part of Grady Sizemore.

- Matt Imbrogno of TYA, who's working his way back into blogging shape, laid out the various bullpen scenarios the Yankees could be facing depending on what happens with Soriano and Mo.

For today's Friday Jam I'm going back to the band that first got me into harder rock music, even if they have devolved into a shell of their former selves today, KoRn.  Laugh all you want, but KoRn was catchy as hell back in their day in the late 90s, and they really spoke to me as an angst-laden teen in my late middle school/early high school years.  Shit's tough for an upper middle class white kid growing up in Fairfield County, Connecticut you know.  I've grown tired of KoRn's angry guy shtick as I've grown up, but "Freak On A Leash" is still a sick song and one of the best music videos of all time.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  If you're in the areas still recovering from that bitch Sandy, I hope you've at least got power back.

Tyler Austin Is Just Rubbing It In My Face Now

(Courtesy of Mark LoMoglio)

I know I've referenced this plenty of times this year since the unveiling of the first AB4AR Top 30, but now the punishment for me ranking Tyler Austin 30th is really starting to get out of control.  The latest installment came yesterday, when Austin was announced as the winner of the MiLBY Award for Breakout Prospect of the Year.  It was a nation-wide fan vote, which should make the award a little less significant than one voted on by peers, coaches, or writers, but in this case I think it actually makes the award more impressive.

MiL baseball doesn't get even remotely close to the amount of national media coverage that MLB does, doesn't have nearly the fanbase size of MLB, and is basically one big group of young players ALL striving to break out.  Austin had to make a helluva good impression on fans across the country who may have only gotten to see him play once or twice to win this award, and it's a perfect way to cap off a monster season that saw him rise from sleeper in the Yankee system to national recognition.

Whoever Came Up With This Idea Should Be Promoted

Via Danny Knobler of CBS Sports:

"The Yankees are considering an outfield switch that would see Brett Gardner in center, with Granderson moving to a corner spot, sources say. While they believe they have two capable center fielders, Gardner is clearly the better defensive player."

Seriously, whoever it is in the organization that's championing this idea up through the decision-making ranks is a hero of the highest order in my book and deserves a pregame video package, statue in Monument Park, and a standing ovation from the crowd on Opening Day next season if this move actually happens.  And if it doesn't, whoever prevents it from happening should be fired on the spot.

Brett Gardner is faster than Curtis Granderson, gets better reads on balls than Curtis Granderson, takes better routes than Curtis Granderson, and is just an all-around better outfielder than Curtis Granderson.  And now that better, faster outfielder could be moved to the position most requiring a player to be better and faster.  What a plan!  So inspired, so devious, yet so simple.  If this happens, it might end up going down as the second greatest switch in human history.

("Gardner for Granderson.  It's the perfect plan.")

Musing On Dan Haren

(Might have to trim that hair, guy.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

While we're on the topic of current/former Angels who may be a good fit for the Yankees, let's talk about Dan Haren.  The Angels made some waves yesterday announcing that they were "interested" in trading both Ervin Santana and Haren, 2 members of their rotation with expensive 2013 contract options who both experienced some serious decline in their performance in 2012.  Santana has already been shipped to Kansas City in a deal, which is just fine with me because he absolutely sucks, but Haren is a much more interesting case.  And the more I've let the idea of Haren in pinstripes simmer in my head for the last day or so, the more I think the Yankees pursuing a trade for him makes sense.

Yanks Have Interest In Torii Hunter And So Do I

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It was nothing more than a basic report from the infamous unnamed source that the Yankees are interested in free agent to be Torii Hunter, but when it's coming from Mark Feinsand you can put a little extra faith in it.  The Yanks don't appear to be wasting any time in seeking out a replacement for Nick Swisher in right field, and if they aren't going to get seriously involved in any kind of trade discussion for Justin Upton, Hunter would be an ideal 1-year stopgap signing.  Even at age 37, turning 38 next summer, Hunter brings a lot of things to the table that the Yankees need and a lot that meshes well with their team makeup and organizational culture.

Kuroda's Desires And How They Benefit The Yankees

(Courtesy of Anthony Gruppuso, US Presswire)

With 2012 serving as the latest example of why you can never ever have too much starting pitching, and the current group of young starters bringing more questions than answers to the table right now, re-signing Hiroki Kuroda has to be near the top, if not at the top, of the Yankees' to-do list this offseason.  He ended up being a bargain at $10 million for 219.2 IP of 3.32/3.86/3.67 ball, plus 16 stellar innings in 2 postseason starts, and was the most important pitcher on a staff that was beset by injury and performance issues from day 1.

Normally a season like the one Kuroda had would have teams with a need for pitching lining up to throw a ton of money at him for a 2 or possibly 3-year deal, Yankees included.  But with teams continuing to shift their thinking away from high-dollar, multi-year deals for older players, and a report from Nick Cafardo stating that Kuroda is "content signing a one-year deal at this stage in his career," the chances of that happening are significantly reduced.  Kuroda's declaration that he is only seeking a 1-year deal also turns whatever happens with him this offseason into a positive for the Yankees.

Catching Up On News & Notes

(It's not a World Series ring, but at least some Yankees are taking home some hardware this year)

If you're like me and were out of the Yankeeland loop for the last day and a half, here's what you missed:

- Joe reportedly called Alex Rodriguez last Friday to start the fence mending after A-Rod's postseason benching and discuss plans for 2013.  The sneaky unnamed source that leaked the story indicated that the conversation went well.

- The Yankees officially exercised their 2013 team options on Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, and David Aardsma.  C-Grand and Robbie will each make $15 million next season while Aardsma will make a paltry 500 thou.  All expected moves and all smart moves by the club.

- Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano were among the group of American League Gold Glove winners announced yesterday.  It was Teix's 5th award and Robbie's 2nd, and with absolutely no favoritism towards them as Yankees I will say that both awards were well-deserved.

- Jon Heyman is reporting that Rafael Soriano will officially opt out of his contract today and become a free agent.  That should help free up some cash to fill out the rest of the 2013 roster and ensure the Yankees get at least 1 compensatory draft pick after Soriano declines their qualifying offer.

Everybody Alright Out There?

I went with the longer sentimental version of this post over at TYA this morning, but now that I'm back in the swing of things here I had to reach out to the AB4ARmy too.

I chalked the whole "Frankenstorm" thing up to typical media hype and really didn't expect things to be that bad when the hurricane hit over the past few days, but when I finally got the chance to check in and see what was going on yesterday afternoon was legitimately shocked.  Sides of buildings blowing off, massive flooding, parts of the Jersey Shore pretty much getting wiped off the map; that's some pretty heavy shit.  My friends and family that I've talked to back home are all safe and sound right now and just waiting for the power to come back on, and I hope that's the case for everybody else out there.

Looking at the site traffic from yesterday it certainly appears as though a lot of people out there have power and were using the internet as a way to pass the time.  So if you do and you're using AB4AR as part of that time passing strategy while you wait for the rain to stop, the wind to die down, and the waters to recede, I thank you for that.  I hope you're all safe and dry, I hope everybody has enough food and water, and I hope I can be a small part of getting things back to normal for everyone now that the storm has passed and I'm back to my regular writing routine.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Bench*)

(No ALCS without this guy.  Courtesy of the AP)

With starting pitching always being the top priority every offseason, taking care of internal player contracts second, looking to address the lineup through trades or the free agent market third, and the bullpen fourth, the Yankee bench has been a bit of a forgotten element the last few years.  Not forgotten in the sense that the Yankees don't focus on building a quality bench, but in the sense that the strategy to build has become very simple; see what money is left and see what older veteran players out there fit the Yankee hitting formula and need a job.  It's a strategy that's served them well, but one that was questioned a bit more before this season, especially by me in my "Known/Unknown" bench preview, as Cash really looked towards some guys who were pretty long in the tooth at the expense of younger internal options.

The Handy, Helpful AB4AR Guide To Qualifying Offers

The World Series ended last night, which means Tim Lincecum is probably smoking a lot of celebratory weed right now.  It also means that the clock officially starts ticking on all the major offseason milestones, the first one being the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to their pending free agents.  If you aren't familiar with the new free agent system, here's a quick rundown of how it works now.

There are no more Type A or Type B free agents; there is now a level set every year based on the average value of the 125 biggest contracts in MLB that teams can offer to any pending free agent who spent the entire previous season on their roster.  This year that value is $13.3 million.  Teams have until 5 days after the World Series to offer a qualifying deal to any pending free agent on their team who fits the criteria and then that player has 7 days to accept or decline the offer.  If they accept, they return to their team on a 1-year deal for the qualifying amount; if they decline, they are free to sign with any team and their former team is given a compensatory pick at the end of the first round of the next MLB draft.  Whatever new team the player ends up with does not have to surrender a pick, just the money that they are signing the free agent to.

The Yankees have a fair share of pending free agents this season, but only a few who are really worthy of having a qualifying offer extended to them.  As a helpful guide for the next 5 days, here is an all encompassing list of who should and should not receive an offer.

Kiley McDaniel's Yankee Prospect Scouting Reports

Kiley McDaniel has taken his prospect scouting gig from ESPN to FanGraphs, and he's come out firing with a boatload of scouting reports from the instructional leagues on many a Yankee farmhand.  He's been releasing the reports in parts for a little over a week now, and he finally concluded them with Part IV earlier this week.  In case you haven't already, you can check out all four parts of McDaniel's report right here and I strongly suggest that you do.  If you aren't familiar with McDaniel's work, get familiar.  His reports are very detailed and insightful, but presented in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way that leaves you with a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses that McDaniel saw in a player.  Highlights of McDaniel's reports and my personal takes after the jump.

Yanks And Royals As Potential Trade Partners?

(Anybody who says they wouldn't want this guy is a liar.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Yesterday Chad Jennings of LoHud brought up the possibility of the Yankees getting involved with the Kansas City Royals this offseason, expanding on a report from Buster Olney that said the Royals would be in the market for starting pitching and would be willing to trade from their nucleus of good young position players to add that pitching.  Chad pointed out that the Yankees have a small cadre of young pitchers in Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, and David Phelps that could get talks started, and that the Royals have players who could fill positions of need for the Yankees in Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas, making a deal between the 2 teams a mutually beneficial possibility.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Bullpen)

(Gotta love Untuck Time.  Courtesy of the AP)

While the starting rotation has been an up-and-down affair recently, a strong bullpen has been a staple of this extended era of success for the Yankees, going all the way back to the '96 World Series.  Mo has been the fixture at closer since then, and has had a cycle of solid setup guys in front of him each and every year.  D-Rob and Sour Puss set that table heading into 2012, with a group of familiar faces from the season before surrounding them, so this season was expected to be another successful one for the Yankee 'pen.  The depth was there, the roles were already known, and the future was being built during the present.  But as was the case with the rest of the team this year, it was a season to expect the unexpected.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 10/26

The big yearly trade show for my company's industry is next week, so I get to put on the monkey suit and go hobknob with customers next Monday and Tuesday.  It's back in Chicago this year, so while there aren't quite as many weird entertainment options as there were in Vegas last year, like a completely strung out homeless dude following us down the sidewalk for 5 blocks going, "weed, coke, weed, coke, weed, coke" as his sales pitch to try to get us to buy drugs from him, it should still be a good time.  One of my favorite things about trade shows is watching the number of people who will walk into my company's booth just to eat the food and drink the drinks at our hospitality area.  Dudes don't care who we are, what we're selling, or what we can sell it to them for, they just need a free half a sandwich and they need it RIGHT NOW!  It's these kinds of people that make other countries hate America.  Now onto the links!

- A solid pair from my TYA teammates on Monday.  Mike Eder hit all the Swish haters with a dose of perspective, showing how it's not going to be easy to replace him this offseason.

- Mike Jaggers-Radolf followed that up with an argument against trading Curtis Granderson this offseason.  Curtis dropped a lot in my book this year, but Mike's right about trading 4-WAR players and Curtis is still that kind of talent.

- Mark Feinsand of The Daily News had an early report connecting the Yankees to 18-year-old Japanese high school pitcher Shohei Otani, who made waves this week by announcing he plans to jump directly to the MLB draft.

- Rob Abruzzese of Bronx Baseball Daily listed his personal top 10 free agent outfielders for this coming offseason for people who wanted to get a head start on finding their ideal Swish replacement.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB looked back at the biggest hits of the 2012 season.  Strange how 1 name kept popping up on that list...

- Brien Jackson of IIATMS wondered if Brian McCann was going to become available this offseason and what kind of fit he would be for the Yankees.

- On Wednesday, Matt Hunter of Yanks Go Yard broke down the numbers and the spray charts to show why Mark Teixeira should continue to try to pull the ball.  Tough to argue against it.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had all the important details from Joe's end-of-season press conference, in case you missed anything.

- Steve Lombardi of Was Watching asked if Joe's contract situation should be looked at right now.

- Steve Goldman of Pinstriped Bible argued that Joe and the Yankees aren't being smart if they truly expect A-Rod to be their everyday third baseman next season, and hinted that they need to be aggressive in finding another option this offseason.

- On Thursday, fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite laid out his reasons for why Cash should try to trade Alex Rodriguez.

- SJK of NoMaas also laid out a very logical, detailed plan for what the Yankees should do with A-Rod.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog examined Justin Verlander's rough World Series outing and the history of similar bad WS showings by former Cy Young winners.

- On Friday, el duque of It Is High... stated that he thinks Mo deciding to not come back is the right move and that the Yankees should start making plans for life without Mo now.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes started to change his feelings on bringing back Swish, and looked at some potential replacement options.

For this Friday's jam, I'm going back to an old standby.  I know I've used Mastodon here before, but I know it hasn't been this song and it really doesn't get much more badass of an under-3-minute song than "Where Strides The Behemoth."  Even the name of the song is badass.  If I was a closer, I would seriously consider using the 10-second guitar riff at the end of this song on constant loop as my entrance music.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Rotation)

("Whaddaya mean I'm the 7th starter?  Don't you know who I am?" Courtesy of the AP)

Starting pitching has been a tricky thing for the New York Yankees over the last 5-10 years.  Despite their best efforts, they haven't built rotations good enough to truly compete for World Series championships.  In 2009 they had just enough to get by, but for the most part the constant theme has been that when push comes to shove, the quality of the Yankee starting pitching wasn't on the same level as the quality of their offense.  Improving the rotation was right at the top of the priority list heading into this season, and great steps were taken to try to build up a better staff capable of being good over the long haul of a regular season and postseason.

In previewing what was known and unknown about this group, there was cause for optimism as it appeared the Yankees' plans to build depth and depth of talent were carried out successfully.  But as we've all learned at various times in our own lives, sometimes even the best-laid plans don't work out.

Mo Unsure About His Comeback

Via Andrew Marchand:

"Cashman told ESPN New York that on Tuesday he and Rivera had a conversation in which Rivera said he does not know yet if he will return for a 19th season.

'He wasn't certain on what he is going to do,' Cashman said."

Alright, who changed the program on RoboMo to let it think it could actually retire?  Not cool, guys.  Not cool.

At first I thought this was just another classic exercise of Marchand pot stirring for pageviews, but the quote directly from Cash does make this a little more legitimate.  That being said, I wouldn't get too concerned yet until we hear something directly from Mo's mouth.  He's had this three-act offseason play after the last few seasons where he's up in the air on whether he wants to keep playing.  Act 1 is the uncertainty and desire to stay home and spend more time with his family, act 2 is the actual spending of time with said family, and act 3 is Mo getting the itch to pitch again and coming back.  Rinse, repeat.

Besides, what the hell is he really going to do at home with his family with all that extra free time?  There's nobody at his home who he can teach the cutter to.  Don't worry about the G.O.A.T.  My money's still on him coming back.

Thanks But No Thanks, Ichiro

As mentioned earlier today on the AB4AR Page, Joel Sherman reported that Ichiro Suzuki enjoyed his time as a Yankee after the trade this season and that Ichiro "strongly wants to stay" with New York next season.  Without delving too deeply into this, allow me to make my case against this idea.

Average age of Yankee postseason roster- 33.08 years

Current Age of Ichiro- 39 years

It just doesn't make any sense to make an already old team with a ton of money tied up in its oldest players any older.  Ichiro did exactly what the Yankees wanted him to do and exactly what a lot of people thought he would do after the Yankees traded for him.  But that still doesn't change the fact that he has deteriorated significantly as a player himself in the past 2 seasons, and the odds of him replicating what he did in his short time with the Yankees over a full season next year are incredibly low.  Let him be what he was and go out on a positive as a Yankee and focus efforts on finding a younger, more versatile outfield solution.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Outfield)

(Not pictured: Brett Gardner and his elbow.  Courtesy of the AP)

The start of the AB4AR 2012 Season Review officially kicked off yesterday with the review of what we learned about the 2012 infield.  It continues today with that same review for the outfield.  The starting outfield for the 2012 New York Yankees was an interesting mix.  3 guys with very different but equally important skill sets who combined to be one of the most productive and underappreciated units in baseball in 2011, and 3 guys whose futures with the club were all potentially up in the air in the near future.  As with the infield, it was a big up-and-down year for this crew, so let's dive right in and see what 2012 taught us about them.

What's The Deal With Eduardo Nunez?

(Hey! Nunez in the outfield was fun, huh?  Courtesy of the AP)

Eduardo Nunez is a strange case.  He reminds me of a joke that Patrice O'Neal told about Jeff Ross at one of the Comedy Central Roasts, where he called Ross a legend and then corrected himself by saying Ross was more like a myth because everybody had heard stories about how funny he is, "but nobody's ever really seen it."  That's Eduardo Nunez to me; he's been talked about as the next big homegrown position player piece for the future for what seems like the last 3-4 years, and he always ends up not being that.  I bring this up today because Cash and Joe each mentioned Nunez in their recent year-end addresses, but not in a way that makes his current or future standing within the organization any more clear than it's ever been.  To me, it almost seems like the Yankees have no clue what to do with Nunez anymore, and if that's the case then it might be time to trade him.