Jeter Retirement Presser Wrap-Up

(Courtesy of Mark Feinsand)

Derek Jeter's press conference to discuss last week's announcement that he will retire after this season was held today.  I did not watch a second of it because I was at the bar watching the USA-Czech Republic hockey game, so if you were unable or otherwise preoccupied from viewing the presser live like me, here's what you missed:

- The first question was the obvious "why now?" one and Jeter answered it with the response you'd expect from a 20-year vet.  He said last season's injury struggles were a factor and made the decision easier, he cited the desire to move onto other things, and said it was just "the right time."

- One thing that didn't influence the decision was his health.  Jeter said he feels great and is "looking forward to playing the entire season" this year.

- If you were curious about how much of last week's announcement Jeter wrote himself, he said he wrote all of it and that there was a lot of other things he wrote down that didn't make it into the final cut.  Good to know that those were his words.

- Jeter said he wanted to make the announcement months ago but that his friends and family told him to wait, think about it, and make sure it was something he really wanted to do before making it official.  He did speak to Jorge Posada about it a few weeks back, but he didn't talk to Mo.

- When asked about playing time this season, Jeter said, "I want to play every day.  This year will be absolutely no different."  He also said he wants to be remembered as a great Yankee because, "the great thing about being a Yankee is you're always a Yankee."

- What moment from his 20-year career stood out the most?  “Every time we win. … If you ask me what stands out the most, it’s winning.”  Typical Jeter.

It's still a little weird to think about him not being around next year, just like it was with Mo last year.  But he came across like his mind was made up.  Here's hoping he stays healthy and we get to see him on the field as much as possible this year.

Honest Post-Offseason Roster Evaluation: The Bench

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Obviously the Yankees had major problems with injuries last season.  That's how you end up with 943 combined plate appearances from Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay and another 639 from Jayson Nix and Eduardo Nunez.  Part of what made last year's injury plague so detrimental was the failure on the Yankees' part to build a solid bench behind their older starting lineup.  During the glory years of the late 90s dynasty, a powerful, flexible, well-rounded bench was a staple of Yankee rosters.  Over the last 12-15 years, that standard has fallen by the wayside and it came to a head last season when the Yankees were forced to give another 427 PA tothe likes of Thomas Neal, Alberto Gonzalez, Brent Lillibridge, Chris Nelson, Reid Brignac, Ben Francisco, Luis Cruz, and David Adams.

For all the work the front office putting in addressing the rest of the roster this offseason, the bench once again seems to be the neglected child.  It may not ultimately be as bad as what was riding the pine for the majority of last season, but it's nowhere near the levels of some of the great Yankee benches of the recent past.  The strategy in building this season's bench appears to be just letting the lesser holdover players from last year trickle down to fill the open spots as their free agent replacements take the starting roles.  Let's see how it works out for them, Cotton.

Spring Training News And Notes: 2/18/14

- Ivan Nova became the latest pitcher to graduate to throwing live batting practice yesterday, tossing an early session to Gary Sanchez.  Cash was there to watch.

- Masahiro Tanaka threw his second bullpen  in the morning, as did CC, Hirok, and David Herndon.  J.R. Murphy caught Tanaka for the first time and called his stuff "really impressive" when the session was over.  Chad Jennings has video.

- Cash declared that it will be business as usual when it comes to Jeter and Teix's playing time this season, saying, "Tex is going to be at first, D.J. is going to be at short, and what we’re going to get is what we’re going to get."  We'll see how real that is when their bodies start to ache.

- Jacoby Ellsbury arrived at camp and said his foot injury from the end of 2013 is fully healed and feeling good.  That's good news.

- Don't know why he feels this way, but Brendan Ryan made a little news yesterday for saying he's expecting boos this year on days where he's playing instead of Jeter.  Ummm, Brendan?  Have you ever paid attention to yourself when you're playing shortstop?  Pretty sure nobody in their right mind is going to boo this:

Take it from me.  I'm the guy who basically, and stupidly, called you a piece of shit last week.  I know what I'm talking about.

Position Players Report Date Prepper 2014: The Outfield

(Courtesy of Mark Feinsand)

Hey, how about that?  I'm actually getting the final ST prep post out before the players show up to camp.  Today is the final day before all position players are expected to report to Yankee camp and it's also the final day of this "Report Date Prepper" series.  Just like the infielders, there are already some outfielders who've arrived in Tampa, most notably new right fielder Carlos Beltran.  Get up to speed on him and the rest of his outfield brethren after the jump.

Honest Post-Offseason Roster Evaluation: The Outfield

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

As it does with the starting infield, the 2014 season marks a transitional period for the Yankee outfield.  Even more than the infield, the outfield transition has been a major one and, unlike the infield, one that actually started last season.  After 3 years of primarily Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, and Nick Swisher patrolling left, center, and right, the Yankees made the decision last offseason to let Swisher walk and hitched their cart to Ichiro Suzuki.  Ichiro had impressed the front office with his .322/.340/.454 slash line after being acquired in 2012 and he was rewarded with a 2-year/$13 million deal.

The Yanks found out what many of us feared and predicted after the signing, that Ichiro was essentially cooked as an everyday player, and their outfield production suffered as a result.  When C-Grand went down and joined the likes of Jeter and Teix on the DL for the bulk of the season, the situation became even more dire and the attempts to patch up the outfield with Vernon Wells were comical at best.  The Yankees followed the Swish path with Curtis this past offseason, making him a qualifying offer with no follow-up long-term proposal.  This time when he left though, Cash made sure to replace him with a player who could actually play and then added another to replace Ichiro, essentially rebuilding the starting outfield on the fly.

Spring Training News And Notes: 2/17/14

(Don't hurt yourself, B-Rob.  Courtesy of the AP)

- Michael Pineda threw his first bullpen of the spring yesterday and it got nothing but positives words from those who witnessed it.  Joe said Pineda looked noticeably better to him than he did in ST 2012, and Pineda himself said he's back to feeling like he did in 2011.

- A group of Yankee pitchers, including 5th starter competitors David Phelps, Adam Warren. and Vidal Nuno, threw live BP to the Yankee catchers.  Always good to have a head start when you're competing for a job.

- Carlos Beltran was the latest position player to show up.  Apparently he was doing some hitting over at MiL camp.

- Interesting note on Brian Roberts, who said the Yankees reached out to him even before Robinson Cano signed with Seattle.  Guess they really were serious about not going above a certain level for Cano and they started working on contingency plans early.  Still think they could have done better...

- Another day of BP for Teix, who took hacks as a lefty and a righty.  Joe said he thought Teix "looked pretty normal to me from both sides" of the plate.

Position Players Report Date Prepper 2014: The Infield

(Teix in the cage.  Courtesy of Andrew Marchand)

Pitchers and catchers are in camp and working out, and some of their position player teammates are already on site starting their spring work but not the full complement.  Wednesday is the official report date for the rest of the position players who were invited to Spring Training, so in keeping with the theme from last week's "Report Date Prepper" series, let's delve deeper into the 2 remaining roster groups that will be arriving and participating in team workout activities in the next 48ish hours.  We'll start with the infield today.

P.S.- if you missed any of last week's posts, here they are.  Starters, Relievers, Catchers.

Honest Post-Offseason Roster Evaluation: The Infield

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Pitchers and catchers reported to Yankee camp on Friday, and they began team workouts over the weekend.  In 2 days, the remainder of the position players not already in camp will report and the first full team workout will be held on Thursday, signaling the official start to Spring Training 2014 and the end of the 2013-2014 offseason.  This offseason was a very busy one for the Yankees, one that featured a ton of signings and the most money spent since the 2008-2009 offseason.  After a flawed attempt to trim payroll in preparation for a luxury tax-avoiding season this year, the front office scrapped the plan and got back to what they do best, spending big to address the greatest areas of need on the roster.

Over the next 5 days, I'm going to look back at the offseason that was and try to give a realistic, objective evaluation of how each part of the roster stacks up.  I'll start with the position player groups (infield, outfield, bench) and then move to the pitching staff.  This isn't an attempt to predict what could, should, or will happen, just a snapshot of the roster as it is right now, for better or worse.  For all the moves the Yankees made and all the upgrades they made to key roster areas, I think we all know they're still far from a perfect team and aren't exactly back to that leading championship contender status they strive for.  To kick off this series, let's take a gander at the starting infield.

On CC's Weight

(Courtesy of Deadspin)

Last week this picture of CC Sabathia at a Knicks game made its way around the interwebs and naturally people started talking about it.  Sabathia's weight has been an increasingly popular topic of conversation over the last few years, as he's made more of an effort before seasons to drop a few pounds and then usually ended up putting them back on by the end of the year.  This offseason Sabathia made a concerted effort to not only lose weight but tighten up the rest of his body, and this picture provided some insight as to how much those efforts worked, as did his ST weigh-in result of 275 pounds over the weekend.

The major loss in poundage and somewhat gaunt appearance in that picture have caused a bit of a stir in the NY sports world and parts of the Yankosphere.  The feeling has apparently shifted from "good for CC for trying to lose some weight" to "jeez, look at how much weight he's lost!  That can't be good" and for the life of me I can't figure out why.  Yes, that picture does make CC look like a combination of Forrest Whitaker and E.T. when he get sick and pale and Elliot finds him lying by the river, but it's just 1 picture.  The shots of him in camp show that he's still a big dude, and even if he wasn't that's no reason to speak or think negatively about his attempts to get into better shape.

Spring Training News And Notes: 2/16/14

(D-Rob fielding his position.  Courtesy of the AP)

Another day, another round of bullpen sessions.  Yesterday it was the relievers' turn to take the hill.  Here we go:

- David Robertson, Shawn Kelley, and Matt Thornton highlighted the bullpen groups with their first sessions of the spring.  Manny Banuelos, Cesar Cabral, and Mark Montgomery were the notable young guys working as well.

- Joe talked down the possibility of ManBan pitching himself into contention for the 5th starter spot, but did leave the option open to take him as a reliever.

- Peter O'Brien put on a show during batting practice, smoking some deep home runs to center and left field.

- Mark Teixeira talked to the media again and said he plans on getting 50+ at-bats in during ST despite starting his hitting and in-game schedule later than everybody else.

- The Yanks released their full list of guest instructors.  Some of the usual suspects were there (Gossage, Guidry, Reggie), along with newer guys like Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada.

Take It Easy, Teix

Position players aren't scheduled to report to Yankee camp until Wednesday, but Mark Teixeira arrived yesterday and started his spring workouts as he continues to work his way back from last year's wrist injury/surgery.  Teix took some light fielding drills with Mick Kelleher and some light hitting drills with Kevin Long, and when he settled into his locker today he took time to speak to the media.  I guess he's feeling better than he was earlier in the winter because the standout quote from Teix was a pretty bold declaration:

"I absolutely plan on playing 150-plus games this year.  That's my goal."

More power to him for setting the bar that high, but let's pump the brakes before we get too carried away with playing time goals that excessive.  This is the same guy who hasn't played more than 150 games since 2011, played only 15 last year, and was still feeling some stiffness in the wrist less than a month ago.  Now 1 day after showing up at camp he's saying he expects to play in over 92% of the team's games this year.  Given the backup options behind him, I'm sure the Yankees would be thrilled to get that many games from Teix this year.  Before we start talking about that though, let's maybe get a real batting cage session in and see how the wrist feels after a few ST games.

Spring Training News And Notes: 2/15/14

(Courtesy of the AP)

First team workout was yesterday, and to no one's surprise the biggest story continued to be Masahiro Tanaka.  Here were the major happenings from yesterday's session:

- Tanaka, along with fellow surefire starters CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Ivan Nova, all threw bullpen sessions yesterday.  The coaching staff liked what they saw from Tanaka's session, which again consisted of 4-seamers, 2-seamers, sliders, and splitters.

- One part where Tanaka wasn't so strong was running.  The team ran 4 laps after the pitching and hitting sessions and Tanaka told the media he was surprised by how much running they had to do, joking that the 4 laps were "pretty hard".

- Nova doesn't sound like he's taking anything for granted this spring, telling Bryan Hoch that he's treating this as though he's competing for a spot.  Maybe he's starting to figure the game out mentally too.

- Still slowly working his way back from last year's wrist surgery, Mark Teixeira did some light infield drills and some light hitting work with Kevin Long.  He's still probably a month away from being in full game shape.

- Not a huge deal, since he's just roster depth, but Yoshinori Tateyama has not arrived at camp yet because of visa issues.  Strange that he'd have those considering he pitched in the US last season.

Pitchers And Catchers Report Day News And Notes

First day of camp yesterday.  Here were the highlights:

- CC Sabathia weighed in at 275 pounds, down 40 from his weight when he first came to the Yankees.  He said he feels great and I think it's great that he's in better shape.  If you don't, I don't know what to tell you.

- Masahiro Tanaka was given Mariano Rivera's old locker in the clubhouse.  Nbd but kbd.

- David Phelps and Adam Warren both threw to hitters yesterday.  They've both been working out and throwing at the complex for a while, so they seem to be the farthest along out of the pitchers right now.  Always good to get a headstart when you're competing for a rotation spot.

- A day after catching Tanaka's first bullpen session, Francisco Cervelli caught Michael Pineda and had nothing but good things to say about him.  According to Cervelli, the difference between Pineda's stuff last year and this year was noticeable.

- Joe held his annual camp-opening presser and talked a lot about Derek Jeter.  Most interesting thing was probably Joe saying that it would be "ideal" to bat Jeter 2nd and split up his lefty bats.

- Joe also said Kelly Johnson is the backup first baseman right now.

- J.R. Murphy is now going as John Ryan Murphy, his actual name.  Can't wait to hear that during game broadcasts.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 2/14/14

So you guys know how I live in Wisconsin, right?  And you know how the Yankees are coming out here for a weekend series in May, right?  Well that week just got better.  It was already going to be bonkers with my family and possibly 3 of my friends coming out for the Yankee series.  I was planning on taking that Thursday afternoon and Friday off.  Now we're probably looking at Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for an extended 5-day weekend because Queens of the Stone Age announced they're playing a show in Milwaukee on Wednesday, May 7th.  Scooped 2 tickets up as soon as they were available on pre-sale yesterday.  You remember what I said in the Jeter post about not being able to get high and drunk all the time and still function anymore?  Yeah, that's going to be put to the test that week.  I told the girlfriend earlier that there was a good-to-very good chance that I tried to get backstage with Josh Homme at the show and I was only half-joking.  I'd lay down in traffic if Homme told me to.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Jesse Schindler of Pinstripe Alley discussed the opportunity in front of Slade Heathcott this season and if he'll be able to capitalize on it.

- Kevin Rozell of Zell's Pinstriped Blog talked to former Yankee PR director Marty Appel, who probably got to see and hear a ton of crazy stuff during the early Steinbrenner years.

- On Tuesday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits searched for some previous MiL comps for Greg Bird to put his excellent 2013 season into perspective.  It's stuff like this that makes me glad I held back and kept him out of my top 10.  Want to see a repeat first.

- On Wednesday, Roberto E. Alejandro of Respect Jeter's Gangster wondered what he'd have to do with his site now that the namesake won't be playing baseball anymore.  I know the feeling, bro...

- Vizzini of NoMaas broke down the starting rotation by way of projections and offered up some expectations for the members.

- On Thursday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes interviewed SS Staten Island pitcher Conner Kendrick.

- Jason Evans of Yanks Go Yard weighed some of the potential free agent replacement options for Jeter at short next year.

- Mike Axisa of RAB released his preseason top 30 prospects list, which is always one of my favorite prospect reads.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA looked ahead to 2015 and how much younger the Yankees will be getting with all the older free agents they'll have coming off the books.

- SG of RLYW reflected on Derek Jeter and the Core Four Era as it enters its final year.

- On Friday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had the details on CC Sabathia's offseason workout program and some words from the big fella himself on how he feels about the upcoming season.

- El duque of It Is High... wrapped up his week-long countdown of the top 15 coolest Yankees of all-time.  Definitely worth going back and checking out the whole list.

Given the information in the beginning of the post, you had to know Queens was coming as today's jam.  And they are.



Enjoy your weekends (and your Valentine's Days), everybody.

How Much Are The Yankees Regretting Giving Brendan Ryan A 3-Year Deal Right Now?

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

One of the first moves the Yankees made this offseason, before they really started throwing money around, was re-signing Brendan Ryan to be Derek Jeter's defensive caddy at shortstop.  There was mutual interest in a return after Ryan finished last season as the starting shortstop and looked incredibly good doing it, and at the time a deal to shore up the defense at the most important infield position made a lot of sense.  Nobody knew what to expect from Jeter after his injury-plagued 2013 campaign except that he would be back for another year, and the list of productive 40-year-old shortstops isn't a long one.  When Jeter signed a new, more lucrative deal of his own, it looked like he might be planning to stick around beyond 2014 and the Yanks responded by locking up Ryan for 2 years guaranteed plus a mutual option for a 3rd year.

Pitchers And Catchers Report Date Prepper 2014: The Catchers

(Courtesy of Corey Sipkin/NY Daily News)

Today's the day.  As you read this, the late arrivals from the pitcher/catcher corps are showing up at the Tampa complex in preparation for tomorrow's first official team workout.  Spring Training has begun and baseball is officially back!  It's a little late to prep with the players already arriving, but I'm giving myself a 1-day grace period since the first workout isn't until tomorrow and covering the catchers today.  Behind the plate is one part of the roster where the Yankees have very good depth.  They've got no less than 4 catchers who could play every day at the Major League level right now if they needed to and their top organizational prospect waiting in the wings.  After the jump, the backstops who'll be appearing in ST this year.

Report: Yanks Scouted Cuban SS Aledmys Diaz Yesterday

Yankees were among teams scouting Cuban free agent shortstop Aledmys Diaz at his showcase today, sources say. @FOXSports1
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) February 13, 2014

 2015 will be the first year in 20 that the Yankees will have a new starting shortstop, and per this report from Jon Morosi they could have Cuban free agent to be Aledmys Diaz in their sights for the job.  Diaz held a workout for teams yesterday in preparation for his free agent eligibility next week and the Yankees were one of several teams in attendance.

I don't know a whole lot about Diaz other than the basics.  He's 23 years, listed at 6'1"/185, and a right-handed hitter.  In his most recent Cuban league season, he hit .315/.404/.500 with 12 HR and 11 stolen bases and I guess that's enough to qualify him as a bat-first prospect.  Defensively he's a question mark, but one scouting report I read gives him plus arm strength.  We already know the Yankees are planning to go nuts on the international free agent market this year.  Perhaps Diaz will be the first of those dominoes to fall.

Thursday Afternoon News & Notes

(TANAKAAAA!!!  Courtesy of Erik Boland)

We're in the quiet after the back-to-back storms of the Tanaka presser and yesterday's Jeter announcement.  Here are a few notes on some of today's happenings.

- It was first announced last year, but today it was made official that the Yankees and Marlins will play a 2-game series in Panama on March 15th and 16th.  Called "The Legend Series", the 2 games will be to honor the recently retired Mariano Rivera and will be the first MLB games played in Panama since 1947.

- Derek Jeter was at the Tampa complex again today and told reporters that he would address his retirement decision next week.  When asked if he felt good about the decision, he simply replied, "I do."

- Masahiro Tanaka arrived in Tampa today as well and threw a 25-pitch bullpen session to Francisco Cervelli.  Via Chad Jennings, the session included 4-seamers, 2-seamers, splitters, and sliders, and both Cervelli and pitching coach Larry Rothschild had nothing but good things to say about how Tanaka looked.

Thoughts On Jeter's Retirement Announcement

By now we've all had time to read and digest yesterday's somewhat shocking announcement by Derek Jeter.  I say shocking because while I believed that this would be Jeter's last season, I definitely didn't see him going the Mo route and announcing it before the season and I definitely definitely didn't see him doing it via a pretty personal message posted to his Facebook page.

I said yesterday when I first posted the story that I needed time to gather my thoughts on this, and to be perfectly honest I'm still not sure how to go about writing about it.  Derek Jeter has been my favorite baseball player and favorite professional athlete period since his rookie season in 1996, the season that I first remember really paying close attention to the game of baseball and the first season where I could truly say I was a Yankee fan.  He's the greatest Yankee I'll ever see in my lifetime and some of my greatest sports memories are Jeter plays.  The Flip, the home run in the '01 World Series, the dive into the stands, the 3,000th hit.  I can remember those plays and where I was when I first saw them more vividly than I can remember what I did last Sunday afternoon.

I've also taken a much more objective stance in how I've viewed and written about Jeter in the last 2 years, almost to the point of being anti-Jeter at times.  I came right out and said I wanted him to retire in September because I didn't want to see him hobble through another lost season in 2014 and have those last 2 years be the final images of him that I'd remember.  So it was a bit of a clash of emotions yesterday when I read his message and started thinking back on all the Jeter memories I have, good and bad.  I'm already rambling here, and I don't think there's any way I can try to weave all of what I'm going to write into one coherent narrative, so to make it easier I'll just break it up into bite-size chunks and at least get some of what's been going through my head out there.

Pitchers And Catchers Report Date Prepper 2014: The Relievers

(Kelley rocking the stunner shades.  Courtesy of Anthony McCarron)

2 days.  2 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to the Tampa complex to begin pitching and catching.  And running and stretching and fielding drills and all that other good stuff.  Baseball is so close to being back in our lives that I can almost taste it, and to keep the P&C preview going this week it's time to break down another group scheduled to start work on Friday.  On Monday it was the starting pitchers, today it's their shorter workload counterparts in the bullpen.  There's a few more open spots in the 'pen than there is in the rotation right now, and even more guys vying for those spots.  Here's what to expect and who to watch from the reliever crew.

Derek Jeter Announces His Plans To Retire After This Season (UPDATED)

We knew this day was coming eventually, but I'd be lying if I said I thought he'd announce it today.  Via a message posted on his Facebook page, Derek Jeter has announced that 2014 will be his final season.  Citing last season's injuries and the strain they've put on his ability to play the way he wants to play, Jeter said, "I know it in my heart.  The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball."

Obviously a lot of different thoughts and emotions come with this announcement, as most people my age can't even remember what Yankee baseball was like without Jeter around.  I'll dive deeper into this when I've had time to process it, but for now I'll just say good for him for coming to the decision and good timing following in Mo's footsteps by making the announcement early and letting this season be the proper goodbye that he deserves.

** UPDATE 1:24 PM- Couple of beat guys have talked to Casey Close and gotten his confirmation that this announcement is legit.  Via David Waldstein, Jeter told Hal this morning to make it official with the team. **

** UPDATE 1:53 PM- Bud Selig has released a statement on Jeter's announcement, calling him "an exemplary face of our sport."  For once, I agree with what Bud's saying. **

Yanks Need To Stay Aggressive With Their Outfield Prospects

(Courtesy of Princeton Magazine)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

The double whammy of Alex Rodriguez dropping his lawsuits and Masahiro Tanaka being introduced to the press all but a put a bow on the 2013-2014 offseason.  In a few short days it'll be back to baseball. The focus will shift back to the diamond and the gaggle of new players that will be gracing it in Yankee pinstripes this season.  The outfield is arguably the most revamped part of the roster, with Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran taking over for Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner shifting back to left field, and a full season of Alfonso Soriano to look forward to.

The regular 4-man outfield rotation is set, which could leave very little playing time for Ichiro as the 5th outfielder and even less for Zoilo Almonte as the emergency 6th.  With this boost in outfield depth, it may seem like the Yankees have reason to pump the brakes on developing their group of top outfield prospects.  Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott are both coming off underwhelming seasons and are blocked in center by Ellsbury, and Tyler Austin is focused on getting and staying healthy and getting back on track offensively after starting his pro career mashing.  I don't say it that way though.  If it were me calling the shots on the farm, I'd say this is the perfect time to keep pushing these guys, maybe even more aggressively than before.

Yanks Put Only 1 In FanGraph's Top 100 Prospects

Marc Hulet of FanGraphs released his top 10 Yankee prospect list last week.  Yesterday he unveiled his top 100 prospects list for all of MLB and to no one's surprise the Yankees were not well represented, putting only 1 player on that list.  Naturally that player was Gary Sanchez, who came in 44th.  I know I always get real Yankee-centric on these posts, so if you're interested, Hulet's top 3 was Byron Buxton, Xander Bogaerts, and Oscar Taveras.  If you don't know who those guys are, look 'em up.

Rather than focus again on how poorly this reflects on the current state of the Yankee farm system, I'd instead like to touch briefly on what this and the other top 100 rankings say about Sanchez.  Let's be honest, the kid didn't have a "great" year in 2013, yet he still shows up on every top prospect list out there and shows up in the top half on most of those lists.  Everyone recognizes how much talent there is in Sanchez and how much time he still has to develop that talent at such a young age for his level.  If this can be the year that Sanchez starts to put everything together at the plate, he's an easy top 20 prospect next year and a fringe top 10.

P.S.- First of multiple post-Prospect Week plugs, here's the 2013-2014 AB4AR Top 30 again, headlined by Sanchez, in case you were on an extended vacation that week.

Tanaka Introductory Presser Wrap-Up

(Courtesy of Bryan Hoch)

This was it.  The one we've been waiting for.  The introductory press conference we all secretly hoped would happen this offseason, even if we didn't have the guts to say it out loud.  Masahiro Tanaka was introduced to the NY media at Yankee Stadium today and the spectacle did not disappoint.  Tanaka kicked things off by dropping 195 thou to charter a 787 for himself, his wife, a few buddies, and his pet poodle, which is the best possible thing he could have done to make me a bigger fan of his.  If you missed any of today's festivities, here are the highlights:

Looking Good, Ma-kun

(Courtesy of Mark Feinsand)

Is it me or does everybody just look sharper in a Yankee uniform?  Tanaka burning up the podium right now during his introductory presser.  Can't wait to see him on a mound.

P.S.- Yanks reportedly handed out 200+ press passes for this, more than double what they gave out for McCann, Ellsbury, or Beltran.  PR man said this was their biggest press conference since Hideki Matsui's introductory one in '03.  Crazy.