AL East

Last Thursday I posted this about a Neil Best article in which he stated that Bob Sheppard would not be attending opening day. Today, the Yankees posted this press release on Yankees.com:

As the baseball season inches closer and closer to the opening pitch many questions are swirling around.

How will A-Rod do? How will the Yankees do? Manny in LA? San Fran looking to make their first real charge since the Bonds’ days.

Many questions, and we’ll have to wait along time for answers.

So let’s speculate!

When you think of the best teams in the Major Leagues, people automatically think about the Yankees and Red Sox...rightfully so.

One of the pretty cool things about Bleacher Report is that so many people look at your work. One of the best features is the editing format, and through the plethora of editors on this site, I have improved my writing skills.

Thanks to all who have helped me along the way.

Another great feature is when your name gets out there, other writers want your opinions on their articles, and even more information gets flowing through my brain.

I'm hoping this spring means something and that all these Yankee wins could help build momentum for when the regular season starts. We know that these games don't prove much, but I'll take what I saw.

I have Andy Pettitte as one of my bench pitchers in fantasy baseball and I'm wondering if I should make him a starter.

A+: Andy Pettitte

Total domination. He reached his pitch count and then came out of the game with only one earned run against him. I guess you can say he's ready for the season.

A+: Mark Teixeira

Well something strange happened. It is actually pretty funny, too. I'd like to talk about it. This is the talk. The Orioles Talk, that is. Isaac Barrow, I hope you enjoy this one. Laugh your heads off on this one.

Rob Neyer had this to say in response to Bill Madden's article this weekend in which he called Ramiro Pena the Yankees' short stop of the future.

Well first let's look at a couple quotes from the Madden article:

The Yankees are reportedly planning on letting Brett Gardner be the regular center fielder this year, at least until he demonstrates that he can't handle the load. In my mind, his four seasons of fairly lackluster performances in the minor leagues have already demonstrated that.

My 2009 predictions based on the 2008 season article unleashed a plethora of insults (some community....).

Basically, 2008 was a wild season because of the Rays going from the worst record in baseball in 2007 to the World Series in 2008.

And because the Washington Nationals had the worst record in 2008, the system had them going to the World Series in 2009.

Going into Spring Training, only three pitchers were guaranteed spots in the rotation: Roy Halladay, Jesse Litsch, and David Purcey.

Many candidates were brought into camp to complete for the last two spots, including Matt Clement, Mike Maroth, Casey Janssen, Brad Mills, Brett Cecil, Ricky Romero, and Canadian Scott Richmond.

Now with just a week left to go until the season begins, just three players remain in the battle for the last two spots.

While the New York Yankees have an All-Star laden roster, there was still a roster competition taking place in Tampa. The center field job was a wide open race between Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner.

Both players were pretty hungry, too, posting outstanding spring numbers. They definitely made it hard on manager Joe Girardi to choose one over the other. With the season less than a week away, Girardi made the announcement today. The NEW Yankees starting centerfielder is Brett Gardner.