Brett Gardner

The New York Yankees have a rising superstar in their mitts, with Brett Gardner .

Which young players are stepping up into stardom?

As a fan of the New York Yankees, an American League East team, it is easy to forget about the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The last time the two faced each other was back in 2007, at the old Yankee Stadium.

Looking at the bigger picture, the D-backs pose no real threat to the Yankees, whose hopes are to repeat as World Series Champions.

Even though the New York Yankees are in 1st place in the AL East and currently hold the best record in all of Major League Baseball, there are still a plethora of trade rumors and debates taking place in the Bronx.

With the main areas of concern being the bullpen, the bench, and the outfield; everyone seems to have their own opinion about what the Bronx Bombers should do on their quest for their 28th World Series Championship.

Fellow Yankee fans, before you accuse me of high treason or blaspheming our dear captain, please heed my plea for understanding.

As a lifelong fan of the team, I have long loved Derek Jeter and cherish his numerous contributions to the latest run of success in the Bronx. I am fully aware that the Yankees just won a World Series last year and the team is currently claiming ownership of the best record in Major League Baseball.

In my last article I took a look back at the old guard of the New York Yankees: Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte.

Then I realized that New York might have a new core four of players: Brett Gardner, Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes, and Joba Chamberlain.

All of them won their first World Series together last year and are shaping into quite a nice quartet of players.

This is the latest installment of the 2010 New York Yankee progress, honoring the epic Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. According to the astute readers of imdb.com, the Baseball-Reference of the movie and T.V. industry, "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo " is ranked as the No. 4 movie of all time .

The Yankees had an off-day yesterday and are getting ready for a big week as they have a World Series rematch against the Phillies coming up followed by the Subway Series this weekend.

If you are looking for a place to make a bet on one of these games online betting seems to be pretty popular these days.

Here are some notes:

There certainly were conflicting theories about Brett Gardner as we headed into 2010.  Some people thought he could mature into an everyday player for the Yankees, including being a tremendous source of stolen bases.  Others thought that he would be exposed by major league pitching with regular playing time.  Thus far, those who b

In the hours following Stephen Strasburg's Brendan-Fraser-in-The-Scout -level debut for the Nationals on Tuesday, my buddy Howie posed this question to me (@danhanzus ) via Twitter:

Most trade value: Mauer, Hanley, Pujols or Strasburg? I say #Strasburg easy.