New York Yankees

I’m getting dizzy from all the spinning the New York Yankees are doing on catching prospects Jesus Montero and, to a lesser extent, Austin Romine. In case you missed it, both were dismissed to the minor leagues after each failed miserably during spring training.

The Yankees just can’t catch a break.

After dealing with an ailing Joba Chamberlain, Sergio Mitre and Greg Golson this spring, the oblique strain is back and is now affecting key player Curtis Granderson.

The right muscle strain caused the hitter to be scratched from the lineup on Tuesday and may deprive Granderson of participating in Opening Day on Thursday against his former team, the Detroit Tigers.

Despite hurling some of his best stuff in five years (1-0/2.40/15 IP/17 K), Bartolo Colon will start his season with the Yankees in the bullpen.

Yankees skipper Joe Girardi announced Sunday that the team will round out their rotation with Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia as their fourth and fifth starters.

The Yankees usually get who they want during the offseason, but this past offseason, they missed out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.  They threw more money at him than Philadelphia, but Lee said no thanks.

So, instead of going after a starting pitcher, the Yanks went out and acquired Rafael Soriano. In many ways, the signing is better than any starter they would've acquired.  With Soriano and Mariano Rivera now anchoring the eighth and ninth innings, it takes pressure off the starting rotation.

New York Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi has named his starting rotation to start the regular season. Here is what it will look like come Thursday…

1. C.C. Sabathia

2. Phil Hughes

No player has felt the demand to perform every plate appearance like Alex Rodriguez has since Dave Winfield was nicknamed Mr. May in the 1980’s. However, this week there were several instances of Yankee fans going to bat—so to speak—for Rodriguez over Derek Jeter.

On Saturday, Yankees' manager Joe Girardi announced the final spot in his rotation would go to Freddy Garcia, effectively ending the spring training battle between Garcia and fellow offseason signing, Bartolo Colon. Colon will start the year in the bullpen as the long reliever. 

Almost as soon as the season ended, the Yankees made the decision on Jorge Posada: He would not catch in 2011.

I don't even think he was allowed to bring a glove to spring training.

It was assumed that this would open the door for top catching prospect, Jesus Montero, to become the Yankees every day catcher.

Replacing Posada wouldn't be easy, but for a team labeled as "old," a youth movement would be a good thing.

With Opening Day now less than a week away, the New York Yankees appear to be finalizing their pitching staff, particularly their five-man rotation. This finalization, and what they apparently will go to war with, has got me worried.

No announcements have been officially made yet, but based on what's been going down in the last day or two, it appears that the rotation will look something like this:

1. CC Sabathia
2. AJ Burnett
3. Phil Hughes
4. Ivan Nova
5. Bartolo Colon or Freddy Garcia

The 2010 baseball season was the closest we have come to "The Year of the Pitcher" since 1968, when it was custom to win more than 20 games, and batting averages just barely slid into the .200's.

In 2010, it was crazy how many no-hitters and perfect games were thrown.

We, as fans, are blessed to be witnessing such talents on the mound these days.

Not just talent, but young talent.

I'm talking guys like Tim Lincecum, Felix Hernandez, Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price, etc. The list goes on and on.