We’ve added a neat little feature to the RAB experience today, an Organizational Depth Chart. It runs 5 deep for the players at each position, and can always be accessed via the link up top. Everything else you need to know about it explained in the page’s intro.

Update: Pitcher listing has been shortened due to popular demand.

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You know, today marks the one-year anniversary of River Ave. Blues. Well, technically it was yesterday. But we’ll just pretend that February 29th already happened and call it even, okay?

Back then, on February 20, 2007, this wasn’t quite the place to be. It was Ben, Mike, me, and a dozen or so readers from our previous endeavors. And I’ll admit, it was a little frustrating at first, seeing that no one was reading. We had all been fairly visible just a few days earlier. But we traded it all in for this.

So, as the venture capitalist who was promised the world but isn’t seeing a quick return on his heavy investment, I started to sweat a little. Yes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and all those other clichés about patience and hard work. But I’d been patient, and I’d worked hard. I started doing this in mid-2005, thrilled that I got 30 people a day to read me. Mike entered the game first thing in 2006, and I’m sure he had the same rush. Ben’s been doing this longer than both of us.

Slowly, the audience started building. We were getting six, seven comments on posts. People were engaging each other with well thought-out ideas. I started to get that excited feeling again. We were talking, and not only were people listening, they were interacting. Hell, I can’t tell you how many times I took an idea from the comments and developed it into a full post. And because of this interaction and give and take, we continued to grow.

I don’t want to launch into some braggardly rundown of our traffic numbers — they’re freely available at the bottom of the right sidebar, if you’re so inclined — but suffice it to say that we have more readers that I could ever have fathomed. Some participate, some just read. (Some click our ads, which is always appreciated). But whatever it is that the readers are doing, they’re blowing my mind. Why?

Because you don’t have to read this.

This isn’t the old guard, where your choice is just among the writers in the daily papers. You can choose from dozens of outlets for your news and insights. Just check out all of the Yanks blogs listed at striketwo.net. And that’s not even all of them. I’ll go out on a limb and say you can get a reasonable level of coverage from at least 10 different Yankees blogs. Yet, for some reason, you come back here. And I can’t begin to tell you how cool a feeling that is.

Honestly, I wouldn’t want to do it the other way. Throughout college, I thought I wanted to be a sports journalist. What better profession could there be, I thought. You get to watch and write about sports.

Ah, to be young and naive again. Little did I realize at the time what being a beat reporter meant. Why would I want to hang around a bunch of people who clearly didn’t want me there? It was around the time I started asking that question that I started to think that there could be another way.

Of course, I had missed the boat by a few years. Things had been moving another way. Baseball blogs were a trend long before I jumped into the game. I’m just glad I realized the potential of this platform, and didn’t try to shun it as so many in the mainstream media have.

So we are here today to celebrate a year of working with you guys to create this community that I think is the best Yankees-related one on the web. We are here to celebrate open discourse and the exchange of ideas. Yes, we take stands on certain issues, but we’re always open to an debate — just as long as you’ve got your argument straight. Anyone who’s gotten into it in the comments can tell you, it can be a hell of a lot of fun.

We’re here today to celebrate many things. But most of all, we are here to celebrate our independence.

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Had some minor technical issues with our host, but all is good now. Sorry for the downtime. Too bad that hot blonde chick that was showing up instead of the regular site didn’t stick around.

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Over the last few days, we’ve had a few not-so-friendly arguments break out in the comments. We’ve since removed many — if not all — of the offending comments, and I just wanted to take a chance to remind you all to play nice in the comments. Try to refrain from nasty name-calling; don’t provoke each other; don’t post your personal information, or anyone else’s, on a public forum. Remember: We’re all, for the most part, Yankee fans here. It’s fine if we disagree about something, but don’t turn it into a war. We don’t like policing the comments as much the overwhelming majority of you don’t like reading juvenile fights.

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Posting figures to be a little light around these parts over the next few days, so take the time and spend it with your friends and family. Forget all about baseball for a few days and enjoy the company of your loved ones. Ben, Joe and I wish everyone the happiest of holidays, and with any luck Santa will leave Johan Santana under the tree (with Hughes, Joba and IPK tucked away safely in the stocking, of course).

Happy Holidays to you and yours from River Ave. Blues.

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Just got in from checking the mail, and on my doorstep was a small, square plastic package. Yep. My “Save the Big Three” t-shirt. Now, I ordered it the first day they were available, so you can understand that if you haven’t gotten yours yet, it’s on its way. And I have to say, it’s worth the wait.

The shirt itself seems heavy-duty enough. But that’s not the best part. Usually, when shirts like this come in, the lettering is pressed onto the shirt. So when it goes through the wash, eventually the letters wash off. Ah ha, not with these puppies. It appears as though the lettering is dyed right into the shirt. So yeah, it’ll fade in time, but putting it through the wash isn’t going to result in the text falling off or anything.

I wear somewhere between a medium and a large. I ordered a large, and it fits perfectly. So if you were hesitating because you didn’t know what kind of quality you’re getting, you can go ahead and order one. Out of the box, it gets my seal of approval.

So order yours today. I’m wearing mine to the bar tonight.

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To all you folks who read RAB now and then on your PDAs/ Blackberry/iPhones/cell phones, we’re experiencing some problems with the Mobile Version and our latest cache upgrades. Bear with us for a day or two as we try to sort out this problem.

Update 2:37: RAB Mobile should be up and running again. If you’re still having problems, my e-mail address is on the left-hand sidebar. Contact me and let me know.

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Just figured I’d drop a line that I’m filling in over at MLB Trade Rumors today. Come check it out.

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We’re working on some behind-the-scenes upgrades that should make River Ave. Blues more responsive and should — fingers crossed — eliminate most, if not all, of our downtime. If you’re reading this is in an RSS reader and can’t access the main site for RAB, worry not. We’ll be back up shortly. If you’re reader this on the main site, then just ignore it. Obviously. Thanks for sticking with us.

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We had about an hour-long outage there. Sorry about that. The problem should be fixed now.

In honest-to-goodness Yankee news, the Yankees, along with Joe Torre, are holding a press conference in 16 minutes. If Joe Torre isn’t there to announce a contract extension, I will be pretty damn surprised.

Update 3:46 p.m.: Dan Graziano reports that Torre will accept a one-year deal with a team option for 2009. He’ll have to take a pay cut for this one. The Reign of King George is officially over.

Update 4:16 p.m.: This information, as we now know, is wrong. Torre turned down the Yankees.

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