ByChad Jennings is back at it with the complete rosters. These aren’t official, but they’re darn close to it. Double-A Trenton will be the team to watch this year, but Low-A Charleston’s rotation is loaded with some serious potential. Can’t wait for the games to begin. · (12) ·
ByFormer Yank Nick Johnson just doubled home the first run in Nationals’ Park history in his first at-bat after missing ’07 with the broken leg. He worked the count back to 3-2 after being down 0-2 before picking up the historic knock. Just like old days. · (12) ·
Minor League assignments
By · CommentsChad Jennings managed to run down a list of where some key minor leaguers have been assigned. The notables:
Double-A Trenton: Phil Coke, Reegie Corona, Steven Jackson, George Kontos, Chris Malec, Dan McCutchen, Carlos Mendoza, David Robertson, Kevin Russo, Josh Schmidt, Eric Wordekemper, Chase Wright
That’s a decent infield, lots of versatility … I expect Marcos Vechionacci to man the hot corner full-time … they won’t be blowing many late game leads in Trenton this year, wowza is that a solid ‘pen … Wright was the victim of the rotation numbers crunch in Triple-A Scranton
High-A Tampa: JB Cox, Mike Dunn, Mitch Hilligoss, Jon Hovis, Mark Melancon, Ivan Nova, Braedyn Pruitt, Damon Sublett
Cox will be sent up to Scranton as soon as the weather warms up … looks like Hilligoss will continue to play short, which only ups his value … I suspect Pruitt will play his way out of the lineup by midseason, and could be replaced by Bradley Suttle at some point
Low-A Charleston: Austin Romine, Jesus Montero, Carmen Angelini
Romine and Montero will likely split time behind the plate and at DH, which will help keep them fresh both short and long term, but it’s not ideal developmentally for their receiving … Angelini’s just the man
Disabled List: Francisco Cervelli, Anthony Claggett, Christian Garcia, CJ Henry, Kevin Whelan
Whelan is out with a sore shoulder, ditto Garcia, who’s never been able to stay healthy for an extended period of time … not sure what’s up with Claggett or Henry … Cervelli’s out with the wrist obviously
None of the assignments are final, but for the most part they all seem reasonable. I’m curious to see how Charleston’s rotation shakes out, with guys like Dellin Betances, Jairo Heredia, Zach McAllister, Adam O. and Ryan Pope all legit candidates.
ByAs part of their season preview, The Times dissected Yankee Stadium, both literally and figuratively. Tyler Kepner offers up an audio slideshow to go along with his article on the secrets of the Stadium. Richard Sandomir looks at the eventual demolition of both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium. · (1) ·
What would Opening Day be without a giveaway contest? Nothing. So here at RAB, we’re presenting the Opening Day PS3 MLB’08 The Show Giveaway Contest. And this time, we’ll run a tighter ship than we did with the photo caption contest last year.
The Prize: Copies of MLB ’08 The Show for PlayStation 3. Even if you don’t have a PS3, enter for the fun of it.
The Contest: Predict the New York Yankee firsts for the 2008 season. In the comments to this post, enter by taking your best guess at who will record following firsts for the Yankee season:
Hit (and what you think that hit will be)
Run
RBI
Extra-Base Hit
Stolen Base
Home Run
Strike Out
Walk
Error
Winning Pitcher
Save
Losing Pitcher
The Fine Print: Each answer is worth one point, and the top three finishers will each win a prize. In the event of a tie, we have up to five copies of the video game to award. In order to be eligible to win this contest, you must leave a valid e-mail address in the e-mail field on the comment submission form. One entry per person please. This contest is open until 1:05 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, March 31, 2008.
ByBlah blah blah here’s the link yadda yadda yadda. Check it out, it’s worth the read, don’t miss it, you know the drill. · (5) ·
ByAs the Yanks prepare for their last opening day at the House that Ruth Built, Tyler Kepner checks win with a great piece on the hidden parts of Yankee Stadium that only the players know. Find out where the Yankee Stadium seats are fixed, where Jeff Nelson has left his marked, and why Goose Gossage thinks the new stadium is “something they had to do” and “just a shame.” It’s a great read. · (9) ·
A RAB Thank You
By · CommentsA little while ago this evening, RAB set a new single-month record for page views and unique views. We’ve now had over 256,000 page views in March, and we want to thank all of you, our readers, for making this site so successful. Since the Yankees were bounced from the ALDS in October, we’ve had well over 1.25 million page views, and since we started RAB, we’ve had 2,043 posts and 27,474 comments (and counting). With the season set to start on Monday — and a new RAB give-away contest coming on Sunday — we’re set for a great season here just as the Yanks are set on the field. So thank you to everyone.
ByTwo articles of note on Joe Girardi today: Gerry Fraley in the Rocky Mountain News takes a look back at Joe Girardi’s career path. Girardi, the Rockies’ first catcher, gives credit to his Colorado years for his recent successes. Meanwhile, in Florida, as Joel Sherman writes in today’s Post, the players feel that Girardi got a bum rap from the Front Office and actually did a well with the young Marlins team. All eyes will be on Girardi this season, for better or worse. · (1) ·
ByThis isn’t exactly Yankee-related, but it’s good stuff nonetheless. Former Major Leaguer and all-around smart guy Doug Glanville will be contributing on and off this season to The New York Times as the season unfolds. Glanville knows what he was: a very good baseball player who had the luck and fortune to play for a few years at the Major League level. He quit when he felt the time was right and is quite good as bringing non-players into the game. His first column went up earlier this week. Good stuff. · (1) ·
