Saturday, March 31, 2012

MIchael Pineda MRI Results



EDIT: Pineda's labrum and rotator cuff are fine, so he'll be shut down for 10-15 days and go from there.

The results are in and Michael Pineda has shoulder inflammation tendinitis and will be placed on the 15 day DL. Could have been a whole lot worse so we all need to take a sigh of relief.

Yankees starting rotation looks as follows

CC Sabathia
Hiroki Kuroda
Ivan Nova
Freddy Garcia
Phil Hughes

Source : @MarcCarig on Twitter

Spring Training 3/31/12

Today the Yankees play the Houston Astros down in Osceola County Stadium. Here is today's lineup for this last day in March.


Eduardo Nunez 3B
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira DH
Raul Ibanez RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Chris Dickerson LF
Doug Bernier SS
Jose Gil 1B
RHP Adam Warren

Pineda, Cabral, and Rotation Updates

Thankfully Pineda isn't suffering from a serious injury, as it's just shoulder inflammation tendinitis. That did lead the team to place Pineda on the DL, so the team will be without their shiny new toy for about two weeks into the season.

Not sure if this injury made the decision for Girardi or not, but the Opening Day rotation has been set. We heard that CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda would start games 1 and 2, and now we learn that the rest of the rotation will be Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, and Freddy Garcia.

Speaking of boo-boos, Cesar Cabral is said to have a "significant injury". He was seen wearing a sling last night. That's too bad for Cesar who may have been in MLB this season, but it looks like that spot will go to Clay Rapada (not a bad consolation prize for Yankee fans). Fortunately Cabral is young (23), and has plenty of time to make a mark on the game. We just hope that he can bounce back from this injury, as Rule V rules would carry over to 2013 if we don't see him again in 2012.

World Series Winner Told Here

With the Yankees this close to the regular season and spring being over I decided I would throw my hat in the predictions ring of division winners, wild card winners, and playoff winners. SO here we go.

AL East : (1)New York Yankees (Shocker)
AL Central : (2)Detroit Tigers (Shocker)
AL West : (3)Los Angeles Angels (of whatever)
Wild Card #1 : (4)Tampa Bay Rays
Wild Card #2 : (drum roll please) (5)Kansas City Royals!!!!!

The Royals have a ton of young guys that are just posed to have break out and monster seasons. When that happens all at once you get this one year wonder team that runs through everybody but falters in September, see the Padres a couple years back. If the Padres had that second wild card team though , without looking at the standings to really see, I bet they would have still made the playoffs. Go Kansas City in 2012. Also, yes I do realize I left the Buffalo Bills of Baseball, the Texas Rangers, out of the playoffs. 
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NL East : (1)Philadelphia Phillies (until someone says otherwise)
NL Central : (3)St. Louis Cardinals
NL West : (2)Colorado Rockies
Wild Card #1 : (4)Atlanta Braves
Wild Card #2 (5)Washington Nationals

I think both the Eastern divisions are absolutely stacked, but none more then the NL East. Every team besides the Mets have a legitimate shot at winning a division and/or making the playoffs. The problem with that is they are going to have to beat up on each other all season long a lot until the schedules change next season with year round interleague play. I expect a lot out of the Nationals pitching staff this season and expect them to be carried by it. I also expect Jayson Heward and especially Freddy Freeman to carry the Braves to the post season and beyond with monster seasons from both. The Colorado Rockies have a ton of young pitching and I think they will go far in a very weak division. 

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NOW FOR THE PLAYOFFS:

Tampa Bay Rays vs Kansas City Royals

The good luck and team that everyone loves goes down here. Everyone roots for the underdog but David Price will be too much for this team.

New York Yankees Vs Tampa Bay Rays

In a short series this worries me as a Yankees fan but if the Yankees pitching staff works out the way we all expect it to then the Rays would potentially have to beat Sabathia twice, Kuroda, Pineda, or a combination of the Nova/Hughes/Pettitte/Garcia combo. Thats just too much in a short series. Yankees win

Detroit Tigers vs Los Angeles Angels Of Disney Land In Orange County Outside Of Anaheim

The Angels pitching will just be too much in this series for the Tigers. The Tigers defense will give away one too many runs and the Angels will prevail. The rally monkey lives!

New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Angels of San Francisco in the good part of town in Covina but not in Oakland because Oakland is a bad part of town.

The Yankees seem to be the team to beat and me, and my very heavily biased opinion, should not be the one to count against that. With a great pitching staff mixed in with a great bullpen the Yankees just need that timely hitting that escaped them in last years playoffs. The Yankees will win this series but this should be the series of the century so far. You're four best vs our four best and let us see who's bullpen falters first. If it comes down to a Jordan Walden vs Mariano Rivera battle... I cannot pick against us.

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Atlanta Braves vs Washington Nationals.

Stephen Strasburgh vs Tim Hudson (assuming health). As much as my gut tells me the Nationals would run all over this team it is a totally different ball game when it is the playoffs and the Nats have never been there. Braves win reluctantly.

Philadelphia Phillies vs Atlanta Braves

Until someone knocks them off their perch I dont see how you could pick against the Phillies here... unless you're me. The Braves will knock off the Phillies in a hell of a 7 game series and continue the Phillies "super team " failures. The curse of Roy Halladay is born, lol.

Colorado Rockies vs. St Louis Cardinals

This is so hard to predict because we do not know how Adam Wainwright is going to come back and we do not know IF Cris Carpenter is going to be back. We also do not know how Drew Pomeranz is going to pitch this season so I am going to take a wild shot in the dark and use depth and pitching as a reason that the Cardinals win here. I also expect Roy Oswalt to be a Cardinal by the time this all happens so that helps.

Atlanta Braves vs St Louis Cardinals

I really think the Braves are going to be a special team this season with just way too much pitching to lose this time around. I expect the Cardinals to put up a fight, maybe even into a 6th game, but ultimately I expect the Braves to be National League Champions.

So much for this new playoff system HURTING the wild card teams huh?

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New York Yankees vs Atlanta Braves

Two teams that have not met in the World Series since the 1999 World Series. This is going to be another dog fight but I think the Angels pitching staff is a little better then the Braves pitching staff so I cannot pick against my Yankees here. #28

Yankees Win!!!! TTTTTHHHHHAAAAA Yankees Win!

Do not get me wrong, I did not expect the Yankees to win the World Series last year. There were many years that I did not expect the Yankees to win the World Series so it is not just because I am a fan and a blogger for them that I expect them to win. I just love this team it has a great mixture of depth, role players, youth, experience, moneyball players, power hitters, and aging guys that would love just one more ring. Yankees or bust in 2012.

Another One Bites The Dust



Cesar Cabral left yesterday's game after pitching an inning with severe pain in his left throwing elbow. He was in a sling when talking to reporters yesterday and will go for an MRI and x rays today. Yesterday's injuries to Cabral and Pineda may have just ended all the competition that we have had this spring.  Hello Clay Rapada.