A Shout-Out to TGP Leadership…

Daniel Burch was a man,

Yes, a big man!

With an eye like an eagle

And as tall as a mountain was he!

Daniel Burch was a man,

Yes, a big man!

He was brave, he was fearless

And as tough as a mighty oak tree!

From the Yankees cap on the top of ol’ Dan

To the heel of his pinstriped shoe;

The rippin’est, roarin’est, fightin’est man

The Yankees Universe ever knew!

OK, I may have plagiarized those words from a well known theme song about a noted frontiersman but I thought I’d give a shout out to Daniel Burch and Bryan Van Dusen (and others) for the tremendous work and accomplishments that they’ve achieved with The Greedy Pinstripes blog during the past five years.  I know that Daniel keeps saying that this a blog and not a news site, but from the short time I’ve been here (about long enough for someone to grow a pimple on their ass), I have not seen many people that put in the effort that Daniel does, day in and day out.  

He and Bryan should be congratulated for their hard work and their continued drive to make this site everything it can be, should be, and will be.  From what I’ve seen, they are selfless and all about the team.  I guess in a way they were Andrew Miller before Andrew Miller was Andrew Miller, if that makes sense.  

So, cheers to Daniel and Bryan!  May success and great joy (and maybe some sleep) continue to flourish in your presence! All of us are excited to see what’s next and look forward to your leadership and insight on a daily basis.  As a fan, I appreciate this blog.  We may not always agree and that’s okay.  At the end of the day, we believe in the New York Yankees and are excited about the team’s future.  It will be a fun day when The Greedy Pinstripes blog is filled with posts about World Championship #28.  In the interim, please keep up the stellar work!  Both of you are very much appreciated.

When Alex Rodriguez officially announced his retirement, I was surprised.  I would have bet that A-Rod would appear this year with another team in an attempt to reach the 700 home run milestone.  I was wrong.  With Tuesday’s announcement that A-Rod has signed with FOX Sports as a full-time analyst, there’s no way he is going to come back.  Not sure how much time his new deal will afford him to consult for the Yankees, but he’s well underway with his second career.  I may be glad that he is no longer playing, but I do wish him the best in his new endeavor.  

Hmmm, the Los Angeles Dodgers are most likely going to start the season with four left-handers in their starting rotation?  I really think that they should trade Clayton Kershaw to the Yankees to relieve some of that pressure!  Ha!  One can dream, right?  

On Tuesday in the exhibition play, the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-6, in 10 innings.  A close game, yes, but it was nice to return to winning after Monday’s disaster against the Pirates.  Kyle Higashioka has impressed me so far.  I didn’t really think that he had a chance to unseat Yankees backup catcher Austin Romine but he’s starting to change my mind.  He hit a two-run home run in the 7th inning of yesterday’s win.  Higashioka has shown great initiative and has even learned how to call pitches in Japanese in an effort to better communicate with ace Masahiro Tanaka.  Maybe Austin Romine should be checking out housing in Pittsburgh after all.

With the win over the Rays, the Yankees improved their record to 10-3.  Now if I can just figure out how the team can replicate this start in April…