Game 20: Hard Travelin'

When CC Sabathia took the mound in Oakland last Thursday, the Yankees were riding a six game winning streak and probably expecting to stretch it to seven. Their ace was on the hill in a pitcher's park against the punchless A's and if they could pull out a victory, they'd be heading into Anaheim with an outstanding 12-3 record. Instead, the A's jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Including that tidy two hour and six minute affair, the Yanks have dropped four out of their last five games and now sit at a much less impressive 12-7.

Now, instead of looking to extend a winning streak, the Yanks need Sabathia to step up with a strong performance and stop the bleeding. In previous Aprils, it might not have been confidence-inspiring to know that CC was taking the mound tonight, but this year he has begun to buck his reputation as a slow starter.

After a shaky 5 1/3 inning inning performance on Opening Night in Fenway, Sabathia has allowed only 5 runs (4 earned), and 18 baserunners (8 hits, 8 walks) in his past three starts, spanning 21 2/3 IP. He was nothing short of dominant against the Rays, taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning and was as good or better in his rain-shortened six inning outing against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium. Even when he took the loss against Oakland, three of the four runs came on one pitch to Kurt Suzuki and he was efficient enough to complete 8 innings despite walking six batters. Total all of his outings up and you get a 2-1 record, a 3.00 ERA, a WHIP under 1.000 and about 8 K's per 9 innings pitched.

Sabathia's opponent tonight will be Jeremy Guthire. Like Kevin Millwood heading into last night, Guthrie has pitched well (3.46 ERA) but has only two losses to show for his efforts. Guthrie managed to throw 200 innings for the first time in his career last year, but he also tallied an ERA over 5.00 and led the AL in losses with 17. This year though, he's lasted longer than 6 innings in each of his four starts and given up fewer than 3 runs in each of them.

Guthrie is a fastball-slider-changeup pitcher, with his heater coming in at around 92-93-94 and both of his offspeed pitches about 84-85. A couple of those fastballs were responsible for a minor dustup during Spring Training between the two clubs. On March 29th, Guthrie hit Mark Teixeira in the elbow, foricing hit to leave the game, and a few innings later, plunked Francisco Cervelli. Joe Girardi was seen yelling from the dugout, informing the O's hurler that we was less than pleased with his lack of command.

Although what happened down in Sarasota is just one of many incidents between the Yankees and Orioles in the recent past, it's unlikely to inspire any bad blood tonight. Neither of Cervelli or Teixeira were seriously hurt that day and the regular season has a way of making what happened in March seem insignificant. Like they were last night, the Orioles are still desperate for wins and the Yankees are anxious salvage the final two games of this road trip, which is looking a whole lot more difficult than when it began.

I've been havin' some hard travelin', I thought you knowed,
I've been havin' some hard travelin', way down the road,
I've been havin' some hard travelin', hard ramblin', hard gamblin',
I've been havin' some hard travelin', lord.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Nick Johnson is back in action as the Yanks run their A lineup.

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Granderson CF
Swisher RF
Gardner LF

Orioles:

Garrett Atkins replaces Rhyne Hughes at first base tonight. Atkins is awful to a terrible state and manager Dave Trembly has put him on notice that if he doesn't produce, Hughes will take his spot.

Adam Jones, CF
Nick Markakis, RF
Ty Wigginton, 2B
Miguel Tejada, 3B
Matt Wieters, C
Garrett Atkins, 1B
Nolan Reimold, DH
Luis Montanez, LF
Caesar Izturis, SS

Game 2: We Gotta Live Together

Coming off a tough loss in Fenway on Sunday night, the Yankees face an even tougher pitching match up against the Red Sox this evening. The true ace of the Sox staff, 26 year old left hander Jon Lester gets the call this evening while the Yanks counter with A.J. Burnett.

Lester is coming off of two straight seasons with 200+ innings and sub-3.50 ERAs. Although he started one fewer game in 2009 then in '08, Lester recorded 73 more strikeouts, jumping his K/9 from 6.5 to 10.0. Predictably, his FIP dropped almost an entire run from 4.08 to 3.13 as a result. There are a host of other factors of course, but the increased velocity he saw across the board probably helped generate more swings and misses.

During that same span, Lester continued to allow under one hit per inning and walk just under 3 per 9. Despite the dramatic increase in strikeouts, Lester's ERA actually increased a tick from 3.21 to 3.41 based mostly on an increase in his home run rate from an incredible 0.6 to a simply solid 0.9. As a lefty in Fenway, has done an admirable job of keeping the ball in the park, allowing significantly fewer long balls at home than on the road.

In order to combat the southpaw on the mound, Joe Girardi has elected to go with Marcus Thames over Brett Gardner.

Why this makes sense: The Green Monster makes it more likely that Thames' will do more damage on offense and less on defense. The small left field at Fenway means less ground for him to cover in the bottom halves of the innings and large, looming target for doubles and home runs in the tops.

Why it doesn't make sense: If anyone should be sitting against lefties (based on previous track records - which is clearly why Thames is getting the start), it should be Curtis Granderson. Gardner hasn't even had a chance to make a start against a lefty this year and Girardi is already sitting him. There is strong an argument to be made for playing both Granderson and Gardner because each can exploit the soft-throwing Victor Martinez if they get on base.

Perhaps Girardi will give Gardner some chances against lesser lefties or in parks with bigger outfields, but Thames gets his shot tonight.

While it might be advantageous to Thames, Fenway was not kind to Burnett last year as he gave up 22 runs in 12 2/3 innings over three starts. The last one of those was a 5 inning, 9 run shellacking on August 22nd that saw Burnett and Posada clash over pitch selection. Burnett was apparently intent on throwing his curveball while Posada thought the Sox hitters were waiting on it. Whether or not there was real animosity between them, Burnett made six more regular season starts and 5 in the postseason, none of which were caught by Posada.

This season, however, appears to be a different story. Burnett has been working with Posada all throughout Spring Training in an effort to get on the same page. Posada apparently endeared himself to Burnett by staying late to catch a simulated game after A.J.'s scheduled start against the Braves got rained out and together, they've been attempting to refine his changeup.

Burnett and Posada aren't the best match. Burnett's tendency to bury curveballs in the dirt doesn't mix well with Posada's 38 year old body. Apparently they have different ideas about what to throw to which hitters in certain counts. But now they Jose Molina is gone to Toronto, they've gotta do their best to figure it out how they can make their battery combination a successful one.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Jeter SS

Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Swisher RF
Thames LF
Granderson CF

Red Sox:

Ellsbury LF
Pedroia 2B
Martinez C
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Beltre 3B
Drew RF
Cameron CF
Scutaro 2B

Prospect Game: The Kids Are Alright

Well here we are Fackers. It's the final day of Spring Training and we're just one day away from real baseball. Much like the Yankees' starting rotation, Jay and I have limited our innings this spring, trying to preserve some energy after a long 2009 season. But we're in the best writing shape of our lives and are working on some new pitches.

So before we kick things off for real tomorrow night, I suppose we should get in some training of our own with one of signature our game previews. We haven't done one all spring, but today's Spring Training finale offers a good opportunity.

The Yankee regulars will take on a team of the organization's top prospects at 1 PM on YES. Javier Vazquez will get the nod for the regulars. It'll be interesting to see if the mentally weak Vazquez can handle the immense pressure of facing the best minor leaguers the organization has to offer.

According to Chad Jennings, Marcus Thames has officially made the roster, bringing the Yankees' 40 man roster to 39. The final bullpen spot is the only thing up for grabs. Boone Logan is still in camp, and his making the team likely depends on the health of Damaso Marte, and to a lesser extent, Alfredo Aceves. Jorge Posada is in the line up today after missing the last two days with a stiff neck. Catchers Mike Rivera and P.J. Pilittere are still in camp, in case the bumps and bruises of Posada and Francisco Cervelli require a third catcher for the opening series. However, Jennings is also reporting that the Yankees have signed the recently released Chad Moeller, who spent much of the 2008 season with the club, to a minor league contract and that Rivera will be released. As expected, Nick Johnson is not playing today after suffering a bone bruise yesterday. Nick Swisher will DH; Randy Winn will play right, and the rest of the regulars are in the starting line up.

For the Prospects, Jonathan Albaladejo inexplicably gets the start. I guess Manny Banuelos, Jeremy Bleich, Zach McAllister, et. al. had other plans. Albie goes from making the Opening Day roster both of the last two years to starting for the Prospect team this year. Tough break. The Prospects' starting line up features last year's first round pick Slade Heathcott, Corban Joseph, Jesus Montero, David Adams, last year's second round pick JR Murphy as the DH, Colin Curtis, Bradley Suttle, Eduardo Nunez, and Melky Mesa. I'm sure we'll see others, including Austin Romine, as the game progresses.

In light of the recent injuries and the long, boring grind of the spring, these guys are more than ready to get away from Tampa. The prospects will stay behind a few days longer until the minor league season starts. Let's just hope everyone finishes today without any further bumps and bruises.

So as we get a chance to see the kids of the organization today, we'll turn to footage of some of rock and roll's foremost geezers, back when they were just young whippersnappers. In light of the embarrassing Super Bowl halftime show two months ago, I suppose it's nice to have reminder that back when Keith Moon and The Ox were still around, The Who weren't a total joke.

Sometimes, I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind
Better leave her behind with the kids, they're alright
The kids are alright

10 (Bad) Reasons Spring Training Is "Better" Than The Regular Season

I've never been to Spring Training. I wanted to make the trip this year, but couldn't really find anyone to go with and didn't have the gumption or disposable income to go down by myself as a strictly blog-related solo adventure. But I'm sure it would be a lot of fun.

Whether you are in Florida or Arizona this time of year, you are treated to a unique kind of baseball experience. As a fan you're much closer to the action and you get to see a lot of the team's prospects who will be distributed throughout the farm system when the season rolls around. You're there for the batting practice and long toss and all the other stuff that you don't usually get to see from April - October, especially from your couch. The weather is obviously much nicer than it is here in the Northeast which a considerable benefit after being subjected to three months of temperatures around or below freezing. Blog friends Kevin Kaduk and Craig Calcaterra both made the most out of their time hopping around the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues and produced some great material when they were down there.

So Spring Training is cool. It's different. But no one would actually say that it's better than the regular season. Would they?

Ladies and gentlemen, Ron Chimelis of MassLive.com would:

Once these teams head north, the air will be deflated out of my baseball balloon. In July, when others are setting their watches to the trade deadline, I will long for the carefree days of March, when the sport was at its most special and most pure.

Special? Yes, it's different than the regular season. Pure? Sure, if you're referring to the fact that it's not clouded by things like "competition", "excitement" and "anyone actually giving a shit". Being 8 years old was "carefree" and "special" and "pure", but it also sucked because you had no money, couldn't drive a car, your parents told you when you had to go to bed and no one really listened to what you had to say.

1. The ballparks. Not only are they cozy, they are named for people who have evidently done something worthwhile in their communities... It's much better than visiting stadiums named for multi-national corporations that were in the news when the nation's economy started going down the port-a-potty.

You get to see Major League players in what is typically a minor league setting, that's cool. But I assume you are referring to Citi Field? Well, the Mets just renamed their Spring Training facility "Digital Domain Park". I'm sure Mr. Domain has done some fantastic work in the Port St. Lucie area.

2. When a slugger hits a 440-foot homer, we can say it's because the pitcher was a 19-year-old kid who was buying a tux for his prom last year, not because the hitter was juiced.

Is that what you say when a person hits a massive home run, Ron? That they are "juiced"? I usually say something like "Wow, that was a bomb". Instead of trying to divine whether or not a player is taking performance enhancing drugs based on the distance of their home runs, I would recommend just trying to enjoy the game all year round.

3. The fans are universally nice. Most patrons, including those who line up at 8 a.m. to see what tickets are available, are either living on retirement money or on vacation.

Well... good for them? I don't attend baseball games to interact with courteous people. I go to see baseball players play baseball. And I definitely don't care how nice the people at the park are if I'm watching at home.

4. Lineups where the lowest uniform number is 67. I'd love the scorecard concession for these games.

If I wanted to watch a bunch of minor leaguers play, I'd watch a minor league game.

5. Parking for $5.

It's Florida and Arizona, parking should be free. In New York, thanks to the subway and the Metro North you don't even have to drive. You can even park your bike at Yankee Stadium now! What about the cheaper tickets and concessions? Sorry folks, Ron's in the press box so he doesn't care about what might matter to you the reader/fan. THIS IS RON'S LIST, SUCKERS!

6. Common sense. The umpires called a Red Sox-Astros game in the eighth inning Sunday after a 16-minute rain delay.

Common sense? Well in the regular season, it's sort of important that everyone plays the same amount of games, you know, for the playoffs and stuff. If it rains, they aren't just going to call it quits because the beat writers want to go home.

7. Fans who gloat about the Florida weather. This really annoyed me at first, but now I find it rather entertaining.

Nothing could be more relevant to a game of baseball than the fans talking about the weather. And everyone loves repetitive gloating about something they are not in any way responsible for!

8. Parking for $5. So good, I'm listing it twice.

It's much more likely that you couldn't think of another flimsy point to support your weak premise and instead of billing the piece as "9 things...", you copped out and repeated yourself.

9. The delightful contradiction over how much performance matters.

This is actually the worst part, by far, about Spring Training.

10. Interleague games that don't offend purists' sensibilities, split-squad games, games against Northeastern University and Boston College. You don't get this variety once the real games start.

There are plenty of good reasons that you don't get split-squad games against college teams when the regular season starts. No one wants that kind of "variety". If you want to see Bahston Cawledge and Nawtheastahn, then go down to fackin' Chestnut Hill.

I get what Ron is trying to get at here. He had a good time down in Florida and doesn't mind mailing in a hacky column proving just that. The problem is that most of his readers likely didn't go down to Florida and don't give a shit about the $5 parking, the nice weather, friendly people, or the ballpark names. They just want the season to start and the games to matter.

11 days.

First Round Of Cuts In Yankee Camp

Good morning Fackers. Did you miss us? Other aspects of life necessitated that both Jay and I take a little break from blogging last week. Thankfully there isn't much of consequence happening in Spring Training these days, unless you feel the need to read yet another post about who should be the fifth starter or fifth outfielder.

But here we are at the Ides of March, the Yankees' second to last off day before they break camp. We're into Daylight Savings Time and less than three weeks from Opening Night. The team plans to roll out their presumptive Opening Night line up for Tuesday's game, which features Nick Johnson and Robinson Cano in the much debated two and five holes respectively. The regulars will be sticking around a bit longer in upcoming games and Joe Girardi has informed the pitchers that their performances are starting to matter.

Of course, as the starting nine goes a bit deeper into games, fewer players are required in camp. To that end, the Yankees made their first two rounds of cuts Friday and yesterday, optioning or reassigning the following players to minor league camp:

Pitchers
Wilkins Arias
Jeremy Bleich
Andrew Brackman
Wilkin De La Rosa
Grant Duff
Christian Garcia
Kei Igawa
Zach McAllister
D.J. Mitchell
Kevin Whelan

Catchers
Jose Gil
Kyle Higashioka

No major surprises here. Brackman, Garcia, and De La Rosa are the only guys on the 40 man roster and none had any realistic chance of making the team. McAllister and Bleich aren't too far off from contributing but both need more time in the minors and neither has been added to the 40 man roster yet. Arias and Mitchell definitely need more time in the minors as they have only risen as high as AA and high A respectively. Duff and Whelan are high level minor leaguers who profile as fringe-type, back of the bullpen relievers. They're no more palatable than the likes of Jonathan Albaladejo, Mark Melancon, Romulo Sanchez, and others who are already on the 40 man and are longshots to make the team.

With ten fewer pitchers in camp, fewer catchers are needed. Higashioka and Gil are the low men on the organizational totem pole, so they're the first to go. Higashioka is considered a prospect and will likely be the primary catcher in low-A Charleston this year; Gil is organizational filler.

Lastly of course, there is Kei Igawa, about whom much ink and venom has been spilled. I suppose the most remarkable thing about Igawa's early cut is that he was amongst the first players to go despite the team's lack of a clear-cut second lefty for the bullpen. Given Girardi's penchant for playing match ups, I suppose this speaks volume as to how little the organization thinks of Igawa. At this point, I don't understand why the team doesn't ship him to a pitching poor NL team where he might be a useful part. Whatever they get for him - salary relief, a C-level prospect, Jamie Hoffmann's rights, a bag of BP balls - would be of more value than Igawa himself. Perhaps his early departure is a sign that the team is serious when they say they plan to carry the twelve best pitchers, regardless of role or handedness.

Ever To Excel

I've never been shy about dropping references to my alma mater here, whether it's been talking about the Beanpot, recapping their outdoor hockey game at Fenway, or making passing references to their football team all fall. I realize that, with the exception of Joe, it's of little to no interest to the vast majority of the Fackers, but I appreciate your humoring me, or at least ignoring it politely.

But today Fackers, today is a day where you all should rally behind Boston College. At 6:00, BC will play their annual exhibition game against the Red Sox. You may not care about BC, but I know that there's no love for the Sox in these parts.

The Eagles have little chance against the Sox. They've never beaten them, and about the best things got was three years ago when Johnny Ayers, who was also the punter on the football team, led off the game with a double off Daisuke Matsuzaka in his first Red Sox appearance.

But the BC baseball program has gained a higher profile in recent years. Catcher Tony Sanchez was the fourth overall pick in last year's draft; pitcher Mike Belfiore was a supplemental first round pick, and two other Eagles were selected in the later rounds. Last year's team qualified for the College World Series for the first time in forty two years and battled national power house Texas for seven hours and twenty five innings before losing the longest game in collegiate history. It's a long shot, but if Manatee Junior College could beat the Pirates last year, maybe there's hope for the Eagles tonight.

For the Sox, former Twin Boof Bonser gets the start after missing all of 2009 with a shoulder injury. I had hoped the Yankees would kick the tires on Bonser when the Twins DFA'd him in the offseason. Not because he's any good - he's not really - but because he sports the same nickname that's followed me for more than fifteen years. I briefly had visions of me getting a player t-shirt with my nickname on the back without looking like a total loser in the process, but it's just not in the cards. To make matters worse he's gone to the worst possible team. So that's it for you Boof: you're dead to me now.

Game starts at six and will air on NESN. To get your school spirit going for tonight here are the Dropkick Murphy's with the BC fight song.

Let The (Spring Training) Games Begin

Good morning, Fackers. Today we take the next baby step along the path to actual, meaningful baseball. After two full weeks in camp for most pitchers and one week for the majority of the position players, the team is now ready to play some live baseball against a real opponent. Well, real might be stretching it considering that said opponent is the Pirates, but you know what I'm trying to get at here.

Of course, the action today is going to be significantly different than a regular season game. In addition to the fact that pitchers are scheduled to pitch in predetermined blocks of a few innings, they won't be throwing a their full array of pitches - most notably their breaking stuff. The lineups are bound to have a few players that aren't going to be on the roster come Opening Day, and that number will steadily increase as the game wears on. It's an just exhibition or scrimmage or dress rehearsal, but after a long winter with very little in the way of live baseball action, it's a welcome reprieve to see your guys on the field.

Last night, Joe from River Ave. Blues cautioned us not to pay attention to the stats from Spring Training but simultaneously reminded us to enjoy the games for what they are:

I encourage everyone to watch spring training baseball for the pure enjoyment of the game. I do not, however, encourage anyone to draw insights from what they see in these games. The pitchers and hitters are still working back into their grooves. A.J. Burnett, for example, will not throw his curveball in his first few spring starts. I’m sure the hitters will all be focusing on what they’ve worked on with Kevin Long and figuring out what works. How can we judge these players if they’re not playing the same way they will when the season starts?

Similarly, our buddy Craig isn't going to bother with his hilariously-titled morning round up, And That Happened until the regular season rolls around:

Yes, it's baseball, but it's a decidedly different beast than the game we know and love. Things happen in spring training like, say, a team benching all of its regulars at the last minute because it rained three hours earlier. Veterans don't make road trips very often and play golf while their teammates sweat. Pitchers go two or three innings max until at least the end of the month. What happens in those games may be interesting, but the games as a whole are not meaningful. They're certainly not the sort of thing that makes a guy want to dig down and analyze the heck out of a box score, ya know?

By the time Opening Day arrives, we are going to be sick of watching Spring Training games. We'll be able to hear the regular season knocking on the door and will be more than willing to leave the meaningless scrimmages and drills of Florida in the dust. However, today around 1:00 will be a great time to embrace the sights and sounds of the game without having to care too much about what happens on the field.

Note: Our friends over at Bronx Baseball Daily are hosting a live chat for the game, and it should be a good chance to yak it up with some like-minded folk. Stop on by.

Field Trip Day At Yankee Camp

Good morning Fackers. Today marks another milestone as we move closer to real live baseball, as it's the final day before Spring Training games begin. The Yankees will not spend the day doing pitcher's fielding practice, throwing bullpens, and taking BP. Instead, trying to recapture the success of last spring's team building exercise, the team will play hooky today and take a little field trip for some sort of mystery competition.

Last year it was a pool tournament, so I doubt they'll repeat that this year. Reports from earlier in the spring ruled out bowling and paintball as too much of an injury risk. So what does that leave? Shuffleboard? Bocce? Laser tag? Mini golf? Ping pong? What do you think Fackers? Leave your ideas in the comments.

I can't take credit for the idea below, as Peter Abraham ran with this last year upon the recommendation of Connie Schwab in the Yankees' media department. I don't think they'll end up in a pool hall again today, but the general idea still applies. And far be it from me to pass up an opportunity to embed a Springsteen video.

We're gonna play some pool, skip some school, act real cool
Stay out all night, it's gonna feel all right

Morning Linkaround

Good morning, Fackers. As much of the East Coast recovers from the winter storm that swept over it last night, the Yankees are down in Tampa beginning Spring Training in earnest. While we celebrate pitchers and catchers as the beginning of camp, as Joe Girardi said earlier this week, it doesn't really kick into full gear until the position players arrive.

Most of the new arrivals had already went through their physicals and took off by the time the writers hit the clubhouse yesterday, but today they will start doing their first drills as a full squad. Of course, we've still got a while to wait before any action appears on our televisions. A week from today, the first Spring Training game (against the Pirates) will be televised on YES. Marc Carig from the Newark Star-Ledger has the full TV schedule.

Here are some other links to start off the day:

Cliff Corcoran from Bronx Banter put out his annual Camp Classic. In it, he examines every player not guaranteed a spot coming out of Spring Training from the 40 man on down to the non-roster invitees.

Similarly, Matthew Pouliot from Hardball Talk continues his "Diving into the Depths" series with a look at the Yankees and organizes a depth chart by position.

Dan Novick from the Hardball Times spotlights an especially sabermetric statement Joe Girardi made about Robinson Cano's performance with runners in scoring position, via LoHud.

On XM Radio last night, Brain Cashman acknowledged that Brett Gardner might be one of the best center fielders in baseball, but said that Curtis Granderson was likely to be their center fielder this season. Ben from RAB thinks that Cash's statements might be an indication that the Yanks don't see Gardner as a long term solution.

On Twitter, Joel Sherman reports that the Yankees are converting Kei Igawa to a reliever in a last ditch effort to extract value from his $46M contract. Considering Joe Girardi is almost certainly going to select two lefties for his bullpen and Boone Logan might be the front runner for that spot, it appears that Igawa will be given a real chance. You can't blame them for trying to make use of him, but the reaction from fans won't be very positive if he stumbles out of the gate.

It's about the time of year that ESPN typically starts stacking new baseball "analysts" - read: past players and executives - on top to their already bloated crew. To wit, they announced that Aaron Boone and J.P. Ricciardi will be contributing to Baseball Tonight this coming season. We Yankee fans like Boone, and Ricciardi seems like a bright, sabermetrically-inclined sort of a guy, but they might need to add a second row of seats on the set of the show.

Larry from Wezen-Ball put together an interesting graphic showing the history of every Major League park marked with the Championships and Pennants won by the team that in habits it.

The ubiquitous Jonah Keri recently appeared on two podcasts that are worth checking out. The first is FanGraphs Audio, which as host Caston Cistulli proclaims "is like a bald eagle: less endangered now than it had been until recently". The second appearance is on Kissing Suzy Kolber's House of Punte. The relevant portion begins just after the 18:00 mark and there is a bit of overlap with the FanGraphs interview. The typical crowd over at KSK will probably not take kindly to the decided lack of poop humor, dick jokes and NFL character sketches, but you folks will likely enjoy the material.

Ozzie Guillen is on Twitter and already dropping gems like "going to eat in half hour why dye no have a job ?". In honor of his presence, Jonah compiles a list of the 9 sports figures who aren't on Twitter but would be in a perfect world.

Baseball America released its Top 100 Prospects list. Jesus Montero is 4th and they his his power a perfect 80 on the scouting scale. The only other Yankees was Austin Romine and he is 86th. Austin Jackson is 76th. Pat Andriola from the Hardball Times lists a couple of things he disagrees with, including ranking Jackson higher than Fernando Martinez.

We might have linked to this already, but for a more detailed and Yankee-centric prospect picture, check out Mike from RAB's Top 30.

The smart folks at BBTF weigh in on the Orioles/Highlanders/Yankees debate I talked about yesterday.

Josh from Jorge Says No! wonders if the Yankees reluctance to give Johnny Damon a two year deal foreshadows their interest in Carl Crawford.

Yanks Break Self-Imposed Rules, Sign Chan Ho Park

The most prominent and overarching storyline of the Yankees offseason to this point has been their desire to stay under their predetermined but officially undisclosed budget. Particularly when it came to picking an option to reinforce left field, it was the primary concern. In acquiring South Korean right hander Chan Ho Park for $1.2M plus $300,000 in incentives, the Yanks have demonstrated that their adherence to their magic number wasn't simply dogmatic. The same goes for their practice of building their bullpen out of the minor leagues.

As was the case when Mark Teixeira was signed last year - although obviously to a far lesser extent - Brian Cashman decided that Chan Ho Park was worth lobbying the ownership to spend extra for. Park rejected a $3.25M offer to stay with the Phillies midway through the offseason and watched his price fall steadily until, apparently, the Yankees couldn't afford not to sign him.

Park began 2009 as a starter for the Phillies, struggled and was ultimately bumped to the bullpen after a particularly dismal 1 1/3 inning, 5 run effort against the Nationals in mid-May. Once transitioned to the 'pen, he was extremely useful for the Phils, pitching more than one inning in 13 of his 38 appearances and compiling a 2.52 ERA over 50 innings in relief. Park blew Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers but was otherwise very effective in the postseason as well, particularly against the Yanks in the World Series (3.1 IP, 0 ER).

Prior to the move, it seemed like the Yankees were essentially set in the bullpen with Rivera, Hughes/Chamberlain, Robertson, Aceves, Marte, and some combination of Gaudin/Mitre/Logan/Melancon. Given the Major League deal to Park, it's likely that he makes the team out of Spring Training. Consequently, the Yanks may decide to trade Gaudin and his $2.95M salary, as he could be more valuable to a team in need of a 5th starter than one who would employ him primarily as a mop-up man. They could also decide to stash the loser of the much ballyhooed Hughes-Chamberlain Battle in Scranton to start the season, although Joel Sherman doesn't think that is very likely.

Of course, the Yankees are going to catch some flak for this because of the emphasis they've continued to place on the budget. But Brain Cashman isn't a politician. He doesn't need to get re-elected or appease his constituents, so it doesn't matter that he deviated slightly from a previously stated plan (or two). In the end, it's not about sticking to the stated goals; it's about making the team better.

All told, the signing does seem likely to make the Yankees better. During an offseason in which many teams were more than willing to pay good relief pitchers far more than they deserved, Cashman and Co. found a relative bargain. You can question whether or not the signing was really necessary - or worth exceeding the budget for - given that the bullpen was already in good shape, but it's hard to argue that this isn't a good value for the Yanks.

Friday Morning Linkaround

Hang in there, Fackers. There sweet salvation of the weekend has almost arrived. Like yesterday, the the content is going to be fairly slow around here as the reports out of this stage of Spring Training aren't worth extrapolating upon and Matt and I are held up with the tedious obligations which actually provide us with monetary compensation. The best we can do is direct you towards some interesting reading material to hold you over:

Friend of the blog Marc Carig asked Joe Girardi a bunch of questions proposed by his Twitter followers. Carig polished up the best sub-140 character entries into actual queries and did his beat reportedly duty of following them up as well. (You can follow the Star-Ledger scribe on his personal Twitter account or with the paper. Or as I do, tag along with both.)

He doesn't go out of his way to publicize it or post on it very often, but Craig Calcaterra keeps a personal blog. Yesterday, inspired by the receipt of his Spring Training itinerary, he recalled his many unsuccessful attempts to have an enjoyable trip to Florida in the past.

Larry from Wezen-Ball used his uncanny powers of research to dig up some features from LIFE Magazine on Spring Training. The Wezenmaster also discovered, as we did last year, the bounty of Spring Training photos in the LIFE Photo Archive on Google, where we shamelessly sampled the banner of the site from. Poke around there and you'll find gems like the one at the top of the post.

Sorry Joe McCarthy, Joe Torre and Billy Martin. Rob Neyer could only find room for one former Yankee manager on Managerial Mount Rushmore. (I'm not counting John McGraw who managed the franchise for the first two seasons when they were still in Baltimore and called the Orioles before bolting to the New York Giants.)

The Bloomberg Sports Blog, headed by the esteemed Jonah Keri, is now up and running. It should be an excellent resource for fantasy geeks and statheads alike.

Jeremy Greenhouse of Baseball Analysts put the "Verducci Effect" under a scientific microscope and guess what... It doesn't pass the P-Value test.

In the Journal News, Chad Jennings notes that Yankee starters will begin their throwing schedule slightly later than normal due to the additional innings they tossed in the postseason.

Ben Shpigel profiled Andrew Brackman today in the New York Times.

The Sports Herina mined photo gold from Yankees camp.

Brew Crew Ball created a Mad Lib of sorts with which you can concoct your own passe Spring Training storylines. As Craig says, "It actually works pretty well. So well in fact that I wouldn't be surprised if the beat writer's guild has called an emergency meeting to see which of them was supposed to be on duty when the secret formula was stolen."

Alex Remington at Big League Stew compares Jonathan Papelbon's career thus far to Mariano Rivera's and concludes that they aren't as far apart as we so boldly stated on Wednesday.

Five More Invited To Spring Training

Sometimes it's better to be invited to the party late than not be invited at all. Last week we took a brief look at the Yankees twenty non-roster invitees to Spring Training. Yesterday they added five more invitees to the list. No word as to whether the three new pitchers were notified before yesterday or if they will be given extra time to report if they were not. Here's a look.

Pitchers (3)
D.J. Mitchell
Dustin Moseley
Ryan Pope

Mitchell was a tenth round pick in 2008, made his professional debut last year, and turned in an outstanding season between Charleston and Tampa. Moseley has made 64 appearances for the Angels since 2006, but missed nearly all of last year with elbow and hip injuries. He was signed to a minor league deal that was also announced yesterday. Pope was a third round pick in 2007 and spent last season at AA Trenton. None has any realistic chance of making the team, though Moseley could provide depth at AAA.

Infielders (2)
Brandon Laird
Jorge Vazquez

Like fellow non roster invitee Colin Curtis, Brandon Laird had an impressive stint in the Arizona Fall League. He's lucky not to be playing in the Arizona Penal League this year, following his arrest, and that of brother Gerald, at a Phoenix Suns game this winter. Vazquez, like Alfredo Aceves, Ramiro Pena, and Manny Banuelos, was signed out of Mexico, which is becoming a lucrative pipeline for the Yankees. Vazquez' season at AA Trenton was cut short by injury, but he did some serious damage with the bat while healthy. That said, it should be noted that Vazquez was quite advanced for the league at 27 years old.

Laird is a third baseman who may be switched to first, Vazquez is a first baseman who has experience at third, catcher, and the outfield from his days in the Mexican League. They are the only infielders amongst the non-roster invitees and have absolutely no chance of making the team.

The five additional non-roster invitees brings the total number of players in camp to 65.

0 Days Until Spring Training: Here Comes The Sun

Good morning Fackers. This is Oddibe McDowell. McDowell was drafted an astounding six times, including once by the Yankees, before finally signing with the Texas Rangers in 1984. A once promising prospect and member of the loaded 1984 U.S. Olympic team, McDowell became a middling outfielder for the Rangers, Indians, and Braves. He spent parts of just seven seasons in the Majors, finishing his professional career with fourteen games for the Columbus Clippers, the Yankees' AAA affiliate, in 1995.

So why does Oddibe appear here? Because no Yankee has ever worn zero on his back. One time Yankee Cliff Johnson wore 00 during his time with the Blue Jays in the 1980s, but I can't find any pictures of it. So Oddibe, the one time Yankee draft pick and minor leaguer, who wore 0 during his time at Arizona State and with the Rangers as a numerical representation of the first letter of his first name, brings our countdown to Spring Training to the magic number of zero.

And with that, here we are. My area in Connecticut got walloped with about ten inches of snow yesterday. My commute home took twice as long as usual. My driveway was a sheet of ice this morning. And I don't care. Because as of today, it's baseball season.

At some point today, thirty five Yankee pitchers and seven Yankee catchers will report to the team's complex in Tampa. Lockers will be filled. Physicals will be taken. And tomorrow, official workouts will begin, and I will never be so enthused about pitchers' fielding practice.

Welcome back baseball. It's been a long, cold, lonely winter.

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's alright,

Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter,
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here,
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's all right.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces,
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here,
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's all right.

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting,
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear,
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's all right.

5 Days Until Spring Training: Joe DiMaggio

The son of Sicilian immigrants, Joe DiMaggio's given name was actually Guiseppe. He grew up in San Francisco where his father made a living as a fisherman, manning a boat that wasn't quite large enough for crabbing but was sufficiently sizable to make a living on during the 1920's in the rich waters of the San Francisco Bay. DiMaggio's father, also named Guiseppe, came from a long line of Sicilian fisherman as did the fathers of most of the boys Joe D. used to play baseball with on North Beach playground.

Naturally, the elder Guiseppe wanted all five of his sons to become fisherman, but he didn't understand that by immigrating to America, he had opened up their options far beyond anything they could have conceived back on Isola delle Femmine. They weren't consigned to the sea like he had been at their age. Only the two oldest DiMaggios became fisherman. The youngest three all went on to play Major League baseball.

Dom and Vince both had pretty decent careers. Each player over a decade and both brothers retired with OPS+ around 110. Not bad, but Joe was clearly head and shoulders above his kin.

Vince was actually the one who got Joe back into baseball after he briefly lost interest in his mid teens. Vince asked his manager with the San Francisco Seals to let his kid brother to fill in at shortstop for three games at the end of the 1932 season while the incumbent Augie Galan was barnstorming in Hawaii. In 1933, Joe officially became part of the team.

During his rookie season, just 18 years old, DiMaggio started the season on the bench. Eventually he took the place of a slumping right fielder and began his inexorable march to superstardom. Starting on May 27th, DiMaggio recorded a hit in 61 straight games, shattering the previous Pacific Coast League record. It was then he truly became hooked on baseball:

Baseball didn't really get into my blood until I knocked off that hitting streak. Getting a daily hit became more important to me than eating, drinking or sleeping. Overnight I became a personality.

DiMaggio had a unique minor league baseball experience. Instead of being drafted by an franchise and assigned to one of their teams thousands of miles from where he grew up, he played all of his minor league ball for his hometown Seals. He later explained:

I had the good luck to spend my entire minor league career in the Pacific Coast League, in which all travel and accommodations were first-class, and with my hometown team, the San Francisco Seals, at that. Playing on my hometown team meant when the club played its home stands I could live with my parents, occupy my own room.

The Yankees originally wanted to purchase DiMaggio at the beginning of the 1935 season but Charley Graham, owner of the Seals, drove a hard bargain. He agreed to give up Joltin' Joe, but only after he completed the '35 season in San Francisco. Additionally, the Yankees had to send three players to the Seals before the '35 season began. This made the Seals a heavy favorite in the PCL that year, and they took full advantage.

DiMaggio hit .398 with 100 extra base hits and 173 RBIs. The Seals captured their first Pacific Coast League title in 4 years and Joe was named League MVP. After the season ended, the Yankees sent $75,000 and completed the deal. DiMaggio made the long trip from California to Spring Training in St. Petersburg with fellow Italians and Bay Area natives Tony Lazzeri and Frank Crosetti, the latter of whom was bought from the Seals in 1931.

DiMaggio's personality didn't seem fit for the Big Apple. The Daily News called him "timid" and referred to his as Dead Pan Joe when he first arrived. Later in his career Hank Greenberg noted that if DiMaggio said "hello" to you, that was a long conversation by his standards. He was hyped endlessly by the New York papers and billed as the "Babe Ruth's successor", but in terms of disposition, he was much more like Lou Gehrig than Ruth.

Joe hit .323/.352/.576 with 29 HRs and 125 RBIs in his first year in the Bronx, made the All-Star team and finished 8th in the MVP vote. Had there been a Rookie of the Year award then, he surely would have won it. His sophomore campaign was even better, with a line of .346/.412/.673 and a whopping 46 home runs despite hitting right handed in Yankee Stadium for half of his games.

Over the course of his career, DiMaggio his 148 homers in the Bronx compared to 213 on the road. Left-center field at Yankee Stadium was 460 feet away during his playing days and straight away center was 490. It was a short 281 feet down the line, but the 45 degrees directly ahead of DiMaggio ranged from 430 feed in left field to 406 in right. It suffices to say that the Yankee Clipper lost a fair amount of home runs to Death Valley.

If anything, the extra square footage in the Yankee outfield help Joltin' Joe hit for average. With more ground for the outfielders to cover, there were more places for DiMaggio's hits to fall. On May 14th, 1941, he began his legendary 56 game hitting streak which lasted until July 17th in Cleveland. That day, three great defensive plays - two by third baseman Ken Keltner and one by shortstop Lou Boudreau - kept Joltin' Joe hitless. Undeterred, DiMaggio hit safely in 16 straight games immediately, collecting a hit in 72 of 73.

That year, primarily on the strength of his hitting streak (and maybe aided by the fact that he only struck out 13 times in 621 PAs), the Yankee Clipper stole the MVP from Teddy Ballgame, who hit .406 and roundly trounced him in every other significant batting category, save for runs batted in.

From 1936-1942, DiMaggio hit .339/.403/.607 (159 OPS+), averaged 31 home runs and 133 RBIs and won two AL MVPs. He homered more often that he struck out and played excellent defense.

DiMaggio was known for his long strides that allowed him to cover wide swaths of Yankee Stadium's expansive center field. According to Tiger slugger Hank Greenberg, the only way to get a hit against the Yankees was "to hit 'em where Joe wasn't." He developed his nickname "The Yankee Clipper" because as he patrolled center field he looked as smooth and graceful as the popular 19th century clipper sailing ships known for their speed and ability to cut through wavy waters.

After 7 excellent seasons for the Yanks, DiMaggio went to war in 1943. Well, more correctly, the was drafted into the Army Air Force. He traded in his $43,750 salary from the Yanks for a $50/month wage from the Army, but he continued playing baseball. He became a part of the 7th AAF and was stationed in Santa Ana, California. Joe spent most of his time in the service as a physical education instructor and playing baseball on the Santa Ana team. By contrast, Ted Williams was a fighter pilot.

While his time in the Army was a relative walk in the park, his parents were not so lucky. Since they were Italian immigrants, they were classified as "enemy aliens" and forced to carry identification cards on them at all times. They were not allowed to go beyond five miles from their home with out a government-issued permit. DiMaggio's father was banned from fishing in San Francisco Bay, where he had made a living over the previous 30 years.

The Yankee Clipper lost three full seasons to WWII. When he returned to the Yankees, he was 31 years old and it took him a bit to regain him form, hitting only .290 in his first year back. He hit for a lower average and with less power in his final six seasons than he did in his first seven but still managed a 150 OPS+ over that span. He picked up his third and final MVP in 1947, nudging out Ted Williams by one point despite on-base and slugging percentages over 100 points lower than the Splendid Splinter's, not to mention significantly fewer homers, RBIs and runs scored. It probably helped that the Yanks made it to the World Series and the Sox finished 3rd in the AL.

Williams and DiMaggio were almost swapped for each other in 1949. Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees GM Larry MacPhail verbally agreed to a trade, however it fell apart when McPhail balked at Yawkey asked for a young catcher by the name of Yogi Berra. It seemed at the time that the two principles of the trade were stuck in the wrong parks - the left handed Williams in Fenway and the righty DiMaggio in Yankee Stadium. However, they made out pretty well despite their inhospitable home parks. Berra, it turns out, would have been a much bigger loss for the Yanks because DiMaggio was done as a player only two seasons later.

Helped greatly by his hitting streak, DiMaggio became a central figure in American pop culture. Although he was an incredibly great player, his fame outpaced his talents. He was referenced in countless songs such as John Fogarty's Center Field, We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel and Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel. He was mentioned on I Love Lucy, Seinfeld, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Hemingway even mentioned him in The Old Man and the Sea.

The Yankee Clipper accomplished an awful lot despite playing in only 13 seasons in the Big Leauges. He was a 9-time World Champion, 3-time AL MVP, 2 time batting champion, and a 13-time All-Star (the only player to be selected for the All-Star Game in every season he played). His career line was .325/.398/.579 BA and he tallied 361 HRs, 1537 RBI.

Joltin' Joe was a private man. He never seemed to be interested in the trappings of fame despite being one of the most famous people in the country for much of his life. He married Marilyn Monroe in 1954, of course, but the marriage lasted less than a year, due in part to Joe's jealousy and public nature of her character. They reunited seven years later and Joe asked her to marry him just four days before she died on August 5th, 1962. Joe had roses delivered to her grave three times a week for twenty years after she passed away. He never married again.

DiMaggio lived a full and long life which ended when he was 84 years old. He spend the last 100 days of his life in a hospital battling lung cancer and passed away on March 8th, 1999. The Yankees wore a black #5 patch on their uniforms to commemorate his life that season which culminated with a World Series victory over the Braves.

Mostly due to the length of his career, it took 3 ballots for DiMaggio to enter the Hall of Fame but he gained admittance to Cooperstown in 1955 and lived more than half of his life as a member of the Hall of Fame. He was to Yankees fans what Ruth was before him and Mantle and Jeter have been after: larger than life legends both on and off the field.

Non-Roster Invitees Announced

At long last, the Yankees announced their non-roster invitees for Spring Training yesterday, tacking the list on to the tail end of the press release announcing the Marcus Thames signing. The announcement of the list comes just shy of the start of Spring Training, about a month later than it is usually announced, but most of the names on the list had either leaked previously or are no surprise.

A non-roster invitee is any player in camp who is not on the 40 man roster. Essentially the list is comprised of young prospects who don't yet need to be added to the 40 man, fringe prospects who aren't good enough to make the 40 man nor be selected in the Rule 5 draft, and veterans signed to minor league contracts. The Yankees' 40 man roster is currently full, so someone would need to be placed on the 60 day DL, traded, or designated for assignment in order for one of the twenty non-roster invitees to make the club. Very few of them have any real chance of making the team; most of them will serve to play the late innings of spring game and round out the split squad rosters. The Yankees have a lot of veterans on their team and none of them are likely to volunteer to make a three hour bus trip to Fort Myers.

That said, here's a look at the invitees:

Pitchers (10)
Wilkins Arias, LHP
Jeremy Bleich, LHP
Grant Duff, RHP
Jason Hirsh, RHP
Kei Igawa, LHP
Zach McAllister, RHP
Royce Ring, LHP
Amaury Sanit, RHP
Zach Segovia, RHP
Kevin Whelan, RHP

The lefties - yes even Igawa - have the best chance to earn a roster spot as second southpaw in the pen after Damaso Marte. To do so though, they'll have to leap frog Boone Logan, who was acquired as part of the Javier Vazquez trade. McAllister will be interesting to watch. He's the most polished starting pitcher in the organization and could see the Bronx at some point later in 2010. Hirsch, who has 150+ innings of experience with the Rockies and Astros, will likely start in Scranton. Bleich was a supplemental first round pick in 2008 but still figures to be a year or two away. Duff and Whelan are hard throwing relievers with control issues, both of whom just missed being added to the 40 man roster prior to the most recent Rule 5 draft.

Catchers (5)
Kyle Higashioka
Jesus Montero
P.J. Pilittere
Mike Rivera
Austin Romine

As exciting as it will be to see Montero and Romine in Major League camp, don't get your hopes about either sticking around. The Yankees will have 32 pitchers in camp and someone has to catch all those bullpen sessions. This actually will be the third consecutive year the young catching duo will be in Major League camp. Still, it'd be awfully nice to see these two top prospects do some damage at the plate this spring. It may not mean anything, but it'll certainly keep our hopes up for the future. Higashioka is another interesting prospect who figures to spend this year at low-A Charleston. Rivera has spent parts of the last four seasons as the Brewers' back up and is this year's Kevin Cash/Chad Moeller emergency option. Pilittere is an organizational player who should join Montero and Rivera in Scranton.

Outfielders (5)
Colin Curtis
Reid Gorecki
Marcus Thames
John Weber
David Winfree

Thames, as previously covered, will compete with Randy Winn and Jamie Hoffmann for the final two outfield spots. The rest of the invitees will likley combine with recent acquisition Greg Golson to make up the Scranton outfield. The Yankees' system is thin on upper-level outfield depth, particularly in the wake of dealing Austin Jackson, DFA'ing Shelley Duncan, and allowing John Rodriguez to walk this off-season. Curtis, coming off a strong stint in the Arizona Fall League, will be the only returnee from last year's AAA squad. Gorecki, Weber, and Winfree all spent last season in AAA for other teams. Gorecki and Weber are beyond prospect status, but Winfree is just 24 and may still have a future ahead of him.

16 Days Until Spring Training: Whitey Ford

The greatest Yankee pitcher of all-time grew up in Astoria, Queens just a few of miles from the Stadium in the Bronx. Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford went to Aviation High School in Sunnyside, Queens and after being signed by the Yankees in 1947, spent four years in their minor league system. He started out in class C ball in Butler, PA and worked his way up the ladder to B then A and eventually the AAA team in Kansas City for for the 1949 season.

The “Chairman of the Board” made his major league debut on July 1, 1950 and went on to win his first nine decisions en route to being named the Sporting News Rookie of the Year. In 1951 and 1952, Whitey left the team to serve in the Army during the Korean War and when he returned in 1953, joined a staff of Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, and Eddie Lopat.

Ford became the ace of the staff and in 1955 and went on to an 18-7 record while pitching 18 complete games with a 2.63 ERA. However, 1956 was an even better year – he was 19-6 with a 2.01 ERA. Whitey pitched over 200 innings in 11 of his 16 professional seasons and never had an ERA over 3.24. He won the 1961 Cy Young Award, made the All-Star team eight times in his career and was a six-time World Series Champion.

The Yankees won the pennant 11 times when he was a Yankee and Ford won a record ten World Series games in addition to holding almost every other World Series pitching record. In Ford’s eight World Series losses, the offense provided an average of just 2.25 runs and were shut out twice.

Whitey was a small guy - just 5'10" and 180 lbs - and didn’t throw very hard, but he controlled games with pin-point accuracy and his ability to stay calm under pressure. Ford was one of many pitchers of his time to doctor baseballs and, according to legend, used a spitball in the 1961 All-Star game to strike out Willie Mays.

That year, there were two All-Star games and the first was at Candlesick Park on July 11th. Mantle and Ford were out in San Francisco had ran up a $1200 tab (or $800, or $200 depending on who you want to believe) at a Bay Area country club under the account of Horace Stoneham, the owners of the SF Giants at the time. Ford wanted to repay Stoneham but was offered a bet instead. If Ford faced Willie Mays during the All-Star game and retired him, Stoneham would cancel the tab. However, if Mays got a hit Mantle and Ford owed double.

Mays had owned Whitey over the course of his career ("9 for 12" at that point, according to Ford in the book Baseball Like It Was) and at one point had seven consecutive hits against him. Mantle was reluctant to take the bet but Ford went through with it. Mays was batting clean up for the NL and was brought up in the first inning when Roberto Clemente rapped a double. Willie fell behind Whitey on two long foul balls, and struck out swinging, later recalling that it was the "craziest pitch I ever saw". That, of course was the spitball, a spin-less pitch that dove sharply when it neared the plate.

Late in his career, Ford began to lose his stuff and admitted after he retired that he doctored balls in order to gain an edge. In addition to tossing the ol' spitball, he claimed that he scuffed them up with his diamond wedding right or had catcher Elston Howard coat them with mud in an area behind the plate intentionally kept wet by the Yankee Stadium groundskeepers. Ford eventually retired in 1967 at the age of 38 after attempting a comeback to repair a circulatory problem in his shoulder.

Whitey spent his entire 16 year career in Pinstripes and compiled a career record of 236-106 with a ERA of 2.75. Those 236 wins for the Bombers ranks as the most in franchise history and his .690 winning percentage is the highest among all pitchers with at least 300 decisions. Ford was enshrined in Cooperstown in 1974 with his friend and teammate, Mickey Mantle.

That same year, the Yankees retired the number 16. Later, they dedicated a plaque in Monument Park to him which states he was “one of the greatest pitchers ever to step on a mound”. Eighty-one years old now, he's pictured below scooping dirt from the mound at the Old Stadium with Don Larsen in September of 2008. He and Yogi Berra represent a fleeting link with the great Yankee teams of the 50's and 60's and we are lucky to still have them around.

21 Days Until Spring Training: Paul O'Neill

According to George Steinbrenner, #21 is a Warrior. Given his respect for the immortal General Douglas MacArthur, I’m entirely sure that there can be no higher praise from the Boss.

O’Neill is my 2nd favorite Yankee ever after the chronically under appreciated Bernie Williams. His intensity for the game was unmatched matched. He truly cared about the team and his success. He was the antithesis of the increasingly common type of athlete who just wants to make sure his salary is being paid. His desire is best summed up by the number of water coolers that have slammed the concrete of the old Yankee Stadium dugout and the number of his bats that have been furiously tossed on the famed Kentucky Bluegrass of the diamond.

When Paul finished his Yankee career, which began in 1993, he hadn't complied the most impressive numbers. Prior to his tenure with the Yankees, O'Neill's numbers were even worse. He was sported a line of .259/.336/.431 in Cincinatti and only hit more than 20 homers once (in 1991) before was traded to the Reds for Roberto Kelly. Yankees fans were LIVID. Stick Michael, being the genius that he is, thought he could become something much better with the help of the short porch in Yankee Stadium. During the dynastic run of the late 90's, Paulie was the heart and soul of the team.

O'Neill had his share of postseason drama at Yankee Stadium, but none more poignant than the clinching Game 4 of the 1999 World Series against Atlanta. That morning, Charles "Chick" O'Neill, Paul's father, had died of lung and kidney failure at age 79. Paul had visited his father daily at Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital where the senior O'Neill had undergone heart surgery. Paul openly wept in the clubhouse before the game, but told Torre he felt he could play. Said first-base coach Jose Cardenal, "Paulie wanted to see if he could get through batting practice first. He thought being in the game would take his mind off things."

O'Neill also had what was perhaps the best plate appearance in Yankees history. In Game 1 of the 2000 World Series, down 2-1 in the top of the 9th against the Mets, O'Neill worked a 10 pitch one-out walk against Mets closer Armando Benitez. Subsequent singles by Luis Polonia and Jose Vizcaino loaded the bases before the Yankees tied the score on a sacrifice fly by Chuck Knoblauch. The Yanks won it in the 12th on a bases-loaded single by Vizcaino and went on to win the Fall Classic in 5 Games.

In 2001, his last year with the Yankees, at age 38, he became the oldest player ever to have a 20/20 season.

Since his retirement, his number 21 had not been worn by any Yankee player, leading to speculation that it will be officially retired. Yankees relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins briefly wore the number in the 2008 season but, on April 16, 2008, Hawkins switched to number 22 in response to the criticism and boos he received from many Yankee fans.

O'Neill was a Cincinnati native, but like fellow Ohio native Thurman Munson, embraced New York fully. "Playing in New York really worked out for me," O'Neill said. "It was the best time of my life."

Paulie has also provided great Seinfeld memories. In the episode entitled "The Wink," O'Neill is accosted by Cosmo Kramer in the Yankees' locker room and is told by Kramer that he must hit two home runs in the same game so that Kramer can retrieve a birthday card signed by all the Yankees from a little boy who wasn't supposed to get it in the first place. O'Neill angrily replies that this is very difficult and that he is not usually a home run hitter; he then asks Kramer, "How'd you get in here anyway?" In the ensuing game, O'Neill does hit two home runs, but one of them is an in-the-park home run and scored a triple due to the other team's error, so the little boy Kramer is trying to appease is not totally satisfied. Kramer manages to get the Yankee-signed birthday card back from the boy, but he has now promised the boy that O'Neill will catch a fly ball in his hat during the next game.

His playing career ended on a sour note when Luis Gonzalez's blooper fell onto the turf in Arizona but he received a poignant send off during his last game in the Bronx. In Game 5 of the 2001 World Series when the Yankees were losing to the Diamondbacks 2-0 in the top of the 9th Inning, Yankees fans, anticipating the fact that it would be O’Neill’s last game ever at The House That Ruth Built, cheered for him by chanting his name endlessly. Paulie responded with tears in his eyes and by tipping his hat.

O'Neill was one of the few Yankees that fans have embraced completely despite coming up with a different organization. Part of it was that he expressed the frustrations that fans sometimes feel by he slammed his bat or destroyed a water cooler. It has even more to do with the fact that Paulie came on-board in 1993 when the Yanks were still finding their way out of the dark period of the late 80's and stayed with them until they were on top of the baseball world.

23 Days Until Spring Training: Don Mattingly

As Yankee fans, we're fortunate that the biggest names in franchise history - Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle - rank amongst the inner circle greatest players in the history of the game. But there is another breed of Yankee hero, the players that didn't quite have the long term dominance of their immortalized counterparts, but who nonetheless had impressive peaks and lengthy careers, and as a result, will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Yankee fans.

Bobby Murcer came to the Bronx heralded as the next Mickey Mantle. He arrived the year after the Mantle/Ford/Berra dynasty won its final pennant and was traded away two seasons before the Yankees returned to the Fall Classic. In between, he had a five year stretch where he was consistently amongst the best players in the game, and returned to the Yankees the year after they repeated as champions. His teammate Thurman Munson emerged as one the premier catchers in the game in the early seventies, won the AL MVP in 1976, and captained the Yankees to three consecutive pennants and back-to-back World Series titles. While neither was great long enough to warrant enshrinement in Cooperstown, they were great enough to be fondly remembered by Yankee fans for generations to come.

But perhaps chief amongst these lesser Yankee greats is Don Mattingly, who interestingly enough left the minor leagues for good in 1983, when Murcer retired and Mattingly was recalled to take his roster spot. Mattingly quickly established himself as a regular in the Yankee line up. After an impressive rookie campaign he came back in 1984 to lead the Majors in OPS+, win the AL batting title over teammate Dave Winfield, and lead the league in hits and in doubles for the first of three consecutive seasons.

That 1984 season would serve as springboard for Mattingly, the first of a six season stretch that saw Mattingly perpetually as one of the premier players in the game. He won the AL MVP in 1985, leading the league in RBI and total bases, and winning both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove for the first of three consecutive seasons. He followed that in 1986 with perhaps his greatest single season, leading the Majors in hits, doubles, extra base hits, total bases, slugging, and OPS. He led the Majors OPS+ for the second time in three seasons, set franchise records with 238 hits and 53 doubles, and finished second to Roger Clemens in AL MVP voting. The left-hander even made three appearances, including two starts, at third base while Mike Pagliarulo was injured.

In 1987, Mattingly missed 21 games due to injury but still managed to post a .327/.378/.559 batting line with 30 HR. He also tied a Major League record by homering in eight consecutive games from July 8th through July 18th, and set a Major League record with six grand slams on the season. The following two years saw Mattingly slip a bit from the lofty standards he'd set over the previous years, but he still remained amongst the game's better players.

The bottom fell out for Mattingly in 1990. Long lingering back problems knocked him out of the line up for nearly two months, and he was largely ineffectual when playing, hitting just .256/.308/.335. Though just 29, Mattingly was virtually finished. He posted decent numbers for the remaining five years of his career, but they were a far cry from his glory days and not what one would want to see from a corner infielder on a contending team.

In the final season of his career, Mattingly reached the post-season at long last. Though the Yankees lost the five game series in heartbreaking fashion, Mattingly turned in a very impressive .417/.440/.708 batting line, including a memorable game tying home run in Game Two at Yankee Stadium.

Mattingly elected to sit out the 1996 season, despite interest from the Yankees and other clubs. While he initially planned to return in 1997, he didn't find any offers to his liking and decided that he didn't want to go through the rigors of another year in the Majors. He announced his retirement that January and his number was retired later that year. He also began serving as a Spring Training instructor that February and in the years that followed, eventually leading to role as hitting coach beginning in 2004. He was promoted to bench coach in 2007, presumably as the heir apparent to Joe Torre. But when Torre was fired following the season and Mattingly was passed over in favor of Joe Girardi for the manager's job, Donnie followed Torre to L.A. Torre has said he doesn't plan on managing beyond 2011, and Mattingly is considered to be the manager-in-waiting for the Dodgers.

Even after two years in Dodger blue it's still odd to see Mattingly in anything other than Yankee Pinstripes. Perhaps Donny Baseball will return to the Yankees as a manager someday. Part of me was relieved that Mattingly didn't get the job two years ago. He's one of the most beloved Yankees of all time; he had very little to gain and almost everything to lose by taking his first managerial job with a club that's expected to win the World Series each year. Whether or not Mattingly ever returns to the Bronx though, he'll always remain a Yankee.