Thursday, March 6, 2008

That's why I love Melky so much...

Did you guys see that catch from Melky? Melky called off Cano and ran to catch that soft fly ball to center field. Did you guys also see Melky throwing out a Twins when he was trying get to third? I know, Melky has some problems on offense part, but Man, please put him on the center field.

As a today spring training game, two relievers, Heath Phillips and Ross Ohlendorf are impressive for me today. There are also two relievers who throw strikes named Jonathan Albaladejo and Chris Britton.

I don't really care too much how starters perform during spring training. They will be just fine, they just need to focus on the pitch they need to work on. For example, Joba(Changeup/Curve); Hughes(Changeup); Wang(Changeup/Splitter), etc. I pay more attention on bullpen and bench that have competition for spots because all 6 starters will all pitch at some point during season. They will protect Big Three and Mussina, Pettitte and Wang may need a break once a while.

By the way, Where is Jose Veras? I feel I haven't seen him pitched lately.

If I have to put my money on 25-men roster now, here they are as follows,

For sure barring injury(23):

Starters(5):Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Hughes, Kennedy
Bullpen(6):Mo(closer), Joba(Setup), Kyle, LaTroy, Jeff Karstens(long reliever), Ross Ohlendorf
Starting lineup(9):Damon, Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod, Giambi, Posada, Cano, Matsui, Melky
Bench(3):Shelley, Molina, Betemit

Two more spots(2):

I think one spot goes to reliever; other spot goes to bench

They probably prefer lefty for that last spot if one of lefty can prove himself worth for that spot. Right now, the leading runner is Heath Phillips or Billy Traber. The dark horse is probably Chase Wright or Sean Henn(very far). If no lefty is worthy, Jose Veras or Jonathan Albaladejo probably will get that last spot(They also may fight with Ross Ohlendorf for that spot as well). This is the tough call now, but I bet on Billy Traber to break camp when Heath Phillips wait on AAA.

The last bench spot probably goes to super infielder unility player because Yankees already have enough depth on outfielders. Brett Gardner and Jason Lane really have to have monster spring training to win that last spot over. They really need someone to play all infield positions, especially for SS and 2B, so Nick Green or Chris Woodward probably will get that last spot. If I have to bet on that now, I will go to Chris Woodward.

2 comments:

Todd Drew said...

Jessica,
I can’t disagree with any of that. It’s still early so just about anything can happen between now and Opening Day. All I really know for sure is that we’ve got a great team.

Jessica Lee said...

Of course, It's on the early stage of spring training. They can't make decisions based on couple of Spring Training games, so I may change my mind later on as well.

We definitely get a great team. As long as they all stay healthy, I am happy about that.