Why not? Once you get past CC, Pineda and Tanaka, you're looking at the entire population of Delaware. Each of the "Big Three" is a ticking time bomb. Then it's Adam Warren, Bryan Mitchell, Chris Capuano, Esmil Rogers, Scott Baker, Chase Whitley - you there, in the yellow shirt - come on down! We can have a 10-man rotation. Where the hell is Chris Bootcheck?
Can Didi Gregorious replace Derek Jeter?
Of course. Jeter wasn't that good last year. The operative phase for 2015 - though it will be whispered - will be, "That's a ball Jeter wouldn't have gotten to." But Didi will never be Captain. He will never replace Jeter in our minds or hearts. And nobody else will, either.
Is CC going to have a comeback year?
Yes. Until he gets hurt.
Is Tanaka going to have a comeback year?
Yes. Until he gets hurt.
Is Pineda going-
Yes. Until he-
Wait a minute. You're just blowing crap. Is everybody going to have a comeback year, until they get hurt?
Yes. Unless they suck from the get-go, the way Alphonso Soriano did last year. Then it will be a blessing if they get hurt.
What about Eovaldi? Can Larry Rothschild turn him into a pitcher?
Maybe. But it depends far more on Eovaldi than it does Rothschild. The notion that super coaches can salvage players... I dunno about that. Remember how Kevin Long was supposed to be "the Grandyman Whisperer?" We spent years touting Long as the best hitting coach in baseball. Then we canned him. The Yankees are basically trying to sell us on the idea that other franchises are stupid.
What will A-Rod do?
Not enough. Whatever he does, in the minds of most people, it won't be enough. My biggest fear is that he returns to full form - hitting the hell out of the ball - only to find that the defensive over-shift knocks 30 points off his batting average - as it did Tex and McCann last year. A-Rod hasn't yet played in the new over-shift era.
Will anybody rise from our farm system?
Yes. Some Preston Claiborne, or Chase Whitley or Shane Greene will pop up out of nowhere and help the Yankees. The trouble is, it won't necessarily be the ones on those trumped up Top 10 prospect lists. They are always skewed toward Single A players, whose potential is always supreme.
What should we expect from the Yankees?
Same as always. They will go the distance. No matter how dire things look, come July, management will absorb salary dumps, trade "marginal" prospects - that's how they always describe them, when they're gone - and desperately inject over-the-hill talent, hoping to extend the Wild Card race into September. Maybe they will succeed. Who knows? It's a lifetime away.
Moncada to Sux. We are doomed.
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