The real Retro Week: Let's return to the archives of 2014. "I've been working pretty much the whole offseason to be ready," Sabathia said. "I started throwing the football in October and carried that all the way through to December, when I picked up a baseball. So I've been throwing all offseason. That's normally what I do, so I feel good about it."

River Ave Blues - my favorite Yankee web site, even though it is owned by YES - is in the middle of Retro Week, launching wonderful write-ups of Ramiro Mendoza and Dave Righetti. They are like eating ice cream.

But though it's nice to remember 1990 and 2002, I think we should keep 2014 in mind - especially as we start to get served the fodder for this new season. Let's go back to February of 2014... when CC Sabathia has shed all that needless fat, and he's looking forward to a great year.

"I feel like I lost a little bit of power last year," the Yankees' ace said. "I think it was just losing that much weight and trying to play a professional sport. I felt like the 'Biggest Loser' last year. I lost a lot of weight, but I just wasn't physically ready to go out and play."

Sabathia's fastball velocity averaged just 91.1 mph, the lowest of his career, according to Fangraphs.com. That's a significant drop from 2012 (92.3 mph) and an even more significant drop from 2009, his first season with the Yanks (94.2 mph)...

Sabathia missed his final start of 2013 with a strained hamstring, but because he wasn't rehabbing from surgery, he got right back to work on Oct. 9.

"I've been working pretty much the whole offseason to be ready," Sabathia said. "I started throwing the football in October and carried that all the way through to December, when I picked up a baseball. So I've been throwing all offseason. That's normally what I do, so I feel good about it."

Yep. CC is looking forward to an exciting season in  2014!