Yankees fans are totally ridiculous for picking on Alex Rodriguez.  Many players would sell their soul to be as good as A-Rod is.  He hit .290 last season with 113 runs scored, 35 homers, 121 RBIs and a .914 OPS and that was a down year for him.  A-Rod has now scored over 100 runs in 11 consecutive seasons now which is amazing.  He also has hit over 35 homers 10 times in his career, including 9 in a row!  He also has driven in 106 or more runs 10 of his last 11 seasons, including 9 in a row.  Only Yankee fans can boo a player like A-Rod.  He did have a very rough time on defense as he made 24 errors and didn’t show much range on defense.  I look for A-Rod to rebound on defense and have an MVP type season for the Yankees this year.

32 year old Miguel Cairo will be A-Rod’s back up this season.

32 year old Derek Jeter had another awesome year for the Yanks last season as he hit .343 with 118 runs scored, 214 hits, 14 homers, 97 RBIs, 34 steals and a .900 OPS!  The Yanks needed Jeter to knock in more runs last year with the injuries to Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui injured and he came through for them like he always does.  Jeter has scored over 100 runs 10 times in his 11 full time seasons in the majors which is unbelievable.  He also has 5 seasons in which he’s had more than 200 hits.  He also has knocked in 70 or more runs in 10 of 11 seasons as a regular.  Jeter made only made 15 errors last season but his range is starting to diminish.  Look for Jeter to have another fantastic season on his way to the Hall of Fame.

28 year old Andy Cannizaro is a long shot to make the Yanks.  He hit .276 with a .746 last season in 416 AAA at bats, but he made 20 errors last season.  He will need to improve big time just to make the Yankees roster out of the Spring.

32 year old Miguel Cairo will likely be Derek Jeter’s back up this season.

24 year old lefty swinging Robinson Cano has been fantastic for the Yankees.  The Yankees resisted tons of trade offers for this guy and that’s because the Yanks rarely trade their GOOD young players.  Cano hit an amazing .342 with 15 homers, 78 RBIs and a .890 OPS last season.  Nothing in Cano’s minor league career suggested he would have this kind of success in the majors, but it’s not a fluke.  He dominated right handed pitching to the tune of a .363 batting average and a .959 OPS, and he hit .287 against lefties.  Don Mattingly thinks that Cano is a future batting champion and it’s possible that he’s right.  Cano has pretty good range on defense and he only made 9 errors last season.  Look for him to have another great season for the Yankees this year.

The Yankees re-signed 32 year old Miguel Cairo to back up at all the infield positions for them.  He had an off year last season at he only hit .239 with a .600 OPS in 222 at bats for the Yanks.  He did play well at 2B for the Yankees on defense as he only made 2 errors in 323.2 innings and showed great range.  Look for him to get that batting average back up into the .250-.260 range this season.

36 year old lefty swinging Jason Giambi has finally hung up his first baseman’s glove and that should make the rest of the Yankees infield happy.  It also should keep Giambi healthy enough to start a lot of games for the Yankees this season.  Last season he hit .253 with a .971 OPS, scored 92 runs, smashed 37 homers, knocked in 113 runs and walked 110 times.  His patience at the plate really has helped the Yankees line up as his on base % was an incredible .413 last season!  Look for Giambi to have another good season now that he can concentrate on only his hitting.  His average should come up some while he maintains his power this season.

The Yankees decided to go the frugal route in filling the position of first base.  They signed Doug Mientkiewicz to platoon with either Andy Phillips or Rule 5 Draft Pick Josh Phelps.  The 32 year old lefty swinging Doug Mientkiewicz is one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball.  He should save Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez some of the throwing errors they made last season.  He only made 3 errors in 724.2 innings last season for the Royals.  He also hit a solid .283 with a .770 OPS last season.  Look for Mientkiewicz to keep his batting average in the .270-280 range and to hit around 10 homers as he should get a lot of good pitches to hit in this line up.

30 year old, home grown Andy Phillips will get a chance to earn a platoon job with Mientkiewicz in Spring Training but it won’t be easy as he’ll have to show improvement in a lot of areas to go north with the Yanks when camp breaks.  Phillips hit only .240 with a .675 OPS and those are poor numbers for a first baseman.  He did show some power last season as he hit 7 homers and knocked in 29 runs in 246 at bats.  Phillips needs to work on his defense at first base as he made 7 errors in only 533 innings and that’s too many for a first baseman.

The Yankees made a good selection in the Rule 5 Draft when they selected the 29 year old Josh Phelps off the roster of the enemy Baltimore Orioles’ roster.  Phelps had a solid season in AAA last year as he hit .308 with a .903 OPS and hit 24 homers and knocked in 90 runs.  He has big-time power and has proved it in the majors.  He has played in 352 games in the majors and has averaged a homer every 21.1 at bats and an RBI every 5.67 at bats.  Project those numbers out over a season and that’s big production.  He has a career batting average of .268 with a .809 OPS.  I’m betting that he will beat out Phillips for the job.

Also, keep an eye on 24 year old rookie Juan Miranda.  The Yankees really like his left-handed stick.  He will more than likely start the year in the minors.  But if the first basemen on the Yanks struggle he could get a call at some point in the year.

The Yankees have one of the most consistent catchers in the major leagues.  Jorge Posada had a great year with the bat as he hit .277 with 23 homers and 93 RBIs last season.  He’s also a switch-hitter which helps balance the Yankees lineup.  Posada is getting up their in age as he’s now 35 and the Yanks need to find a reliable backup to give him some rest during the season.  He threw out 35% of baserunners that tried to steal on him, but he also made 9 errors and had 13 passed balls which is not acceptable. 

The favorite for the backup job is probably 29 year old Wil Nieves who was protected on the Yanks 40 man roster over the winter.  He only hit .259 at Columbus (AAA-Yanks) with 5 homers, 34 RBIs and an OPS of .644.  He has not hit in the majors as he’s only 13/82 (.159 avg) with 3 RBIs. 

40-year old Todd Pratt will get a chance to prove he still has something left.  He only hit .207 with 4 homers and 19 RBIs last season for the Braves.  Over his career, Pratt has a .251 career average and a .742 OPS.  Pratt did throw out 20% of attempted base stealers so he may have something left.  He is the co-favorite to win the backup job for the Yankees.

34-year old Raul Chavez is a defensive minded catcher.  He only hit .255 with 2 homers and 21 RBIs last season in AA ball.  He also went 5 of 28 (.179 avg) for the Baltimore Orioles last season.  For his major league career, Chavez has only hit .212 with a .537 OPS.  It’s likely that he will start the season in AAA.

30-year old Ben Davis is also being brought to Spring Training.  He didn’t do much in the minors for the Yanks last season as he hit .219 with 5 homers and 22 RBIs in A and AAA ball.  The switch hitter hasn’t played in the majors since 2004 and has career averages of .237 with a .672 OPS.

The Yankees showed extraordinary restraint in this off season.  The reason for that is you only have so many roster spots to go around and the Yanks are almost full.  In fact they got rid of a few players to try to improve their pitching staff.  As far as players in the field the biggest addition is first-baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.  Mientkiewicz is a fantastic fielder and he hit .283 last season but he doesn’t have much power.  He likely will only play against right handed pitchers.  The Yanks picked Josh Phelps off of the Orioles roster in the Rule 5 draft with the idea to have him compete with Andy Phillips to be Mientkiewicz’ platoon partner.  Phelps has a lot of power so he will give Phillips a run for his money in Spring Training.  The only other position players the Yankees brought in were back up catchers Raul Chavez, Todd Pratt and Ben Davis.

The big news on the pitching staff is the return of Andy Pettitte.  He compiled a 149-78 record in his first go-around for the Yankees and he pitched well in Houston so he will be welcomed back with open arms.  The Yankees also brought in Kei Igawa from Japan.  He was 14-9 with a 2.97 ERA in Japan last season and he had 194 strikeouts.  The hope is that he will be in the rotation from day #1.  The Yankees also got top prospect Humberto Sanchez for Gary Sheffield and he will be on the fast track to New York if they have any injury problems.  The Yankees obtained two relievers for Jaret Wright and Randy Johnson that should help them this season.  Luis Vizcaino is coming over from the Diamondbacks and he has flat out nasty stuff.  He has collected 55 holds the last three seasons and should be able to help the bullpen in front of Mariano Rivera.  Chris Britton came over from the Orioles in the trade for Jaret Wright.  He should make the bullpen as he had a 3.35 ERA and 1.17 WHIP as a rookie.