The Genius Maker - Opening Day!

WE GET STARTED TOMORROW!

Below is our 25 man roster

Rotation
CC Sabathia
Hiroki Kuroda
Phil Hughes
Ivan Nova
Freddy Garcia

Bullpen
Mariano Rivera
Dave Robertson
Rafael Soriano
Boone Logan
Cory Wade
Clay Rapada
David Phelps

Lineup
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF

Bench
Andruw Jones OF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Eric Chavez 3B
Chris Stewart C

The last name of the list was a trade we made sending Kontos to SF for this backup catcher who is a bad hitter but an excellent defender with a great arm.  Cervelli was sent down for Stewart (which was more of a gain depth move) and many Yankee fans felt it was tough to do to Cervelli.  Cervelli has had two years in a row where he threw out only 14% of the base runners attempting to steal.  That is awful, even when you take the poor job the Yankee pitchers do of holding runners on. Martin is over average (30%) as perspective and he throws really well.  It isn't a big deal, but I was OK with the move.

As many of you have read over the years, I am a huge believer that you need two lefties out of the pen; having only one lefty gives the opposing manager a lot less to worry about and you lose matchups at key points.  We had two lefties that were looking good before one got injured (not including Logan) and I was a little happy Logan got a sore back because it forced the Yankees hand to carry a 2nd lefty.  Rapada seems like the LOOGY (lefty one out guy) as he has a track record.  So I am happy we have him, I hope he pitches well (gets lefties out at a good rate).

I was disappointed in the Yankees giving money to Ibanez (not too much) and I would have rathered give the opportunity to a Maxwell or even a Chris Dickerson, but the Yanks are sticking with Ibanez; I hope he earns his money, but I have my doubts and I would not have counted him in as the DH against righties.  BTW, while taking credit for a low level signing working out is not something to hang your hat on, but Hall was given his release and I had him in the same category as Ibanez.  I did want to see what Branyan could do compared to Ibanez, but he is been out with a bad back so nothing happened there.  Here's to Ibanez proving me wrong.

I am obviously disappointed that Pineda didn't throw hard and is now on the DL with a sore shoulder.  This seems VERY minor, but when you make a big trade like this, you want to at least get what you thought you had and it is disturbing he came down with a Hughes type of loss of velocity.  I am still bullish on Pineda, but coming into camp overweight and learning the change-up I believe led to the sore shoulder...we shall see.

Overall, I think our team is in very good shape and we have two good starters in extended Spring Training  (Pettitte and Pineda).

This is probably the Genius Maker's last year.  I get the feeling 42 is the right number (in many ways) and regardless of how he performs he will hang it up...but nothing would surprise me with athletes who can still perform at a high level.  It would be hard to hang it up if you are still one of the best relievers in the game (which he clearly and amazingly still has been over the last few years)

I will post after game one and then take a few days off before getting back to action.

Boston 0-1!