Good morning, Pinstripe Alley readers. Here's your usual morning news for Thursday, January 12th.
- Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch answers questions from fans.
- More from Bryan Hoch, who takes a look at the most memorable moments of Jorge Posada's career. For me, it has to be his double off of Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Nothing else comes close.
- Over at River Ave. Blues, Joe Pawlikowski offers his reasons to be optimistic about Phil Hughes. One the reasons Pawlikowski cites is Hughes' return to the curveball he used in his Minor League days. Hughes began to use it again late in the 2011 season. Giving him an entire offseason and Spring Training to further develop the pitch should help him miss some more bats.
- Alex Geshwind of The Yankee Analysts makes his case for bringing Bartolo Colon back to the Bronx. I can't endorse this with better pitchers on the market, especially those who would welcome one-year deals and provide upgrades over those currently in the rotation not named CC Sabathia (Roy Oswalt, Hiroki Kuroda).
- I think this went unnoticed yesterday, but the Yankees re-signed right-handed reliever Cory Wade to a one-year deal for just under $509,000 if he spends the entire season at the Major League level. Wade tossed 39 2/3 innings of 2.04 ERA, 3.76 FIP for the Yanks in 2011.
- This has to make you hate the Rafael Soriano contract even more. With no market for his services, Ryan Madson accepted a one-year, $8.5M contract to play for the Reds. With no market for his services, Soriano accepted a three-year, $35M contract to play for the Yankees. This is why GM's make baseball decisions, not owners. Are you hearing me, Hal?
Check back later for the Pinstripe Alley Hall of Fame post at 9:30 and my preview of the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rotation at noon. Have a good one, PSA.