I am both a Yankees fan and a Buffalo Bills fan. For those of you who are aware of football (everyone), it is obvious that I watch sports from two completely different viewpoints. On one hand, I am a humongous Yankees fan and am treated to annual playoff appearences and constant big moves to improve the team. On the other hand, I am just as big a Bills fan, and have been stuck with 12 seasons with no playoff appearances.

This post is not to complain about yet another playoff-less season for the Bills. The title of this piece, and the fact that this is a Yankees blog, make that obvious. This post is to reflect on how amazing it is, year after year, to be able to smile after another disappointing season of football at the thought of being able to watch my beloved Yankees again. This post is to enjoy the fact that this years team could be even better than last years. And this post is to relish the fact that we'll have yet another new shiny toy this year. So tell me, what do you most look forward to this season?

Poll

What do you most look forward to about the Yankees this season?

• Watching Mihael Pineda pitch
• Watching Hiroki Kuroda pitch
• Another chance at a World Championship
• A-Rod's comeback MVP season (for optimists)

  16 votes | Results

I never really have a set plan when I choose to write about something. It's mainly a case of lobbing a whole lot of vague ideas against the proverbial wall and moving ahead as I find more and more ideas to progress the piece sticking to the wall. It isn't a perfect process by any stretch, but writing never is.

But you don't care about my musings on writing (do you?), you care about Ivan Nova.

When I started thinking about writing a piece on Nova, my first thought was to simply look at one game and breakdown everything he did so, so well. As I thought about it, the one game that sprung to mind was probably the same one most people would think of.

Take a minute. Try to remember one game that stands out for Nova the way the complete game gems Sabathia and Colon pitched against the Rays and A's do.

Got it? If what came to mind was his early May performance against the Rangers then we're pretty much on the same wavelength. After a rough first six starts (ERA over 5, 1.13 K/BB, 1.61 WHIP), Nova spun 7.1 innings of two-hit ball with one "walk" before being hooked when Mark Teixeira booted an inning-ending double play ball.

Binder'd.

I was basically ready to get rolling when I decided to check the WPA from that start against the best starts from the rest of the rotation from last season. Not only did it not stack up against Sabathia's game against the Rays or several of Colon's starts, it wasn't even Nova's best start. Well, not by WPA at least.

Perusing through game logs on Fangraphs to waste my afternoon, because spreadsheets are way better than doing outside stuff, led me to a game I had almost completely forgotten about. In late June against the Cincinnati Reds, Nova put together the game of his young career. The idea for my post was still valid, it just took a slight detour.

Obviously the concept of "best" is completely subjective, but damn, this was the best.

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Rumors Rumors............... They are flooding the internet about A.J. Burnett and a possible trade to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Quite obvious why the Yankees want to deal this inconsistent starter. Very hard to fit seven starters into a five man rotation.

Looking at the rumored trade of Garrett Jones to the Yankees, for AJ., no way this will happen in a straight up deal.

Here is why? I took a look at the Pirates top prospects, they are very weak in position players. Their strong point seems to be future pitchers, some nice talent there. With Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole heading the list.

The outfield looks like it is their strongest area in the minors. With Starling Marte, soon to break out in the next year or so. Marte looks to have all the tools for success in the big leagues. That followed up with Josh Bell the switching hitting power potential corner outfielder just beginning his career. Then throw in a Robbie Grossman and they look set in 3 to 5 years with this some of this group patrolling the outfield.

The only catcher in the top 20 is Tony Sanchez . Defensively, he is slightly above average. Has very little power potential. More of your singles hitter that may hit for a decent average.

Infielders beyond first basemen Alex Dickerson, and his dismal power outlook, they look pretty thin. Middle infielder like Alen Hanson and Jarek Cunningham do not show much bat potential at this point but they are in their early twenties. So who knows how they will progress in a couple years.These guys seem to be a few years away from even getting that big league opportunity.

There is little reason for the Pirates to trade away their starting right fielder and backup first basement for A.J. alone. The Yankees need to sweeten the pot.

The Pirates do not have anyone on the roster or in their top prospects that seem anywhere near ready to produce at an acceptable third basement's level. Could Brandon Laird be the key to a trade? He would shoot up on their prospect list, that is for sure. With his ability to play the infield corners and the outfield corners he might be the missing key to the trade. This would give the Pirates increasing versatility as they look to the future. Then again with what is now manning third for the Pirates, Laird might just be their big league starter at the hot corner.

What about Francisco Cervelli there was reported interest early this off-season from the Pirates. Cervelli would be an improvement over any current back-up catchers the Pirates have on their roster or in the minors.

What will it take to send A.J. packing to the Pirates and place Garrett Jones in pinstripes?

I'm a Red Sox fan and I posted this on overthemonster, but I want to get a different response.

I'll start up a Pedroia vs Cano debate and try to say something about some of the arguments usually made.

1. Cano has better offense

Simply not true. In his career, Pedroia has a 124 wRC+, Cano has 119. wRC+ should favor Cano more than most stats because a single is better than a walk in it, yet Cano still does worse. Using the way I use to figure out true talent, Pedroia's true talent wRC+ is 125, Cano's is 122.

2. Defensive stats rate Cano's range as not good, but he makes amazing plays

Fans can be decieved by amazing plays example: Derek Jeter, because a bette fielder would've gotten to the ball without having to make amazing plays. But the argument that Cano does make great plays does have some merit, as we can see He has .272 Out of zone plays per 9 innings for his career, Pedroia has made .252, but Cano just dosen't make the easy plays, he only makes 81% of the plays where the ball is in his zone, Pedroia makes 83.7%. That's a huge difference and as a result Pedroia is better at UZR, DRS, and TZL

3. Cano won a gold glove, below average fielders don't win gold gloves

Well Derek Jeter won 5 gold gloves and he was one of the worst shortstops of the generation, a little better than Yuni Betancourt. Matt Kemp won one last year.

4. Pedroia doesn't have even splits

you can't throw away half the equation, and park factors are much better than splits, wRC+ is park adjusted and Pedroia comes out on top.

5. Cano has had better seasons than Pedroia

Pedroia's best seasons have 8 WAR and 6.8 WAR, Cano's have had 6.5 WAR and 5.6 WAR.

6. Cano has more RBIs than Pedroia

I could go on and on and on about how stupid RBIs are, but according to baseball reference's baserunners scored%, Cano scores 16% of the runners on base, Pedroia scores 15%. Pedroia has a 106 wRC+ with men in scoring position and a 115 wRC+ with men on base. Cano has a 92 wRC+ with men in scoring position and a 101 wRC+ with men on base.

So that's about it, I would vote for Pedroia because his career WAR/650 PAs is 5.21, and Cano's is 3.6.

If you come with an argument for Cano, don't use any of the above arguments, if you think there's something wrong with one of the above arguments, post your criticism and why Cano is better, but don't use the same one most people use that I showed was wrong.

The reason why we really were so upset with the Montero/Pineda trade was because we followed him for years. How many of us just went online to check his stats. Went to a Trenton Thunder game to watch him hit. Every time you seen breaking news about the yankees on the bottom line of espn, you would get scared that he got dealt in a trade. Just like breaking up with an ex girlfriend. It's done and over with. Lets find a new younger chick. Well I think I found my new farmer. I'm going with Mason Williams. I would of went with Manny but he scares me that he only hit the 7th inning like 3 or 4 times last year. Back to Williams. I think he is going to be a great ball player. He's a five tool guy. When you watch his You Tube videos he kind of stands and wiggles the bat that reminds me of Cano. I didn't know to much about him till this year. I think it's really impressive that last year he wasn't ranked at all and now he's 34th. I was just wondering since we don't have Jesus anymore. Who is everyone's new crush in the minors?

I love fantasy baseball, so I figured I would set up an official Pinstripe Alley Fantasy Baseball League. The league is created, so now there's just the matter of putting together the teams and the rules.

If you want to participate please comment below and I will figure out a fair method for figuring out who gets to join if more than allowable want in.

Follow me after the jump for the current rules, which are extremely flexible

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Well, now that the Super Bowl is over, we can all get down to the serious business of second guessing the GM moves of Brian Cashman. For the most part, the Yankees are bringing back a lot of the players that won 97 games a year ago. There are some new additions and some losses, and no doubt there will be a piece or two added during the spring or near the trading deadline. On offense, the biggest questions are weather R-Rod will continue his decline, how Jeter will fare, and weather Granderson will have another career year. The big defensive question is who will win the starting job between Hughes, Garcia and AJ and whether this will finally be the year that Rivera becomes a mortal. Actually, with the Yankees, there is always the big question of whether they will make a major move between now and the trading deadline. With a wealth of pitching depth, both at the major league and AAA levels, a trade seems almost inevitable.

There are other smaller questions as well. Will Romine play a roll backing up Martin and giving the Yankees a younger option for 2013? Will Soriano bounce back from a disappointing season? Will Tex continue his decline as hitter for average and a guy who does nothing with the bat in the playoffs?

I'll break these and other questions down by offense, defense, the bench, starting pitching and the bullpen, with player by player profiles. And then predict how the season will turn out.

Much more after the jump.

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MLB.com's list of the Top 20 Yankees prospects is out.

Yes, it's out. It's been out for the better part of the day.

So, since there isn't much happening in the days leading up to Spring Training, I figured why not take a better look at the top half of the list with the help of Google Images...

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So I have been reading your site for quite a while. Have often felt compelled to write but never felt the need to try to break into a somewhat exclusive community. You all often eventually say much of what I think. But the Josh Hamilton deal got me to thinking so I figured I'd sign up and pay my dues with a Fanpost.

Brandon, I generally enjoy your writing and admire your patience and sensibility in most things (and your Skittles obsession). But the objection you made to Passan's characterization of Hamilton's relapse was either a bit shortsighted or formed before you were aware of Hamilton's own comments, which tend to support the notion that Hamilton had a moment where he simply didn't care…an intense symptom of his addiction and the very reason why he will always battle it, barring some miracle cure for addiction in the future (where's my jetpack?).

I'm not a doctor, though I play one on television. But I waste a lot of time watching BS shows like Intervention (some compelling stuff sometimes, probably all scripted, but let me believe in Santa Claus for a minute). I've also watched the four-letter network's 30/30 or 50/50 or whatever other sort of special it was on Chris Herren. It is an extremely intimate look into that guy's life and experience as a star athlete with a severe addiction to just about anything on which he could get his hands. It follows him around to prisons, high schools and community centers where he tells his story, the story of the star high school athlete who was on the fast track to basketball at a top D-1 school, was drafted in the 2nd round of the NBA draft, dominated when he played, but was absorbed by the discovery of drugs and alcohol back when it all started in high school in his home town of Fall River, MA. He talked about how it spiraled out of control. He talked about how no matter how many times he quit, went to rehab, was tore up about the state of his life (and poor financial state considering he ended up pulling $50K/week - cash - in Spain and his family was still broke), and said "No more", he felt that tug again as soon as he was sober. If you haven't yet seen it, I believe it is worth the hour-and-a-half. Most importantly, it is a vivid account of addiction. Herren's story honestly hits its lowest point (in my view) when he leaves his kids at home to "go get them donuts." He drove to the Dunkin' Donuts to meet his dealer, leaving his young children at home alone. He immediately proceeded to get high in the parking lot of that Dunkin' Donuts. He awoke in cuffs having put his car in gear and driven it into the Dunkin' Donuts. He had no recollection of any of it. If I remember correctly, it was at least his 3rd time in jail to that point.

As he tells these stories, I am convinced that Chris Herren loves his wife (who is smokin' hot, by the way) even more than when they met in the 6th grade, loves his family, adores his children and would do anything in this world to protect them from harm. I really have no question of that. When he is sober and not in need, he knows how significant everyone around him and in his life are to him. He cares. But he himself, like Hamilton, admits to these moments where nothing else matters. Moments where he doesn't care. Hamilton essentially admitted as much in his mea culpa, which I read after Passan's article because I wanted to know more about Hamilton's condition and his reasoning. Like Herren, Josh Hamilton has a disease. He acknowledges it and he knows every morning when he wakes up, he's going to have to fight it. And it is a constricting physical vise that presses upon him at all times. And for the past 3 years he fought that fight. For one night at least, he didn't care. He gave into temptation and he didn't fight. It is unfortunate for him. He is a superlative baseball talent. I think everyone here pretty much likes and respects him quite a bit (if only he wasn't on the Rangers). I also think that he is genuinely a good person with a severe physical limitation. I can only imagine what he goes through on a day-to-day basis.

For a moment, Josh Hamilton didn't care about the consequences and surrendered to his addiction despite everything and everyone he knew would be affected. To me, that is the very definition of not caring. But as his comments indicate, he cares today. And he's a generally caring person, I believe.

When the fan fell from the stands for the ball Hamilton threw and I watched the opening pitch with that fan's kid later that week at the All Star game, I told a friend of mine that it was only a matter of time before Josh falls again. I only hope that this warning shot (if it was actually only alcohol), is enough to wake him and those around him to the dangers he still faces every day. If it didn't, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not a religious person but my thoughts go out to him and his family, as well to all those who suffer with addictions like that. Fortunately for Josh, there are plenty of resources to which he can turn for help. So many that suffer like him don't have that opportunity. I hope he gets well and wins this battle sooner rather than later. And further hope he lives long into the war and gives us all years of more great baseball.

Thanks for all the writing and links to news on the Yankees and for the community in general. I have a been a fan of the Yankees since the age of 4 thanks to my New London, CT-native grandfather, his daughter (my mom) and her brother. You guys can all be pretty funny and reasonable most of the time. I'm optimistic about the team's chances this year. I also have some thoughts to share on what I think "1-3" needs to do to be good for the Yankees for at least some significant portion of his remaining contract.

I will save that for another post if my feelings aren't too hurt by the forthcoming skewering. Thank you for reading if you've made it this far [DID NOT READ]. I expect this will incite some critique, so fire away.

Well I've put this off for long enough. M'lord Duggan has asked me to create a Movie Discussion Thread similar to the Music Discussion Thread he made during the regular season, which kinda shows how long ago he asked me to do this and how long I've put it off.

I've grown up a fan of film, or cinema if you want to sound a little more snooty about it, for all my life. I am a media studies graduate from college and while I've shifted my future career plans more to sports media than film like I had originally planned, for personal reasons (already in the field + possible future career of having 5 month off holiday during fall/winter), film will always remain in my life.

Since I'm starting this thread, I'm going to list 15 Genres and talk about each. I'll also list some of my favorite movies from each genre as well. I want to list why I like each movie so much, but considering how many movies I'm probably going to list, I'm not going to do that except for a select few. If you want to know why I like said movie so much, feel free to just ask me. Afterwards, I'll ask some questions for everyone to answer. If you want, feel free to list your Top 5 or 10 favorite movies. I'm not going to, because I don't think I can honestly answer that question. Hell, lord only knows how many movies I'm going to simply forget in this list due to how many I've actually seen in my lifetime. Finally, if you want my opinion on the latest movies to come out, then check out/subscribe to a podcast I co-host with my friend called the Cinema Cafe Podcast.

Before you take the jump, I'll just warn you right now that this is the longest fanpost in PSA history. Below this jump are 8,400+ words and 260+ links.. So I'd go grab something to eat & drink, then when you are nice and comfy, jump right in...

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