Melky was above average, so was Nady. Popular belief was wrong regarding Abreu, who was not good, but correct regarding Damon, whose arm sucked (but surprisingly not the worst left field arm).
- Discussions are still on-going with Andy Pettitte. It seems the Yanks have upped their offer to $10.5 million.
- Mostly due to the free agent spending spree the Yankees indulged in, we will watch three of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball this year. An interesting stat that I had not seen before (K/100 pitches) shows that CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Joba Chamberlain were all in the top six! (No other team has more than one.) This stat has a higher correlation to runs allowed than any other strikeout stat. At the present though, it does not adjust for league and home park.
- A discussion of the Yankees' top 10 prospects:
[Jesus Montero] does have Piazza-type bat speed. The bat projects even at first base, and [that's] even in New York, which doesn't settle for anything less than top shelf at a corner spot given their payroll. He's very impressive in the cage. Behind the plate, he's much less so and my sense is that he probably can't play there.
Nearly every scout on the planet thinks Montero will have to move off catcher. If that's the case, where is he going to play? Third and first will be occupied for the next 8+ years. The only real options are corner outfield and DH. From what I've read, Montero is very slow. Would the Yankees really bring up a top hitting prospect just to DH? Will he be traded?