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Around the Empire: Yankees News - 4/18/15

Cashman on team miscues; six-man rotation rumors; the right side's poor defense; A-Rod is being challenged inside.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews: Brian Cashman has said that the team's stumbling out the gate has been "shocking," However, he believes that not only will they recover, but that their current play is not at all indicative of how talented the team is. Joe Girardi also responded to early criticism of Didi Gregorius, and said that we all need to be patient with a young player who has to get adjusted to a tough position in New York.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch:  Remember the six-man rotation rumors from spring training? Well, with the Yankees having just begun a stretch of 30 games in 31 days, we could see a Chase Whitley or a Bryan Mitchell spot start to help give some of the injury risk starters an extra day off.

BP Bronx | Nick Ashbourne: The Yankees have a lot of decent left-handed pitchers, but ironically, they will probably allow a lot of hits to opposing left-handed hitters. Because of the old players on the right side of the field (Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, and Stephen Drew), opposing left-handed hitters will have a field day.

FanGraphs | Owen Watson: Alex Rodriguez has shown that he still has the bat speed to hit long home runs, but there are still weaknesses. His contact rate is incredibly low, so he has done well thus far with an incredibly high BABIP. As pitchers continue to challenge him on the inside corner, he may have some struggles to catch up. But if he shows some patience and punishes mistakes, he could still be a good hitter.