Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Mar 28, 2009 
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The Yankees are ready to pick a center fielder and it looks like Brett Gardner will be the choice.
CC Sabathia dominated the Reds last night. This notebook also has news on Derek Jeter, Chien-Ming Wang, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Hideki Matsui.
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How are your brackets? I have five of the Final Eight teams in The LoHud.com NCAA pool contest. In the Yahoo! Sports brackets, I have seven of the Final Eight. All four of my Final Four (Michigan State, Missouri, Pitt and Oklahoma) teams are alive.
I still like Oklahoma to win it all. The tournament hasn’t been too exciting yet given the lack of upsets and lopsided scores.
Good stuff
Girardi needs to stop with the “how well he did last season stuff”.
It’s never known when Cashman will pull off a deal but there’s no urgency to do so before the season starts.
He could do some minor deals to change the 40-man roster and create an opening or two.
I have 7 of the final 8 in my brackets, but had Syracuse losing to LOuisville in the final. I didnt see enough of Oklahoma this year to realize that they are this good. I now can see why Pete has them to win it all. They are a darn good basketball team.
I had Florida State winning it all. That should pretty much sum up my intelligence about basketball.
My guess is Melky gets traded if Gardner continues to prove CF is his. Maybe not before the season starts, but if Gardner’s hitting .180 in May then Melky may be safe. If Gardner’s hitting .280, Melky’s probably gone. If they’re both hitting .180, they’re both gone.
The thing I like most about CC is that, not just that he is dominant, he’s dominant for 8 innings.
It’s been far too long that the Yankees have had a guy that can do that. I’ve gotten so used to our pitchers going 5,6,7 innings and then testing the bullpen.
This is just great. AJ can probably go deep into games too.
I think we will have an awesome season.
My brackets are a disaster.
“It’s never known when Cashman will pull off a deal but there’s no urgency to do so before the season starts.
He could do some minor deals to change the 40-man roster and create an opening or two.”
I definitely believe Cashman needs to do something to create some roster flexibility to make room for an infielder. I don’t think it’ll be Melky because he’s an insurance policy on Gardner. I would think that Miranda or Giese are likley candidates to go.
Re: Melky/Gardner
Get your last licks in while you can Pete.
As teams have been cutting lesser players while keeping their likely starters, Melky has progressed while Gardner has slowed.
Gardner is hitting .383 and Melky .313. The gap has been closing.
When it’s all major leaguers the lines will cross.
My Lohud Brackets (self-picked) are in decent shape, I guess, considering I’ve been out of contention in the western division since week 1.
But, I still have 5 of the elite 8, so it’s still fairly exciting for me.
In my Yahoo brackets, I let the computer pick the “popular” picks. There I did much better – well, the brackets are cleaner, but the end result is I have 6 of the elite 8. So, week to week the popular picks look nicer, but in the long run, I figure I still have horses in the race in both brackets, which is a HUGE
Hitman, that’s about right.
But Girardi has his heart set on Gardner. Therefore, Gardner will be the starter until his bat gets exposed. Cabrera picks up the pieces. Kevin Long, do your job and help keep Cabrera fresh. We’ll need him eventually.
anyway, which is a HUGE improvement over last year, where I don’t think I had a single team in the final four, and maybe 2 in the elite eight.
As far as the CF spot goes, I would think it almost has to be Brett to start, especially since it’s not a matter of one making the team and the other not making the team. I think Melky’s had a great spring, and as I’ve said before, I trust his overall spring numbers more than Gardners, because they are more in line with what he has done in the major leagues in the past (last season notwithstanding). I think Gardner still leaves a bigger question mark with regard to his hitting.
However, Gardner can bring it on the basis, and while I do believe Melky’s been making a game effort to improve this part of his game, it is something he will continually have to work at, while for Gardner, it appears to be a more natural part of his athleticism.
Either way, I’m glad they didn’t have to go outside the organization, at least to start the season. And if they are lucky, they will be able to hold onto both, both will do well, and if they have a need at the trade deadline, one of them (Melky) may be able to bring them real value.
I have been so impressed with the Yankees pitching this spring, in general. I can’t wait to see how this all translates into the regular season.
** Typo ** – Gardner can bring it on the BASES, not basis. Sorry.
Doreen,
All good points. BTW, you are infinitely pleasant. I enjoy your ‘slice-of-life’ posts very much.
If you and your husband ever come to NYC and need Yanks tickets, please let me know. Because of my work, I can’t always go on Sundays, for instance (except when it’s Boston, or TB, lol).
bodhisattva -
What a nice thing to say, and what a generous offer. I will certainly keep it in mind. Thank you.
You bet.
6/8 (not missouri and oklahoma)
4/4 (msu, uconn, villanova, unc)
2/2 (unc, msu)
1/1 MSU
Looks exciting but cannot hit. Hope Girardi knows what he doing. Cabrera has a much better arm
Somehow I find myself with the second best bracket in the Lohud contest. I’m actually starting to get a little nervous!
LOL