The LoHud Yankees Blog

“Last year was awful. It was embarrassing.”

Those are Mark Teixeira’s words after yesterday’s Opening Day home run. It seemed that Teixeira dismissed his slow start last season, saying he always trusted that he would eventually live up to the numbers on the back of his baseball card. This winter, though, Teixiera put extra time and effort into his swing, taking more hacks than usual.

“Sometimes your swing is the last thing you think about,” he said.

Teixiera thought about his swing this winter, and he went to work keeping it in shape hoping to avoid last year’s slow start. He had a terrific spring training, then hit a massive three run home run in the opener.

Today Joe Posnanski posted his prediction of the top 32 players in baseball this season. He has Teixiera barely on the list, coming in at No. 32. It’s probably about right considering last year’s numbers, but there’s certainly the potential for more this year.

“I have a suspicion that this year he will have a massive season,” Posnanski wrote.

Here’s Teixeira after yesterday’s game.

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• FanGraphs put the Yankees at the top of their organizational rankings.

• Cool post over at The Yankee Analysts detailing how and when each member of the Yankees Opening Day roster came to the franchise.

• He didn’t have much impact with the Yankees, and now Randy Winn has decided to retire. One of the most polite players I’ve ever met.

• After he was released from Yankees camp, infielder Ronnie Belliard signed a minor league deal with the Phillies.

• Ian Kennedy got the Opening Day start for the Diamondbacks this afternoon.

• Some other familiar faces winning jobs in new places: Mark Melancon made the Astros bullpen, Sergio Mitre will be in the Brewers pen, Lance Berkman really did open as the Cardinals right fielder, Juan Miranda started at first base for the Diamondbacks, Shelley Duncan made the Indians bench, Dustin Moseley is in the Padres rotation, Ross Ohledorf is the No. 3 starter for the Pirates, Jeff Karstens and Jose Veras are both in the Pirates bullpen, and Jose Tabata is the Pirates starting left fielder.

Associated Press photo

At the end of last season, I wrote about the layout of the Yankees clubhouse. I thought I might as well do the same thing at the beginning of this season.

As always, the Yankees clubhouse is a kind of oval, with the lockers along the edges and six flat screen televisions hanging from the ceiling in the middle. If you imagine the room as the face of a clock, there are doors at 12, 6 and 3. There’s a blank space of wall at 9. Each section isn’t perfectly equal, but the room is more or less divided into four quadrants. The ends of the room – basically from 11 to 1 and 5 to 7 – are flat walls, so those sections are kind of set apart as well.

Here’s the basic layout of who belongs where, using that imaginary clock to put everything in place.

From 11 to 1
empty, Jorge Posada, door, Derek Jeter, empty

The far end of the room is the exact same as last year. The door at 12 leads into the players-only area, Posada is on the left side of the door and Jeter is on the right. Both have an empty locker next to them, a show of respect for the two veteran position players. Those lockers are full of overflow stuff from Posada and Jeter, and from A.J. Burnett and Alex Rodriguez, who are on the other sides.

From 1 to 3
In order, beginning next to Jeter’s empty locker: A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, CC Sabathia, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Ivan Nova, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli

Hughes took Andy Pettitte’s old locker, while Chamberlain and Sabathia moved down one space from last season. Cervelli is in the same locker as last season, right next to a door that leads back to the manager’s office.

From 3 to 5
In order, beginning next to the door leading to Girardi’s office: Roman Rodriguez, Anthony Flynn, Colin Curtis, empty

Aside from Rodriguez’s spot — he’s bullpen catcher with basically as much gear as a player — these are kind of mix-and-match lockers. Coaching assistant Brett Weber is also in the mix in this section, and for now Curtis is keeping his stuff over here. These lockers are a little more wideopen than the others, and they’ll be filled with young player when the roster expands in September.

From 5 to 7
In order, beginning next to the empty locker next to Curtis: empty, Gustavo Molina, door, Luis Ayala, empty

The media enters the clubhouse through the door at 6 o’clock, so this feels like the front of the room. Aside from Ayala’s locker — which belonged to Ramiro Pena last season — most of these lockers changed hands several times last year. Randy Winn, Dustin Moseley, Juan Miranda, Chad Huffman, Jonathan Albaladejo, Eduardo Nunez and Mark Melancon were all in this section at one point or another last season. Makes sense that the last two players on the roster would get lockers in this area.

From 7 to 9
In order, beginning right next to the empty locker by Ayala: Boone Logan, Dave Robertson, Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner, Russell Martin, Eric Chavez and Nick Swisher

With two exceptions, this area is the exact same as last year. The only changes — obviously — are Martin and Chavez, who took lockers that were filled by Chad Moeller and Austin Kearns at the end of last season. Martin’s locker originally belonged to Nick Johnson last year. Chavez was positioned next to his old Oakland teammate Swisher. There’s a blank space of wall on the other side of Swisher’s locker.

From 9 to 11
In order, beginning with the wall next to Swisher and ending with the empty locker next to Posada: Mariano Rivera, Rafael Soriano, Damaso Marte, Pedro Feliciano, Curtis Granderson, Andruw Jones, Alex Rodriguez

In this section, only the Rivera, Granderson and Rodriguez lockers remain unchanged. Marte moved over one spot, and Feliciano took his old locker (and his old role as the lefty on the disabled list). Jones has taken Marcus Thames’ locker and role on the bench.

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Turns out, my friend Marc Carig had the same idea for an off day blog post. Spend enough time with people in spring training, you start to think alike.

Since Sam started the predictions, I’ll follow his lead.

MVP: Mark Teixeira (My first thought was to agree with Sam on Rodriguez, who’s going to have a big year, but I’ll go with Teixiera getting off to a strong start and carrying that momentum)
Surprise of the Year: Russell Martin (Sam went with Jeter, and I agree he’ll have a bounceback year, but I think Martin will become a fan favorite by May 1)
Disappointment: Robinson Cano (Strictly because the expectations are so sky high right now, good year but not an MVP year)
Lowest spot Jeter hits in the batting order this year: 2nd (Agree with Sam completely)
Date Jeter gets hit No. 3,000: June 8 (Sam picked his daughter’s birthday, I’ll pick my sister’s)
Over/Under 40 homers for A-Rod: Under (I’ll go with 39)
Over/Under 14.5 wins for Phil Hughes: Under (I’ll go with 14, but I think he’ll overall better season than last year, just think he won’t run into as many wins)
Does Jesus Montero spend significant time in the majors this season: No (I’m with Sam on this one, mostly because I believe Martin and Francisco Cervelli will hold down the fort)
Does Manny Banuelos: No (I think New York will see Andrew Brackman and Adam Warren before Banuelos)
Do the Yankees make a trade for a pitcher: Yes (but …)
Is it King Felix: No (Not even close, a small name if anyone)

And I’ll add few predictions of my own.

Taking Nick Swisher’s spot on the final all-star ballot: Curtis Granderson (Too many good outfielders for Granderson to be voted in initially, but he’ll follow Swisher’s final-ballot path to the all-star game)
More home runs, Eric Chavez or Andruw Jones: Jones (Better year for Chavez, but Jones’ all-or-nothing approach still gives him more homers)
Career saves for Mariano Rivera at the end of the season: 599 (40 saves seems about right this year)
Over/under 50 steals for Brett Gardner: Over (Gardner keeps reaching base, and gets more aggressive going from first to second)
Over/under 12.5 wins for Ivan Nova: Under (Right at 12 wins for the Yankees rookie)
First player up from Triple-A: Chris Dickerson (Pretty much impossible to guess where the Yankees might have their first need, but I’ll guess a short-term hole opens in the outfield and Dickerson fills it)
Breakout Yankees prospect: Brett Marshall (Continuing what he started last year)

So, I tweeted my overall MLB predictions yesterday, just so I was on record with them, and as you’ll see I didn’t exactly smash the conventional thinking. I like Oakland’s young pitching; I think Boston has a terrific roster; I’m not sold the Brewers yet; and I think the Phillies, ultimately, will be as good as everyone believes because of their rotation. Picking them to win the World Series is hardly a revelation.

As for the Yankees, I think they’re going to be a lot closer to the division lead than many people believe. Yes, ultimately, I think Boston wins the AL East but I surely wouldn’t be shocked if the Yankees got there instead. I see 91-94 wins for the Yankees and 94-97 for the Red Sox; that’s a close enough margin that it could certainly go the other way.

In the playoffs, though, I do think the Yankees lack of pitching depth will hurt them, and that’s why I can’t see them making a deep run. Of course, that’s based on the roster they have now and … well, let’s just see who’s in pinstripes on Aug. 1.

Now, as to some other Yankees predictions:

MVP: Alex Rodriguez (I also happen to think he’ll win the AL MVP)
Surprise of the Year: Derek Jeter (Maybe bending the term slightly, but as I wrote for our preview, it seems like many folks think Jeter is heading downhill fast this year … I just don’t happen to be one of them)
Disappointment: Rafael Soriano (one way or the other, this isn’t ending good for the Yankees; either he pitches well and opts out for a new deal as a closer or he pitches poorly and sticks around at $12M a year. Not ideal.)
Lowest spot Jeter hits in the batting order this year: 2nd (For my money, “the drop” comes next year)
Date Jeter gets hit No. 3,000: June 4 (Just guessing that date because it means I won’t be working – it’s my daughter’s first birthday)
Over/Under 40 homers for A-Rod: Over (I like 42)
Over/Under 14.5 wins for Phil Hughes: Over (but not by much – I’ve got him at 15)
Does Jesus Montero spend significant time in the majors this season: No (I see the Yankees picking up a veteran backup along the way and keeping Montero/Romine down for another year of seasoning)
Does Manny Banuelos: Yes (He was too good in spring not to get a look at some point and once he gets here, I think he’ll do well enough to say a while)
Do the Yankees make a trade for a pitcher: Yes (but …)
Is it King Felix: No (Sorry)

What do you guys think? Hopefully Chad will chime in with his thoughts, too, and if you want, e-mail along any other prediction questions and I’ll try hit as many as I can in another post.

Derek Jeter was the Yankees Opening Day shortstop for the 15th time yesterday. That’s a franchise record by a lot. Phil Rizzuto had the previous record with 11.

It’s cliche to write about how remarkable it is when even a player like Jeter sticks with one franchise for more than a decade. It’s cliche, but it’s true. Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera won’t be together much longer. Posada’s in the last year of his contract and Rivera’s in his 40s. For now, though, three of the Core Four are together for another year.

“When we came up in this organization, the organization was known for getting rid of a lot of guys,” Jeter said. “Bernie (Williams) was pretty much the first one they gave an opportunity to. We definitely just wanted to make it and stay as long as we could. We were always afraid that if we didn’t do our job, they would get rid of us and get someone else. We had that fear coming up. That’s why we always worked so hard and that’s why we never took anything for granted.”

Here’s Jeter speaking before yesterday’s game.

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Associated Press photo

One day into the season and we already have an off day. Some of the Yankees are getting settled into apartments today. Some are enjoying a chance to finally sit around and do nothing. Curtis Granderson said he’d probably make time to hangout with old teammates from Detroit.

The Yankees fans? My guess is they’re still feeling good after yesterday’s win.

Associated Press photos