Key Additions
Michael Pineda - SP
Hiroki Kuroda - SP
Raul Ibanez - DH

Key Losses
AJ Burnett(just kidding)


Prospects Who Could Impact 2012
Austin Romine - C
Brandon Laird - 3B
David Phelps - SP
DJ Mitchell - SP/RP
Manny Banuelos - SP
Adam Warren - SP
George Kontos - RP

Questions Heading into Camp
5th Starter: Phil Hughes likely has the inside track to beat out Garcia to start out. Whoever loses the competition will likely end up in the bullpen as the long man. Prospects like Phelps, Warren, Banuelos, Mitchell and Betances are exteeme longshots to break camp with the team but can see time in New York due to injury/performance.

Last Bullpen spot: Six spots are filled with Rivera, Soriano, Robertson, Logan, Wade and Garcia/Hughes. Girardi would like to have a second lefty so Mike O'Connor has a good shot at cracking the roster. Okajima failed his physical and was released. If not a second lefty the spot could go to Kevin Whelan, George Kontos or Adam Miller.


Projected Opening Day Lineup
1. Brett Gardner
2. Derek Jeter
3. Robinson Cano
4. Alex Rodriguez
5. Curtis Granderson
6. Mark Teixeira
7. Nick Swisher
8. Raul Ibanez
9. Russell Martin




1. CC Sabathia
2. Michael Pineda
3. Hiroki Kuroda
4. Ivan Nova
5. Phil Hughes



1. Freddy Garcia
2. Mike O'Connor
3. Cory Wade
4. Boone Logan
5. David Robertson
6. Rafael Soriano
7. Mariano Rivera




1. Andruw Jones
2. Francisco Cervelli
3. Eric Chavez
4. Eduardo Nunez

Just thinking out loud but........ if we start a 2012 team thread ,would it be a good idea to delete the 2011 threads? I don't think they get many views/posts once a new thread has been started.

Why would we delete them? Just let them slowly sift to the bottom like everything else.

I don't know........... site just feels cluttered. Rangerland is like that Reality TV show about hoarders.

Meh. It's an Internet forum. This happens everywhere. The worst part is losing history, we'd be deleting anything funny we said the previous year.

Yeah........ I guess. Nevermind!

No! Chuck it down the memory hole! Freedom Is Slavery!

Mariano is making it sound like 2012 will be his last season.

Thanks, Mariano!

Click to view attachment

I was hoping he'd go longer than the Lidstrom-1000.

Have fun with Mike Aviles, Darnell McDonald and Carlos Silva.

It's going to be fun watching Yankee fans after he's gone, it really is. So spoiled by his excellence, I can't wait to see the reaction when the close is no longer a guaranteed thing.

Mariano has been what I've considered to be one of the best "long burns" ever for anti-Yankee fans. Sure, have your fun now, but the epic hilarity that waits around the corner of these last 15 or so years will just make it all worthwhile.

I actually almost pity whoever has to take over that gig.

Oh I know, have fun with

Jenrry Mejia
Jon Rauch
and Armando Rodriguez

whatever

I think Robertson will close when Mo retires.

Obviously it will suck, but sometimes the greatest player ever at their specific role retires and you have to deal with it.

Who pissed in your cheerios?

I agree with what you said. I've had Jeter, Pettitte, Mo, Posada and Bernie from the first game I watched as a kid. Fans around my age just expect to have rare talents like that every year. The first blown save that Soriano or Joba has in 2013 will be rough for them with the fans.

I'm a Met fan and baseball season is starting?

Which is awesome.

(sorry to invade your thread I just love baseball)

And hockey, and basketball, and football, and minor league baseball, and minor league hockey, and junior league hockey, and foreign leagues hockey, and double A baseball and futbol and crew and....

You're forgetting A+ ball and A ball and short season A ball and rookie ball (A ball level since the mets got rid of their gulf coast league team). Very disappointed.

A-Rod is now dating Torrie Wilson, the female wrestler?

I don't think I've ever seen a guy adhere so strongly to a type.

The Chavez signing is official. One year for 900K. They also signed David Aardsma to a one year deal with an option for 2013. He is recovering from TJS so he could potentially be a mid-season "acquisition" when he is healthy.

How much for Aardsma? He pretty much sucked while with the Red Sox.

500K.

Once he left Boston he had a few solid years in Seattle. Not expecting anything from him at all with the injury and mid-season ETA with no setbacks.

When asked about how he feels about a potential Mariano Rivera retirement, Jobba said - "Chespo kutata kreesta kresko, nyakoska! Koose cheekta waffmula nei!"

Get some what? Pizza?

Looks like he hung out in the Sox clubhouse all winter.

This is a joke, right? That guy's not a pro athlete - Jerry just posted a picture of a plumber from Weehawken.

They also signed Burt Reynolds today.

Wookies and bounty hunters everywhere are trembling with fear. Pizza delivery boys too.

Maybe I should give baseball another try - the characters are pretty hilarious.

My pet Yankee for the year.
I think he's gonna do just fine.

Playoff format is changed. Three division winners make the playoffs in addition to two wild card teams. Those two teams face each other in a one game playoff and the winner faces the #1 seed in a best of 5. Teams from the same division can also face each other in the LDS now.

I like it. Doesn't help the Mets make the playoffs at all still, but I like it!

Ehh. I'm not too high on a team like the Yankees, Sox, Rays etc potentially missing actual postseason play because they lost one game against Cleveland.

Why not make that first series best of three? The baseball postseason is already the shortest (outside football) and it's by far the least taxing on its players.

Answering my own question: I'd guess it has to do with the weather issues.

And TV contracts/scheduling of the season. It would be nearly impossible to start the season in April, have an All-Star break, have 11 off-days then have a 3 game set before the playoffs.

This system rewards division winners, which I think is a huge plus, but the first time a 94 win team either uses its ace or loses the one game playoff to an 87 win team the baseball world will declare war.

Win your division and it isn't a problem. The Wild Card teams face eachother and then the playoff structure is EXACTLY the same as it's been.

You dont say?

My problem isnt with the playoffs. My problem is with a teams entire season coming down to 9 innings. It's like the Rangers losing a playoff spot because of the shootout against the Flyers. I imagine you wouldn't be happy if the Mets were the 1st WC team with 90+ wins and lost a one game playoff to 85 win San Diego. Or had to burn your ace in the playoff game and then get bounced in the LDS because the rotation wasnt set.

I KNOW you avoid this by winning the division. But no matter how hard some teams try not everyone can win the division. And I don't think its an honest way to end someones season when two teams aren't tied.

So, the one game playoff structure of football must drive you through the roof. How is it fair that the Giants win the super bowl when they only had to beat teams like the Packers who had a better season in one game?

Are you really trying to compare a 16 game, once a week football league that decides every playoff game this way to a 162 game, series driven regular season schedule that has their playoffs decided by a best of series since eternity?

Why do you hate America, Sats?

I'm just trying to illustrate I don't agree with the logic. I'm not seeing the huge difference between a 90 win team and an 85 win team so I'm not really of the mind to feel like I got jobbed somehow.

Plus, ya know, the players association would agree to such a thing, so obviously they aren't up in arms about it.

The wild card team gets extra coin. The Players Association is all about the money.

I don't love single elimination myself, but I do like that they place more importance on the division. It used to be a source of pride to win the AL East. Now some of that has returned.

It's not so much the amount of wins. Its the idea that after 162 games a team that won 90 games could miss the actual playoffs because they lost a sudden death game for no other reason than MLB wants more money. I used the wins to show that one year a team will be in a division like the AL East and the Yanks could win the division with 98 wins and the Sox would win 95 games and get stuck in a sudden death game because they happen to be the second best team in baseball in a division with the best team.

Meh.

AJ Burnett fouled a pitch into his face during a bunting drill. Welcome to the National League A.J.

Just heard on WFAN that Burnett is having surgery tomorrow to repair the orbital bone .
Looks like he's out 8 weeks at least

Could be worse Pirates fans, he could be on the mound.

Great. They're gonna get 20 minutes a night for the rest of the week.

GET OUTTA HERE