News and Notes

We are now days - not weeks - away from Opening Day and the excitement is building towards the season. Joe Girardi only has a few decisions to make regarding the bullpen and the bench, but the roster is almost finalized.

• As John talked about earlier, Joba seems like he is going to be the headline for a little while, at least until the beat writers actually have games to write about. Over the weekend, Director of Professional Scouting Billy Eppler stirred the pot a little more saying that the Yankees were leaving Joba in the bullpen for good. Brian Cashman later said that wasn't an official team decision and just Eppler's opinion. Now Cashman may have used "opinion" instead of "Eppler's running his mouth without listening to the people in charge," but he is the Pro Scouting Director, so he's pretty high up there. Cashman's statements lead us to believe that Joba will be reevaluated as a starter at the end of the season. So two important Yankee officials talk about 2 of the 3 options I presented last week, but still leave out what I believe to be the best option.
  

• According to our friend over at LeNYy's Yankees, the fans agree that Phil Hughes should be the fifth starter.

• After being released by the Yankees last week, Chad Gaudin wasted no time in finding a new home with the Oakland A's.

• Buster Olney talks about the possible options if Major League Baseball were to realign the divisions.
  

• President Barack Obama will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park on Opening Day when the Phillies play in Washington. They should leave him out for the real first pitch too, since left-handed Commander-in-Chief (get the parallel?) will probably be better than anyone the Nationals can run out there.
  

• Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com takes a look at the Yankees Prospects to Watch going into the 2010 season, while Keith Law of ESPN talks about the breakout players around the league in 2010.

• And Mike Axisa at River Ave Blues has a preview of the season and the Yankees getting help from within the organization.