Brett Gardner

The action was modest through the first two days of the Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., with a couple of secondary-type signings taking place, as well as the interesting three-way trade between the Angels, Diamondbacks and White Sox.

Despite his status as a future Hall of Famer and team captain, the Yankees could actually be better off without Derek Jeter down the stretch of the season.

Old school baseball. It means no batting gloves, choking up on the bat and not being afraid to get your uniform dirty. Over the years, the game of baseball has lost some of that "tough-as-nails" mentality, as players hide behind body armor and pitch counts.

Yankee fans all over the world have been waiting anxiously for the return of Brett Gardner from the disabled list.

Unfortunately, they will have to wait even longer for his return, as Gardner suffered a setback from his rehab assignment, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, feeling pain in his elbow following a minor-league game on Friday night.

It's hard to be a baseball manager. It's even harder to manage in New York City. It's even harder than that to manage the New York Yankees.

With pockets deep enough to absorb almost any contract and make any change at any time, the Yankees possess power no team can match.

Prior to the season Brett Gardner was a popular selection for people looking for a pure speed option. There was talk of him hitting in the leadoff spot, making fantasy owners lust for the potential to score a significant number of runs.

Over two weeks into the season, Gardner has been nothing short of a major disappointment.

When looking into Brett Gardner's problems, one stat really jumps out at you. Gardner, after batting .287 against righties last year, is only batting a .105 against them this year.

A new year of fantasy baseball rolls around. Will your strategy from last year work as well this year? No, probably not, because the field of players changes so dramatically each year; you want to develop a new approach that fits this years' players. Here are five things that you should remember when drafting, and even after your draft, when you're proposing trades and adding free agents:

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Heading into the season, while many felt the Yankees' best arrangement would be with Brett Gardner sitting atop the lineup, the constant chatter was that Derek Jeter would remain the Yankees leadoff hitter. 

For or better or worse, the Yankees legend was getting the limelight, despite a .348 OBP in the leadoff spot in ’10, while Gardner would be hitting ninth.

However, all of that changed yesterday.  Jack Curry of the YES Network posted on Twitter:

One of the few remaining decisions for the New York Yankees in this spring training is a final choice of leadoff hitter.

The choice for manager Joe Girardi comes down to Derek Jeter or Brett Gardner.

Jeter is a 16-year veteran who had a down year in 2010.  Jeter has made adjustments to his setup at the plate which have been successful this spring.  He is a career .300 hitter, and there is no real reason to believe he won't be much better this year.