Joe Girardi

"The players make the manager. It's never the other way."—Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson

It's not easy being a manager in Major League Baseball these days.

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.

Last night, some guys north of the border pulled on Superman's cape. In fact, they pulled it off.

In a land where almost everyone was focused on Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays held Batman captive so long he had to tell them where the Bat Cave was.

The Yankees just can’t catch a break.

After dealing with an ailing Joba Chamberlain, Sergio Mitre and Greg Golson this spring, the oblique strain is back and is now affecting key player Curtis Granderson.

The right muscle strain caused the hitter to be scratched from the lineup on Tuesday and may deprive Granderson of participating in Opening Day on Thursday against his former team, the Detroit Tigers.

Despite hurling some of his best stuff in five years (1-0/2.40/15 IP/17 K), Bartolo Colon will start his season with the Yankees in the bullpen.

Yankees skipper Joe Girardi announced Sunday that the team will round out their rotation with Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia as their fourth and fifth starters.

Spring training started last weekend.  In some cases, fans were glued to their televisions or radios to tune into games that meant absolutely nothing.

I, for one, enjoy spring training.  This season's sure to be a good one, as my beloved New York Yankees look to put together the puzzle that will send them back to the World Series and bring home title No. 28.

Before anybody goes crazy, curses out Joe Girardi or stops watching Yankee games, let me just remind everyone that this is the Grapefruit League.

And thank God it is, because Colon's start means absolutely nothing today.

In today's spring training opener, manager Joe Girardi has decided to allow the newly-signed reclamation project to start.

Does it mean something that he is getting the first opportunity to prove himself worthy for one of the final two rotation spots?

Spring training is upon us. The Red Sox have been busy this offseason. The Yankees, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically quiet. How could the New York Yankees make noise this offseason with a payroll of over 200 million dollars? Yes, even the "Evil Empire of New York" has limitations on how much they can spend.

This article will break down the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry as it stands today and forecast what the 2011 season may hold for each team and/or their players.

Curtis Granderson's debut season with the New York Yankees can best be described as one filled with many peaks and valleys.  Judging by his strong second half and impressive postseason numbers, it wouldn't be surprising if Granderson has a 2011 similar to his breakout 2007 season with the Detroit Tigers.

His Yankee career couldn't have gotten off to a finer start.  In his first at bat of the season, he crushed a Josh Beckett pitch into the right-center field bleachers at Fenway Park. 

We all know that the Yankees have another solid team heading into the 2011 baseball season.  However, there is a reason why they are not the favorites this season and it is much bigger than failing to get Cliff Lee and barely attempting to get now new Boston Red Sox, Carl Crawford.