New York Yankees

As a Yankee fan born and raised in the heart of the land that sports the pinstripes, the last thing I and many other dedicated fans want to see is a slump in the 2010 season, especially after nine seasons of lacking a championship win. 

Fellow fans of Bronx Bomber nation, it’s possible that we may be facing some hard times this season. 

Let’s take a look at some of the issues that can derail the Yankees this season.

First up—Alex Rodriguez’s injury.  

This announcement doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi made it official today, Phil Hughes—not Joba Chamberlain—will be the Yankees fifth starter going into the season.

The New York Post's Joel Sherman , among others, is reporting that Joe Girardi has officially named Phil Hughes as the Yankees' fifth starter. This has been heavily debated over the course of spring training, but I'm still not sure what the Yankees plan was here.

The Yankees cut five more players from the big league camp yesterday: outfielder Greg Golson, righties Mark Melancon and Jonathan Albaladejo, and infielders Juan Miranda and Kevin Russo, according to Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger.

The cuts of Miranda and Russo have pretty much cemented the Opening Day bench, ensuring a spot for Ramiro Pena.

According to Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger, the Yankees have released righty Chad Gaudin just two days after they put him on waivers.

The Yankees drafted Christian Garcia in 2004 and by the end of that summer the third round pick was already making a name for himself thanks to a mid-90’s fastball and the makings of a nasty curveball.

He started out quickly out of the gate, his stuff was raw, but he showed a lot of promise. In 2004 he was able to harness it while putting up a 2.84 ERA and 47 strikeouts in just 38 innings.

One of the best things about being a Yankees Featured Columnist here on Bleacher Report is being able to bring up and address certain rumors that float around.

This will be another story pertaining to one of those rumors currently floating around, which now will be addressed by me, and I'm sure will be addressed amongst the Yankees B/R community here as well. I'm looking forward to it.

Lately, a certain big-named pitcher who will be a free agent pitcher after the 2010 season is now being linked to the Bronx.

I come at this with a bias; this I admit willingly.

You see, I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan.

I would love nothing more than to see the Evil Empire crumble and fall and watch Hank Steinbrenner go off his meds and give his best "like father, like son."

Every year I hope that the "aging" Yankees finally, well, show their age. 

Every year people wonder when these three players' stars will begin to dim.

Anyone who has ever been to any single game at Yankee Stadium knows the scene: It’s a musty May night, and the game has been moving along swiftly, maybe a run here and there. Around the fifth inning, about the same time as the Great New York Subway Race and the YMCA, you start to here a metal pan being hit across the stadium. That pan belongs to the one and only.. Freddie Sez.

At first glance, it looks like baseball and competitive balance run on parallel lines. There are the Yankees with their 27 World Championships and the Pittsburgh Pirates who have not had a winning season since 1992.

Those two franchises met in the epic 1960 World Series when Bill Mazeroski won it with a Game Seven ninth-inning home run. 1960 was during a run where the Yankees played in 14 out of 16 World Series.