New York Yankees

Here's A-Rod on the cover of this month's Details magazine.

Coming from the Southeast, I am surrounded by three "fandoms": Braves, Red Sox, and Yankees.

I side with the first.

With this, came the natural hatred of the New York Yankees.

They seemed to be the polar opposite of my beloved Bravos. They always spent a TON of money and never really focused on their farm.

However, with the gradual evolution of my love of the game of baseball came the gradual increase of respect for the Yankees.

Standing at 6 feet 7 inches, 290+ pounds, hurling a horse-hide sphere at 96 miles an hour straight at you, it's safe to say, you're not safe when C.C. Sabathia's on the mound. But for how much longer will Sabathia be able to maintain this level of pitching?

An offseason acquisition brought him to New York, where good players go to die.

So the 28 and overweight Sabathia was a perfect candidate to play in NY: a pitcher who's had mediocre-to-terrible statistics against the division he recently joined.   

Wow, what domination. The Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 12-0. How could I hand out an “F” or even a “C” for that matter?

A+—Joba Chamberlain

He pitched three scoreless innings while giving up two hits and striking out three. This is good news for me because I drafted Joba Chamberlain in my fantasy baseball draft last night.

A+—Kei Igawa

With all due respect to the Tampa Bay Rays, the two favorites are finally in the building—the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

I feel a little bad about doing this because it's one of the primary reasons people really hate these two franchises—they get all the hype no matter how recent and thunderous their failures.

Boston lost the American League East and the AL Championship Series to Tampa in 2008. New York failed to even qualify for the playoffs. Yet, here I am, touting both as the kings of the hill with no reason except offseason headlines.

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, Bobby Crosby of the Oakland A’s has been playing third base since they signed shortstop Orlando Cabrera. A couple of teams, including the Yankees, have taken notice.

According to John C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel, the Florida Marlins have cut 24-year-old left handed pitcher Zach Kroenke, who they drafted in this offseason’s rule 5 draft, and returned him to the Yankees.

Yankee players Robinson Cano and Damaso Marte both participated in the World Baseball Classic and both came back with injuries.