Baseball is Back-Almost

Today marks the last day of the offseason. Who would of thought we would of made it to spring training and Johnny Damon still doesn't have a team although it appears he and the Tigers are getting closer. The New York Yankees will officially open up spring training tommorrow with pitchers and catchers reporting at 10:00AM, manager Joe Girardi will address the media at 12 Noon. It has changed from years past where all the players really have to do is call and say they are in the area, a lot of the players have been trickling in at the minor league complex since last week. Here are the last few notes from pre spring training and then tommorrow it will be full coverage all day everyday of the Yankees and Mets so please check back often for news and opinion. I hope you will all come here and start debates and talk about different aspects of the season. I am always open to suggestions and opinions and it doesn't matter if you agree with me or not. I can be reached through the comments here or email at gmarchesej@aol.com. I thank everyone for all the support and lets have a great season. The New York Mets don't report until Thursday. Chien-Ming Wang officially signed with the Washington Nationals today, he will have a press conference on Friday. Here are the pre-spring training workout notes from today. CC Sabathia talked to the media today and stated he has only thrown 2 bullpen sessions so far and he usually has thrown 5. He stated he isn't too worried about catching up. He will throw one tomorrow when he reports to camp. He also stated he does plan on taking his teammates to Orlando Magic games during spring training, he already has the tickets so whoever is up for it come see him and he is ready to go. He also talked about being hungry for more and recruiting Lebron James to come play for the New York Knicks. Brett Gardner took batting practice and looked good. Everyone is saying how scruffy he is looking, I can't wait to see him. Derek Jeter, Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena and Curtis Granderson also took batting pratctice. Most of the coaching staff was in attendance. Dave Robertson, A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Javier Vazquez did some throwing. It was a rather cool day in Florida with temps in the 40's and 50's still much better then being here in the snow though.

Recap of Todays Yankee Action

The Yankees lost 3-2 to the Atlanta Braves at Disney. Ian Kennedy started for the Yanks and pitched 3 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits with 1 walk. Dan Giese also pitched 3 innings for the Yanks giving up 1 run on 2 hits with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Andrew Brackman pitched a perfect inning and Mark Melancon gave up a hit with 0 runs in his 1 inning. The offensive side not much happened Johnny Damon had a triple and a rbi, Nady and Berroa both had hits. The Yankees are still waiting word out of Colorado about Arod who is undergoing an exam as I speak. Mariano will throw a bullpen tomorrow for the first time. Jorge Posada went through his throwing program today and appears to have gotten over that little setback he had the other day. Starting tomorrow the Yankees starters will go in line, Joba up first followed by CC,Wang,AJ,Pettitte. Joe Girardi said that the long man candidates Tomko,Giese and Aceves will continue to get innings. You would think that Hughes and Kennedy will be reassigned to the minor league complex then so they can continue on a regular rotation. Phil Coke will also get work, the Yanks envision him going anywhere from 1 batter to 2 innings. I am calling him the left handed version of Ramiro Mendoza. The Yankees will take on Team Canada tomorrow at Steinbrenner Field. I will be back later when I hear anything on Arod.

CC Pitches and Brings the Heat

Here is CC Sabathia with Jorge Posada after throwing his first live batting practice. He threw to a few minor leaguers, throwing 30 pitches of which only 4 were put into play. He was throwing some heat and when he did miss he was missing low which is a good sign. He also said today that he will pitch in his first game March 6 which will line him up for the opener on April 6 in Baltimore.

Pitchers throwing Bullpens today

Peter Abraham has a list on his site http://yankees.lhblogs.com AJ Burnett is throwing to Molina Joba is throwing to Kevin Cash IPK is throwing to Austine Romine CC is throwing to Jorge Posada The other guys throwing today are Giese,Bruney,Albaladejo,Igawa(who let him on the field),Veras,Robertson,Cox,Dunn,Garcia,Kontos. Wang and Pettitte threw yesterday. I am sure most of you are saying who are some of the guys on the end of the list. If you want to know comment me or email me and I will discuss them more, but they are minor leaguers.