BRONX- The boss has been gone for a few years now and things have changed in Yankee-ville. Over the off-season Hank and Hal offered their ultimatum to Brian Cashman, get beneath the $189 million mark to stop the luxury tax from denting their dense wallets. Cashman was forced to make some tough decisions, letting free agents Nick Swisher, Russell Martin and Rafael Soriano walk while failing to pursue big name free agents demanding large contracts in order to meet his bosses requests.
To make matters worse, Yankees suffered a plethora of injuries in the off-season. Yankees legend Derek Jeter is out for at least the first month after injuring his ankle in last season's playoff series with the Detroit Tigers, Alex Rodriguez is out until the All-Star break after another off-season hip surgery, Mark Teixiera injured his wrist in the World Baseball Classic and is out for until June, and Curtis Granderson is also out until June with a forearm injury suffered after being hit by a pitch in Spring Training.
With multiple stars injured, the Yankees turn to a bunch of seasoned veterans. The opening day squad will feature scrap-heap players like Travis Hafner, Lyle Overbay, and Ben Francisco along with off-season acquisitions Vernon Wells and Kevin Youkilis. They join Yankee holdovers Robinson Cano, Ichiro Suzuki and Eduardo Nunez. The tandem of Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart will man the backstop.
Not all is doom and gloom in the Bronx this Spring. Albeit old, the Yankees return all 5 starting pitchers from last year. If Ivan Nova can return to 2011 form and Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda don't age the Yankees could have a damn good pitching staff. They also have David Phelps, who is waiting in the wings in case a starter goes down with injury. Returning to the Yankees after tearing his ACL last spring is Mariano Rivera, who will probably be appearing in his last season in the bigs. The Yankees also return relievers Boone Logan, David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain. Expect to see Michael Pineda back with the team in mid-August, early September.
The final move the Yankees made this off-season didn't affect them on the field, it happened in the front office. Brian Cashman hired 18-year-old Kevin West as Assistant General Manager. West is expected to help Cashman out with money management and provides an extra set of eyes in what will be a taxing season for Yankees Front Office personnel.