My Opening Day Roster

So...we'll see the final Opening Day Roster soon enough, but here's how I would set it up if I were Girardi.

C Jorge Posada
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Robinson Cano
3B Cody Ransom
SS Derek Jeter
LF Johnny Damon
CF Brett Gardner
RF Nick Swisher
DH Hideki Matsui

Bench
C Jose Molina
RF Xavier Nady
IF Ramiro Pena
CF Melky Cabrera

1P CC Sabathia
2P Chien Ming Wang
3P AJ Burnett
4P Andy Pettitte
5P Joba Chamberlain

CL Mariano Rivera
SU Brian Bruney
SU Damaso Marte
MRP Jose Veras
MRP Jon Albadejo
LHS Phil Coke
LR Alfredo Aceves

And then you have A-Rod on the DL.

I think we should get rid of Edwar Ramirez, because unlike Girardi I think we need a long reliever, especially with such an injury prone rotation, thus Aceves needs a spot. Albadejo and Veras are better than Edwar in my opinion. I also am not opposed to trading Damaso Marte when we bring up Mark Melancon. I'm sure we could turn Marte and Ramirez into some position prospects or a better stopgap at 3rd(I'm not sold on Ransom, even though I really want him to do well).

Also, Melky, Juan Miranda, X-Man, Ransom and Angel Berroa seem expendable to me. I'd rather give Ramiro Pena some experience at the big league level or get someone reliable like Mark Grudzielanek than play Ransom and Berroa.

I am a big X-Man fan though(well a bigger X-man fan than I am a Ransom fan)...so I had a kinda crazy idea. Nady played 18 errorless innings at 3rd in 05, maybe he could play 3rd now...But, he hasn't been training there so don't think that would actually happen, just a funny thought.

A lot of people, including Girardi, want Nady to start in Right because of his career year last year. But his line in New York (not Pittsburgh) last year was .268/.320/.474. Swish's line for the year was .219/.332/.410. I think batting average is sooo overrated still, and I usually just ignore it and look at OBP instead. Swish's OBP beat Nady's by 12 points. And when his average comes back up to near his career avg (.244) it'll raise his OBP as well. Swish only hit one home run less than Nady did all year, and he just seems like a better bet for a good year than Nady is, because Nady's coming off a career year, and thus should regress, whereas Swish is coming off a career worst year, and thus should improve. Add in that Swish is two years younger and signed past this year, and it just makes sense to make him an integral part of the team. I like Nady, but if we can trade him for something more valuable let's do it.

Phil Hughes will find his way into the rotation by July somehow. Someone will get injured, I'm sure. Andy Pettitte is clearly the weak link in the rotation right now, and I wonder if Girardi would just let Hughes take over for him if there weren't an injury. Pettitte's such a part of Yankee tradition that it is hard to imagine the Yanks trading him (unless its to Houston) or relegating him to 'pen duty. But, if Hughes is good enough we could see that happening.

Also, if Gardner can't handle the starting center field job and Austin Jackson starts off hot in Triple A we could see AJax making his debut sometime around the all-star break.