Opening Day Nearing...

So as you can see I stopped doing the predictions, because frankly I've been too busy. I may still have them written down somewhere and if I do, I'll post them without any real explanation just for the heck of it.

The season starts Monday for the Yankees, and the roster is close to being finalized. I surprisingly (to me) wasn't that far off, although it isn't set yet. I had Nick Green rather than Morgan Ensberg, but the original post went up before Ensberg was even a possibility. And it looks like Rasner will make the roster, while Patterson has really opened some eyes and could get that last spot.

Looks to me like we have 24 spots essentuiually filled, and a three man race for the final spot.

1. Johnny Damon
2. Derek Jeter
3. Robinson Cano
4. Jorge Posada
5. Alex Rodriguez
6. Hideki Matsui
7. Melky Cabrera
8. Bobby Abreu
9. Jason Giambi
10. Wilson Betemit
11. Jose Molina
12. Shelley Duncan
13. Morgan Ensberg
14. Chien Ming Wang
15. Mike Mussina
16. Andy Pettitte
17. Ian Kennedy
18. Phil Hughes
19. Mariano Rivera
20. Joba Chamberlain
21. LaTroy Hawkins
22. Kyle Farnsworth
23. Billy Traber
24. Darrell Rasner
25. ?

Traber's the only non Igawa lefty left as far as I remember, with Henn on the DL and Phillips sent down. He's pretty much made the team unless Girardi changes his mind about carrying a lefty. As for the long man spot that Girardi has said he wants, Igawa hasn't pitched well at all, and Karstens appears to have been injured today, which leaves Rasner as the only real option (and the person I would have picked anyway).

That leaves one spot. Seems like it's a three man race at this point, between Ross Ohlendorf, Brian Bruney, and Scott Patterson. Ohlendorf seems least likely to me right now (with 2 more games remaining for that to change). He's pitched very well but has allowed the most hits out of the three (none have walked a lot of guys) and in theory could gain some benefit from being in AAA for a little bit. Patterson has pitched far and away better than any of the three, and better than anyone in camp too. It's not even close. But he's also never pitched above AA, so they may want to see what he can do in AAA first. Bruney has pitched very well and probably has the least to gain from being sent to the minors; at this point he'd just be sitting around waiting for a callup.

All three have options remaining as is my understanding, so that wouldn't factor in. I think it's between Bruney and Patterson right now, and it will depend solely on whether Patterson was ever really "in the race" or whether it was always intended he'd be sent down unless every other reliever was god awful. Ohlendorf still has a shot though.