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Yankees
reloaded for 2007
Yankees look to repeat
in 07' 1. What's expected for 2007? Prince William's regular cast of characters is intact, and even with a few notable exceptions, the Yankees haven't completed a drastic overhaul as they shoot for their 4th Championship Title in 5 years. The changes are more subtle, almost bubbling beneath the surface. But while Tim Nargi is still the man in charge, George Adam mans third base and the Yankees bring back one of the Blue & Gray League's most potent pitching staffs, there will be a youth movement quietly under way as well when the Yankees report to Heritage Field in Woodbridge this month. General manager Nargi moved to import a bounty of prospects into the Yankees' mix over the off-season, shipping out veterans like Rick Fisher, Gary Fisher and Stoney Frye. In their place -- and get your scorecards handy -- players like Jordan Lovell, Larry Hinkle and Marc Springer have been added to the Yankees' future, along with the developing likes of Craig Kaufman and more.. But, in a story that has been followed all winter, the first-base rotation and DH depth chart have left 40-year-old Dave Shadbar on the outside looking in. Shadbar has reportedly been mulling a non-roster invitation to camp from the Yankees, with his 7-year career in pinstripes hanging in the balance. If Shadbar accepts the invitation, he will surely become a focal point of Spring Training, with fans warmly embracing the DH- First-baseman , bowling ball-- no matter the eventual outcome of camp. His other options would be to play his final seasons with another club, or move to bench coach and step in should any Yanks go down to injury. "He's a very special player," Nargi said. "It's a unique individual that we're trying to take a great deal of time and effort and discussion as we go through the process and what bowling wax to use" The Yankees' starting staff, behind ace Dave Beckner, may be the key to their success. After all, the Yankees led the Blue & Gray Leagues with a 2.79 ERA last season, with Closer Jon Bybee and setup man Steve D'Aquila a huge part of that success. 2. Will Craig Kaufman finally get his chance to start every day? Kaufman, who came to the club as a rookie free agent in 2005, finally showed some pop in his bat but ended the season with an injury and saw limited duty in the play-offs, Craig is now healthy and will press for the starting job with Yonnie Ezring 3. Will Mark Sterling succeed at lead-off? In the big line-up question for this year.......Sterling who has had his ups and downs in the lead-off spot in Prince Williams' lineup, will now be challenged by Robbie Klohen and veteran Cunni Moeller who are all speedy enough to bat first. 4. How will Barry Gauch fit into the Yankees' clubhouse? Thats right, The Yankees brought back Barry Gauch to help out with the catching duties in 07' more important Barry's bat will be most valued as well as his leadership in the Yankee clubhouse. Gauch gets the call up to the big club back to Prince William after being demoted to their minor league affiliate for 2 years in Norfolk. 5. Who knows what this guy is really doing? The Yankees' acquired Logan Springer from the NOVEC Nationals. Springer is more of an enigma in the League last season as he seamed to always be missing from the field but found with a bunch of under aged kids when game time came around. Quoting Springer: "I'm tellin ya.... they are really boy scouts". However when he did play Springer proceeded to mow down the opponents with his nasty slider and dominating fastball, look for Logan to close the deal many times this season whether on or off the field........wink,wink. NEW FACES LF/CF Brian Tirch -- In the biggest move by the Yankee at the 06 trade deadline the brass picked up Brian Tirch from the Woodbrige Whitesox to fill in the Center Field hole left open when Ed Pearson had to move away to the Brazil to tend to his pregnant bar-girl girlfriend, I mean due to personal reason. Tirch brings a potent bat and the speed so desperately needed in the Yankee line-up, look for Tirch along with Pearson to be roaming the Yankee outfield this season. P Logan Springer -- Signed by the Yankees in the off season, look for the right hander along with Lefty Jon Bybee to close out games for the Yanks this season. Logan also brings a potent bat to the line-up which opposing pitchers will have to pitch to him or face the other big Yankee bats of Bybee, Gauch and George Adam. LHP Larry Hinkle -- Another Yankee farm call up, Larry impressed the organization as he chewed up innings helping the Yankees in the stretch run. Larry will bring a lefty-arm out of the bullpen to to keep the opposing teams left handed bats in check. RETURNING PLAYERS 1B Yonnie Ezring -- Ezring came off the bench early in the season in a pinch hitting role and then never left the line-yup posting the only other .400 plus average on the team, Yonnie glove at first was second to none in the league and helped out the rest of the Yankee infield making errant throws look routine. 2B Robbie Kloehn -- Kleohn had a tough year at the plate, but you would not notice because he was still on base all the time and drove opposing defenses nuts with his base running prowess, Robbie defense was again superb as he took away several hits form the opposing batters with his ever present stellar defense. SS Tim Nargi -- The Yankee shortstop returns also for his 8th season in Yankee pinstripes, Nargi the Yankee mainstay in the infield went through conditioning in the off season and looks to provide another year of stellar defense and consistency at the plate, now if he can just get the league to allow him to play with a walker he'll be fine. 3b George Adam -- George always came through with the clutch hit, had a high slugging percentage and drove in runs by the bunches. what can you say about George's defense, well George had the uncanny ability to make the hard plays look easy, unfortunately he made the routine plays look like.......well it wasn't pretty, but after much rumor all year who's on first, what's on second and I don't know.....he's on third, George will come to camp as the Yankee third baseman. OF Ed Pearson -- If Eddie can stop messing around with the bar girls long enough he should be back in the line-up. The Yankees have sent a search party looking for Ed but were were only able to find the many children he left behind as we just kept missing him by 9 months. OF Cunni Moeller -- Some Yankees finally could remember what Moeller looks like as he showed up on a more consistent bases last year, Moeller proceeded to steal 2nd and third each and every time he made it to first, even forsaking easy doubles so he could pad his stolen base stats and tick off , "I never stole a base I didn't like", Mark Sterling, Cunni will return as a mainstay in the Yankee potent line-up. C/P Steve D'Aquila -- D'Aquila avowed "I will play a better season this year" that was quoted in 2003, Prince William management is still awaiting that vow to be honored and has held off the planned public execution should Steve come through. DAQ, proved to be part of the Yankee 1-2 punch for starting pitching in the play-offs and should continue that role again this season as well as a set-up man and spot starter. P/OF Jon Bybee -- Bybee should pick up where he left off, smoking opponent batters at will, it was reported to Yankee management that Jon was in a major conditioning program in the off season (Budweiser), look for Jon running foul pole to foul pole during Spring Training, also look for John to be roaming the outfield more often this season.
RETURNING FROM INJURY ? C Mark Ashby -- "I only have 32 pins in my back I'm fine to play" Mark was quoted. Ashby was given a clean bill of health by Dr Kevorkian and the Yanks are ready to run for him all season. Expect Mark to bitch at the manager at will as he has earned that right as a 5/10 player, 5 years to old and 10 bricks short of a load. (Late note) At press time Mark has accepted a management position in the Hawaiian league. P Jordan Lovell -- No Jordan did not have any physical ailments in 2006, he just had an affliction when getting 2 strikes on any batter he faced.....that was when the sever head trauma was evident...Jordan was sent to winter ball where his coach there told him the same exact things the coaches here did...amazing...., and apparently Jordan listened and was cured!!!! look for Jordan on the hill this year finishing off those batters this season!!!. P Dave Beckner -- Beckners' injuries may have been self inflicted, having lost a high of 3 games last season Beckner turned to the wacky weed and hit rock bottom against the "I know I can beat those scrub's" Red Sox who pounded him for 8 runs early in the season. The Yankees search party, looking for Eddie, stumbled across Beckner in a country that makes no moral opinions on Daves' lifestyle (not that there's anything wrong with that) and were able to ship him home where Dave rebounded and won both Championship games to lead the Yankees to their Blue & Gray title. LONG GONE P Vinny DePeri -- do we really need to comment on this? 1B Mike Kay-- After getting his ring in 2004 and playing in 2005, Mike decided to play closer to home in 2006 signing with the Fredericksburg Seminoles. The Yankees were entitled to compensation for Kay and had to fight for three months and were finally able to get their asking price of one beer. GM Nargi. " we were not going to allow Fredericksburg to get away with paying nothing, the single beer was actually more than what we thought was fair compensation and hoped for from the league office". PITA (Pain in the A#@) Gary Fisher-- Traded to Tennessee. DH Rick Fisher-- designated for assignment...his own!! P John Lopez -- John just could not crack the Yankee rotation and the limited duty he saw was not up to even his standards, so John asked for and was traded to the Diamondbacks early in 2006. OF Brett Spencer -- Brett had some very productive games for the Yanks and showed some pop in his bat from time to time and contributed greatly any where he was asked to play in the field and the base paths, Brett took a contract in the Pacific Coast League and will play for Seattle in 07.
THE BOTTOM LINE Last season, the Yankees rode their pitching and took their 3rd Championship in 4 years, Entering this Spring training with all pitchers from last season returning plus 2 more pitchers signed for 2007,the Yankees are already in good shape. With the addition of two heavy hitters and a good mix of young and veteran talent the Yankees should have another good run to a possible repeat in 2007. With the pitching this year the Yankees have 4 legitimate starters, and a large strong bullpen. Manager Tim Nargi will have many more options at each position and will have no trouble putting a potent line-up and strong defense on the field day to day.. Overall, the Yankees look very strong but will need that commitment factor from all players this season to come out on top once again. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article will be updated when new news comes in and will definitely be updated about the slackers who are late getting their player fee's in!! so watch out we know where you hide your skeletons.
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