Granderson out 10 weeks with broken forearm

Well the first televised Spring training game resulted in Curtis Granderson fracturing his right forearm on a pitch from Blue Jays left-hander J.A Happ.

 Granderson spoke to Mark Feinsand after suffering the injury stating: “I was excited, my body was feeling good, mind was feeling good and I was ready to go. Five pitches in we have a little setback. They said it could be worse. Now we rest, recover, get it back and get ready to play whenever that day comes … Mentally, you understand it’s part of it. At the same time, there’s not much I can do about it except for doing the best things I can to not make it worse but yet keep myself ready to go.”

Granderson played 160 games with last years team and hit 43 home runs, with him down the Yankees are losing their best power hitter for the last two years and are looking at a very light hitting outfield to start the year. Look for the Yankees to monitor the waiver wire and possibly look to trade for a player, but its not like there was a player out there before that the Yankees were looking at. It also makes it really stink that the Yankees did not sign Scott Harriston or trade for Mike Morse as they could easily have just used him in a full time role until Granderson came back. Its not going to be good if the Yankees have to start the year with what they have and they cannot do what they did last year and just ignore the issue.
I suppose its good that this happened so early in spring training and I would be even more concerned about a hand injury, but any arm area injuries are concerning especially for a guy who was having issues with his swing.
Just a note Chris Dickerson would be great to have right now, but hind sight is always 20-20.

Yankees acquire Shawn Kelley

The Yankees acquired right hander Shawn Kelley from the Mariners in exchange for outfielder Abraham Almonte, according to Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News Tribune (on Twitter) and now confirmed by all parties. Almonte hit pretty well last year in Double A Trenton, but he was likely going to be blocked from significant playing time in both Trenton and Scranton. Meanwhile the Mariners needed Center Field depth and Almonte is definitely capable of playing all over the outfield.
The Mariners had designated Kelley for assignment to make room for Kelly Shoppach and he still has a minor league option so if he doesn't make the club out of spring training then he, along with Cody Eppley, will probably be the most likely up and down guy between the Yankees and the Railriders. Kelley, 28, appeared in 47 games for the Mariners in 2012, posting a 3.25 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, and a 28.8% ground ball rate in 44 1/3 innings. Obviously the fly balls could be an issue and his homer rate (1.34 HR/9 and 9.7% HR/FB) isn't ideal, but I doubt he will be working any high level innings.
To make room for Kelley the Yankees put Alex Rodriguez on the 60 day Disabled list. I suppose they sort of have another 2 40 man spots open as they will need to put Manny Banuelos and Cesar Cabral on the 60 day at some point.

A True Yankee Podcast 2/12

A New Podcast for pitchers and catchers reporting! Brooke returns from her hiatus and we talk about the World Baseball classic, the A-Rod PED accusations and the Yankees offseason. Focusing on the Youkillis signing, the Ichiro deal, the catching situation and a potential new deal for Cano. We also examine the competition in the AL East and what to watch for in Yankee spring training.

Alex Rodriguez accused of using Performing enhancing drugs.....Again

(Photo:Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports)

Alex Rodriguez, along with several other MLB players, has been accused of taking performing enhancing drugs by the Miami New Times. Lets be clear with that as of today February 2nd 2013 the MLB has taken no action against any of these players as the only information has come from this newspaper. This could change relatively quickly , but Alex has vehemently denied the allegations stating:

"The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true," Rodriguez said in a statement issued by a publicist. "He was not Mr. Bosch's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story — at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez — are not legitimate."

 That has not stopped Alex and these other players from being convicted in the court of ESPN and the Yankees are reportedly trying to void the contract they gave Alex after he opted out his previous contract. They would obviously want this as he is owed $114 million over the next five years and they would love to have that money back. That being said unless the MLB takes action there really wouldn't be anything they could do to get out of the contract, the Yankees gave him this money with full knowledge that they would be paying him well over $20 million a year until he was 42. They did not know he would require two hip surgeries in the first 5 years of that contract and admit to use of PED's between 01-03. Many, many writers are seemingly trying to will Alex into retirement or simply out of his contract with the Yankees, its not happening. Maybe in the future teams will be able to opt out of a contract if a player is busted for PED use, but as of now I do not know if he would face a suspension as he hasn't tested positive for anything. This could change, the MLB could find that the evidence was fraudulent or they could find its incredibly damming and could sustain all the accusations against the players named in the report.
Despite all the willpower of baseball writers I expect that Alex will be back with the team in mid to late July, after that I have no idea how long he will play with the Yankees or otherwise.  Also do not forget that when the Yankees gave Alex this contract after he opted out in 2007, he had just come off an amazing MVP year and had never had any injury issues in his career when he signed that contract. Last off season the contract the Angels gave Albert Pujols was applauded by many writers and that was given after a down year for Pujols, that contract is gonna look really bad in a few years but it wont be slammed as badly because people like Pujols better than A-Rod. Also don't completely count Alex out yet, before his hand was broken by a pitch from King Felix in Seattle he was tearing the cover off the ball and if he starts playing at Designated Hitter more and more then his performance could improve.
Unfortunately for all the non Alex Rodriguez people out there who would have liked to see a way for the Yankees to get out of paying Alex, I expect that Alex will play this season, for the Yankees and will play reasonably well considering his two hip surgeries and increasing age. However all of that remains to be seen and we will all have to wait and see what the results of these accusations are and how the 2013 MLB season plays out.