Two weeks into Spring Training and so far it's one of the worst in recent memory for the Yankees. Yet another A-Rod fiasco (who knows how this latest PED scandal will shake out) that may take Francisco Cervelli down with him. The Yanks look like they're counting on the Cisco Kid to take a good portion of the catching duties this season; a fifty game suspension would put a rather large stumbling block in the path of that plan.

And while during the spring, everyone "feels great," there really has to be some concern over how a triumvirate of Yanks who are aged and coming back from major surgeries, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera, will respond when they are finally asked to kick it into actual game play mode. I am not a hand-wringer, worry-wart but the team is definitely counting on major contributions from that core of players and if they're not up to the task due injuries it definitely puts a pall on the 2013 campaign.

It's not just them either. Phil Hughes, who is a youngster all things considered, has a bulging disk in his back sustained in a play covering first base. No matter how it pans it does set him back getting ready for Opening Day so much so that Girardi has already been forced to say that it does make his prognostication of him being on the roster come April 1st "iffy." Now, generally you can get away with only four starting pitchers early in the season, you prefer not losing your #4 guy right off the bat.

Then there's Youkilis. He already feels like a "necessary evil" filling A-Rod's shoes to start the season - at the very least - and perhaps be the regular third-baseman for the majority, or all of this season, and he's already suffering a perhaps minor oblique issue, who knows? The line-up, sans last year's -- or really most years -- is lacking the power that crushed 245 homeruns last season. We already knew we were gone the big bats of Swisher, Ibanez, Martin, Chavez and Jones, but the biggest blow of the early "season" was Curtis Granderson having his arm fractured in his first appearance of the spring.

We were really counting on a repeat of his 40-plus HR bat, but he's out for ten weeks recovering - who knows how he comes back - and there's no quick fix on that front. His injury also messes up the Yanks' plan to flip-flop he and Brett Gardner in the center and leftfield outfield positions. The speedy Gardner will obviously start the season in center where he is better equipped - if you're one of those fans of the new statistics for measuring a player's worth - Gardner is one of the better outfielders in the game. But as Granderson will now lose the opportunity to try and learn to play the corner outfield position, one can only expect that upon his return he will re-take over center and move Gardner back to left.

Time to wrap the remaining players in bubble-wrap and to put the infamous "P" back up in the trainer's room. That was the scarlet letter the late George Steinbrenner put in his trainer's room, effectively notifying them that they were on "probation."

Okay, speaking of campaigns, I am still slowly plugging away at my campaign to bring my book, "A Rose by any Other Name," out on the road this spring. You can see that here  and I could really use any support you can muster.

Thanks,
Brian