Hideki Matsui
Age: 32 Years Old (Turns 33 in June).

Three-year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	G	AB	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG
2004	Yankees	162	584	174	107	34	2	31	109	108	88	103	3	0	.298
2005	Yankees	162	629	192	121	45	3	23	108	116	63	78	2	2	.305
2006	Yankees	51	172	52	35	9	0	8	32	29	27	23	1	0	.302
2007	BillJames	129	485	147	92	29	1	25	87	90	75	76	2	1	.303
2007	CHONE		447	129	84	26	1	18	69	64	51	66	2	1	.289
2007	Marcel		326	97	62	20	1	14	57	57	39	50	2	1	.298
2007	ZiPS		498	146	95	31	1	19	85	100	58	77	1	1	.293

SEASON	Team	BB%	K%	BB/K	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP
2004	Yankees	13.1 %	17.6 %	0.85	.390	.522	.912	.224	.318
2005	Yankees	9.1 %	12.4 %	0.81	.367	.496	.863	.191	.320
2006	Yankees	13.6 %	13.4 %	1.17	.393	.494	.887	.192	.312
2007	Bill James	13.4 %	15.7 %	0.99	.399	.522	.920	.219	.318
2007	CHONE	10.2 %	14.8 %	0.77	.364	.472	.836	.183	.306
2007	Marcel	10.7 %	15.3 %	0.78	.372	.494	.866	.196	.317
2007	ZiPS	10.4 %	15.5 %	0.75	.367	.474	.841	.181	.316

Outlook: Hideki Matsui was the model of reliability over the course of his career and maintained very impressive consecutive games streaks both in MLB (518 games) and combined with his Japanese league experience (1,768 games). Those streaks came to a crashing end on May 11th against the Red Sox when Godzilla dove for a ball and ended up severely hurting his wrist. Now, wrist injuries are a dangerous thing as they can linger and often take quite a long time to recover from (just ask Nick Johnson). However, it is a testament to both Matsui's resilience and work ethic that he was able to heal, get himself into playing condition before the end of the season and then tattoo the ball on his return.

In any case, it's a little surprising that 4 years into his Yankees tenure, I'm still not entirely sure what to expect from Godzilla. He was a ground-ball machine in his first season, then showed a big-time jump in power in the midst of a great season in 2004 and while his power numbers slumped in 2005, Godzilla set career highs in batting average (.306), hits (192), doubles (45), triples (3), RBI (116) and total bases (312). So, you have one down year, one high year and one year in the middle (leaning towards higher). Last year, In his limited playing time, Matsui displayed the same amount of power that he had in 2005 and a better batting eye (much more in line with his stellar 2004). In addition, he ended up hitting far more flyballs than he had at any time in his career while showing struggles against left-handers for the first time in his career. Now, whether those numbers were just a statistical anomoly is something that we won't be completely sure of until the year is over. Whatever happens, it's great to see Godzilla ready to play the full season and with his determination, I certainly wouldn't be surprised if he felt he needed to redeem himself for last year and make up for lost time.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG

A-Rod was on Mike and the Mad Dog (listen here) to talk about his situation, contract, etc.

From Cliff:

Some cuts were made yesterday after the Yankees loss. They are Eric Duncan, Brett Gardner, Alberto Gonzalez, Steven Jackson, Jeff Kennard, Juan Miranda, Jose Tabata and Kevin Whelan.

Via Peter Abraham.

Peter Abraham mentioned that Don Mattingly's father has passed away. He will be away from the team for a few days. Our thoughts are with him and his family.

I just wanted to post a reminder, for anyone who is into fantasy baseball, please take a look at the YanksBlog.com Fantasy Baseball League. It's drafting on the 16th. If you do join, please don't forget to e-mail me. Thanks.

Our next interview is with Benjamin Kabak of River Ave. Blues.

When you aren't doing something related to or depending on the Yankees, what are you up to?

When I'm not thinking or dreaming about the Yankees, discussing baseball, watching baseball or sitting at Yankee Stadium, I'm working at my day job for one of the major sports leagues. I'm also blogging on the New York City subways at Second Ave. Sagas. Being from New York, I'm a big fan of things very New York specific. I love the subways; I love the Yankees. And I'm glad I've been able to share my passion for both with readers of my blogs.

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Peter Abraham has a picture of Hideki shaking hands with Red Sox pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima. Quite the media event back in Japan.

Mr. Abraham also mentions Andy Pettitte's simulated game from yesterday. He pitched to 17 hitters. 9 of which were Andy Phillips. The other at bats were taken by Cody Ehlers and Justin Christian. He allowed 4 hits (3 singles).

The best part, I think, is that Donnie played 1st base during the game. The post mentions that Mattingly made a play on a hit by Phillips and scooped a low Jeter throw. Good stuff. Tyler Kepner also has an entry on the game where he observes that there were players wearing #6, #22 and #51 on the field... but none of them were who you'd expect and he has no idea who they were.

Commenter Mattingly fan over at Lohud points to the Rawlings All-Time Gold Glove Team ballot. Former Yankees up on the ballots include Jim Kaat, Donnie, J.T. Snow, Bobby Richardson, Derek Jeter, Paul Blair and Dave Winfield.

Finally, Steve mentioned that Robinson Cano is in the new New Era commercial. Watch it below:

Alex Rodriguez
Age: 31 Years Old (Turns 32 in July - Don't forget this; it's not like his career is winding down - this man has plenty left in the tank).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	G	AB	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG
2004	Yankees	155	601	172	110	24	2	36	112	106	80	131	28	4	.286
2005	Yankees	162	605	194	116	29	1	48	124	130	91	139	21	6	.321
2006	Yankees	154	572	166	104	26	1	35	113	121	90	139	15	4	.290
2007	Bill James	159	607	178	106	29	1	42	119	124	91	143	16	6	.293
2007	CHONE		556	164	99	26	2	37	110	104	79	121	13	4	.295
2007	Marcel		521	154	96	24	1	33	100	102	74	119	17	4	.296
2007	ZiPS		589	169	110	26	1	32	108	126	88	138	16	3	.287

SEASON	Team	BB%	K%	BB/K	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP
2004	Yankees	11.7 %	21.8 %	0.61	.375	.512	.888	.226	.313
2005	Yankees	13.1 %	23.0 %	0.65	.421	.610	1.031	.289	.349
2006	Yankees	13.6 %	24.3 %	0.65	.392	.523	.914	.233	.329
2007	Bill James	13.0 %	23.6 %	0.64	.395	.552	.947	.259	.322
2007	CHONE	12.4 %	21.8 %	0.65	.392	.549	.941	.254	.319
2007	Marcel	12.4 %	22.8 %	0.62	.390	.536	.925	.240	.328
2007	ZiPS	13.0 %	23.4 %	0.64	.387	.497	.884	.210	.327

Outlook: First off, let me apologize. It was our fault that A-Rod had the season that he had. Our very optimistic predictions for what he would do last year was the straw that broke the camel's back. He can take a lot...but the burden of trying to reach our expectations did him in. Luckily, he & I have sat down and talked about realistic goals to make this relationship work.

In all seriousness though, last season wasn't a great one for Alex. Still, the man finished with a .290 /.392/.523/.915 line with 35 HRs, 121 RBIs and 140 OPS+. It's only because of A-Rod's stratospheric highs and immense talent that we believe that 2005 was a "bad year". He went through his share of struggles and was (in my mind) unfairly reprimanded by fans, by Joe Torre (#8 slot...that was not very classy, Joe) and MLB (Joe Crede miraculously wins the Silver Slugger).

As a result of all this negativity, I've run into a lot of people who are really down on Alex and what he provides to the Yankees...to which I have to reply...really? You're going to start to devalue A-Rod already? I mean, come on. He had one very bad month in June of last year. Here's an interesting little exercise; take out those 22 horrible, no good games in July and look at his numbers before that stretch (.303/.404/.554/.958 with a HR every 15 ABs) and after (.306/.398/.556/.953 with a HR every 15.16 ABs). Remarkably consistent, no? There isn't a rational fan alive who wouldn't take that performance from his third baseman every single year. Oh, and you know what I recall - there was another guy on the team who had a horrid stretch a couple years back (and for longer than one month too). If you can't cut A-Rod the same amount of slack, fine - at least give him some.

In any case, going into this year, A-Rod's apparently lost a decent amount of weight and honed his approach at the plate with new batting coach Kevin Long. I think that the lower weight will really help him in the defense dept. (as will having his buddy Minky at first instead of Giambi). How it affects his swing is something that I'm probably not qualified to address. However, if a reduction in weight helps him to get the bat on the ball quicker, thus leading to more hits (depending on BABIP of course), harder hits and less Ks (as Steve L. points out, his K rate has been steadily increasing the past 4 years), I'm all for it; now go do your thing Alex.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG

Mike took a look at his team in the Yankees Bloggers League. That seemed like a good idea, so I thought that I'd do the same for my team. Here is how my draft went (round to the left, overall pick in parentheses):

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Derek Jeter
Age: 32 Years Old (Turns 33 in June).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	G	AB	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG
2004	Yankees	154	643	188	120	44	1	23	111	78	46	99	23	4	.292
2005	Yankees	159	654	202	153	25	5	19	122	70	77	117	14	5	.309
2006	Yankees	154	623	214	158	39	3	14	118	97	69	102	34	5	.343
2007	Bill James	158	644	203	149	35	2	17	117	81	70	111	24	7	.315
2007	CHONE		593	183	130	34	3	16	110	70	61	98	18	4	.309
2007	Marcel		557	173	123	31	3	16	100	73	56	95	20	4	.311
2007	ZiPS		625	189	137	34	2	16	111	92	66	110	21	4	.302

SEASON	Team	BB%	K%	BB/K	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP
2004	Yankees	6.7 %	15.4 %	0.46	.352	.471	.823	.179	.317
2005	Yankees	10.5 %	17.9 %	0.66	.389	.450	.839	.141	.353
2006	Yankees	10.0 %	16.4 %	0.68	.417	.483	.900	.140	.394
2007	Bill James	9.8 %	17.2 %	0.63	.393	.455	.848	.140	.360
2007	CHONE	9.3 %	16.5 %	0.62	.383	.457	.840	.148	.349
2007	Marcel	9.1 %	17.1 %	0.59	.382	.463	.845	.153	.352
2007	ZiPS	9.6 %	17.6 %	0.60	.378	.440	.818	.138	.347

Outlook:In 2006, Derek had one of the finest seasons in his already impressive career. It was something of an upset that DJ didn't win the 2006 MVP over Justin Morneau (I'm not saying that Jeter was THE MVP...but he was def. more valuable than Morneau). It was a renaissance of sorts as Jeter put up the second highest OPS+ of his career and won the Silver Slugger at SS with the second highest batting average (second in the AL), OBP and SLG in his career. All of this while surpassing 2,000 hits in his age 32 season.

Derek started off last season with a bang with a ridiculous April and after a brief dip in March, remained on fire throughout the rest of the year. Seriously, look through his splits and it's fairly difficult to find instances where Jeter didn't perform. He hit well on the road (great at home) and against righties (he BOMBED lefties - nice little weapon to have to break up a lefty laden line-up, no?). Heck, his worst month was a .292/.360/.372/.732 line that he put up in May while the next lowest OPS was .813 in June.

So what do we have to think about when considering Jeter's contributions for the coming year? Well, for one thing, most scouts note that good hitters eventually learn more patience at the plate age. Seemingly, that seems to be happening as Jeter, who has always been a hacker, has brought his walk rate up to double digits and has now maintained that rate for the two seasons. Along with that seems to have come an even greater tendency to hit grounders. Jeter has always been a groundball hitter but he's really become more so over the last two years. For the moment, he can beat out some of those grounders but in time, that could prove to be a problem. Finally, you've got to start thinking about some regression to the mean. It's certainly expected (it's not often that someone maintains a .394 BABIP for an entire season) but you know - he's the Captain; it never really surprises me what he is capable of.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG