Opening Day

The 2009 Yankees start their season today in Baltimore. Sabathia will be on the mound, Xavier will be playing instead of Swisher, and Cody Ransom will be holding down the fort for ARod. And they are still gonna win more than 100 games this year. The pitching they've added in CC, AJ, the return of Wang, and the emergence of Coke, combined with the upgraded defense they've added in Tex, Gardner, Nady/Swisher, Pena, and the plate patience they've improved with Tex, Swisher and the return of Posada and Matsui are going to be multipliers. From 2003-2008 the Yanks won a ton of games while featuring lousy rotations, terrible defense and in the Torre year, shoddy bullpen management. Their rotation is now great, the defense has been improved, and Girardi proved he could manage a pen last year. Add those dimensions to a patient lineup that will be getting ARod back in a few weeks and you have a juggernaut. Just watch, the AL East is not gonna be the dogfight that people were calling for.