YankeesRedSox.com

Well, the Yankees have played "real" games for a week now and you can start to see a couple of things developing in camp.

First, Joe Girardi has wiped the slate clean with Kyle Farnsworth.  This has caused a lot of hand-wringing in the press, but what is the downside to this move?  Sure, none of us believe Farnsworth will amount to anything, but Girardi wouldn't be doing his job unless he tried something new with the guy.  Joe Torre was a guy who had his favorites and he played them, Kyle was not one of them and while it isn't an excuse for his stuggles, it probably didn't help.   Why not see if you can get something out of the guy with a new regime in charge? 

Next, the battle for the last couple of spots in the bullpen is getting very interesting.  Girardi has gone on the record as saying he wants a long reliever in the bullpen and with the need to keep the innings down for the kids, that makes sense.  So far, Jeff Karstens has taken the lead in securing that role with very good pitching in week one.  I woudl guess he is competing with Rasner and Igawa and I think he will beat them out.  You can't question his toughness (remember hte broken leg) but his strikeout rates in the bigs have been lousy.  He is still only 25 and could be a decent arm in the pen, but the strikeouts bear watching.

Despite his good start, I am not sure if Billy Traber will make the team.  Traber is certainly good against lefties (career .613OPS against them) but he gets killed by righties (.894).  That is about as one-dimensional as you can get and the Yankees take away flexibility if they go that route.  Even with a long reliever, you want guys who can pitch innings in the bullpen and Traber won't cut it in that department.

Lastly, you can expect the final spots on the roster to come down to the final days of camp.  Ensberg, Woodward, Lane and Green will battle it out for the bench with Ohlendorf, Veras, Albie, Bruney and Britton fighting it out for the bullpen spots.  One name that I didn't mention is Brett Gardner.  If he keeps up his hitting, he will force his way into that conversation, even if the Yankees don't need to take another outfielder.