As a member of the Angels organization, right-hander Bobby Jenks was something of a mythological figure. The gargantuan 6-3, 280 pounder, selected in the 5th round of the 2000 amateur draft, often had radar guns begging for mercy as he sat in the upper-90’s and hit triple-digits on occasion. With that hopping heater, Jenks mauled minor league hitters (9.4 K/9), but his control (an astounding 6.01 BB/9) and temperament left much to be desired.

Despite Jenks’ gifts, the Angels eventually grew tired of the flame-thrower’s antics and punted him off the 40-man roster in December of 2004. The White Sox stepped up and claimed the volatile-but-talented arm, and the club has been rewarded handsomely for its leap of faith.

Jenks burst onto the scene during Chicago’s World Series run in 2005, punching out 11.44 batters per nine innings in 39.1 frames. His control (3.43 BB/9) was just fair, but he managed a 2.69 FIP while showing off a 97 MPH fastball as well as two hard breaking balls (an 88 MPH slider and an 83.5 MPH curve).

The portly righty displayed many of the same attributes in 2006. In 69.2 innings, Jenks used a slightly-less searing 95.8 MPH heater and his hard breaking stuff to post rates of 10.33 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9. Despite the occasional bouts of wildness, Jenks used his ability to miss bats and a newfound tendency to keep the ball on the ground (his GB% improved from 44.6% in ’05 to 58.8% in ’06) to compile a 3.20 FIP.

After two seasons of dominating hitters and allowing a few too many free passes, Jenks performed like a different sort of hurler in 2007. His K rate fell precipitously, from over 10 K/9 down to 7.75. However, he cut his walk rate by more than half (1.8 BB/9) and continued to burn worms (53.8 GB%). Jenks’ blistering upper-90’s cheese was now sitting in the 94 MPH range. The shape of his production was different, but Jenks posted the best K/BB ratio (4.31) and FIP (2.56) of his career.

2008 continued Bobby’s trend of missing fewer bats. A few short years after posting a double-digit whiff rate, Jenks struck out just 5.55 batters per nine innings, while walking 2.48 per nine. His groundball rate (57.6%) remained quite high and his FIP was still a fair 3.41, but clearly the present version of Jenks is not the same fire-breathing mountain man that was on display in Los Angeles’ farm system or in Chicago during his early days there. Jenks was once fairly difficult to make contact with, but opposing hitters have progressively had an easier time putting the bat on the ball:

Jenks’ Contact Rate, 2005-2008:
2005: 74.5%
2006: 77.8%
2007: 79.1%
2008: 84.5%

Jenks’ 2008 contact rate was one of the highest among all relievers. Residing close to Bobby were names such as Ryan Franklin, Brian Bass and Franquelis Osoria.

Bobby Jenks’ transformation from flame-throwing folklore to finesse pitching has been fascinating to watch. Chicago’s plus-sized closer has remained effective to this point (his 3.47 WPA in ’08 was a career-best), but it would probably be best to tread cautiously here instead of investing a high pick. Jenks could well remain effective with plus control and groundball tendencies, but his descending strikeout rate and back issues bear watching.

Over the last four seasons, Mark Teixeira has averaged a .298-35-120-100 fantasy line. Last year he nearly perfectly matched those numbers. Teixeira is one of a dozen or so players to consider for a late-first, early-second round pick and is the textbook definition of consistency that one should look for from an early pick.

When making a choice from many evenly-matched players, a fantasy owner should consider numerous factors, among them how he wants to build his team. Obviously, if you pick Teixeira you are putting yourself in a hole for SB. In his six-year career, he has just 13 steals or five less than fellow first baseman and late-first/early-second pick Lance Berkman had last year alone.

Another thing to consider is what significant changes are in store for the player. And for Teixeira the big news is his move to the Yankees, where he will be under the microscope like never before. However, Teixeira has handled big expectations in the past, as he was dealt twice in the past two years to teams that had great hopes he would be the final piece.

While it remains to be seen how Texieira will hit in the new Yankee Stadium, he has done well as a visitor in New York. He had a .305/.354/.524 line in 113 PA in Yankee Stadium and a .405/.425/.676 one in 40 PA at Shea.

All four of the projection systems see Teixeira likely to repeat his numbers from the past four seasons. Marcel has him coming up short in the counting categories, but that is mainly because it projects him with just 513 at-bats due to his injury-shortened 2007 season, when he missed 27 games with a strained quadriceps injury. Teixeira played 157 games last year.

Currently, Teixeira has an ADP of 13. He has gone as high as the fifth overall pick and as low as 20th in the last 708 qualifying drafts over at Mock Draft Central. While his lack of steals is a concern, the excellent production in the other four categories makes Teixeira a fine pick anytime after the ninth slot.

After nearly a decade apart, the Seattle Mariners and Ken Griffey Jr. will once again be united in 2009. Griffey, of course, spent the 1989-1999 seasons with the M’s, racking up a collection of numbers that portended to his ranking among the all-time greats in many categories, with a possible run at the home run record chiefly among them. While “The Kid” was often sidetracked by injuries, Griffey has still compiled 611 big flys and owns a career triple-slash line of .288/.373/.547.

Nostalgia aside, the 39 year-old that returns to Seattle retains just slight glimpses of the guy who was one of the marquee players of the 1990’s. In fact, Griffey has posted a total of -0.2 Value Wins over the past three seasons combined, with a declining bat and defensive work that rates among the worst in the game (Griffey posted a total of -67.8 fielding runs from ’06 to ’08).

Griffey will likely put the glove down with the M’s, taking over at DH for a club that received embarrassing production from the position last season (Seattle DH’s combined to “hit” .221/.273/.334). Will Griffey be an asset for the Mariners?

Number 24’s power production has been in pretty steady decline since 2005, as his isolated power (ISO) has dipped from .275 in ’05 to .234 in ’06, .220 in ’07 and .176 in ’08. He still manages to draw a fair amount of walks (around 14% the past two campaigns), but Griffey has essentially been a league-average hitter in two of the past three seasons, with a .336 wOBA in 2006, .369 in 2007 and a .335 mark in 2008. That production came at Great American Ballpark, which smiles upon power hitters (GABP’s three-year HR park factor is 128). Transitioning to Safeco will very likely do harm to Griffey’s waning pop, as the M’s home park has a 94 HR park factor from 2006 to 2008.

Also of concern is Griffey’s struggles with same-side pitching. Over the past three seasons, Griffey has managed a useful .272/.379/.461 line against right-handers, but southpaws have neutralized him to the tune of .202/.299/.350.

Griffey’s signing also potentially means less playing time for a few talented-but-unproven youngsters. Catcher Jeff Clement and outfielder Wladimir Balentien both figured to receive some at-bats in the DH spot, but Griffey’s arrival might torpedo that plan. The Mariners might have an outside shot of contention in a division without a standout club (PECOTA projects the Angels to win the AL West with just 84 victories), but the team would seemingly be best served by allowing Clement (a career .286/.377/.494 minor league hitter) to get some AB’s when he’s not spelling Kenji Johjima behind the plate and allowing Balentien (.277/.344/.526 in the minors) to hone his control of the strike zone if Endy Chavez is in left field.

If this is indeed a “baseball decision” (as GM Jack Zduriencik characterized it in the MLB.com article linked to above) and not just a means of attracting fans, then it’s still not especially clear that signing Griffey improves the club in 2009:

CHONE Projections, 2009:
Griffey: .332 wOBA
Clement: .338 wOBA
Balentien: .313 wOBA

The system is not especially optimistic about Balentien, but it suggests that Clement (the guy who figures to lose the most playing time here) would provide more value with the bat.

Ken Griffey returning to Seattle might be an interesting story, but the M’s prodigal son returns as a platoon DH with declining thump at the plate, and he’s moving into a power-suppressing environment to boot. Griffey is one of the better players that we have seen in recent memory, but his days as a force are well behind him.

Right-hander Ryan Perry was selected 21st overall in the 2008 draft and he already has people talking. According to a story at MLB.com, the club has been really impressed with him so far this spring. There are even whispers that he could break camp with the big club.

Don’t get too excited, though. Sure he can hit triple digits from time-to-time, but Perry’s control/command is lacking and he does not have a lot of pitching experience, having entered his collegiate career as an infielder. He also struggled with injuries in college, which cut into his pitching experience and his numbers were not impressive at all prior to his draft year. He had a 2.89 ERA at the University of Arizona in 2008, but his ERAs were 7.34 and 6.35 in his first two seasons. Perry, 22, also allowed 102 hits in 68.1 innings.

That’s not to say Perry didn’t deserve to be a first-round pick, or will not be an impact Major League player, but to expect him to have a major (positive) impact in 2009 is asking a bit too much. In 12 High-A games in 2008 – the highest level he’s pitched at, Perry posted a 3.86 ERA but allowed 15 hits in 11.2 innings. He also walked seven (and struck out 12). Keep in mind he hasn’t even faced live, opposing hitters in spring training.

The Tigers added veteran Brandon Lyon to the bullpen via free agency, and he should add much-needed stability, especially with Joel Zumaya’s ongoing injury woes. The other bullpen options: Freddy Dolsi, Zach Miner, and Fernando Rodney are far from sure things.

Unfortunately, Perry may be needed, whether he’s ready or not.

The Oakland Athletics organization is loaded with pitching talent in the upper two levels of the minor league system. Trevor Cahill may be further away than the likes of Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez, but he arguably has a higher ceiling. The right-hander was originally selected out of high school by the Athletics in the second round of the 2006 draft and he has moved quickly for a prep pitcher, especially in an organization that is thought to favor college players.

In three seasons, the soon-to-be-20-year-old hurler has missed a lot of bats, having allowed just 163 hits in 238.2 cumulative innings. Last season, he allowed 52 hits in 87.1 High-A innings before moving up to Double-A for seven appearances. In those games, Cahill allowed 24 hits in 37 innings and posted rates of 4.62 BB/9 and 8.03 K/9 (which was the first time his strikeout rate was below 10.00 K/9). He obviously still has work to do on his control. Cahill possesses an 88-93 mph fastball, as well as a plus curveball and improving change-up.

There should be plenty of opportunities for young starting pitchers to appear in Oakland this season. Top pitcher Justin Duchscherer is just one year removed from pitching out of the bullpen and he is injury prone. Other starters who should have an inside track on a job include the inconsistent Dana Eveland, the unproven Sean Gallagher, and the aforementioned Gonzalez. Josh Outman, acquired from Philly in the Joe Blanton deal last season, could figure into the rotation or bullpen. Interestingly, Cahill is the only homegrown talent, which is odd for a club that has a reputation build on its draft history.

After being quiet on the 2008-09 free agent market, the club will have to find a replacement for Greg Smith’s 190.1 innings. The left-hander was used to help acquire star outfielder Matt Holliday from the Rockies earlier in the off-season. Blanton and Rich Harden also combined to provide 204 innings before their trades out of town. It will likely take at least three young pitchers to help make up for those almost 400 innings and Cahill should certainly be in line for a good portion of those if he gets off to a good start in the minors this season.

Even if he does appear for 100 innings or so in the Majors this season, Cahill will probably not be a huge factor in fantasy baseball. He is someone to consider for keeper leagues, however, with the ceiling of a No. 2 starter.

Leading up to the beginning of the 2009 season, Rotographs will look at the top 30 prospects (in no particular order) who enter the season having the best chances to make an impact at the Major League level this year.

Believe it nor not, the San Francisco Giants may just be stealth contenders in the National League West. The club surely won’t be considered front-runners with such a tepid offensive attack, but a potentially outstanding run-prevention unit including Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Randy Johnson and Jonathan Sanchez (plus that Zito dude) might be enough to stay on the fringes of the race. Per PECOTA, the Giants project to surrender the fewest runs in the National League (717).

Of course, the promise of the pitching staff is matched only by the ineptitude of San Francisco’s bats: the Giants are projected to plate a league-worst 704 runs. The team enters the spring with three-fourths of its infield unsettled, with only free agent signee Edgar Renteria assured of everyday work at shortstop. In particular, the competition at second base is a crowded one. Emmanuel Burriss, Eugenio Velez, Kevin Frandsen and Juan Uribe all figure to battle it out at the keystone.

Burriss, who turned 24 this offseason, surprisingly made his major league debut last April. The 2006 supplemental first-rounder from Kent State had scarcely played above A-Ball prior to that point, accumulating just 64 PA at AAA after jumping from High-A. The switch-hitter’s game is all about speed: as evidenced by his near 58% ground ball rate in the minors, Burriss rarely hits the ball with any authority (his career minor league slugging percentage is .337) and instead tries to put the ball on the ground and beat the fielders. Once he’s on, Burriss uses those wheels often, as he snagged a total of 68 bases in the minors in 2007, as well as 13 in his time with the Giants.

It remains to be seen just how well Burriss’ small-ball approach will work at the highest level. He performed adequately in the majors last season (.283/.357/.329, .316 wOBA), but a total lack of pop and mild plate patience (8.4 BB% in the minors, 8.7% with the Giants) do limit his offensive potential. He’s worth keeping an eye on because of the steals, but owning a guy like Burriss means that you’re sacrificing some production in other aspects of the offensive ledger.

Eugenio Velez is another switch-hitting speedster, though his baseball history is much less probable than Burriss’. Velez was selected by the Giants in the minor league portion of the Rule V Draft back in December of 2005, and has since impressed the club enough to earn himself a roster spot. The 6-1, 162 pounder had a big offensive season as a 24 year-old in A-Ball back in 2006, but that was more the product of an older player beating up on guys several years his junior than it was a sign of great offensive potential. The 26 year-old possesses more pop than Burriss (career .126 ISO in the majors), but Velez’s approach at the plate is less refined. He has drawn walks at a 5.3% clip and has swung at nearly 31% of offerings thrown outside of the strike zone.

Kevin Frandsen will likely just be glad to be back on a baseball field on a full-time basis. The San Jose State product received all of one at-bat in 2008, as he lost the year to a ruptured achilles tendon. The 26 year-old makes contact often (10.6 K% in the majors, 8.8% in the minors), but that’s about the extent of his virtues with the bat. The right-handed hitter walked just 6.3% of the time in the minors with a .131 ISO. Frandsen is listed as the starter on San Francisco’s official depth chart and might be considered the favorite to grab the second base job at this point. If you’re looking for a comparison, think Freddy Sanchez, minus the anomalous 2006 batting title.

Pull-hitter extraordinaire Juan Uribe is also in Giants camp as a non-roster invitee. The equal-opportunity hacker’s game is pretty well-known at this point: he certainly offers more thump than his fellow second base competitors (career .170 ISO), but his impatient approach has left him with a career OBP south of .300. Uribe’s glove work and ability to play multiple positions might give him a decent shot of making the club.

Some thought the A’s were selling high when they traded Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks following the 2007 season. He was coming off a season in which he set career bests in wins (15), ERA (3.07) and strikeouts (192). However, Haren had a FIP 63 points higher than his actual ERA and in the second half of 2007 he fell from a 2.30 ERA to a 4.15 mark. Additionally, many felt Haren was the beneficiary of both his home park and the A’s strong defense.

But Haren went out and pitched even better in 2008. He set career bests in wins (16), strikeouts (206) and WHIP (1.130) while his ERA (3.33) was the second-best mark of his career. Many now consider Haren one of the best starters in the game and he ranks in the top 10 in most lists of starting pitchers. His latest ADP is 55 according to Mock Draft Central.

Despite Chase Field being a good hitter’s park, Haren pitched just as good last year at home as on the road. He is young, durable and has a fine assortment of pitches. Last year Haren threw more cutters, giving batters another weapon to fear.

The projection systems agree with popular opinion, as they show Haren in the top 10 among starting pitchers in all four fantasy categories. Haren looks to be one of the safest pitchers around, as there are neither injury concerns nor any unprecedented inning totals warnings surrounding him. Also adding to his attractiveness as a fantasy player is the expected comfort from a new contract and additional familiarity with his surroundings in the National League.

If anything, fantasy owners may be undervaluing Haren relative to his starting pitcher peers in current mock drafts.

There is a lot of disagreement among fantasy players about when to start taking relief pitchers. The one thing that most agree upon is that the first one to take is Jonathan Papelbon. The Red Sox closer has a three-year track record of success, pitches for a team that should clear 90 wins and is a young 28, with only 230 major league innings on his arm. Papelbon has an ADP of 54, which means that fantasy players start targeting relievers in the middle of the fifth round.

Papelbon’s K/9 fell from an otherworldly 12.96 in 2007 to 10.00 last year. But he compensated by cutting his walks in half. His BB/9 checked in last year at a minuscule 1.04, which was the third-lowest mark for relievers. After back-to-back seasons with a BABIP in the .230s, Papelbon had a .313 mark last year. Combined with a LOB% of 69.5 percent, he saw increases last year in both his WHIP and his ERA.

With a more typical distribution with his LOB% (the only player with 15 or more saves to have a lower rate was Brandon Lyon) Papelbon could easily exceed last year’s overall numbers. And if no pitcher challenges for the all-time saves record, Papelbon could meet pre-season expectations by being the top fantasy closer at the end of the year.

But fantasy players have to ask themselves how much they are willing to pay for Papelbon’s track record. Is it worth taking him in the fifth round, while passing on players like Joe Mauer and Dan Haren? Especially when 30-save pitchers like Kerry Wood and B.J. Ryan are available eight rounds later? Both of those players have had injury problems in the recent past, which makes the Papelbon decision not so cut-and-dried.

Earlier today, we examined the battle of attrition being waged between center field candidates Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner. However, the Yankees have another battle for playing time brewing in right field between Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady. In the case of these two, judging by the 2008 numbers is probably not the best way to go about picking a winner.

Last offseason, Swisher was shipped from the A’s to the White Sox for a haul of young players: lefty Gio Gonzalez, right-hander Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. Despite sacrificing a good deal to acquire Swisher’s talents, the South Siders quickly soured on the Ohio State star after he posted a .219/.332/.410 line in 588 PA. In fact, Swisher was so far down the totem pole that he rode the bench down the stretch in favor of minor league vagabond Dewayne Wise. Earlier this offseason, the Bombers acquired Nick and minor league righty Kanekoa Texeira for Wilson Betemit and minor league righties Jeffrey Marquez and Jhonny Nunez.

Swisher’s 2008 line looks very disappointing. However, as Peter Bendix pointed out, very little changed in the switch-hitter’s offensive profile. Take a look at some of Swisher’s key indicators over the past three seasons…

2006: 14.9 BB%, 27.3 K%, .239 ISO, 19.3 LD%, .287 BABIP
2007: 15.6 BB%, 24.3 K%, .193 ISO, 17.5 LD%, .308 BABIP
2008: 14.2 BB%, 27.2 K%, .191 ISO, 20.9 LD%, .251 BABIP

In most every respect, Swisher’s 2008 season falls in line with his work over the 2006-2007 seasons, when he posted wOBA’s of .368 and .361, respectively. The only big difference in ’08, when his wOBA dipped to .325, was an extremely low BABIP. Despite a healthy line drive rate, Swish posted the 4th-lowest BABIP among all qualified hitters. That number will surely bounce back, and with it, so will Swisher’s overall line.

Nady’s 2008 season was sort of the inverse of Swisher’s. Acquired from the Pirates last July, the 30 year-old posted a career-best .374 wOBA after compiling marks of .346 in 2007 and .336 in 2006. X-Man has experienced an upward trend in line drive rate and has hit the ball with a little more authority, but his overall skill set remains about the same…

2006: 6 BB%, 18.2 K%, .173 ISO, 17 LD%, .311 BABIP
2007: 5.1 BB%, 23.4 K%, .197 ISO, 21.3 LD%, .323 BABIP
2008: 6.6 BB%, 18.6 K%, .205 ISO, 24.6 LD%, .337 BABIP

The odds of Nady being able to sustain a .300 average and that high of a line-drive rate are likely slim. If he reverts back to being a .270-280-ish hitter, his modest walk rate means that his OBP will probably park in the .320-.330 range. Nady is not a bad player, mind you, but his best role would appear to come as a lefty-masher off the bench: though he has admittedly been better over the past few seasons, Nady has a career .317 OBP versus righty pitching, compared to .383 versus southpaws. Perhaps Nady has turned a corner, but it’s more likely that he remains a high-power, low on-base player best used in favorable situations.

Most projection systems seem to agree that Swisher will be the better offensive player in ’09:

Marcel
Swisher: .344 wOBA
Nady: .348 wOBA

CHONE
Swisher: .360 wOBA
Nady: .342 wOBA

Bill James
Swisher: .358 wOBA
Nady: .353 wOBA

PECOTA
Swisher: .244/.353/.460
Nady: .270/.323/.444

Given Swisher’s poor luck on balls in play and Nady’s batting average spike, it seems possible that these two will switch places this year, with Swisher being labeled a “bounce-back player” and Nady having the “disappointment” tag bestowed upon him. Swisher’s on-base skills make him the better bet to produce in 2009.

Despite spending copious amounts of cash this offseason, the New York Yankees do enter spring training with a number of question marks at up-the-middle positions. Will Jorge Posada’s shoulder hold up? (and if not, do you really want Jose Molina and his career .270 wOBA getting regular duty?) Will Robinson Cano bounce back offensively and defensively? Can Derek Jeter stave off decline?

Perhaps the most unsettled aspect of all is the situation in center field. The Bronx Bombers received precious little from the position in 2008, receiving a combined .261/.320/.391 line (the average MLB CF hit .268/.333/.419). The main culprit, Melky Cabrera, will return to battle another farm product in Brett Gardner.

Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2001, Cabrera appeared in the majors at the age of 20, and has seen fairly regular playing time over the past three seasons. The problem is, the 24 year-old has declined at the plate in each of those three campaigns. Cabrera’s initial showing with the Yankees was actually quite impressive: as a 21 year old in 2006, he batted .280/.360/.391 with a .333 wOBA. A player that young showing that good of a grasp of the strike zone (10.9 BB%, 22.3 O-Swing% 12.8 K%) usually portends to better days down the road.

In 2007, however, Cabrera actually regressed. He slugged exactly .391 again, but is OBP fell over 30 points, down to .327. His wOBA, about league average in ’06, also dropped to .317. The switch-hitter showed less restraint at the dish, drawing walks at a 7.3% clip and swinging at 29.5% of pitches thrown outside of the strike zone.

After an intriguing debut and a mildly disappointing follow-up season, Cabrera saw his production crater in 2008. The Melk-Man authored a grisly .285 wOBA, hitting .249/.301/.341. Some of that dip in performance can be explained by a lower-than-expected BABIP (.273). However, Cabrera once again drew fewer free passes (6.5%) and often fished for offerings out of the zone (28.4 O-Swing%).

Cabrera’s steady decline is confounding. It’s not very often that a player debuts at such a young age, shows a polished approach and then subsequently becomes more raw as the years go by. The Santo Domingo native also hasn’t done himself any favors with his glove work in center field. Cabrera has a career -9.8 UZR/150 in center (though he did manage a +0.9/150 rating in ’08). That might not affect his fantasy value, per se, but it does make the Yankees less apt to stick with him.

The main competition for Cabrera will come from Gardner. Selected out of Charleston in the 3rd round of the 2005 amateur draft, Gardner has used a discerning eye and blazing speed to climb the minor league ranks. The 5-10, 180 pounder has a career .389 OBP in the minors as well as an 83% success rate on the base paths. Fresh off a AAA season in which he hit .296/.414/.422, Gardner made his Yankees debut last summer, posting a .282 wOBA in 141 PA.

While Gardner’s OBP skills and speed might make him appear as an ideal catalyst, there are some concerns about how his game will translate to the major league level. He does work the count very well, but Gardner also swings and misses a good deal more than your average water bug player (about 23% over the past two seasons in AAA). The 25 year-old also possesses very little pop, with a .126 ISO at AAA in ’08 and an even lower .094 career mark in the minors.

Gardner’s combination of skills (good eye, higher K rates, little power) is a tough one to project- it’s possible that some of those walks will dry up in the big leagues (think Michael Bourn), as pitchers are less likely to pitch Gardner so cautiously. Why not challenge him, if the worst possible outcome upon contact is a single? Pitchers did challenge the lefty during his initial big league action, as Gardner saw a fastball nearly 71% of the time.

Of course, both Cabrera and Gardner could just be keeping the CF seat warm for someone else. Austin Jackson, 22, is one of New York’s most well-regarded prospects. An 8th round selection in the 2005 draft, Jackson is coming off of a solid showing at AA (.285/.354/.419) and possesses an interesting blend of skills. The 6-1, 185 pounder doesn’t have one particular talent that jumps out at you, but he works the count decently, has gradually shown a little more power at each minor league stop and can swipe some bases as well.

Whether Cabrera or Gardner can hold onto the job long-term remains to be seen, but the Yankees need someone to solidify the position in 2009. In an AL East division that figures to be fiercely competitive (PECOTA projects 90+ wins for Boston, New York and Tampa), the Bombers can ill-afford to have a black hole in center.