March 17, 2010 Michael Vescio

New York Yankees
    Joe Girardi, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are all entering the final year of their contracts. Distraction? Probably not, or at least not too big of a distraction, since the team has already stated publicly that there will be no extensions until later in the year.
    Plus if Alex Rodriguez was not a distraction last year and they won a World Series, I don’t feel that will be the biggest problem for the Yankees.
    The more pressing issues for the Yankees this spring will be determining the fifth starter; either Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes. Replacing Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui in the outfield with Brett Gardner, Randy Winn and Marcus Thames will also be a task for this club.
    Damon and Matsui combined for 52 home runs and 172 RBI in 2009.

St. Louis Cardinals
    Newly re-signed Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols lead an explosive offense this season. This team should be one of the top scoring NL teams.
    They also have Rookie third baseman David Freese. He's 26 and will be given the opportunity to win the job this spring. If he's starts, this club will be unstoppable on offense. The problem with the Cardinals is they have starters Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright to make the Cardinals prohibitive NL Central favorites. But the rest of the staff isn't as flawless, unless you believe there will be no trouble as Brad Penny and Rich Hill fill the fourth- and fifth-starter slots.
    Their success could be the difference between the Cardinals being sensational as opposed to just very good. The Cards are strong favorites to win another division crown but a World Series doesn’t seem to be as likely.

Second Base
1st Tier:
    Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia
2nd Tier:
    Brian Roberts, Robinson Cano, Aaron Hill, Brandon Phillips
3rd Tier:
    Dan Uggla, Ian Stewart, Martin Prado and Ben Zobrist

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