What Would Be Fantastic To See In Spring Training?

With Spring Training in less than 2 weeks, fans begin to plan the trip down to the George M. Steinbrenner Complex where Pitchers and Catchers will report on February 19. Fans are looking forward to a lot of things such as seeing Hiroki Kuroda & Michael Pineda in pinstripes for the first time and to catch a glimpse at some heroes from last year such as David Robertson, CC Sabathia &  of course Mariano Rivera. 2011 was a great year for the Yankees (even though they had an early exit to the playoffs) but 2011 is in the past and it’s time to look forward to what will come in 2012. There are a lot of things that fans would like to see in Spring Training, but what would be the top 5 things that would make Spring Training glorious?

1. A Healthy Alex Rodriguez: It would be nice to see a healthy A-Rod in Spring Training hitting the balls over the fence as if nothing had happened. A-Rod’s .276/.362/.461 line wouldn’t exactly startle fans, until you looked at his power numbers. Throughout the whole season A-Rod hit 16 HR’s & 62 RBI’s, which was the first time since 1995 that A-Rod didn’t hit more than 30. Hopefully with the knee treatment he had in Germany, he’ll be back to tip top shape by the time he steps in the batters box on March 2nd.

2. Phil Hughes‘s Velocity Return: When Phil Hughes entered George M.

Phil Hughes is expected to be in shape this Spring Training

Steinbrenner Field in 2011, he looked a bit out of shape. It might have been because he would have gotten a starting job to begin the season anyway. When Hughes pitched in early 2011, fans were not pleased with what they saw. (I admit I was one of them that yelled when he entered the dugout, which I now feel bad for.) In 2011, Hughes’s fastball would clock as high as 91 MPH and that is not a lot compared to the 95-96 MPH that he threw in 2010. Hughes has taken the precautions to avoid losing his spot in the rotations such as losing weight and attempting to gain velocity over the 2011 off season. Let’s hope to see a healthy Hughes when he enters Spring Training in a matter of days.

Morning Bits: Robertson, Rivera, Burnett, Cervelli, Zimmer, Pineda

Good morning! Happy Saturday everyone and it should be exciting because there are only 8 days until Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training! Onto the Morning Links!

— David Robertson is not worried about following the footsteps of one of the greatest closers of all time; Mariano Rivera.

— Don Zimmer (who now works for the Tampa Bay Rays) said that the Rays will give the Yankees “All they can handle.”

— Even with all the bad things that has been said about A.J Burnett, Francisco Cervelli backs him up and says how A.J is “one of the best guys on the team.”

— Andrew Marchand evaluates Michael Pineda and questions how good will he be.