Roster for Opening Day

Spring training's coming to an end and the season is nearly upon us. The Red Sox and Athletics have already played the first two games, in fact. Most of the players who would make the team were already known in February, but there are still a few questions about the last couple spots. Here's how I think it should play out, and how it probably will.

Lineup

Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Jason Giambi, 1B
Jorge Posada, C
Hideki Matsui, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF

This will probably be the most common lineup. I would bat Cano higher since he's such a good pure hitter, but it's not going to matter much with all the runs they'll put up. All the hype is on the Tigers with their offseason acquisitions, but I still think this is the best offense in the majors. There will be some regression from Posada and Rodriguez, but I wouldn't be surprised by improvement from Damon, Jeter, Giambi, Abreu, and Cabrera.

Bench

Wilson Betemit, IF
Shelley Duncan, 1B/OF
Morgan Ensberg, IF
Jose Molina, C

I think Jose is the best Yankee backup catcher since Jorge was doing it for their new manager, Joe Girardi. They haven't really needed one with how good Posada has been, but he's getting older and could use more time off. Ensberg seems kind of redundant and really hasn't been great this spring, but he's made his way onto the 40-man roster. Brett Gardner has been impressive, plays good outfield defense, and would be capable of pinch running, but it would probably be better for his development to play every day at AAA instead of riding the big league bench. He should be on the team some time this year, though. Duncan gives the lineup some flexibility, having a decent power bat from the right side. He can play first to give Giambi a bit of a rest, and Matsui and Damon can both play in the outfield to give Melky some time off.

Rotation

Chien-Ming Wang
Andy Pettitte
Mike Mussina
Phil Hughes
Ian Kennedy

That's not a rotation that will blow anyone away, but I think it will be pretty solid the whole year. Wang and Pettitte aren't really the dominant guys you want at the top, but they both record a lot of outs efficiently. Mussina was bad last year, but I think he'll return to something a little better. He's just too good at pitching not to have at least a league average ERA. There will probably be some growing pains for Hughes and Kennedy, but they have shown the makeup and ability to at least perform up to expectations for their given roles.

Bullpen

Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Kyle Farnsworth
LaTroy Hawkins
Kei Igawa
Billy Traber
Brian Bruney

Mo is a lock to be a good closer in my mind. I expect Kyle is a little more comfortable with Girardi managing and will at least bounce back a bit from his bad 2007, and Hawkins has reinvented himself into a decent groundball guy. The team wants a long reliever because of the inning limits on the young pitchers, and believe it or not Igawa has a better ERA this Spring than the other two candidates, Jeff Karstens and Darrell Rasner. He's also getting paid more and the team wants to prove he wasn't a gigantic mistake. Personally, I would use Joba in this role, to stretch him out at the major league level and let him work on his secondary pitches without the pressure of small eighth-inning leads, but that's probably what he'll be dealing with. If they're going to move him to the rotation this year anyway, why further cement him as a dominant force in the 'pen? They want a lefty specialist, and Traber has done the best job with his opportunities, and earned a 40-man roster spot. Scott Patterson deserves the last spot, having been nearly perfect this spring, allowing only one base hit and none of his inherited runners to score. But they'll probably put him in AAA and let Bruney, recipient of a $750k arbitration check, continue to frustrate fans with 96 MPH fastballs five inches off the plate.

I think this is a good team, one that will only improve as more young prospects mature enough to come up and outperform the retreads that always seem to grab extra spots. With two championships in four years, the Red Sox are the favorites, but I see the Yankees challenging them in the divison more than some might expect.