Opening day is always special and this year is no different. I know they say that hope springs eternal for every fan on opening day but as a Yankee die hard I like to think it springs a little more eternal for us. The dual stings of losing to the Dodgers in the World Series and then losing Juan Soto in the offseason have faded, the more recent sting of losing Gerrit Cole to Tommy John has not, but as they say, that's baseball.
The squad looks good.
Running out to the mound is the left hander Carlos Rodón solid, elite pitcher, but wouldn't be here if Cole weren't injured. ⚾⚾⚾⚾
At catcher Austin Wells is going to be leading off, at least to start the season. That's the first time a Yankees catcher has ever led off which says a lot about his bat, and he's already well known for his game calling and pitch framing abilities. ⚾⚾⚾⚾
Paul Goldschmidt the legend, and almost certainly hall of fame bound gloveman is slotted in at First Base. We haven't had a solid guy here since Mark Teixeira which is really wild. Hopefully it works out, many of the older legends the Yankees have signed this past decade haven't panned out. I think the rookie Ben Rice is going to be splitting time here so...high upside, but could be more of the same lack of production we've seen for the past few years. ⚾
At Second Base we have Jazz Chisholm Jr I like him as a Yankee, he did really well at third base last season despite never really playing that position. I believe he's a natural second baseman but I may have to look that up later. He has great chemistry with everyone (it seems) but especially Volpe and I think that's important. ⚾⚾⚾⚾
Speaking of Anthony Volpe he's continued to look better year after year at Shortstop and if things had gone differently we might be talking about how he carried us to a World Series so I'm excited to see how he continues to mature. ⚾⚾⚾⚾
At Third Base we're looking at Oswaldo Cabrera, I love Waldo, he's developed into a solid defender who can move around the field, good utility man, decent bat. I never dread seeing him come up to the plate because you know he's going to give you a good at bat. All that said, I think if DJ LeMahieu were not injured Waldo probably wouldn't be starting. ⚾⚾
Starting in Left Field will be Jason Dominguez, The Martian is probably the Yankees number one prospect, his defense is questionable, so will he be able to make up for it with his bat? I'm going to say probably yes. ⚾⚾⚾
In Center Field we'll be welcoming the all-star Cody Bellinger, I haven't seen him play a ton but I know he's really good by reputation. His swing reminds me of Shohei Ohtani, can't complain about this pickup. ⚾⚾⚾
Finally, last but not least, Aaron Judge will be patrolling Right Field. Easily the best player on the Yankees, barring injury we expect the captain to dazzle us again with his ability to launch balls into orbit, all while casually playing gold glove defense. ⚾⚾⚾⚾⚾
I've mentioned most of the other injuries, but it should be noted that Clark Schmidt is going to start the season on the IL. Which makes all of the offseason talk about trading Marcus Stroman sound spectacularly short sighted. In my opinion pitchers should be hoarded, and Stroman is going to be served a lot better by not having Gleyber Torres behind him, and I guess we'll leave it there.