Alex Rodriguez is having perhaps the best month of his extraordinary career, and the Yankees are squandering the whole thing. Only my fantasy team has responded well to his heroics, but that, sadly, is a secondary concern.
There's some hope, I hope, in the return of Hideki Matsui, who had an RBI, the 14-game hitting streak of Derek Jeter, and the major-league debut of Phillip Hughes on Thursday. If Hughes bombs, he'll still be the team's second-best healthy starter (pending Chien-Ming Wang's return tomorrow).
Igawa is looking to be anything but a major-league starter. He, along with past flameouts such as Masato Yoshii, etc., should give pause to those who truly think the Japanese leagues are on even footing, through and through. They'll get there, but not yet. But that's not the real issue, of course. The real issue is that the Yankees have no dependable starters for whom Mariano Rivera can lock down a save.
NoMass.org wants Melky Cabrera to be sent down to AAA, and Was Watching says it's time to consider it. This blog loves Melky, but doesn't think that's a terrible idea. The idea of replacing him, say, with Kevin Thompson, however, seems like a lateral move.
April isn't a make-or-break month, as the Oakland A's prove almost every year. But it can show very quickly the flaws that will plague a team all season long, the fatal flaws. It's a good thing I'm on vacation, so I don't have the time to ponder the likelihood of that pessimistic latter possibility.
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