Series Preview: New York Yankees, April 8-11

The Tribe's first home series of 2013 is a four game set with the debut scheduled for Monday April 8 at 4:05 PM. Tuesday's game is scheduled for 7:05 PM while Wednesday's game is a 7:00 PM start because it is on ESPN2 (they must have mistook our red home caps for the Red Sox). The finale is on Thursday at 7:05 PM as well with the rival White Sox coming in for a weekend tilt.

Team in a Box

The perennial bullies of the AL East arrive into Cleveland, with a lot of new faces. This isn't because the Steinbrenner family shelled out major dollars again this off-season, but rather due to massive injury bug sweeping the roster. That tends to happen when almost every regular is over 30. Jeter, Teixeira, A-Rod and Granderson all started the season on the DL. The pundits all predict an off year for the Jackwagons, but I wouldn't count them out until the stake is driven through their pinstriped black vampire heart.

Projected Lineup

Joe Girardi is doing a lot of shuffling with the lineup with four regulars on the shelf. Eduardo Nunez, Jeter's replacement, got hurt over the weekend. He may return at some point during this series but LGFT Jayson Nix will fill in for the time being. Gardner is the catalyst and Cano is the most dangerous hitter and is off to a poor start which doesn't bode well for this series. Overbay, Youkilis, Wells, Suzuki and Hafner are all on the wrong side of 30 and are mostly placeholders until the regulars get healthy. Another LGFT, Ben Francisco, should get into a game or two during the series.

Projected Starters

Looks like we will miss CC Sabathia this go round. Kuroda is expected to start even though he bruised his middle finger trying to snare a liner up the middle in his last start. Pettitte is an ancient but effective lefty. Hopefully our revamped lineup will negate the left handedness. Nova is still trying to figure things out. Hughes recovered from his latest injury to make his last start, but struggled.

Key Relievers

Rivera is back for his swan song season after the knee injury. Logan is the lone lefty in the pen and Robertson usually has good stuff. Justin, er Joba, is still hanging around but the rest of the pen are not the usual Yankee costly expenditures with all of them below the $1M mark.

On the Shelf

• P Cesar Cabral (left elbow stress fracture) - 60-day DL, no timetable
• CF Curtis Granderson (right forearm fracture) - 15-day DL, possibly May
• SS Derek Jeter (left ankle) - 15-day DL, possibly April
• SP Hiroki Kuroda (bruised right middle finger - day to day, expected to make next start
• SS Eduardo Nunez (bruised right bicep - day to day
• SP Michael Pineda (right anterior labral tear) - 60-day DL, possibly June
• 3B Alex Rodriguez (right hip) - 60-day DL, possibly midseason
• 1B Mark Teizeira (partially torn tendon right wrist) - 15-day DL, possibly May

When four of your everyday lineup starts the year on the DL that is going to be a rough looking lineup. The injury to Kuroda could make for a good home opener.

Almanac