2+5+4+2+12 = 25

Since we are just 3 weeks away from Opening Day, it is time to starting looking at how the 25-man roster is shaping up. Because of the heavy April schedule, Joe Girardi will most likely have to carry 12 pitchers. Barring an injury, we think this is how things will shape up:

Catchers (2)

This is a no-brainer: Jorge Posada and Jose Molina have the 2 spots locked up.


Infield(5)

Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez are your starters. Shelley Duncan will make the squad, splitting time at 1st Base, DH, and some outfield.

Outfield (4)

Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, and Bobby Abreu are your starters. Hideki Matsui will DH for the most part, but will probably see some time in LF as well.

Utility (2)

That leaves 2 spots for non-pitchers. Wilson Betemit, Morgan Ensberg, and Chris Woodward are the front-runners, with Nick Green having an outside chance. Woodward has an edge because of his experience playing shortstop. The Yankees like that fact when giving Derek Jeter a day off.

Ensberg could be an interesting choice since he's a right-handed hitter. If he can recapture some of his game from his early days in Houston, he would be a huge find. We're still not in love with Betemit. He's shown a legitimately strong bat from the left side, but has looked pretty awful from the right side. We could envision a scenario where either Ensberg or Betemit goes to Scranton to play every day.


Pitchers (12)

The starting 5 are Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Mike Mussina (we're still not sure whether Kennedy or Moose is the 4th or 5th starter). Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Joba Chamberlain, and LaTroy Hawkins are a given in the pen. That leaves 3 spots open.

Joe Girardi wants a long man and Jeff Karstens seems to have the inside track. That leaves 3 spots, with one hopefully going to either Heath Phillips or Billy Traber. We've seen enough of Sean Henn who, incidentally, is out of options. So that would leave 1 spot.

You know how we feel about Kei Igawa. He can't be trusted in a short relief role and how often would he be used in long relief? Better that he goes to Scranton as a starter and hopefully will be made available in a trade sometime during the season.

Brian Bruney, like Henn, is out of options. So far he hasn't exactly been outstanding, but he is pitching better and his 18-pound weight loss seems to have had a positive effect.

Our money is on Edwar Ramirez starting the season in Scranton. Sorry K-Ram. We would love to see Ross Ohlendorf make the pen, but will Girardi have enough confidence in him in crucial spots? We just don't know and haven't seen enough of Dan Giese to make a call on this one. So we think Ohlendorf and Giese will be joining K-Ram in Scranton.

Scott Patterson was moved to the 40-man roster this past winter to ensure the Yankees wouldn't lose him during the Rule V draft.

Jose Veras seems to be liked a lot by the organization, though we really haven't seen enough of him to tell if he'll live up to the talk.

Jon Albaladejo was picked up from the Nats for Tyler Clippard and could be a big (no pun intended) addition to the pen. But we suspect he'll start the season in Triple-A.

Chris Britton kind of reminds us of Colter Bean, a big guy who really doesn't throw that hard. He did well for Baltimore 2 years ago though, and was outstanding for much of last year at Scranton. Yet he didn't look all that impressive when the Yankees finally recalled him.

So the final spot goes to...drum roll...Scott Patterson over Brian Bruney and Jose Veras. We think Bruney could get dealt before spring training is over. The only way we see him or Veras making the team is if none of the left-handers pan out or if one of them just pitches so lights-out during the rest of the spring that they force their way onto the team.

We're just glad Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman, (and Hank of course), have to make these decisions and not us.