MLB Spring Training 2012: New York Yankees Most Overhyped Storylines Thus Far

When it's this early into MLB spring training, it's only natural to see New York Yankee story lines that, for all intensive purposes, are benign at best.

And, I must admit, I am guilty of such unimportant headlines, but sadly, I must let you in on any and all information pertaining to the Bombers, no matter how small or big it might be.

This way, you can never tell a journalist, "Hey, you missed that one."

So here are some of the more over-hyped story lines so far this spring, and whether they need to be monitored, or forgotten.

Alex Rodriguez's Home Run in First at-Bat

Alex Rodriguez homered on his first swing of the spring off Philadelphia Phillies' ace, Roy Halladay.

Many viewed it as significant because of A-Rod's numerous injury problems the past few seasons, specifically his knee which was just surgically repaired at the suggestion of Los Angels Lakers' guard, Kobe Bryant.

Sadly for A-Rod, he's hit homers whether he's healthy or hurt and one spring long ball doesn't mean he'll remain healthy and/or have a big season in 2012.

Bobby Valentine Talking Trash

Throughout his time in baseball, Bobby Valentine has been well-known for talking out the other end of his body, and since joining the Boston Red Sox as their manager, he hasn't changed a bit.

In fact, ESPN has been paying him to do the same thing for years now.

So it was no surprise when Bobby V not only minimized Derek Jeter's flip play against the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS, but he basically called the Yankee Captain a liar when Jeter said the Yanks worked on that play in practice.

"I think [Jeter] was out of position," Valentine said. "And the ball gets [Giambi] out if [Jeter] doesn't touch it, personally."

Jeter responded.

"We do practice it, but not the flip home," Jeter said. "But who cares? Why are we talking about this? He must be bored over there, huh? I don't understand."

Bobby V would later backtrack his statements about Jeter.

"I want it on record that I love Derek Jeter as a player," Valentine told ESPNBoston.com. "It was not a slight towards him. I love him as a guy, too."

Valentine also brought up painful memories for A-Rod when asked about the retiring Jason Varitek.

"From afar, he was everything you want a guy who wears a 'C' to be," Valentine said of the former Red Sox captain. "He was a man's man, he was a big hitter when needed, he was the leader of the pitching staff. He was able to beat up Alex, all that stuff. He was exactly what he was supposed to be.''

A-Rod also responded.

"Like I've said, guys, I'm not gonna win many battles here when it comes to words, especially against Bobby," he said. "But I will tell you this, I got my new press secretary that should be landing in couple of days, Reggie Jackson, so I'll let him handle that, all right?"

This was a pure ploy by the Red Sox skipper to stir things up during a boring time when not much is going on during spring training. Valentine has always had a big mouth spewing nonsense and the fact that this got coverage in the media is puzzling.

Just another senseless chapter in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

Michael Pineda Overweight

Okay, okay. This is one of two I'm guilty of, but at least I'm honest.

When news broke that Michael Pineda came to camp overweight, it certainly wasn't the first time we've heard a baseball player coming to camp out of shape, especially a younger guy like the Yanks' newest acquisition.

Plenty of guys have had success being overweight. Just ask Bartolo Colon in 2011 and C.C. Sabathia for his entire career.

Weight gain, while it might show Pineda had one too many cheeseburgers during the offseason, doesn't mean he's doomed to fail, thus thrusting such a "news" story into to depths of irrelevance.

But hey, at least George A. King of the New York Post agrees that the extra weight, "speaks to poor nutritional habits or a lack of exercise, each alarming for his age."

So I wasn't alone on this one.

Michael Pineda Avoids the Media

I got quite a bit of crap for this one, but I told you about it nevertheless.

Pineda successfully avoided the media after one of his spring training workouts.

ESPN.com's Wallace Matthews went into great detail about Pineda's surprise at having 11 beat writers waiting for him after such an insignificant event.

I made the point that, clearly, Pineda is not ready for the bright, hot spotlight of New York. I also combined this with him being overweight and chalked it up to an immature guy.

While separately these last two slides aren't a big deal, together they could be construed as a trend and I stick to my guns as such.

But again, Pineda avoiding the media will not hurt his progression by any means, but he better get used to them because they certainly aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Hal Steinbrenner Cutting Payroll

It was no surprise when Hal Steinbrenner finally made it official that the Yankees were looking to cut their payroll to $189 million in order to avoid getting beat over the head with a significantly higher luxury tax.

However, there were some out there who felt this was a doomsday event and that Hal would lead the Bombers in a different direction than the "win at all costs" mentality that his father George Steinbrenner ran the team with.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

Honestly, the Yanks' payroll is as high as it is because of how the Bombers grossly overpay their players and the numerous bad contracts the team has handed out over the years.

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the Yanks will field anything less than a championship contender with their new payroll target. $189 million is more than enough to do so.

And if you disagree with that, you are one spoiled Yankee fan.

The Return of Joba Chamberlain

While it's nice to see that Joba Chamberlain is progressing after Tommy John surgery, I'm not exactly sure what the excitement is about in regards to his actual return to the Yanks.

Once thought to be Mariano Rivera's heir-apparent, Chamberlain has seen his role diminish. After suffering the season-ending injury last year, David Robertson took Rafael Soriano's job as the setup man while Soriano filled in the seventh-inning role.

All that being said, the Yanks' incredible depth in their rotation and bullpen leave little to no room for Joba to make a major impact barring injury.

So exactly what are we excited to see Joba return to? The sixth-inning role? And I could even argue that spot will already be taken since Joba may not be back until midseason.

Chamberlain's presence on this Yankee roster in 2012 is about as significant as the organization trying to save money by buying cheaper rolls of toilet paper for the stadium bathrooms.

Joe Girardi Doesn't Have a Set Rotation Yet

I wasn't surprised to hear Joe Girardi go through the old spring training formality of telling the media that besides veterans C.C. Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda, that nobody was guaranteed a spot in the Bombers' rotation.

That left the idea that Freddy Garcia would still have a shot to make the rotation over Pineda, Hughes or Ivan Nova.

Here's why that won't happen.

Nova won 16 games for the Bombers in his rookie season and proved to be one of the most reliable starters New York threw out there in 2011. With potential like that, you don't just toss the guy onto the scrap heap because of a bad spring.

Pineda goes by a similar description, as far as showing promise last season and having a ton of potential.

Tack on the fact that the Yanks' traded their top prospect, Jesus Montero, in order to acquire the young right-hander, and I can't see how Girardi and GM Brian Cashman could explain that one down to the Yankee faithful.

Hughes is the most likely candidate to miss-out on the Yanks' starting five because of the shaky 2011 season he had filled with inconsistency and injury.

But the former top prospect is going to be 26 years old and a former 18-game winner. Hughes will be a free agent after the 2013 season and I'm pretty sure the Yankees will kick the tires at least one last time before they decide whether or not to buy into Hughes for the long-term.

Anyway you slice it, the Bombers will have lots of explaining to do if any of these young guns are left out and relegated to either the bullpen or the minors.

But I don't expect it to happen.

My colleague, Rick Weiner, was spot on with his bold prediction that Freddy Garcia would be the next Ramiro Mendoza. It's a very realistic role in which the 35 year old can flourish.

Pineda's Velocity

In his first start of spring, Michael Pineda's velocity was noticeably down to many scouts watching the game.

At first sight, it's only the debut start of the spring and I'm sure it's no big deal. Still, it could have been considered something to be monitored moving forward.

But thanks to a great piece by Dave Cameron of FanGraphs.com, it's crystal clear for the reason to the velocity change.

"

So, time to panic?

No, not really. As the 2011 season wore on, Pineda decided that it wasn’t in his best interests to come out firing at full velocity from the first pitch. He wanted to be more efficient early in games, so rather than coming out and throwing 97 and striking everyone out, he decided to ease off the fastball in the first inning or two and try to get some quick outs on the ground.

For instance, here are the first 10 pitches from his Pitch F/x log during his August 21st start against Tampa Bay from last year.

Fastball: 89.2
Fastball: 90.2
Fastball: 90.3
Fastball: 91.0
Change-Up: 85.5
Fastball: 93.9
Fastball: 91.8
Slider: 83.8
Slider: 83.6
Fastball: 93.7

"

Clearly this is something Pineda has been working on since 2011 and is an attempt to throw less pitches at the start of games. That will only benefit his longevity.

In short: there's nothing to see here.