2009 Positional Review, Pt. 1: Infield/Catcher

This past season was a return to glory, as the Bronx Bombers reclaimed their rightful place atop the baseball universe. But there's no time to waste, as the hot stove season is upon us once again. I will be reviewing the roster, position by position, over the next few days leading up to the Winter Meetings. Feel free to drop some feedback in the comments section, as it's always appreciated.

Catcher- Jorge Posada had a great bounce back season, as his shoulder was able to hold up for the entire season. It was great to see him mash again at the plate, showing no ill effects from his injuries of a season ago. While Jorge might forget certain little things, like the pitch count or the number of outs in an inning, he is still a highly effective player at age 38. Yankees fans shouldn't take him for granted, as we probably won't see a catcher in Pinstripes as good as him for a long time (at least until we sign Joe Mauer).

First Base- Early last offseason, it looked like the Yankees were going to hand off first base to Nick Swisher, acquired in a trade from the White Sox for the immortal Wilson Betemit. But the front office was merely waiting for the right time to deliver a knockout punch to the rest of the league, swooping in at the last moment to sign All-Star slugger Mark Teixeira. Although he has made some questionable moves the last few years, you have to give a lot of credit to Brian Cashman for this one. He slow played the negotiations at the start, then swooped in to kick Boston in the balls and steal Tex away at the last second. I loved every minute of it. Of course, Teixeira went on to lead the A.L. in HR's and RBI's. On top of that, he plays some of the finest defense this side of Donnie Baseball. No worries here for the next seven seasons. Think Boston could have used him last year?

Second Base- I'm gonna give you two sets of numbers: Player A: .320 25 HR's 85 RBI'sPlayer B: .326 17 HR's 83 RBI's Looks pretty similar, right? Well, what if I were to tell you that player A wasn't even an All-Star in 2009, while player B WON the MVP in 2008? Could never happen in a million years, right? Wrong! Dustin Pedroia, the little weasel that could, took home the MVP in 2008 while Robinson Cano was snubbed out of an All-Star berth in 2009. So for any Boston fans that want to cry about a Yankee bias, please shut the fuck up. The media is on Pedroia's nuts so hardcore it's sickening. And, unlike Little Dusty, Cano is actually tall enough to ride on roller coasters. So he has that going for him. Plus, as far as I know, Cano doesn't have any older brothers who trick little boys into giving them a blow job for a bag of Skittles. Can't say the same for Dustin's brother Brett.

Third Base- After one of the most bizarre seasons of all time, Alex Rodriguez came out of it looking better than ever. It started when hack journalist Selena Roberts reported that A-Rod's name was on the list of 103 players that failed a drug test prior to the 2003 season. It got even worse when it was revealed that Rodriguez had a torn labrum in his hip, and would miss the first 6 weeks of the regular season. So suffice to say, A-Rod was pretty down in the dumps. When he came back, he started slowly. But once the weather warmed up, Alex got going. He finished the year with 30 HR's and 100 RBI's despite playing in only 124 games. And once the playoffs started, you knew he was going to be the "Centaur" of attention, whether he produced or not. Fortunately for the Yanks, he was superb. He finished the 2009 playoffs hitting .365 with 6 HR's and 18 RBI's. Without a doubt, he was the best player during the entire playoff run, and was able to shed the choker label once and for all.

Shortstop- Before the season started, there was much speculation about the supposed decline of Derek Jeter. All the assholes in the media were claiming that he was slowing down, that he was nearing the end. So what does the Captain go and do? He shuts them the fuck up by putting together an MVP caliber season and winning his fourth gold glove. Jeter is only signed through 2010, but it would be shocking if he were to ever leave the Yankees. He could play short at a high level for at least another 4-5 seasons.