Jimmy Sez

It's that wonderful time of year when the big leagues begin to thaw out in Arizona and Florida. The storylines of the off-season have thankfully taken a backseat to live baseball this weekend, but there is still plenty to unpack in Yankeeland. With recent developments in Houston and Boston, the Yankees are expected to be the class of the American League, so let's dig into some thoughts on what the team looks like this spring. Thanks for the memories, Didi Prior to the 2015 season, Didi Gregorius was given a simple and impossible task: replace a legend. After failing to impress in brief stints with Cincinnati and Arizona, the 25-year old shortstop was thrown into the  gigantic hole left by Derek Jeter's retirement. The odds were not in his favor. The Yankees stuck with Gregorius as their regular shortstop for the entire year and he rewarded their faith in him. His relatively weak bat was still better than Jeter's had been in 2014 and he was among the best fieldi...

This post is part of a series that includes material originally written for  The New York Yankees All-Time All-Stars  but had to hit the cutting room floor prior to publication. For other posts in the series you can search for the label "Author's Cut" on this site. After selecting the All-Time All-Stars for the book there were plenty of players that just missed the cut. Many of these players were included in the Honorable Mentions section, but naturally some cuts had to be made there as well. Here's the best of the rest, or the Slightly Less Honorable Mentions, if you will. Each of these guys was important to the Yankees during their career in some way, shape or form. Snuffy Stirnweiss – Second Base The majority of his value as a Yankee came during 1944 and 1945 while most of baseball’s superstars served in World War II. He led all American League position players in WAR both years. He remained a viable starter for the Yankees for a few years after the war and e...