On Friday, Ken Davidoff of Newsday shared one scouts opinion on the Yankees which I figured I would share since it’s behind the pay wall for many:

“The Yankees are in trouble. Posada can’t catch anymore, and what do they do if Cervelli gets hurt? Montero isn’t ready.Romine doesn’t hit. Teixeira is pull happy and isn’t making the proper adjustments. He’s trying to hit every ball out here (at Yankee Stadium). Who knows what’s going to happen with A-Rod? ”

The scout added that he liked Gardner better than Granderson – and Austin Jackson better than Granderson, to boot – and shared everyone else’s concerns about A.J. Burnett‘s consistency issues. He spoke highly of CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and Javier Vazquez, as well as Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher.

The scout hit on a lot of topics that aren’t getting much play since the Yankees are tied for first place, mostly because of their starting pitching and Mariano Rivera. Curtis Granderson, in my opinion, has been the biggest disappointment on this team. His inability to hit left handed pitching causes late game matchup problems and his overall offense is nothing to write home about. There is no question Gardner is the better player (his at bat against K-Rod on Friday was classic) and I do wonder how much fun it would have been to have Austin Jackson roaming centerfield. For what it’s worth the best centerfielder in this series plays for the Mets, no not the injured Carlos Beltran, but Angel Pagan.

As for Posada and Teixeira, I still have to believe Tex will play to his career stats. The fact that he has been so bad just means he will probably go on a classic hot streak over the last three and a half months. Posada can’t catch, but surely can hit and I love what Cervelli does behind the plate so they should be good there. As for his comments on Austin Romine, I couldn’t disagree more.

Overall Romine is hitting .288 with 3 homers and 34 RBI for AA Trenton. He’s struggled offensively in June with a putrid .478 OPS. Having spent some time down in Trenton the Yankees main concern with Romine is his ability to defend and handle a pitching staff. He will hit enough to be valuable in the big leagues. Even with his “June Swoon” Romine would be fifth in OPS with receivers who qualify for the batting title. Don’t sour on Romine because of what you see this month.

In short, the biggest takeaway for me is the Yankees aren’t as good as they were last year, but they can pitch. I think this team is better suited for a short playoff series than a year ago, but will they get there? The Rays are hungry and talented, while the Red Sox have found ways to win with inferior offensive players. We very well could get the three team race speculated on this spring, but it could be the Yankees, not Boston, as the third wheel of the group.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Andy Pettitte, Austin Jackson, Austin Romine, Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Francisco Cervelli, Javier Vazquez, Jorge Posada, Ken Davidoff, Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees, Newsday, Nick Swisher, Phil Hughes, Robinson Cano, Trenton Thunder