With pitchers and catchers reporting, it is time to put up the season thread. It will be a long and hopefully fun journey for Yankee fans from pitchers and catchers all the way through the world series. With ST starting, it is time to look at lineups, rotations and rosters.

The Lineup
With Didi Gregorius likely to start the year on the 60 day DL, we will be missing a presence in the lineup. So come opening day, these are the projected lineups vs LHP and RHP IMO

vs LHP
1. Torres 2B
2. Judge RF
3. Stanton LF
4. Sanchez C
5. Andujar DH
6. Hicks CF
7. Voit 1B
8. Tulowitzki SS
9. Lemahieu 3B

vs RHP
1. Torres 2B
2. Judge RF
3. Hicks CF
4. Stanton DH
5. Sanchez C
6. Andujar 3B
7. Voit/Bird? 1B
8. Tulowitzki/Lemahieu SS
9. Gardner LF

On the position player side, we are only going to see 13 players. We already have some internal redundancy. These are the candidates for those 13 spots

1. Sanchez C
2. Romine vs Higashioka C- Higashioka has the higher offensive upside, Romine the better glove. With Sanchez' surgery and defensive issues, the winner will likely be Romine
3. Voit 1B
4. Lemahieu UTIL
5. Torres 2B/SS
6. Tulowitzki SS
7. Andujar 3B/1B
8. Gardner LF
9. Hicks CF
10. Stanton OF/DH
11. Judge RF
12.
13.

Those final two spots will be between 3 players. Greg Bird, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Clint Frazier. Frazier has options, so he could theoretically return to the minors. Ellsbury hasn't played in over a year and has lost many steps in the interim. There is a strong chance he is the odd man out if healthy enough to play (no given) and could end up DFA'd. Bird is no stranger to the DL, but with the team heavily RHH dependent and a need for lefty power, I think Bird still carves out a niche. The big questions will come when Didi returns. If Tulo is playing well when Didi is back, which player is then sent packing? We may have other injuries at that time, but the idea is interesting.

Pitching Staff
1. Severino
2. Paxton
3. Tanaka
4. Happ
5. Sabathia
6. Chapman
7. Betances
8. Britton
9. Ottavino
10. Green
11. Holder
12. ??

The pitching side is a little less dramatic. If everyone is healthy, IMO, the final slot goes to Tommy Kahnle. But there are other players likely to make a bid. Luis Cessa is out of options and can run it up there to 99mph in short outings. He has the stuff to be a great reliever, but hasn't shown he can avoid bats well enough to stick. Domingo German still has options left, so he is likely headed to the minors to work on being a starter. His stuff is great, but he also has a problem missing bats. Jonathan Loaisiga made his debut last year, but my bet is he is stashed in AAA to be rotation depth. Chance Adams should be fully recovered from the elbow surgery that limited his stuff early last season. He could make a run if the velocity he showed in the minors late in 2018 stays with him. The guy who will be the biggest sleeper is Stephen Tarpley. He's a lefty reliever who throws low 90s, but has been death on lefties and has 4 pitches, so he can at least hold his own vs righties. He might sneak past everyone early on, as a mop up pitcher is a little less needed with the days off built into the early going