Yankees Annual 2010 On Sale Today!

[image title="book73_300" size="full" id="15254" align="center" linkto="full" ]For the third straight year, I have the pleasure of announcing to you that I have been published by Maple Street Press in their yearly season preview magazine Yankees Annual 2010. It is an absolute pleasure to write for them every year. In the past, I’ve contributed long-form pieces on Joba Chamberlain and the Yankee farming strategy. This year, I actually have two articles in the Annual.

The first article is titled, “Who Says Farming Doesn’t Pay: Yanks Collect Dividends Through Plan B” and is one of my favorite long-form articles that I’ve ever written. I look at what the Yankees did in their World Series run when things didn’t go according to plan – when Alex Rodriguez goes down with surgery, or Jorge Posada and Jose Molina both find themselves on the disabled list at the same time, or Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez explode, or Chien-Ming Wang forgets how to pitch. Its a four-page recap of a lot of stories that probably will be forgotten as the championship season fades into history, but were very important to the team’s eventual success.

The second article is called, “Prime Prospect: Jesus Montero Arrives”, and is what you would expect. I go through Montero’s history, abilities, and scouting report, and I throw in a few charts and graphs to hammer home how special Montero is. And of course, I editorialize quite a bit. Its a three-page summary of what a lot of people here have probably already read, but with some added bonuses to make it worthwhile for the hard core fan.

Pending Pinstripes author Greg Fertel also contributed a must-read piece on the rise and fall of Phil Hughes. He’s planning on writing a post soon on it, so I will be link to it when he does.

The rest of the magazine is packed with some really excellent writing. Our editor Cecilia Tan has some really great scouting reports on every Yankee pitcher and batter, including full spray charts, hit zone charts, and pitch location charts. The Annual sports a robust minor league section, historical looks at Lou Gehrig and Ricky Henderson, and some great accounting of the 2009 season. And best of all – not a single page is devoted to advertisement. I can’t highly recommend it enough.

You can purchase advance copies online here. The magazine will hit newsstands, bookstores, and plenty of other places in the tristate area on March 2nd.

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