Flickr Image by barockschloss

Happy Groundhog Day! It’s Thursday February 2, 2012 and it’s the early so you know what that means. It’s news time!

Brian Cashman stands behind A.J. Burnett. Hey, I wrote about that yesterday! Curt Schilling felt the need to open his big mouth to declare that the Yankees are the favorites in the American League East. Oh and that he thinks the Yankees did an unbelievable job trading for Michael Pineda – Can this guy just go away already? Oh, wait, he won’t go away. It’s almost time for him to be up for the Hall of Fame vote, isn’t it?

We will never be rid of Curt Schilling.

In case you missed it, Joe Pawlikowski of River Avenue Blues wrote a piece featuring the suggestions of RAB readers regarding some future free agent signings the Yankees should make. It’s pretty amusing.

Over at Pinstriped Bible, Steven Goldman reminisces about Shane Spencer and if you missed it yesterday, my girl Rebecca Glass introduces Yankee fans to Jim Hendry, the organization’s newest hire.

Michael Eder of The Yankee Analysts took a look at Michael Pineda’s rookie season and compared his numbers to some big names in the game. Conclusion: His rookie year was – as Larry David would say, pretty, pretty, pretty good.

With all the talk about Mark Teixeira and the shift yesterday, Brien Jackson of It’s About the Money, Stupid wonders if it’s even relevant.

William Juliano from the Captain’s Blog goes in depth on Teixeira’s numbers and wonders if Tex would be sacrificing too much by going the way. He looks at Teixeira’s numbers from the left side and right side.

And finally at Pinstripe Alley, Jedi Master A-Rod, writes about the Curious Case of David Adams. It’s a pretty interesting read about how Adams’ ankle played a specific role in the Yankees’ dealings with Seattle in 2010 and what effect it had in 2012. Considering the fact that David Adams has never set foot onto Yankee Stadium grass makes it even more entertaining.

The Stadium at Twilight (Courtesy of mbell1975/Flickr)

It’s Wednesday February 1, 2012 and here are some links to get your hump day started.

The big news is Mark Teixeira is going to start bunting now. I’m kidding. It’s not like he’s going to turn into a slap singles hitter. He’s just going to add some variety to his at bats instead of swinging for the fences every time he steps into the batter’s box. For instance, when the entire opposing infield is shaded toward right field, Tex may lay down a bunt for a double toward left field stop them from doing that.

Remember when Jason Giambi always had the shift on him and that one time he surprised the hell out of Tampa (I believe) when he hit a drag bunt? Yeah, that was great.

Anyway. The other big news was Jim Hendry, former Chicago Cubs GM, being hired by the Yanks as a special assignment scout. There were other personnel moves made within the organization yesterday.

• Steve Donohue takes over as the head trainer, replacing the newly retired Gene Monahan.
• Mark Littlefield who was the head Minor League trainer will now assist Donohue with the big club.
• Jean Afterman will remain Assistant GM but has also been given the additional title of Senior VP.
• Billy Eppler was promoted to an Assistant GM. He was formerly Senior Director of professional personnel.
• Will Kuntz is now the manager of pro scouting.

Last night Teixeira and Yogi Berra were among those honored with Thurman Munson Awards. The annual dinner benefits the AHRC-New York City foundation which helps children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Berra received the Legend award, Teixeira, former NBA standouts Chris Mullin and Dikembe Motumbo, and Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey all received Thurmans for their charitable work and the Mets’ Daniel Murphy received the Rising Star award.

Established after Thurman Munson’s death in 1979, the Munson benefit has raised $11 million.

Happy Wednesday!

According to Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago, Jim Hendry has been hired as a special assistant to Yanks GM Brian Cashman.

Hendry, who was the Cubs GM from 2002 to 2011, was let go by chairman Tom Ricketts after two straight fifth-place finishes.

Hendry, 56, worked 17 years in the Cubs organization in numerous positions, including farm director, scouting director, assistant GM and GM.

Hendry agreed to a multiyear deal with the Yankees, according to the source.

Under Hendry’s direction the Cubs won three division titles (2003, 2007, 2008). The 2003 team was five outs away from the franchise’s first World Series appearance since 1945 before an eighth-inning implosion in Game 6 against the Marlins in the NLCS.