Somewhat lost in the shuffle of Hank Steinbrenner’s attacks on Derek Jeter and revenue sharing Monday was his accusation that the 2010 Yankees lost because they were too complacent. Regular readers of this site will know that I’m decidedly not a fan of narrative heavy psychological explanations for things that happen on a baseball field, so I’d be a little remiss if I didn’t point out how silly this is (though I guess I could stop that argument at “Hank said it,” couldn’t I?).

First of all, Hank’s own walk back does a nice job of illustrating how arbitrary this stuff ultimately becomes.

He added: “Sometimes, teams get a little complacent. They celebrate for too long. You see that a lot in sports nowadays. It certainly isn’t Derek. Derek has five rings. You don’t win five rings by being complacent. So it was definitely not Derek I was talking about.”

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The biggest news from the Spring so far has been Adam Wainwright‘s pending ligament replacement surgery, but the number of injuries around the camps is climbing:

• Forlorn Twins fans will surely lament the news that former-Twin-now-Cardinal Nick Punto needs hernia surgery and will miss up to three months
• Brian Roberts, the Orioles excellent leadoff hitter and second baseman, has been suffering from a sore neck. Seems minor, but remember that he’s been prone to back injuries the last few years.
• That jolly bundle of sunshine known as Vincente Padilla needs elbow surgery, too.
• A few Yanks are suffering from bronchitis
• And Hank continues from foot-in-mouth disease.

And for the catcher segment of the injury report:

• Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy broke a pinkie and will miss about a month due to the surgery to repair it.
• Yanks’ Russell Martin will also be a bit behind, but Joe Girardi is not too concerned.
• Uber-catcher Joe Mauer brushed off the need for knee injections of lubricant. I’d be very concerned. Maybe not for 2011, but this guy’s going to have to transition from behind the dish eventually because of those knees.

Baseball America released their rankings of the top 100 prospects in baseball, and the Yankees were very well represented indeed, with six players making the cut. Jesus Montero (3rd), Gary Sanchez (30), Manny Banuelos (41), Dellin Betances (43), Andrew Brackman (78), and Austin Romine (98) represent the top of the Yankees widely respected farm system, and Baseball America thinks that each of them belongs amongst the best prospects in the game. That’s really something considering the Yankees haven’t picked at the top of the first round in over a decade.

In terms of past rankings, Montero was 4th last year, but the three players in front of him all graduated, so he’s actually been leaped by newcomers Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Austin Romine was also on the list last year, falling from the 86th ranking he received then. Brackman and Betances have both made appearances on the list before, though neither was ranked last year. Banuelos and Sanchez are making their first appearance on the list, and I continue to be pretty impressed with how highly the baseball world thinks of Sanchez.

Some other random observations about the list:

• The Royals system really is stacked. They’ve got three prospects in the top 10, five in the top 20, and nine total in the top 100.
• Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the Orioles should have more than two prospects on the list. Granted Matt Wieters and Brian Matusz have graduated in the past two years, but after 13 years of losing you’d think they’d have more upside in the farm system.
• Bryce Harper is number one on the list, despite not having played a professional game. I’m somewhat inclined to complain about that, but at the same time, I don’t think anyone would put him out of the top 5, so it’s a pretty defensible ranking. That just shows you how much tremendous upside everyone thinks this kid has.
• If you count Aroyds Vizcaino, who’s ranked at 93rd, seven players on the list were initially drafted or signed by the Yankees.
• In addition to the ridiculous number of high draft picks they have this year, the Rays have seven players on this list, including three in the top 25. They’re not going away anytime soon.

You can see the whole list here.

The Yankees have signed 26 year-old Cuban defector Yadil Mujica, according to Baseball America. There is not a lot of information out there on the infielder, but according to Baseball-Reference he was “emerging as one of the top young infielders in Cuba before defecting.”  His final season in Cuba saw Mujica hit .358/.432/.440, in a league that is hitter friendly.  He hits lefty but throws righty and has been described as a speedy contact hitter with good range and a strong arm from short.  There is not a ton of information out there on the guy, so we will have to wait and see whether he is a legitimate major league prospect or not.  The Times-Tribune Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees blog had this report and youtube video of Mujica.

There also appear to be some mixed information about the status of left-handed pitcher Andy Sisco.  Baseball America claims that Sisco has been released by the Yankees, but according to the Trentonian, this is not the case.