(I hasten to add that this is not The Project That Cannot Be Named [Yet]. This is something else.)
I'm really excited about this, and I have to give thanks and praise to Cecilia M. Tan, my cohort on In the Dugout: Yankees 2013, which included a piece by PB's creator and guru, Steven Goldman. Steve liked my "12 and 12 in '12" piece for that volume enough to give me a gig writing once a week for his Yankees blog, and here I am.
It's weird, baseball's always been a hobby more than something I've pursued professionally, and yet, here I am, doing it professionally, after a fashion. I've written about the Yankees before, for two other annuals with Cecilia, as well as The Red Sox Fan Handbook 2005 and the "Bleacher Creature Feature" e-mail newsletter/proto-blog that I did a decade ago. I've also made occasional contributions to the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog in the past.
Still, this is my first real sportswriting gig, sorta, and I have to admit to being excited and eagerly looking forward to the opportunity.
(Having said that -- Vernon Wells? Really?)