Wednesday, April 4, 2012

A Flurry Of Activity Before Final Rosters Set

UPDATE:  Yankees signed 29 yr old SP Ramon Ortiz to a minor league deal after he was cut yesterday from the SF Giants.

Today the Yankees have made a bunch of roster moves before officially setting their final rosters, expected to be announced at 5:00 pm ET today.

The Yankees traded 27 year old left handed starting pitcher George Kontos to the San Francisco Giants for their back up catcher, and former Scranton Wilkes-Barre catcher, Chris Stewart. This was a baffling move because we already have Francisco Cervelli set to back up Russell Martin. Cervelli has options left and Stewart does not so Cervelli was sent down to Empire State to provide depth for the injured Austin Romine down in AAA.



I understand that we basically "had" to trade Kontos because he trade value was not going to get any higher, he is out of options, was only holding a spot in AAA that could be used for someone useful to the majors soon, and was not going to make the big club. I understand , and for the record I think we stole Chris Stewart if all we had to give up was George Kontos, but I do not understand why we made the move. Im not exactly convinced that the move made us THAT much better and I also find it hard to believe that SF was the only suitor for Kontos. This is one of those deals you do not get terribly upset by but you do not understand at the same time. Maybe Cervelli's injury history was a concern and the Yankees wanted to strike while the iron was hot.


The Yankees also designated Justin Maxwell for assignment today. The Yanks hands were basically tied as he was having a great Spring Training and Maxwell was out of options. As much as I would love to have Maxwell stashed down in AAA I am excited to see if he can finally put it all together on another team. There is absolutely no chance that he comes back to the Yankees so let me be the first to say (on this site, lol) Thank You Justin Maxwell.


Bill Hall did NOT have an opt out clause on his minor league contract with the Yankees but the Yankees released him today anyway, per his request, after not making the big league club. His hopes were to make the big league club and still hopes to latch onto someone else's big league club. I am disappointed that he did not make the team because after following him on twitter I learned that he was overly excited to be a Yankee and had worked hard all spring to elongate his career, lose weight, and do everything he can to improve his defense, speed, stolen bases, and hitting attack. He is genuinely a good guy and I hope he latches on with a big league club soon.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)