Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Yankees Luxury Tax Bill Increased To $19.3 Mill


Major League Baseball screwed up when figuring up the luxury tax for the Yankees in 2012 and it has been increased from $18.9 mill to 19.3 million. The roughly $400K increase is just a drop in the bucket when your payroll was figured at $223,302,212 but still any news is news at this point in the off season.

Josh Spence Clears Waivers, Sent To AAA Scranton


Josh Spence was designated for assignment last week to make room for Kevin Youkilis and has cleared waivers and accepted a minor league assignment with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders. If you remember Spence was claimed off waivers last month from the San Diego Padres and given a roster spot and invite to Spring Training. I am sure he will get that same invite now that he has cleared waivers.

Texas Rangers Interested In "Mr. Yankee" Raul Ibanez


The Yankees have some competition it would seem for the 41 year old OF/DH Raul Ibanez for the 2013 season. Ibanez makes a lot of sense for Texas after losing Josh Hamilton with their lineup now leaning heavily towards the right side. Ibanez would presumably be in the same role for Texas that he was in New York if he were to sign there, a reserve outfielder and DH coming off the bench late in games.

Jeter Tops List Of Most Popular Jerseys Sold


Major League Baseball always lists their top jerseys sold around this time in the off season and this year Derek Jeter tops the list of all players in MLB. Ichiro Suzuki was surprisingly third on the list and Robinson Cano was a distant 10th place. This list is pre All Star Break 2012 just as an added FYI. Here is the complete list via Lohud.

1. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
2. Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
3. Ichiro Suzuki, New York Yankees
4. Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
5. Mike Trout, LA Angels of Anaheim
6. Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates
7. Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers
8. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves
9. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
10. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
11. Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
12. David Freese, St. Louis Cardinals
13. Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
14. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers
15. Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers
16. Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
17. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
18. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
19. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
20. Brett Lawrie, Toronto Blue Jays

Prospects : Top 10 Yankees Outfield Prospects

Our friends over at Bronx Baseball Daily employee a good friend of mine, Greg Corcoran, who does some of the best stuff on prospects that I have ever seen. That should really resonate with people who know me because I have been following prospects like a religion since about 2005 and did the whole forum thing up until this past season. I actually tried to get Greg over on TGP in it's infancy before BBD offered him a position but I am getting off topic. He wrote up his Top 10 Yankees outfield prospects list, which is suddenly stacked with talent, so go over HERE and check it out. With his permission I am also posting it here for your reading enjoyment but I encourage you to head over to BBD and give them some views too, thanks and enjoy! For the full write up head over to BBD!!

BBDP: Yankees Top 10 Outfield Prospects

Outfield prospects have not been a strong suit for the Yankees organization since Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera were coming up. Now there is a new batch of prospects knocking on the door and the organizational depth at the position is actually pretty extraordinary. Hopefully, somewhere in there lies a replacement for Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson. Hopefully that replacement arrives soon. There is an expectation both within the organization and with scouts that at least one or two of these outfielders will work out, and the Yankees will save a ton of money.

10. Adonis Garcia 

9. Ronnier “Musketeer” Mustelier 

8. “Honest Abe” Abraham Almonte

7. “It’s Gam-Time” Ben Gamel

6. Melky Mesa ”Melkman 2.0″

5. Zoilo “Zee” Almonte

4. “Ray-Flo” Ramon Flores

3. Slade Heathcott

2. “Stone Cold” Tyler Austin

1. “Mad Mase” Mason Williams

As you can see with this system outfield depth is one of the major strengths. The Yankees have an excellent blend of major league close talent, extremely high upside talent, and long term projects. It will be interesting to see how these guys pan out, but all of them show significant promise and could help the major league team in one way or another soon.

Honorable Mention: Taylor Dugas, Rob Segedin