Tuesday, April 30, 2013

New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros 4/30


The Yankees and the Houston Astros will play the middle game of their three game set at Yankees Stadium tonight. The Yankees need to win these games if they expect to stay competitive in the American League East so they need to get the offense going early. The Yankees will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound to face off against Philip Humber. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on YES and MLB TV.

Youkilis On DL, Corban Joseph Called Up

It turns out that Jon Heyman's reported was true, as the Yankees placed Kevin Youkilis on the 15-Day DL. However, instead of David Adams, the team called up Corban Joseph to take Youk's spot on the roster. This makes sense, as Joseph was already on the 40-man roster.

It is interesting how Corban has only played in 43 games at 3rd base, and the last time was back in 2010. The vast majority of his time in the minors has been spent at 2B, and for the first time he's started getting some work at 1B.

EDIT: I've learned that David Adams can not be called up to MLB until May 15th (30 days from the time he signed a minor league contract), due to a rule that states a player that is released and re-signed to a minor league deal must wait 30 days before retuning to the majors.

Adams would fit better with the team, as he's a right-handed hitter, and the team is very weak against left-handed pitching. Not to mention that Adams has quite a bit of experience at 3B, as well as 2B. David is currently hitting .327/.417/.462 for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Cano Contract Talks Not Yet Discussed

"This suit's worth more than David Wright's contract."

Andrew Marchand sent word, via Twitter, that Robinson Cano's agents have yet to start contract negotiations with the Yankees.

The only news regarding a contract extension for Cano, that we've heard, had to do with the team's starting point of David Wright's 8 year $138 million contract. $17.25 million a year is a pretty nice salary, but it's nowhere near the amount that a player like Cano will get. The "8 year" part my come true, but I believe Robbie (who has averaged just above $28 million between 2010 and 2012) will get at least $25 million a season. So put me down for 8 years and $200 million.

I just hope it's the Yankees that give him that contract.

Game 28 Lineup: Astros vs. Yankees

Here is the lineup. We'll end the lineup post with some notes.

Brett Gardner CF
Ichiro Suzuki LF
Travis Hafner DH
Brennan Boesch RF
Jayson Nix 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Eduardo Nunez SS
Chris Stewart C

Hiroki Kuroda RHP

Notes:

-- The Yankees placed Kevin Youkilis on the 15-Day Disabled list with a lumbar spine sprain (retroactive to April 28.) The Yankees called up Corban Joseph to take his place on the roster. Why not David Adams? Well, David Adams was released, then re-signed and he's not on the 40-man roster. He also wouldn't have been eligible to come to the Majors until May 15, hence making Joseph the obvious choice at this point.

Youkilis MRI Negative, Still Headed to DL

The good news is that the MRI on Kevin Youkilis' back came back negative. The bad news, as Jon Heyman reported, is that the Yankees are still likely to place Youk on the DL.

It's nearly impossible to tell when his back will be good to go, as there is so much that can go wrong in that part of the body. However I can't help but think that somebody with the team made a big mistake putting Kevin into the lineup last Saturday against Toronto. I mean... sure, Youkilis may need the whole 15 days to get better anyway. But if he's ready before that everybody will look back at last Saturday and say "why the hell did they play Youk, when they could have backdated his DL stint a week or so?"

Youkilis did receive a epidural shot to help with any stiffness and/or pain. The Yankees will likely call-up another infielder such as David Adams.

This Day In Yankees History 4/30


On this day in 1939 Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak and ultimately his career would come to an end. Lou would go 0-4 in his final game of his career ending his 2,130 consecutive game streak and 17 season career.