Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Yankees Trade For Chris Nelson

It was announced on the LoHud Yankees Blog that the Yankees have traded for Colorado Rockies infielder Chris Nelson, who was set to be a free agent after being designated for assignment last week. It's not known what Colorado will receive for Nelson, but it's like either cash considerations or a player to be named later. LoHud also said that Francisco Cervelli has been moved to the 60-Day DL, which would open up a spot on the 40-Man and Active Rosters, but I don't see that as being official yet.

Last season, in 111 games, Nelson hit .301/.352/.458 for the Rockies. He's not getting off to a great start this season, batting only .242/.282/.318. Chris is a right-handed batter, but he doesn't have a big split at all against left-handed pitchers. In 664 career MLB plate appearances he's hit .274/.322/.418 against right-handed pitchers and .293/.323/.409 against lefties.

The fact that Nelson can play 3B makes him a better fit for the roster than Corban Joseph, since Kevin Youkilis was lost to a back injury. With the Yankees already having Jayson Nix as a backup infielder, I think Joseph's time in New York will be short.

BBD Exclusive Interview W/ Slade Heathcott


Our good friend over at Bronx Baseball Daily, Greg Corcoran, scored an interview with Yankees prospect Slade Heathcott recently and posted the interview on BBD today. Click HERE to go give our buddy Greg some views and read the article that even asks about his 2011 altercation with Christian Vazquez. It's a great read and a great interview so head over there now and check it out. Thanks for the share Greg!

Some Notes: Robertson, Nelson, Teixeira, Granderson,

Here are some notes from today:


-- David RobertsonDavid Robertson looked as if he turned on his ankle during the last pitch of his outing and immediately went to the clubhouse. According to Girardi, Robertson is fine after icing his ankle and he should be ready to go on Friday.


-- Chris NelsonAfter the game, the Yankees announced that they traded either cash or a player to be named later to the Colorado Rockies for INF Chris Nelson. Nelson is batting .242 (16-for-66) with 0 HR and 4 RBI's with his time in Colorado. The Yankees have not made a 25-man roster move but they did move Francisco Cervelli to the 60-Day-DL.


-- Mark TeixeiraMark Teixeira is one step closer to returning to the Yankees lineup. Texieria hit balls off a tee and hit baseballs that were thrown by the coaches towards him. He's not close to getting into a rehab game and he'll continue to build strength in his wrist.


-- Curtis GrandersonCurtis Granderson is the closest to returning to the Yankees lineup. Granderson had two AB in an extended Spring Training game today (there was rain in the forecast that suspended the game) and said he felt great. He feels he needs at least 50 AB before he could return to the Yankees which puts him to return in 2 weeks.

Game Thread: NYY vs. HOU 5/1


The Yankees look for the series victory tonight against the Houston Astros with young David Phelps on the mound. Feel free to use this thread to chat during the game or follow us on twitter, @GreedyStripes, to chat with us there.

Here is the Yankees lineup:


Ichiro Suzuki CF
Jayson Nix 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Ben Francisco RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
RHP David Phelps

Should The Yankees Target Brian McCann?


The Braves have been without Brian McCann since last October when he opted to get shoulder surgery and miss the beginning of the 2013 season. Every veterans worst nightmare is beginning to come true as McCann sits on the DL the young guys are taking his place and really making a name for themselves quickly. With McCann down in Rome in the Braves minor league system rehabbing and getting ready to return to the big leagues it makes me wonder if he will be available in a trade sooner rather than later and if the Yankees would be interested.


Brian McCann is a left handed power hitting catcher that has a stroke that was absolutely made for the New Yankees Stadium. McCann has also been known for his durability playing in no less than 121 games in his eight season career with the Braves not counting his partial rookie campaign where he only got into 59 games. His 121 game season was in 2012 where he battled shoulder issues all season long but still managed 20 home runs and 67 RBI's with a triple slash of .230/.300/.399. McCann is a six time All Star that takes his walks, calls good games behind the plate, hits for power, and would be a rental player for any team with this being his contract season. Is the beloved Braves home town boy a dead man walking in a Braves uniform with all these accolades backing him?


Evan Gattis is making quite the impression on manager Fredi Gonzalez in his rookie campaign filling in for the injured Brian McCann. Evan Gattis has played in a total of 21 games getting 84 plate appearances and has put up a triple slash of .250/.310/.566 with a OPS of 875. Gattis also has 6 HR's, 16 RBI's, and 6 doubles on his resume so far for 2013. In basically an 1/8th of the season Gattis has already accumulated a 0.8 WAR so that would put him on pace to have a 6.4 WAR by seasons end in a perfect world, something that Brian McCann has never done. McCann came closest in 2008 when he put up a 5.5 WAR that season for the Braves. The Braves love his glove, love his game calling, love his throwing arm, love his bat, and love his team friendly league minimum $490 K salary and it would seem love him more then Brian McCann right now.


Gerald Laird signed a two year deal worth $3 million to be the Braves back up catcher this past off season and has filled David Ross' shoes pretty well. In nine games and 33 plate appearances Gerald has a triple slash of .333/.419/.407 with an OPS of .827 with 5 RBI's as a back up. Gerald has also accumulated a 0.2 WAR thus far in this season in not even a 1/16th of the season, using games played, and seems to be far exceeding expectations. While I don't expect Laird to stay anywhere near his current .333 average, his career average is .245, or his .415 OBP, with a career .305 on base, at his age 33 season but weirder things have happened, especially playing for a team like the Atlanta Braves who seem to get the absolute most out of every player they bring in.


With the Braves payroll probably at their absolute max with the Upton brothers acquisitions and an arguably better option already seasoned and here the Braves will probably be looking to move Brian McCann and his $12 million rental contract this July. If Brian can come back healthy from his shoulder surgery and prove that he has not lost too much off the throwing arm or the swing I can see the Braves making a move but would the Yankees be interested? Would the Yankees have the pieces to even make it work? With the Braves already currently having Jonny Venters, Cristhian Martinez, and Brandon Beachy on the disabled list an Adam Warren or basically anyone not named Mark Montgomery or Jose Campos would be interesting to the Braves one would think. The Braves also seem like they could use some infield and outfield depth making guys like Corban Joseph, David Adams, or even a Rob Segedin look attractive to Atlanta. Just for the record I never said I was for or against the trade but this just seems like the kind of move that the Yankees would make getting an established big leaguer for a steal. Then again the Braves don't necessarily need to trade McCann while Gattis has plenty of options left and it would not exactly be a salary dump either so who knows how the negotiations would go. I have the utmost confidence in Francisco Cervelli and cannot see even the Yankees having a $12 million back up catcher so I can't say I expect McCann to don pinstripes this season but it also wouldn't surprise me if he did...


Just a quick blurb here to end this. I would not mind adding Brian to the Yankees Wives & Girlfriends section... I'm just saying!

Can The Yankees Survive The Youkilis Injury


Kevin Youkilis as we all know was placed on the 15 day DL with stiffness in his back. This DL stint was back dated to April 28th so Youk will be eligible to come off the DL before the double header with the Cleveland Indians on May 13th which is right around the time the Yankees are expecting Curtis Granderson back from injury as well. Can the Yankees weather the storm without yet another high paid star in the middle of the lineup? I think so.


The Yankees played a three game set with the worst team in baseball, the Houston Astros, and will play three games each against the Rockies and the Royals during that stretch. Throw in a weekend series with the Oakland Athletics and two off days and Youk is back for the Yankees. The combined records of these teams is 52-51 at the time of this writing, albeit heavily drug down by the Astros 8-19 record, so these games and series seem winnable. The Royals, Rockies, and Athletics have had their issues with the Yankees in recent years and the Astros should love every series they play this season conceivably so I think the Yankees can hold their heads above water with their pitching staffs until the reinforcements arrive.

Suddenly a lineup that looks like this:

Gardner
Wells
Cano
Francisco
Hafner
Ichiro
Stewart
Overbay
Nix


Will look like this:

Gardner
Wells
Cano
Youkilis
Granderson
Hafner
Ichiro
Stewart
Overbay

Not exactly murderers row but I feel more confident, what about you?


So for all the fans screaming up and down how we should not have played Kevin Youkilis on April 27th against the Blue Jays and we could backdate the DL stint another seven days, relax. Joe Girardi did nothing wrong playing a veteran player that passed all the tests and said he was fine. The Yankees will survive this just like they have survived losing Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and the other 47 players they have lost time to this season. The sky is not falling, in fact, it is getting sunnier every day in Yankee land.

Curtis Granderson Enters Extended Spring Training


Curtis Granderson got into his first extended spring training game today since fracturing his right forearm o the first at bat of the spring this year. Granderson got two of the 50-70 at bats he will need to get back to the Bronx and manager Joe Girardi even called the at bats "encouraging" so that is good news. With the ability to get up to 10 at bats a day in extended spring training we may see Curtis Granderson back in the lineup before we see Kevin Youkilis or any of the other reinforcements.

Wang Decides To Stay W/ Yankees


Chien Ming Wang has a few opt out clauses in his minor league contract that he signed with the Yankees this spring with the first date that he could opt out being yesterday but Wang has decided to stay with the Yankees. The dates included in the contract are April 30th, May 31st, June 30th, August 10th, and August 31st. The Yankees now have another month before they have to worry about another team offering him a starting spot in their big league rotation so they have a little bit of time. Wang has pitched well in AAA for the Scranton team putting up a 0.95 ERA in 19 IP with a ground ball rate nearing 60% with that sinker of his. Wang is in his age 33 season and could be a welcomed addition to the Yankees rotation instead of letting Adam Warren rot in the bullpen but hey what do I know.

New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros 5/1


Welcome to May baseball Yankees fans! The Yankees will welcome the Houston Astros to Yankees Stadium tonight for the rubber match of a three game set with the newest member of the American League. The Yankees will send David Phelps to the mound to make his first start of the season replacing the injured Ivan Nova. The Astros will send lefty veteran Erik Bedard to the mound looking to get Houston a victory. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on YES and MLB TV.

Game 29 Lineup: Astros vs. Yankees

It's the series finale for the Yankees and Astros before an off-day tomorrow. Here's your lineup!

Ichiro Suzuki CF
Jayson Nix 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Ben Francisco RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C

David Phelps RHP

Notes and thoughts:

-- Brett Gardner is out of the lineup again. As of right now, we're speculating it's a day-off but it's a little odd. He just had a day-off on Sunday. I thought Gardner had enough offense to play against LHP. Gardner's a better option than Ben Francisco, you know.

Yankees Survive April


Going into the season, the goal for the Yankees in April was to just tread water and not fall completely out of the race with all the injuries they had. The Yankees not only survived April, but they thrived in April. After yesterdays 7-4 win over Houston, the Yankees ended April at 16-10 and only two games behind Boston in the AL East. That 16-10 record incredibly puts the Yankees on a pace to win over 100 games this season. The Yankees had many unexpected players step up for them in the month.

The Yankees are tied for first in the AL with 36 home runs on the season, when nobody expected them to hit as many home runs as they did last year. However, the Yankees are not only scoring most of their runs off of home runs this year like they did last year. The Yankees have a more diverse offense so far this season and have made many comebacks that they did not seem to make last season. In seven of their last 10 wins the Yankees had been trailing at some point in the game. All four of their wins in a four game sweep of Toronto were come from behind wins. Also, they had an exciting comeback against David Price and Fernando Rodney in Tampa and in their two wins over Arizona.

Robinson Cano, Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells and the pitching staff have helped carry the Yankees to this 16-10 record. Cano was going to have to be one of the players to carry the Yankees and he has performed at an MVP level. Without much protection in the lineup, Cano has hit .327, with 7 HR’s, 17 RBI and a .977 OPS. Also, he has .413 w/OBA and a 161 wRC+ that would both be career highs for him. Hafner has been incredible and seems to get a big hit whenever he has a chance too. Especially lately, he had three hits and three RBI in yesterdays win and on Saturday Hafner hit a huge game tying home run. For the season, Hafner is hitting .318 with 6 HR’s, 17 RBI, a 1.104 OPS, a .460 wOBA and a 192 wRC+. Wells has been on of the few consistent Yankees right handed hitters, and who knows where they would be without him either. His approach at the plate has been excellent, as he has been using the opposite field more and taking a lot of walks.

The big three of the Yankees rotation has been about what you would expect it to be and winning when Sabathia, Kuroda and Pettitte were  pitching was essential in April. Kuroda has been the best of the three, as he is 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Opposing hitters are only hitting .206 off of him and Kuroda’s 52.4% GB percentage has been the key to his success. He is one of Brian Cashman’s best free agent signings ever. All the talk about Sabathia has been how his fastball is only averaging 89.8 MPH, but you can hardly tell that by looking at his results. He is 4-2 with a 3.35 ERA and he has been giving the Yankees great length no matter what his stuff is. His changeup (21.90% whiff %) and slider (14.20% whiff %) have been outstanding. Pettitte’s numbers are skewed by his disastrous start on Monday, but he has thrown quality starts in four of his five outings and has been just as good as he was last year for the Yankees.

Incredibly, the Yankees did not get any healthier in April and in fact they had to endure even more injuries. Youkilis had to leave the game on April 20th at Toronto with a back injury and has only played one game since and is now on the DL. Francisco Cervelli broke his hand after filling in so well for Russell Martin and is expected to miss six weeks. So, without those two players, the lineup is even shorter these days. Jayson Nix, who is awful, had to bat sixth yesterday. The Yankees will have to survive about two more weeks before Youkilis and Curtis Granderson may return. The teams coming up on the schedule over the next two weeks are Oakland, Colorado, Kansas City, Cleveland Seattle, and Toronto, which is certainly not a murders row of teams. The Yankees made it through April and now they have to make it just a few more weeks before the reinforcements should be ready.

My Review Of 42 The Jackie Robinson Movie


I just watched the Jackie Robinson movie, 42, and I have to say it was one of the best baseball movies that I have ever seen. It may have been one of the better movies I have ever seen, baseball oriented or not, if you really want to know the truth. To see what Jackie Robinson had to endure and deal with on top of trying to do what is considered to be the hardest thing in the world to do, hit a baseball, is truly amazing and awe inspiring.

To cover everything from his Kansas City Monarch days to his Montreal Royals days all the way to the majors was interesting to watch, especially for someone like me who loves the details and likes to nit picks historical inaccuracies. While we are on the subject when they asked where Jackie was from in the beginning of the movie and they said California I was none too pleased because he was from Cairo, Georgia and attended college in California but I digress. To also cover what he had to go through in his home life and with Rachael Robinson was also a nice touch and a break from the racism and ignorance that I am ashamed to say was the way of the world in the late 40's.

It really warmed my heart to see guys like Branch Rickey, Eddie Stanky, and Pee Wee Reese to name a few come to the defense of Jackie in the movie. The pure emotion portrayed in the movie by Chadwick Boseman, who played Jackie Robinson, and his striking similarities to Jackie just made the movie in my opinion. This was a great movie telling a great story and I recommend anyone and everyone to see it, baseball fan or not.

This Day In Yankees History 5/1


On this day in 1920 Babe Ruth would hit his 50th career home run and his first career home run as a Yankees player. He would hit a few more in his Yankees career if memory serves me correctly.


On this day in 1951 Mickey Mantle would hit his first career home run in an 8-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox.


On this day in 1996 Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams would go 6-8 becoming only the second Yankees player to ever collect six hits in one game. The other Yankees player was Myril Hoag in 19134. The Yankees would beat the Baltimore Orioles on this day 11-6 in extra innings.