Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Masahiro Tanaka In Pinstripes


I wonder how many people will click this link thinking that Masahiro Tanaka has signed with the Yankees. Not my intention, although I have to say I worded the title that way to trick a few people, but when I saw this picture on Bleeding Yankee Blue I had to share. Foreshadowing by our good friend Mr. Casey maybe? I sure hope so...

Tanaka Decision Should Come Tomorrow

According to Bruce Levine, who has been the "go to" guy with the Masahiro Tanaka lottery, the Tanaka sweepstakes should come to an end tomorrow. Levine states that teams will need a day or two for personal physicals and to get him on the 40 man roster and such. Levine also states in a separate tweet that the bidding will be in the six to seven year range and somewhere in the $20 million AAV range, as expected. Levine still believes in the Cubs chances at landing Tanaka and that scares me and should scare all Yankees fans, see below.

MLBPA Members Want To Kick Alex Rodriguez Out


On January 13, 40 members of the MLB Players Association met on a conference call and the topic was Alex Rodriguez and trying to oust him from the union. The quotes coming from Yahoo Sports and Jeff Passan and Tim Brown are absolutely disgusting. See below and see the original article HERE:

"We wanted to get on this call and not let him back. 'This is our game and we don't want you in it."'

[Alex]  "needs to be scared of coming back and facing people he sued."



I am going to try and stay in the middle here but come on, really? The players association members want to kick Alex out of the union? Why not just kick him out of baseball? That's called collusion, something that is illegal in the game of baseball. I wonder why the MLBPA couldn't kick him out, by their own words they could not do it legally. I wonder if this has more to do with the recent lawsuit against the MLBPA for their lack of support in his Biogenesis appeal and less to do with his "repeated PED use" that has never caused him to fail a test. I hate to say witch hunt, it's not a witch hunt, it's just a petty back and forth game going on and it's giving the game and everyone involved, including the fans, a bad name.

Mark Teixeira Hopes To Be Ready By Opening Day


This is not great news at all as Mark Teixeira has announced that he still feels stiffness in his surgically repaired wrist, although he still hopes to be ready for Opening Day. Teix has been taking dry swings for about two months now and has recently started hitting off a tee but still expects to be about a week or two behind the rest of the infielders this Spring. Teix may not see any Grapefruit League action until early March, which is not terrible news for anyone who is not such a typical slow starter every season.

It's not great news but Opening Day is still 70 days away. For that matter we won't see any Grapefruit League games for a month or so now so there is still time for Teix to get over this stiffness. One thing is for sure though with this Yankees infield they definitely need all they can get out of Teixeira this season, in the batters box and in the infield.

Here is the quote from Teix about the wrist courtesy of the YES Network:

“Right now, I’m six months out of surgery. Will I be 100% day one? I hope so,” said Teixeira. “Even my doctor said ‘it’s going to keep getting looser, keep getting stronger’ … I’m a little anxious about the way I’m going to feel, but I know that as long as I’m doing what I’m told, doing what I’m supposed to be doing, that I should be fine.”


Yankees Have Talked To Brett Tomko About A Comeback


The New York Yankees are one of several teams to contact 40 year old pitcher Brett Tomko about a possible comeback to the Major Leagues. Tomko is planning on showcasing his now fully healthy arm for teams in the coming weeks after spending some time in winter ball this season. 

On December 14 I wrote about, seen HERE, the fact that the Yankees should pounce on Tomko and it is nice to see Brian Cashman agreeing with me. 

Tomko is hitting 90-93 MPH on the radar gun and is said to be seeking a minor league deal this winter. Tomko has not pitched in the majors since 2011 when he made eight relief appearances for the Texas Rangers and is a former Yankees player as he pitched for New York in 2009 for about 20 minutes, or 15 games. You know what I say, there is no such thing as a bad minor league deal. Get it done, Cash!

Yankee Stadium Legacy: #70 Don Mattingly


Donnie Baseball was one of the most beloved Yankees players ever and was named the team's 10th captain in team history in 1991. Mattingly's steady presence at the plate and in the field helped anchor a franchise on the verge of divisional dominance at the end of his career. In his final season, the 1995 season, he saw his team enter the postseason for the first of 13 consecutive times. Mattingly was also a part of the first every Wild Card team in Major League Baseball in 1995.

70 days until Yankees Opening Day.

What In The World Happened To CC Sabathia?


Who the hell stole CC Sabathia and replaced him with this guy? Better question if his pitching woes were chalked up to losing weight last season how much worse is he going to pitch this season? CC Sabathia the anti-steroid? Bulking down? I don't like it, I don't like it at all.

This Day In New York Yankees History 1/21


On this day in 1953 the Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio missed out on the Hall of Fame in his first try at Cooperstown. DiMaggio would have to wait until the 1955 season before 88.8% of the BBWAA added him to the ballot and inducted him into the hall. On this day Cardinal legend Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons were elected to the hall.