Betances Hopeful Robertson Will Stay in New York

Though to many he appears to be the more reliable of the two, Yankees' Reliever Dellin Betances wants David Robertson to return to the team next season.

The 26-year-old set-up man revealed so to the New York Post Tuesday, but didn't go into much detail as to why. He and Robertson are coming off an impressive 2014 in the back of the Yankees' bullpen, in which the two of them recorded ERAs of 1.40 and 3.08, respectively.

Betances did seem to be less hittable than Robertson, however, as good as the latter was.

“I hope that he does come back,” Betances said. “I think he’s a big key for the team.”

Robertson recorded 39 saves in 44 opportunities for the Yankees this season, so there's certainly evidence to back up that claim. He accomplished that feat despite spending a couple of weeks on the DL, when he could've collected even more.

But with the younger Betances having just struck out a franchise-record 135 batters this year, some are thinking he'd do better in the closer role. He did have a lower WHIP than Robertson this season, but then again, Robertson is the one with the experience. 

What does Betances think?

“I haven’t really thought about (moving to the ninth inning),” he said. “I just want to win. My whole situation, whatever opportunity I get, I’m just going to embrace it and try to do my best. Whatever I have to do to help the team win, that’s my job.”

Robertson is currently asking for a four-year contract worth $52 million, a much larger salary than the $502,100 Betances is presently making. Not to mention Betances is younger than Robertson, with a larger arsenal of pitches.

We'll see how much those facts actually matter to the Yankees at next month's Winter Meetings, which are set to begin December 7. 

Yankees Black Friday Check List

The Thanksgiving Day festivities are coming to an end in most households so now it’s time to gear up for a fight, let’s go Black Friday shopping. First and foremost I am big on history so here is a little tidbit as to why it’s called Black Friday. Most department stores claim that they operate in the red, or losing money, all year long and more than make up for it on Christmas. The first time these stores would make a profit, or see their bottom line go into the black, would be the day after Thanksgiving when all the sales and door busters were going on. Now you know so now let’s sign some players for the Yankees.

Chase Headley is a must and if you sign him now I think he comes at a bargain. Don’t let other teams come in and ramp up the price after missing out on Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez just give him what he wants. If it’s a four year deal then so be it because he can always be stashed at first base after the 2016 season when Mark Teixeira leaves. If it’s money he wants then so be it because the team is already over the luxury tax threshold before signing a single arbitration case or free agent when you consider the players bonuses and such that are written into the new CBA. If he wants both then you do it, we’re the Yankees dammit and we need to start acting like it.

Brandon McCarthy/Jon Lester is a must sign as well. I know everyone is screaming about how the team needs bats and if we bolster the pitching staff we would lose 1-0 and 2-1 every night but the pitching is important too. With a rotation decimated with injuries last year hence all the question marks this year the team needs some sort of reliability at the top. Lester does not cost us a pick and McCarthy was great pitching in Yankee Stadium. Sign them both!

Finally our last stop would get us a shortstop. At this point I don’t care who it is, Troy Tulowitzki, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jed Lowrie, Stephen Drew, Clint Barmes, Jimmy Rollins, whoever. The team needs a shortstop and the team needs one now before this turns into a 2014 second base search that nets us a Brian Roberts all season long. The Yankees don’t need to necessarily react to Boston’s signings and go crazy but the team needs to do something because the team has holes to fill. What better day to check a few things off the list then Black Friday, right?

Boston Making Things Extremely Difficult for the Yankees

The Boston Red Sox pulled a George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees move when the team bought up the top hitting free agents on the market in Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. Looking at the market now, especially for the left side of the infield, New York may be almost forced to make a trade to compete. If Chase Headley decides to sign somewhere other than New York then the Yankees would truly be in trouble and may be forced to either gut the farm or miss the postseason for a third straight season.

After Headley the most enticing third base options are Mark Reynolds, Alberto Callaspo and Kelly Johnson. I would take a flyer on Reynolds but for the others I would give a very emphatic “no thank you.” Shortstop is not much better as the best available right now are Jed Lowrie, Stephen Drew and Asdrubal Cabrera. Lowrie is going to take advantage of a weak market to get way too much money for way too many years while Drew takes a pillow contract for one season. Cabrera is basically a second baseman at this point in his career although I’m sure Yankees fans wouldn’t notice his lack of range after watching Derek Jeter run around at age 40 last season.

Enter the Chicago Cubs who have Starlin Castro, Addison Russell, Javier Baez and others along with the Arizona Diamondbacks who have Didi Gregorious, Jake Lamb, Brandon Drury, Chris Owings and others. You can always throw in the Philadelphia Phillies willingness to trade Jimmy Rollins and Chicago’s willingness to move Alexei Ramirez into the fold for the Yankees as well. The problem for New York? Boston has a huge stable of major league ready prospects and established major league players, Yoenis Cespedes for example, that could be had without mortgaging the future prospects wise or money wise. Boston can have any player that they want, and that is available obviously, and could swoop in and steal any potential player in a trade that the Yankees could be targeting. Could you imagine Troy Tulowitzki in Fenway Park in 2015?

Boston has made things extremely difficult for the Yankees and this is going to be the first offseason in a long time that Yankees GM Brian Cashman is going to have to use his brain and not his checkbook to make the team better. Stay tuned and damn you Boston!

Barry Bonds Thinks he will get into the Hall

Barry Lamar Bonds is Major League Baseball’s all-time home run hitter with 762 home runs in his career and without an asterisk by his name he believes he will get into the Hall of Fame eventually. Along with his 762 home runs Bonds also has 2,935 hits and 1,996 RBI including some monstrous OBP, OPS and SLG numbers to go along with it. Recently in an interview with MLB.com’s Barry Bloom Bonds was quick to point out that his record remains unblemished in the official record books. Bonds was very emphatic when he stated that he deserved the necessary 75% of votes to enter the hall after receiving just 34.7% of the vote last year in his second season on the ballot.

Here is the exact quote from Bonds, agree? Disagree? Tell us in the comments:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/11/barry-bonds-hall-of-fame-clemens

 “I deserve to be there. Clemens deserves to be there. The guys that are supposed to be there are supposed to be there. Period. I don’t even know how to say it. We are Hall of Famers. Why are we having these conversations about it? Why are we talking about a baseball era that has come and gone? Era, era, era. Do the best players in the game deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? Yes. Everything that everyone has accomplished in baseball is in that [record] book. Correct? So if that’s correct, then we need to be in there. End of story.”

Happy Thanksgiving from The Greedy Pinstripes

I just wanted to take a quick minute to wish all of you guys and girls reading this a very Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at The Greedy Pinstripes. We are so very humble, thankful, and appreciative for each and every one of your views, your comments, your tweets, etc. and we would not do this without your support. Thank you!

Everyone be safe out there, eat too much and spend time with family because that’s what this day is for. Enjoy the day everyone and we will be back at it at full strength again tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving. 

This Day in New York Yankees History: Thanksgiving 2014

On this day in 1972 the Indians and the Yankees hooked up for a trade that saw Graig Nettles and catcher Gerry Moses head to New York for John Ellis, Jerry Kenney, Charlie Spikes, and Rusty Torres. Nettles would be a huge part of three American League pennants and two World Series titles in the late 70's, ask any Dodgers fan about him.

Also on this day in 1947 the Yankees Joe DiMaggio edged out Ted Williams to win the American League Most Valuable Player award by one point. Williams won the Triple Crown this year posting a .343 average with 32 home runs and 162 RBI's but DiMaggio's .315 with 20 home runs and 97 RBI's would take the award. This would be the second time in the 40's, the other in 1941, that DiMaggio narrowly won the award over a more deserving Ted Williams.