Friday, April 17, 2015

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays 4/17


It’s Friday night and it’s game time as the New York Yankees face off with their AL East rivals in the Tampa Bay Rays inside of Tropicana Field. The Yankees will send Adam Warren to the mound to make his second start of the season and he will be opposed by the Rays starter Nathan Karns. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Get your Yankees tickets for this series if you’re in the Tampa St. Petersburg area this weekend or get your tickets in hand before the team returns home to the Bronx. Through our partnership with Ticket Monster we can offer you a small discount on top of already reduced prices just for being a Greedy Pinstripes reader. Check out our Yankees Tickets link at the top of the page if you’re interested and if you’re not, that’s okay too. We try and live tweet on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) and comment in our comments section every single game so feel free to join us there.


With all that said it’s time for the first pitch so enough babbling from me, Go Yankees!!!

Dave Dombrowski May Have Done it Again to Brian Cashman


The Detroit Tigers seem to be making a habit of plucking players away from Yankees GM Brian Cashman and getting the better end of seemingly every single deal. It all started when Dave Dombrowski, then the Florida Marlins GM, stole Mike Lowell away from the Yankees for three busts in their pitching staff and it may end with Dombrowski, now the Tigers GM, getting Shane Greene in a three team trade for Didi Gregorius.

I know this article may be written a bit prematurely on both the Greene front and the Didi front but if history is any indicator of the future then New York may be in trouble. Greene has started two games and pitched 16 innings without allowing a run, something the Yankees would likely give up a ton more for right about now, while Gregorius has struggled not only with the bat but with the glove and on the base paths as well. Whether this is what Gregorius is when he is exposed as an everyday player or if the Derek Jeter chants are really starting to get to him I’m not sure we’ll ever know. One thing we do know is that Dombrowski has consistently gotten the better of Cashman over the years.

Remember when the Yankees traded for Jeff Weaver while Ted Lilly went to the Oakland Athletics and Jeremy Bonderman went to Detroit? Weaver was bombed in Detroit, Bonderman was more than solid in Detroit and Dombrowski won again. The same can be said for when the team traded Gary Sheffield to the Tigers for three more arms that turned out to be busts while Sheffield continued to hit the cover off the ball as a member of Detroit, another victory for Dombrowski. Even when the Yankees do well in these deals, like the deal that brought 40 home run and 200 strikeout power in Curtis Granderson to the Bronx, Dombrowski still finds a way to pull an Austin Jackson and Max Scherzer out of the deal and win the trade.


So the latest trade that sent the Yankees Greene to Detroit, Arizona’s Gregorius to New York and Detroit’s Robbie Ray and prospect to Arizona may be too premature to call but so far it’s not looking good for the Yankees and for Brian Cashman. 

Meet a Prospect: Branden Pinder


Branden Pinder was added to the 40 man roster for the New York Yankees this winter in order to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft and despite a strong spring did not make the ball club out of camp. It only took ten days into the 2015 season for the Yankees to change their minds on Pinder as the team called him up before their game in Baltimore against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. Pinder may have worn the #42 on that day and may wear the #76 Yankees uniform this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays but he wasn't officially a Yankee until this post went live. Branden, welcome to the family.

Branden H Pinder was born on January 26, 1989 and spent his college years playing baseball at Santa Ana College and Long Beach State University both in the state of California. He turned enough heads in his college career to get drafted by the New York Yankees in the 16th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball First Year Players Draft and made his professional debut that same season with the Staten Island Yankees. Pinder advanced to A-Ball with the Tampa Yankees in 2012 and even pitched in one game with the Double-A Trenton Thunder affiliate before seasons end. In 2013 he once again split time between Tampa and Trenton but struggled a bit posting a 2-3 record with a 4.42 ERA with 72 K's in 73.1 IP. Pinder rebounded nicely though in 2014 posting a 0.56 ERA with the Thunder in his first 16 innings before being advanced to Triple-A with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders where he finished his season.

Pinder is now 26 years old and while he is not highly regarded inside the Yankees system he could be a solid reliever for New York this season. Whether Pinder is a place holder for the likes of Tyler Webb, Nick Rumbelow, Nick Goody, Jacob Lindgren and others remains to be seen but there is no quit in this young man and that counts for something in my book. He's probably not going to be a future closer but I could see him having a more than serviceable career if he can stay healthy and simply puts his mind to it.

Good luck Branden!


Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays 4/17


The New York Yankees travel down to Tampa St. Pete this evening to face off against another one of their American League East rivals in the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees have yet to win a series this season and they enter a stadium that has not been friendly to them in the past in Tropicana Field to face a red hot team that started the 2015 season well. That usually sounds like a recipe for disaster but the Yankees haven’t shown any quit this season so it should be another fun and entertaining series all weekend long. To start the series off the Yankees will send Adam Warren to the mound to face off with the Rays starter Nathan Karns. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

  • Warren is making his second start of the young season tonight and fifth of his career after taking the loss in his season debut against the Boston Red Sox. Warren allowed just two runs, one earned, in 5.1 IP but the Yankees offense was completely shut down in the contest by Joe Kelly. Warren holds a career 0-1 record with a 3.06 ERA against the Rays with all 10 appearances coming out of the Yankees bullpen.


  • Karns is also making his second start of the season after recording a quality start in his season debut against the Miami Marlins. Karns earned his first victory by holding the powerful Marlins lineup to just one earned run on two hits and two walks. Karns did go seven innings in the contest and struck out six batters for Tampa Bay in the victory. 



Let’s hope the bats come alive and the pitching can keep Evan Longoria and company down long enough to get two or three wins and get the heck out of here. I’ve never liked watching games inside Tropicana Field or watching the Yankees play there on TV, which might have a lot to do with the Rays dominance here, so the sooner the exit the better for New York. Go Yankees!!!

Yankees All Decade Team From The 1970's


The Greedy Pinstripes are always looking to bring new, exciting, and fresh content to you guys, the readers, and more importantly not the same recycled crap over and over again. Today, and all throughout the end of this week hopefully, we will look at the All Decade Yankees teams basically. Today we will look at the 1970's Yankees squad where New York won two World Series in the decade in 1977 and 1978. Who makes the cut? Here's a hint, one of them is called Mr. October. 


C- Thurman Munson
1B- Chris Chambliss
2B- Willie Randolph
SS- Bucky Dent
3B- Graig Nettles
LF- Roy White
CF- Bobby Murcer
RF- Reggie Jackson
DH- Mickey Rivers

BN- Lou Piniella
BN- Dave Kingman
BN- Ron Blomberg


SP- Ron Guidry
SP- Ed Figueroa
SP- Mel Stottlemyre
SP- Catfish Hunter


RP- Lindy McDaniel
RP- Rich Goose Gossage
RP- Sparky Lyle
CP- James Augustus Catfish Hunter



Agree? Disagree? Tell me why in the comments section. 

TGP Daily Poll: Braves Won’t Trade Peraza



The Yankees are interested in the Braves 2B/SS prospect Jose Peraza. The Braves are in rebuild mode but you rebuild AROUND players like Peraza, you don’t trade them. The Yankees will not acquire Peraza because the Braves won’t trade him.


Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

The Jose Peraza Rant You All Knew Was Coming


Jose Peraza for Gary Sanchez and probably others while you have Robert Refsnyder and Jose Pirela rotting in the minor leagues and Didi Gregorius signed for his pre-arbitration years? Brian Cashman what in the hell are you thinking? Yeah, I cut right to the chase on this one because this one I am taking pretty personally for some reason. I cannot come up with a Devil’s Advocate type scenario where this trade makes any sort of sense for the Yankees. Gary Sanchez has reportedly looked great in the minor leagues this season after a strong spring and you’re wanting to trade away more of the Yankees catching depth. I especially have a problem with it when it is some of our upper end catching depth and I especially have a problem with it when it completely blocks Refsnyder from advancing to the major leagues. Peraza is a shortstop playing second base in the Braves system so the team could be acquiring him to play there but then why did the team trade Shane Greene for nine games worth of Gregorius?

Peraza may be better than Refsnyder defensively and may be better with the bat, honestly we won’t know until both are given a shot to succeed in the major leagues, but Refsnyder is far from a scrub himself. You’re not comparing Refsnyder to Peraza anymore you’re comparing Refsnyder, Gary Sanchez and whoever this moron decides to trade with him to Peraza. Peraza, a 22 year old second base prospect in Triple-A. The Yankees no longer trading for established veterans and blocking our prospects they are now acquiring prospects to block their prospects just for the sake of having prospects. Prospects you will never call up to the major leagues because there will always be that bounce back type veteran that the team can try and get every last drop out of before he sails off into the sunset that is retirement.

This deal makes absolutely zero sense and you’re not going to convince me otherwise. If you acquire Peraza and flip him or Refsnyder for someone else you’re probably giving up too much when you factor in what you had to give up to acquire Peraza. If you hold on to them all you’re stunting development and wasting option years and years of team control just to have a little bit of depth. If you make this trade Mr. Cashman, I’m sorry, I really think I have to start questioning myself and my fandom to this team. Let me be frank, I love this team with all my heart and everything inside of me, but you are ruining my childhood and ruining MY team with every one of these boneheaded ignorant trades and I’m sick of it and I’m sick of defending you.


You block Refsnyder or if you acquire Peraza I’m done. We’re breaking up. You gave up a good starting pitcher in Greene to get Didi and you already seem like you’re giving up on him. I don’t get it, and I won’t stand by and watch it happen. Keep that in mind before you pull that trigger. 

This Day in New York Yankees History 4/17: Thurman Munson the Captain


On this day in 1976 Thurman Munson was named the Yankees captain by owner George Steinbrenner. Munson is the first Yankees captain since Lou Gehrig when he was named the captain in 1935. 

Also on this day in 1953 Mickey Mantle hit a reported 565 foot home run off Chuck Stobb in the Yankees 7-3 victory over Washington at Griffith Stadium. The home run length was historic at the time but was later debunked as not going that far. How they determined that is beyond me but I am sure ESPN, Bud Selig, and the Boston Red Sox had something to do with it.

Also on this day also in 1951 the Yankees had another legend making his debut as Bob Sheppard announced the Yankees lineup for the first time. Sheppard announced Yankees legends Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, and Yogi Berra but the first batter Sheppard announced was that of a guy named DiMaggio. That was Dom DiMaggio, he was the leadoff for the Boston Red Sox that day.

Also on this day in 1951 rookie Mickey Mantle made his first ever appearance and grounded out to second base. The 19 year old would go 1-4 with a six inning single and RBI in a Yankees Opening Day 5-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Also on this day in 1929 Babe Ruth got married on Opening Day at 5:00 am ET to Claire Hodgson, the second Mrs. Babe Ruth. Ruth's first wife, Julia Woodford, died in a house fire in January of 1929. Ruth wastes no time in the love department apparently.

Also on this day in 1925 Babe Ruth underwent an operation for an intestinal abscess at St. Vincent's Hospital. The 30 year old Yankees outfielder missed the first 40 games of the season and the Yankees finished in seventh place that year.


Finally on this day in 1912 The New York Giants and the New York Yankees play an unscheduled exhibition game to raise money for the survivors of the HMS Titanic. Over 14,000 fans came out to the Polo Grounds to see Broadway legend George M. Cohan and the new look Yankees uniforms who were now sporting pinstripes. This would be the first Sunday game ever played between two Major League teams and raised over $9,000 when each fan donated the price of an admission ticket to purchase a special program for the event.