Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Washington Nationals 5/20

For the finale of this quick little two game interleague series the New York Yankees make the trip to Nationals Park to take on the Washington Nationals in a getaway game. The Yankees are off once again tomorrow before finally returning home to the Bronx to play host to the Texas Rangers so we may be in for a Rob Manfred special type game tonight. Adam Warren takes the mound for the Yankees to face off with TBA for the Nats. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

By clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog you can purchase your Yankees tickets and have them in hand before the team comes home for the weekend. Just as a reminder this Sunday is Bernie Williams Day at Yankee Stadium and there are still a few tickets left if you act fast. If you can’t afford the marked up prices to see the Yankees retire #51 then that’s no problem just jump on the comments section of the site and/or on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) to chat with us during each and every (almost) game this season.

Alex Rodriguez is on the bench, Jacoby Ellsbury is stepping up to the plate and Adam Warren is warm in the dugout so it sounds like it’s Yankees game time. Go Yankees!

Dan Jennings Hire Reminds Many of the Final Billy Martin Hire

The Miami Marlins made news this week when the team fired their manager Mike Redmond less than 50 games into the season. Replacing Redmond is the team’s general manager Dan Jennings who will remain in both jobs at least until the end of the season according to Jeffrey Loria. Now I admit that I was barely alive and definitely not watching the Yankees when they hired Billy Martin to manage the team again in 1988 but I am a historian of the game and of my favorite team in New York and these two hiring’s are both, for the lack of a better word, interesting.

Before Martin was hired for the 1988 George Steinbrenner had already hired and fired Martin four times as the Yankees manager despite the two not exactly getting along. In fact Martin didn’t get along with many people during his Yankees tenure just ask Reggie Jackson in 1978 and that marshmallow salesman in 1979 who both cost Martin his jobs in separate instances. To make a long story short the Yankees manager lost his job once again after an altercation in the bathroom of a Texas topless bar, you can use your imagination or Google to find out the details if you would like, after being hired for the final time in the Bronx. Martin was reportedly being considered for a sixth go-around with the team when he died in a car accident in 1989 which begs the question that many Yankees fans had on the tip of their tongues each and every time he was hired, why?

I am pretty confident that the same can be said for the Jennings hire in Miami, minus the clubhouse altercations, the topless bars, the marshmallow man and the Bronx is Burning, why? Jennings has never coached, managed or played a professional game before in his life leaving many to wonder what made him more suitable then the plethora of candidates that are available for the job. Redmond was fired because of the lack of on-the-field success with a team that he, the GM, built and assembled this offseason.

The Jennings hiring was not the 1951 St. Louis Browns who hired the fans (literally) to manage, the 1961 Chicago Cubs who hired a College of Coaches to manage or the 1977 Atlanta Braves who hired Ted Turner to be their manager on paper but it may turn out in the end to be a lot like the disaster that Pete Rose hiring was to the Cincinnati Reds in 1984 (before the gambling and the banishment from the game and all that). 

The Latest Cuban the Yankees Are Interested In & Won’t Sign

The New York Yankees have missed out on the likes of Yasmany Tomas, Yoan Moncada, Yoan Lopez, Rusney Castillo, Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes and a load of other prospects that have come out of Cuba so rather than get excited about the fact that the team is interested in Cuban outfielder Eddy Julio Martinez I will prefer to take the pessimistic route this time around.

Martinez is 20 years old and could reach the $10 million plateau when he signs a contract this summer since at least seven or eight teams are interested. Along with the Yankees the Braves, Giants, Cubs, Nationals, Diamondbacks and White Sox have shown some degrees of interest with teams like the Red Sox lurking in the shadows.

It is unclear whether Martinez will be eligible to sign during this year’s signing period or next but if the negotiations go past July 2^nd teams like the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox and others will be instantly out of the negotiations after exceeding their spending limit this signing period. If the guy becomes available before July 2^nd then why not sign him? The Yankees have nothing to lose but money and Forbes and the rest of us know that will never be a problem as long as we are all alive in the Bronx. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Washington Nationals 5/20

Just like that in the blink of an eye the series between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals ends today. It feels like only yesterday these two teams were getting started in the series inside Nationals Park, probably because it was just only yesterday when the series started. Last night we watched as Nathan Eovaldi dueled with Gio Gonzalez and tonight we should have another good pitching matchup with Adam Warren taking the hill for the Yankees to face off with Jordan Zimmerman for the Nationals. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

• Warren is coming off a start in which he pitched well against the Tampa Bay Rays but not well enough to win in a loss for the Yankees. Warren pitched a career high seven innings against Tampa throwing his first quality start of his career allowing three runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in the loss. Hopefully that was a building block for Warren and the Yankees this season.

• Zimmerman has been dominant in his last three starts for Washington posting a 1-0 record with a 1.89 ERA with 12 K's. Zimmerman is a tough matchup for any team especially the New York Yankees who will be without Alex Rodriguez for much of the series.

The Yankees are off tomorrow so it’s never a bad thing to go into an off day and end a road trip with a victory so let’s hope New York gets that victory in this contest. Go Yankees!

The Worrying about Robert Refsnyder Begins

I know what many of you are thinking, what in the wild, wild world of sports is Daniel Burch talking about? He’s seriously worried about Robert Refsnyder? Really? Hear me out people before you click off the site, un-bookmark us and never return to read any of my content again. If anyone is well aware of his week last week where he hit .400 it’s me. If anyone is well aware that he hasn’t had an error in over a week, an achievement for him, and two errors in his last 20 games it’s definitely me. I’ve been beating the drum for Refsnyder in the Bronx since last season and no one has beat it more than I have since his drafting from Arizona. I’m worried Yankees fans and one little quote in an interview put this overwhelming worry in my heart. “I was trying to hit my way out here (Scranton Wilkes-Barre)” and that he, to paraphrase, is no longer trying to be perfect. Keep reading.

When a prospect is ready and is essentially wasting away in the minor leagues no one knows it more than he does. We have seen it far too many times, a prospect is ready but is blocked by an aging veteran or another player and continues his minor league career until his development takes a tumble in the wrong direction. We saw it with Jesus Montero, and he never recovered, and we saw it with Austin Romine, who may never recover, and my worry is that we may start to see the effects of it soon with Refsnyder. When a player gets bored or when a player knows he has done all he can to warrant and earn a shot and when he still doesn’t he gets discouraged. It’s human nature. When you get discouraged you get bored and when you get bored you get unmotivated. When you’re unmotivated, well I don’t have to show you how deep the rabbit hole gets.

I’m not saying that if the team doesn’t call up Refsnyder like yesterday then he will be a bust of a prospect but I am saying if something doesn’t happen soon, especially with Drew petitioning to move to Mendoza Line down and rename it to the Drew Line, then the team may have a problem on their hands now and for the future. Refsnyder seems like a great player with a good background and upbringing that left him with a good head on his shoulders but even the most patient person can only wait for so long before human nature kicks in and based off his comments after winning Offensive Player of the Week and after disappointment after disappointment this winter Refsnyder may be closer to that invisible line then we think. 

TGP Daily Poll: Bryce Harper Stays in the Yard

Adam Warren starts on Wednesday night for the Yankees and has been able to keep the ball in the yard for much of the season. Bryce Harper has been on a power tear for Washington but will not hit a home run against Warren and the Yankees this season.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Gary Sanchez

Gary Sanchez the all of a sudden forgotten Yankees prospect from back in a time when the Yankees didn’t have many prospects to be excited about. It feels like Sanchez has been around in the Yankees system forever now and is still barely able to legally have a beer with his dinner. Sanchez has quietly been putting together another solid season in the shadows of Austin Romine, John Ryan Murphy and Brian McCann and is looking to take back the system’s top catching honors from the injured Luis Torrens.

Sanchez’s stat line does not hold a candle to what Robert Refsnyder has been doing in Scranton but for a guy who is younger than your average Double-A player and for a catcher this stat line is quite impressive:

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA	28	124	15	30	5	0	3	17	8	26	.263	.315	.386	.700

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

FYI Greg Bird will return to this spot once he gets off the disabled list but until then it is El Sanchez time. 

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/20: Babe Ruth Jersey’s and One Armed Outfielders

On this day in 2012 Babe Ruth's 1920 jersey sells at auction for $4,415,658. This was the largest amount ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia according to auctionreport.com. The woolen uniform was worn by Ruth during his first season as a Yankee after being traded to New York by the Red Sox.

Also on this day in 1976 the Yankees and the Red Sox are in one of the ugliest brawls in the history of the rivalry when Carlton Fisk stabs Lou Piniella with the ball when Sweet Lou tried to score. Bill Lee suffered a separated shoulder in the fight with Graig Nettles and caused him to miss most of the season.

Also on this day in 1959 the Yankees enter last place in the American League for the first time since 19 years when they lost to the Detroit Tigers 13-6.

Also on this day in 1948 Joe DiMaggio had four extra base hits for the fourth time in his career in Chicago in front of 5,001 fans. DiMaggio hit for the cycle for the second time in a 13-2 victory over the White Sox. The Yankees had 22 hits and DiMaggio had two home runs, a triple, a double, a single, and six RBI's.

Also on this day in 1945 Pete Gray led the St. Louis Browns to a doubleheader sweep of the New York Yankees after scoring the winning run in the second game. Gray collected three hits in the first game and the one-armed outfielder makes ten putouts in the field in the second game.

Also on this day in 1918 Tris Speaker was struck in the head with a pitch off of Red Sox submariner Carl Mays. Mays would also hit Ray Chapman two years later in the head with a pitch that would kill him as a member of the New York Yankees. Speaker thought that Mays hit him on purpose in the head but Mays always denied the allegations.

Finally a mere seven years later in 1925 Speaker scored from first base on a single scoring the winning run in a 10-9 walk off win over the Yankees. The Indians scored six times in the bottom of the ninth to cap off the comeback. Where was Mariano Rivera when you need him?