Tuesday, July 14, 2015

2015 MLB All-Star Game Thread


Major League Baseball’s Mid-Summer Classic is about ready to start as Joe Buck prepares for introductions and first pitch baseball. The American League and the National League will face off head-to-head for the 86th time tonight inside the home of the Cincinnati Reds, the Great American Ball Park. Earlier we took a look at the complete rosters for both clubs and now we take a look at the starting lineups for both Ned Yost’s American League club and Bruce Bochy’s National League club.



American League

1. Mike Trout - CF
2. Josh Donaldson – 3B
3. Albert Pujols – 1B
4. Nelson Cruz - DH
5. Lorenzo Cain - RF
6. Adam Jones - LF
7. Salvador Perez – C
8. Jose Altuve – 2B
9. Alcides Escobar - SS



National League

1. Andrew McCutchen - CF
2. Todd Frazier – 3B
3. Bryce Harper RF
4. Paul Goldschmidt – 1B
5. Buster Posey - C
6. Anthony Rizzo - DH
7. Jhonny Peralta - SS
8. Joc Pederson - LF
9. DJ LeMahiue – 2B



The game will be televised on FOX. Head over to Twitter and follow @GreedyStripes to chat during the game and to root on the Yankees trio of representatives Dellin Betances, Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner. 

USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings


The first half of the 2015 Major League Baseball season is officially over with all 30 teams playing in over half their scheduled games. The sample size is real ladies and gentleman and the New York Yankees find themselves with an ever growing lead in the American League East Division heading into the break, can they sustain it? A lot can change between now and the July 31st trading deadline but for now it seems like this Yankees team is a legit contender on paper but what do the rankings say?

First we’ll start with the biggest rise of the week which goes to the Minnesota Twins who rose four spots all the way to the #9 position. The biggest fall of the week goes to the Houston Astros who fell four to the #7 spot. The New York Yankees were 8th in last week’s rankings and remained in that same spot this week. 

To finish out the rest of the American League East Division the Baltimore Orioles placed 13th while the Toronto Blue Jays placed in the 14th position. The Tampa Bay Rays came in 15th while the Boston Red Sox pulled up the rear and finished with the #19 ranking.

The Top Five teams according to the rankings are the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Nationals from 1-5 while the five worst teams in the league from 26 -30 are the Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Really looking at and analyzing these rankings you can see who your contenders and who your pretenders are going to be which could show you who is going to buy and who should be selling at this year’s July 31st trading deadline. Then again when you have team’s like the Boston Red Sox #19 ranking that are a few weeks or a couple sweeps away from going from worst to first in their division you realize just how jumbled up things are, I think they call that parity. Either way I’m glad to see the Yankees where they are both in the rankings and in their division and hopefully they continue to stay about the same or trend up as the season gets late early.


Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind Featuring The Greedy Pinstripes


Check Out Baseball Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Yanks Go Yard Radio Show on BlogTalkRadio

As many of you hopefully heard last night Bryan Van Dusen represented the Greedy Pinstripes on the Yanks Go Yard radio show last night. Bryan was joined by a friend of the blog and owner of the Yankees Unscripted blog Chris Carelli and was followed by another friend of the blog and owner of Pinstriped Prospects, Mr. Robert Pimpsner. This was actually the first time I had ever listened to the radio show that Yanks Go Yard puts on weekly and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the show as a fan listening to Bryan and Chris go back and forth over the Yankees season with their first half wrap ups.

CLICK HERE to give that a listen and support not only Yanks Go Yard but The Greedy Pinstripes as well, it is truly appreciated by us all./  

2015 MLB All-Star Game Preview


Tonight on FOX the 86th annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take place inside the home of the Cincinnati Reds. In just a few short hours the Great American Ball Park, which saw some of the league’s best home run hitters display their power last night and which saw the future of the sport showcasing their talents on Sunday, will see 76 of the best MLB players facing off head-to-head for bragging rights for their respected leagues and home field advantage in the World Series. The game will be played at 8:05 pm ET and can be seen on FOX as Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros starts for the American League and will face off against Zack Greinke of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League.

Here are the rosters for both teams tonight:

American League:

C: Salvador Perez
1B: Albert Pujols
2B: Jose Altuve
SS: Alcides Escobar
3B: Josh Donaldson
LF: Adam Jones
CF: Mike Trout
RF: Lorenzo Cain
DH: Nelson Cruz

Catchers: Russell Martin and Stephen Vogt.

Infielders: Mark Teixeira, Jason Kipnis, Brock Holt, Brian Dozier, Manny Machado, Mike Moustakas, Jose Iglesias, Prince Fielder.

Outfielders: Brett Gardner, JD Martinez.

Pitchers: Chris Archer, Dellin Betances, Brad Boxberger, Zach Britton, Wade Davis, Hector Santiago, Kelvin Herrera, Felix Hernandez, Dallas Keuchel, Darren O’Day, Glen Perkins, David Price, Chris Sale.

IR: Detroit 1B Miguel Cabrera, Kansas City LF Alex Gordon

Sonny Gray replaced due to pitching on Sunday.



National League:

C. Buster Posey
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
2B: DJ LeMahieu
SS: Jhonny Peralta
3B: Todd Frazier
LF: Joc Pederson
CF: Andrew McCutchen
RF: Bryce Harper

Catchers: Yasmani Grandal, Yadier Molina.

Infielders: Adrian Gonzalez, Anthony Rizzo, Joe Panik, Troy Tulowitzki, Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant, Brandon Crawford.

Outfielders: Ryan Braun, AJ Pollock, Justin Upton.

Pitchers: Madison Bumgarner, AJ Burnett, Clayton Kershaw, Aroldis Chapman, Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom, Zack Greinke, Carlos Martinez, Mark Melancon, Shelby Miller, Jonathan Papelbon, Francisco Rodriguez, Trevor Rosenthal, Michael Wacha.

IR: Miami RF Giancarlo Stanton, St. Louis RF Matt Holliday, Miami 2B Dee Gordon.

Max Scherzer ineligible after pitching Sunday.






This should be a fun game with all the rookies and first-timers attending and whether you feel like the game should count or not I think you should watch it. Let the debates about changing the game happen when we have nothing to watch on Wednesday and Thursday, tonight Major League Baseball’s best and brightest stars take center stage in the All-Star Game. Go Teixeira, go Betances and go Gardner! Pete Rose, just go away. 

The End of Brendan Ryan


The All-Star Break is a bit of a Catch 22 for the New York Yankees this season because while the rest can do a body good the rest can also do a body good, let me explain. The Yankees bullpen is overworked, anyone who watches the games can see that, and could use the four or five days off depending on their usage before and after the break but in the same token some of those injured Yankees players are also taking advantage of the rest. While Alex Rodriguez and others are recharging the batteries players like Brendan Ryan and Carlos Beltran are rehabbing injuries and will be able to come off the disabled list after the break. The Yankees aren’t going to rid themselves of Beltran and eat that hefty contract for 2015 and 2016 but if the team has any inkling of a brain inside their collective heads this will be the end of Brendan Ryan.

How many weak hitting defensive minded middle infielders do the Yankees really need? Take Ryan out of the equation and fill him in with Gregorio Petit or Cole Figueroa and you receive comparable defense with equivalent offensive outputs for half the cost or more. Instead it seems likely that the team will send Robert Refsnyder, who made the biggest mistake of his life collecting two hits including a game winning home run in the first half finale inside Fenway Park, back down to Triple-A to accommodate Ryan. Ryan has been injured for much of his Yankees tenure, his defense hasn’t been bad but has been far from as advertised and he’s more of a black hole in the lineup than Stephen Drew is which speaks a lot for that aspect of Ryan’s game.

The Yankees can easily eat Ryan’s remaining contract and not bat an eyelash so the money factor is off the table, it should come down to the need in the infield. Ryan’s biggest strength is his ability to play the shortstop position but with Refsnyder at second platooning with Drew you have a legitimate backup shortstop option with Mr. .170.  Ryan can also back up at second and third base in a pinch, so can Drew, while the Yankees have used him at first base on occasion, they have used Garrett Jones, a healthy Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann and Chase Headley there too though.

Ryan has no real spot on this team and he really only hurts the team’s makeup and chemistry by being added back into the rotation. Cut your losses, announce the designation for assignment and let’s watch this team go win an American League East Division title and make a deep October playoff run. The team has eaten the contracts of Vernon Wells, Brian Roberts and Alfonso Soriano in consecutive seasons so the Ryan contract should be no skin off Hal’s nose…. The problem is just convincing Brian Cashman that it’s a good idea.


TGP Daily Poll: American League Reigns Supreme


The American League and the National League face off head-to-head on Tuesday night inside Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park for Major League Baseball’s 86th annual All-Star Game. The American League will win this game.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com.


Just for fun I’ll throw a score out there and say that the American League takes down the National League by the final score of 6-2.  Mark Teixeira will go hitless while Dellin Betances pitches a scoreless 7th inning. Brett Gardner will walk, steal a base and score a run in the contest.


Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge


Aaron Judge along with former Trenton Thunder teammate Gary Sanchez represented the New York Yankees this weekend as a part of the Futures Game. Sanchez represented Team World while Judge represented Team USA and both got a hit while wearing their Yankees caps and respective uniforms. Sanchez doubled for his only hit while Judge legged out an infield single to go along with a couple strikeouts in what became a pretty underwhelming day for The Judge. The fact of the matter is Judge represented the team and the future of Major League Baseball and if the past is any indicator of the future the Futures Game may need to be renamed to the “We’ll Be There Soon Game.”

Many players including the Texas Rangers 3B Joey Gallo and the Chicago Cubs mega-star Kris Bryant have made the jump from the Futures Game to the Major Leagues in less than a calendar year and Judge may be the next to do so. Judge’s teammate in Scranton, Luis Severino, pitched in last year’s contest and seems to be on the fast track to the major leagues in 2015 cementing the fact that this game no longer showcases talent we may see two or three years into the future but talent that’s currently walking up the driveway and ready to knock on your door.


Judge has had a bit of a slow start to his tenure with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders when you compare his Triple-A numbers to his Double-A numbers but he has been more than adequate in his short time there. Judge has played primarily right field with the RailRiders but has also been placed in center field as well as the Yankees move him around to presumably judge, no pun intended, his capabilities defensively. Judge will presumably do whatever it takes to reach the majors as soon as 2015 and I think I speak for all Yankees fans when I say I hope it’s sooner rather than later. 

YearLevGPARH2B3BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
2015AA-AAA823654490183135113687.280.353.477.830
2015AA632803671163124412470.284.350.516.866
2015AAA1985819201701217.268.365.338.703

Yankees Sign LHP 11th Round Pick Josh Rogers


It was originally thought that University of Louisville standout Josh Rogers was not going to sign with the New York Yankees and instead head back to Louisville for his junior season but news has broken that Rogers has indeed signed with the Yankees and will begin his professional career. Rogers was the Yankees 11th round pick in the 2015 MLB First Year Players Draft and has signed for a reported $485,000. This signing was much higher, $385,000 higher to be exact, than his $100,000 slot recommendation from the league so this will make the Yankees dip into their pockets a bit for Rogers’ services.

Rogers was 8-1 with a 3.36 ERA for Louisville this season pitching 92.2 innings for the Cardinals in their starting rotation alongside Kyle Funkhouser. Rogers is already a big game pitcher pitching in two postseason games for the Cardinals and also pitched in Game 3 of the school’s super regional matchup against Cal State Fullerton and is also known to be a plus control pitcher at this point in his career.

Rogers is 21 years old and is just as projectible as most everyone coming out of the draft this season including Funkhouser making him a very exciting sign for the Yankees. Now if New York can lock up James Kaprielian and call it a draft the Yankees would have to be under serious consideration for a Top 5 to Top 10 Draft this season.


This Day in New York Yankees History 7/14: Posada & Jeter Were Teammates a Long Time


We have all heard the stories about the Core Four and how Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada were teammates coming through the system and were teammates for a long time as members of the New York Yankees. On this day in 2011 the latter two, Jeter and Posada, appeared in their 1,660th regular season game as teammates, the most two players have been together in franchise history. Jeter and Posada entered the game as pinch hitters in the Yankees 16-7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays passing Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri who held the previous team mark in 1937.

Also on this day in 1934 the Yankees got a little creative to keep Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak going in a game against the Detroit Tigers. The Yankees listed Gehrig as their leadoff batter and shortstop and after Gehrig singled in the top of the first he was replaced defensively at short. The streak continued, Gehrig rested his lumbago injury and the Yankees lost the game 12-11.