Wednesday, December 9, 2015

BREAKING: Yankees Trade Justin Wilson to Tigers

The New York Yankees are not messing around this offseason, anyone and everyone is available including left-handed relief pitcher Justin Wilson. The Yankees sent Wilson to the Detroit Tigers for RHP's Luis Cessa and Chad Greene. More to come when details become available.

Justin Wilson Dealt To Detroit

After already trading away Adam Warren, one piece of the 2015 bullpen, the Yankees have now agreed to a trade involving Justin Wilson.

Wilson has been dealt to Detroit for minor league pitchers Luis Cessa and Chad Green.

Cessa was drafted by the New York Mets as a 17 year old and spent his first two seasons of pro ball as a second and third baseman (with an inning at shortstop thrown in). Since then, as mostly a starting pitcher, Luis has an ERA of 3.68. He did throw 62 innings in AAA last year between Las Vegas (Mets) and Toledo (Tigers), but had a poor 7.55 ERA. I'm not excited about this guy.

Green's also spent the majority of his time in pro ball in the minors as a starter, and despite the fact he has yet to reach AAA he's actually a year older. During his three years in the minors, Chad's ERA is 3.55, but last year in AA Erie his ERA was 3.93. Another guy that's not exactly "eye-popping".

While I won't truly miss Justin Wilson, I can't help but wonder what will happen in the bullpen. Cashman has already dealt away Adam Warren, who threw 35.1 innings of strong relief work, and now another 61 innings of strong relief work is gone.

I know the Yankees have done a great job with their relievers, but at some point things aren't all going to come up roses in that department.

Scranton: Ticket Promotion to Reward Fan with $10,000 & Free Cruise


Entries from First 25,000 Tickets Sold in December, Plus Current Ticket Holders

Moosic, Pa. - What do the SWB RailRiders (Triple-A/New York Yankees), $10,000 and a cruise have in common? It could be you. The team has announced an aggressive ticket promotion starting now through the end of December that will have one lucky ticket purchaser and his/her charity of choice getting big bang for the buck.

"Giving back in our community is important, and what better way to reward one of our local ticket holders and their charity of choice with unprecedented holiday cheer", said RailRiders COO Josh Olerud. "The 2016 RailRiders season is based around creating unbelievable memories and experiences. This is another way to say thank you to our great season ticket holders and supporters while making a difference to an organization near and dear to them."

From now until the end of the calendar year, all qualifying ticket purchases will result in entries for the sensational prizes. To qualify, the purchase must be no smaller than a five-game plan. Group purchases and the soon-to-be released Kids Club memberships also qualify. Purchases will result in one entry for every seat in the purchase. For example, the purchase of four full-season (72-game) tickets would result in 288 entries.


Click the link to read the rest of the article!

Ten Years of #1 Yankees Prospects


The New York Yankees have seemingly made it their priority to finally build up the farm system for the team's benefit, not the other teams around the league's gain. While New York's system is still ranked in the middle to the end of the pack the team is finally starting to see some usable pieces come out of the system including former top prospect Luis Severino. Severino has graduated from prospect status and one of Gary Sanchez or Aaron Judge will be the 2016 top overall prospect which got me thinking, where are the former and current Yankees top prospects and what have they been up to over the past 10 years?

2015: Luis Severino

Waiting on Opening Day to re-join the Yankees starting rotation for his Sophomore season and his first full season in the Major Leagues.

2014: Gary Sanchez

Likely the team's back up catcher after having a strong 2015 season and an even stronger Arizona Fall League this season.

2013: Mason Williams

On the 40 man roster and made his Major League debut this season. Likely to miss out on the Major Leagues on Opening Day due to the roster crunch but will be one of the first to be called up if/when an outfield injury occurs.

2010 - 2012: Jesus Montero

Traded to the Seattle Mariners for Micahel Pineda and Vicente Campos. Benched, optioned to the minor leagues multiple times, came to camp overweight multiple times, attitude problems reported and apparently he takes offense to being offered a ice cream sandwich on a hot summer day. Brian Cashman win?

2009: Austin Jackson

Part of the trade that brought Curtis Granderson to the Bronx and sent the man they call A Jax to the Tigers. Jackson has since been sent to the Seattle Mariners before hitting free agency this offseason. Jackson is still one of the better defensive center fielders in the game although his bat never fully came around in the majors.

2008: Joba Chamberlain

From one of the best young set-up men in the game to midges to mediocre. Chamberlain has seen time with the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals and recently signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians. It was Cleveland where he was attacked by the midges. Can you say full circle?

2006 - 2007: Phil Hughes

From hyped prospect to 18 game winner to gopher ball giveaway days at Yankee Stadium. Hughes had a roller coaster ride of a tenure in the Bronx before leaving for Minnesota via free agency. Hughes had a great first season in Minnesota before coming back down to Earth a bit in 2015. Hughes still has that rising fastball and some of the best command in the game. Hughes is an ace, he just wasn't an ace for the Yankees.

Brian Cashman Gives Yankees Injuries Updates


Brian Cashman was passing out Yankees injury updates in early December, the fans and beat writers of the New York Yankees are ruthless aren't they? On a serious note though I am excited to hear about and bring these injury updates for key Yankees Mark Teixeira, Nathan Eovaldi and Masahiro Tanaka.

Here are the exact quotes from Cashman courtesy of RAB:


  • Masahiro Tanaka (elbow) has finished his physical therapy following surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow. He’s heading home to Japan soon and will begin a throwing program. “He’s got a throwing program, so he should be good to go in the spring, but I’m sure we’ll be careful with him nonetheless,” said Cashman.
  • Mark Teixeira (shin) has shed his walking boot and is going through workouts. He’s not scheduled to begin running until after the holidays though. “He’s out of his boot. He’s, I’d say, healthy. He’s walking around, doing activities,” said the GM.

  • Nathan Eovaldi (elbow) is fine. He was ready to be added to the ALDS roster had the Yankees advanced. Eovaldi is going through his normal offseason routine. “No concern. He’s got a normal winter routine that he can execute,” said Cashman

Did New York Dodge a Bullet Not Signing Shark?


We learned last week before the Winter Meetings even kicked off down in Nashville that the San Francisco Giants signed Jeff Samardzija to a five-year deal worth $90 million. The Giants wasted no time after missing out on Zack Grienke who signed that legendary contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks but did they do the Yankees a favor? Did New York dodge a bullet by not signing the man known as "Shark?"

First and foremost the Giants will have to surrender a draft pick for Samardzija's services. Samardzija was offered a qualifying offer by his former team the Chicago White Sox and declined forcing San Francisco to sacrifice the 19th pick overall. With the Greinke signing and the Samardzija signing the Yankees now own the 20th pick overall in the draft, is that worth a pitcher with a live arm that hasn't put it all together yet?

I know what you're thinking, "But the team just did that with Nathan Eovaldi this season why couldn't they do that with Samardzija next season?" They could, or they couldn't. I don't know. I fully acknowledge that Samardzija was a bit late to the party obviously and is still, for lack of a better word, raw, in terms of pitching with the sky as the limit. The Yankees essentially gave up a guy that wasn't good enough to be in the rotation and not really valuable in the bullpen plus Martin Prado, who don't get me wrong was very valuable, for Eovaldi where it would only cost money and a pick for Samardzija. The difference here though is that the Yankees had four potential starting rotation spots at that time and the team probably has about seven at this point, Samardzija would be an upgrade but he'd also be a bit redundant at this point.

Samardzija is 30 years old and had a pretty bad season when all final tallies were made. Shark finished with a 4.96 ERA and a 4.23 FIP to show that the ERA was an accurate representation of his struggles. Shark did throw 214 innings despite it all and pitched like an ace in 2014 posting a 2.99 ERA and 3.20 FIP, but that was in the National League. This is the American League and this specifically the American League East, that's a totally different ballgame.

Samardzija would have been nice, and if you believe in Larry Rothschild's ability as a miracle worker and pitching coach he would have been a great signing, but he wasn't a signing that made sense for the New York Yankees. I know he's 30 years old and got a late start to the show, meaning in development he may only be around 27 years old or so, but the Yankees may need the draft pick and the $90 million more than yet another project and yet another question mark in an already crowded rotation.

Digging in the TGP Archive: Andrew Miller, BIP Locations and Yankee Stadium

The original post can be seen HERE. In this article written in December of 2014 I asked the question should the Yankees worry about putting Andrew Miller in the hitter friendly Yankee Stadium. I then answer the question with a resounding NO, the team shouldn't worry... and I was right.

***

Earlier in the day we took a look at the BIP locations for Didi Gregorius to see what his batted balls in play would look like if he was hitting inside Yankee Stadium and not Chase Field in 2014. We will do the same here with Andrew Miller as he also came to the team on Friday on a four year deal. We will have to do a pair of these obviously since Miller was traded mid-season from the Boston Red Sox to the Baltimore Orioles so let's get to it, lot's to do here.

Fly Outs
Doubles
Home Runs



No I did not forget to list home runs in the picture, he didn't give up any and wouldn't give up any inside Yankee Stadium. So far so good, now what about Camden Yards using the same color scheme as above?



So one double goes out of Yankee Stadium and maybe the wind carries a fly out to the Bleacher Creatures. That left handed power arm with strikeout tendencies should be just fine in New York. Take a breath Yankees family, I have a feeling the team is going to be fine.

This Day in New York Yankees History 12/9: Andy Pettitte Returns, Again


On this day in 2009 Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte receives a one year deal worth $11.75 million to return for one more season. This is fresh off of winning all three clinching games in the playoffs including the World Series at age 37. Pettitte finished with a 4-0 record in five postseason starts against the Phillies, Twins, and Angels.


Also on this day in 2008 Tony Kubek would become the first person to ever receive the Ford C. Frick Award which honors broadcast members in the Hall of Fame. The former Yankee and Blue Jays broadcast personality has not watched a single game on television since he signed off in 1994.


Finally on this day in 1988 the New York Yankees signed a twelve year television deal with the Madison Square Garden television network. The Yankees would stay with the MSG network until 2002 when they would start their own network, the YES Network. This move is generally accredited with starting the trend of getting more games on regional sports networks.