Friday, July 15, 2016

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 7/15


Yankee Stadium is filling up, the pitchers are in the bullpen taking their warm up tosses, the offense is wrapping their bats and preparing their gloves. Baseball returns to the league tonight and baseball returns to the Bronx as well as the New York Yankees play host to the second place Boston Red Sox tonight in the first of a three-game weekend set. In the first game after the All-Star break the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off against Steven Wright for the Red Sox. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX Channel 11, MLB Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees are home for much of the month of July and also spend two games across town in Queens against the New York Mets so be sure to click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog to get your seats now before they are all gone. Also you want to look the part just in case the YES Network cameras catch you so also click the TGP T-Shirts link also at the top of the blog to grab a Jacoby Ellsbury milk carton shirt for stealing home twice this season or any of the other great shirts on the site brought to you by our friends over at BreakingT.


Follow along during this game and all season long with us on Twitter by giving @GreedyStripes a follow and also “like” us on Facebook. We’re a social bunch and we enjoy interacting with you not for any other reason other than because you’re Yankees fans. We’re family. Go Yankees!

Meet a Prospect: Curtiss Pomeroy


The New York Yankees signed another undrafted free agent and another underdog to root for this week out of Georgetown University. His name is Curtiss Pomeroy and he has already begun his professional career with the club after signing a minor league deal. How about we meet the latest member of the Yankees organization and the latest member of the Yankees family? This is Meet a Prospect: The Curtiss Pomeroy Edition.

Pomeroy began his amateur career at Saint John’s under head coach Charlie Eppinger where he led his team to the 2011 Massachusetts District Championship and State semi-finals. This caught the eye of the Georgetown Hoyas who wanted Pomeroy to play baseball for their team in college. Pomeroy played all over the field for the Hoyas as a position player including his 2014 campaign where he appeared in 25 games with seven games coming at third base, five coming at second base and one at DH as a starter. The Hoyas saw potential in Pomeroy as a pitcher though after showcasing a strong arm on the right side of the infield and converted him to a pitcher during the 2015 season.

Pomeroy joined the Hoyas bullpen halfway through his junior season and made five appearances compiling a 0-1 record with a 7.20 ERA. Pomeroy pitched a total of five innings and racked up eight strikeouts. Pomeroy battled injuries for much of his senior season and made just four appearances for the Hoyas. Pomeroy put up a 6.00 ERA in three innings with five strikeouts which explains why he went undrafted in the June Draft.

The Yankees must have seen something they like in the kid though or he wouldn’t be in the organization. He’s a long shot and he’s an underdog but those are the best kind of stories when they finally make it. I’m rooting for you Curtiss, make us proud. Welcome to the team, the organization and most importantly welcome to the family.



Carlos Beltran, The Chicago White Sox & Potential Trade Targets


There is a lot of discussion on the blog, and there will be for much of this month and next month as well, today about the August 1st trade deadline and this post is no exception. Carlos Beltran is being quoted all over the place as being willing to waive his no-trade clause to help the team if approached and he even went as far as to say that he would be willing to go to the National League if need be which got me thinking. I can think of a team and organization that may need Beltran’s services and he wouldn’t have to go to the National League to do it either. This all hinges on one man currently on the Chicago White Sox 40 man roster, Justin Morneau.

The Chicago White Sox, if they plan on contending in 2016 anyway, need a designated hitter and they need one in the worst way. After the abrupt retirement from Adam LaRoche in spring training the team has watched as their DH’s, who mainly hit eighth in their batting lineup, have combined for just eight home runs and a .708 OPS. The White Sox main DH, Avisail Garcia, is batting .228 with five home runs, 22 RBI and a .658 OPS this season leading Chicago to sign Justin Morneau to a deal with the intention of him returning to the field in the second half of 2016.

Well here we are, officially this is the first day of the second half of 2016 so where is Morneau? Well the White Sox first baseman is down in Birmingham (Double-A affiliate for the White Sox) with the plan on coming back to the Major Leagues as early as this week. Morneau has been working his way back from offseason elbow surgery and has just six minor league games under his belt at the time of this writing. If Morneau is not fully healthy or he doesn’t turn it on pretty close to immediately you have to think the White Sox and Yankees become immediate trade partners, no?

The White Sox, and any team for that matter, would love to add a veteran switch hitter with postseason experience to their roster. Especially when said veteran player is leading the Yankees in home runs with 19 and RBI with 55 with a batting average that is hovering around the .300 mark. What would it take to land Beltran and what should the Yankees ask for specifically? That I do not know, I’m not an expert in the White Sox system and you have to think it would not be anyone in their Top 10 – Top 15 if they are trading for a rental in Beltran, but the deal makes too much sense not to at least look at for both teams. Am I right?


Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 7/15


We’re back and it feels so good. Baseball returns to your living rooms and the Bronx tonight as the New York Yankees begin a brutal second half schedule with the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox are in a dog fight with the Baltimore Orioles at the top of the American League East while the Yankees are still treading water around the .500 mark while searching for an identity this season. In the contest tonight the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to square off with the Red Sox starter Steven Wright.

Pineda bounced back in a big way during the month of June and will look to keep the good times rolling here in July. His first start of July against the Chicago White Sox did not go according to plan after allowing five runs on five hits in six innings of work but the Yankees right-hander will look to turn things

Wright will make the first start of the second half for the Red Sox after having an All-Star worth first half for Boston. Wright allowed two earned runs or fewer in 11 of his 17 first half starts including one gem inside Yankee Stadium on May 8. Wright pitched a complete game and frustrated the Yankees offense all night long in a victory for Boston in the matchup.


The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the WPIX Channel 11, MLB Network and MLB TV. As we looked at earlier and said previously in this post this is the beginning of an absolutely horrendous schedule for the Yankees that will bring a lot of tough teams to the Bronx. This month will undoubtedly set the tone for the remainder of the season and maybe for a couple seasons to come as well. No pressure New York but everyone is watching to see if you fold or you continue to fight like the team did before the All-Star break in Cleveland. Go Yankees. 

Yankees Second Half Schedule Allows for “Declaration”


Ladies and gentleman, good morning and Happy Friday. The All-Star break is officially in the books and it is back to business tonight as Major League Baseball kicks off their second half. For much of the month of July all talk around the league will be centered around buyers, sellers and the August 1st trading deadline. According to Yankees officials the team has not yet “declared” themselves and many in the organization are split as to whether the team should buy or sell before the deadline. Brian Cashman has gone on record as willing to sell but Randy Levine and Hal Steinbrenner pity the fool who thinks New York is anything less than a World Series caliber team. Thankfully for the Yankees organization the team’s second half second has all the makings and potential to allow for such “declarations” to be made about the team and their chances in 2016.

The Yankees begin a three game set tonight with the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx before hosting the Baltimore Orioles for four and the San Francisco Giants for three. The team will then travel to Houston to face off with the Astros three times before getting a break (on paper) in Tampa with the Tampa Bay Rays in a three game set. After the Tampa Bay series it’s back to New York for the Yankees but not to play in the Bronx but to play in Queens and inside CitiField against the New York Mets for two. New York will then host those same Mets for two before welcoming the first place Cleveland Indians back to town for a pivotal three-game set that stretches into the month of August.

The Yankees will play seven teams throughout the month of July and into the first week of August and those seven teams have a combined record of 338- 269. All these teams are above .500 with the exception of the last place Tampa Bay Rays (which it is worth mentioning that Tampa could be 0-159 and still play their best ball against New York those final three games of the season). New York may have the toughest schedule of any team during the month of July and into August and that could result in a lot of losses. A lot of them. This team could potentially lose every single series this month. Seriously.

So if Cashman and company need it written in crayon before they can decide to buy or sell they may get just that and more this month on the field. This team did not take advantage of a lull in the schedule and they will likely pay for it this month. Here’s to hoping.



Weekly Prospects Check In: Nick Solak


Well I guess we can’t in good conscience check in with our normal Friday check in Jorge Mateo now can we? Not after the Yankees top prospect was suspended for two weeks for presumably mouthing off after not being promoted to Double-A despite impressive stats at his current affiliate so this morning we will check in with the man who was picked after yesterday’s check in, Nick Solak.


Solak was the Yankees second round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft and he almost immediately signed with the club to begin his professional career. Let’s check in and see how that career is going thus far. 

YearAgeTmGPARH2BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
201621Staten Island188117184085105.277.407.338.746

This Day in New York Yankees History 7/15: Dan Uggla Makes Three Errors in All-Star Game



The last time the New York Yankees hosted an All Star Game was in 2008 when we said goodbye to Yankee Stadium II. The House that Ruth Built was torn down at the end of the season but not before the Yankees had one more All Star Game and one last hoorah. In true Yankee Stadium fashion history was made on this day as Dan Uggla became the first player in the history of the All Star Game to make three errors in a game.

The Marlins second baseman had two errors in the 10th inning and one in the 13th inning while helping the American League win the game 4-3 in 15 innings. Uggla wasn't any better at the plate as he went 0-4 with three strikeouts while grounding into a double play with runners on first and third in the 10th inning for his fourth at bat.

I believe Uggla was probably the first out of Yankee Stadium that night and it would suit him just fine if he never went back.