Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 9/9

Here we go ladies and gentleman as the New York Yankees remain home in the Bronx to play host to the Tampa Bay Rays in the second game of a four game set this week and weekend. In the second game of this series the Yankees will send Big Mike Michael Pineda to the mound to square off against Blake Snell for the Rays. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

You have just two more chances this weekend to see the Rays and the Yankees in the Bronx including tomorrow’s contest with Masahiro Tanaka taking on Chris Archer. To see that game or any game live this season click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. If you can’t make it live then you can always following along during the game with us by liking our page on Facebook or by giving our twitter handle @GreedyStripes a follow. Do it!

Pineda vs. Snell. Need a win. Get a win. Go Yankees!

Weekly Prospects Check In: Jorge Mateo

We couldn’t let a week go by without checking in with one of the Yankees top prospects, Jorge Mateo. Now we have been focusing on the Yankees minor league affiliates who are in the playoffs right now and Mateo, along with Gleyber Torres right next to him, are fighting for the championship as we speak down in Tampa. Can Mateo and Torres lead the team to a championship? We’ll have to stay tuned for that.

Until that question can be answered here is Mateo’s stat line for the 2016 regular season. Please call him up to Double-A Trenton next season. Please!

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	21	Tampa	113	507	65	118	16	8	47	36	33	108	.254	.306	.379	.685

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

With September Call Ups It’s Not Too Late to Win Your Fantasy League

The calendar says September which means time is running out both on the 2016 regular season and in your fantasy league which ends a bit before the regular season does. Things may look grim for some teams right now and they may look equally as grim in your fantasy league but have no fear, September call ups are here. What does that mean for you? Well it’s simple, all 30 MLB teams went from having 25 players at their disposal to having 40 options now giving you more opportunities to mix and match. Need stolen bases? Well teams like the Yankees have players like Eric Young Jr. whose sole purpose on the roster is to steal bases and pinch run. Need home runs? Pick up a guy like Aaron Judge who should hit plenty with more than a few strikeouts thrown in the middle. These are just two of many examples of how September call ups can aid you in pushing and potentially winning your fantasy league this season. It’s not too late but it’s getting late, early.

Need Power?

Randal Grichuk had a productive August and it should continue in September for the power hitting Red Birds. Ryan Schimpf has also handled hitting in Petco Park well and has put up impressive power numbers as a second baseman. He, like Aaron Judge, will strikeout a ton though so it’s a double-edged sword.

Need Stolen Bases?

Take your pick. Keon Broxton of Milwaukee steals a ton of bases and gets on base at a .360 OBP clip while Ender Inciarte is a contact hitter with a lot of speed for Atlanta. Nick Franklin of the Tampa Bay Rays is doing enough to remain in the conversation while the Yankees should give Eric Young Jr. plenty of base stealing opportunities with Brian McCann and others in the lineup.

Need Veteran Pitching?

Ivan Nova has been terrific for the Pittsburgh Pirates posting a 2.87 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. Where was this guy when he was with the Yankees? Alex Cobb is also back and will be making his second start in almost two years tonight for the Rays.

Need Rookies?

Byron Buxton has been disappointing to date in his MLB career but he has impressed since his latest call up. Yoan Moncada has impressed as well and should play every day for the remainder on the season. Moncada will strikeout a lot but he adds a lot to almost every other category.

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 9/9

Here we are again ladies and gentleman in the Bronx ready to welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to town for the second game of their four game set. The Yankees are still riding high off their sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week and have found a new-found second win in both the 2^nd Wild Card and AL East Division playoff races. That only continues if they beat the teams they are supposed to beat including these pesky and spoiler-ready Tampa Rays. In the contest tonight the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound looking to start a streak of success and lead the Yankees to the postseason while the Rays will counter with Blake Snell.

Pineda has not won a start for the Yankees since August 5^th in a start at home against the Cleveland Indians. Now it’s been over a month since a victory but to get that victory Pineda will have to pitch better than he did last time he faced the Rays on July 31^st where he gave up five runs in six innings. Big Mike, please show your ugly head.

Snell on the other hand was fantastic in his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays lasting six innings while allowing just one run against an awesome offense. Snell became the first left-handed starter to hold the Blue Jays without an extra-base hit since May 26^th of this season in that start. The Yankees have plenty of right-handed power now though so I don’t expect the same success tonight in the Bronx.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. Need a win. Get a win. I know I keep saying it but as I keep saying it the Yankees keep getting a win when they need it most so who am I to argue with the Baseball Gods? I’m not that stupid nor am I ignorant. Go Yankees!

Masahiro Tanaka, Sabermetrics and the AL Cy Young Award

When you think of the Top 5 candidates for the American League Cy Young Award in 2016 who immediately comes to mind? Anyone’s Top 5 is probably pretty arguable, some will have this pitcher and others will have that pitcher, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there isn’t too many people out there who would have the Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka in their Top 5. Now I can only use my Top 5 as an indicator of whether Tanaka should be in the AL Cy Young Award discussion but I am going to do just that if possible by comparing some key sabermetric stats of the Top 5 and Tanaka himself. Is it a perfect analysis? Of course not but the committee who votes on this award has proven in the past that they take sabermetrics into account and it’s not just about wins and losses anymore, ask Felix Hernandez, and we all should too. So here we go.

My Top 5 in the running for the AL Cy Young Award in no particular order is Zach Britton of the Baltimore Orioles, Jose Quintana of the Chicago White Sox and Cole Hamels of the Texas Rangers, Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox and Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians with an honorable mention for Steven Wright of the Boston Red Sox, Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, JA Happ for the Toronto Blue Jays and David Price of the Boston Red Sox. Yes I know, I didn’t make it easy on myself including a relief pitcher but without a clear-cut winner or favorite here Britton may actually run away with the award. If Tanaka doesn’t win it first.

WAR:

Britton – 3.3 (in just over 50 innings)

Quintana – 4.5

Hamels – 5.0

Tanaka – 4.7

Porcello – 4.2

Kluber – 5.8

VALUE:

Britton – $15.3 MILLION

Quintana – $36.9 MILLION

Hamels – $20.4 MILLION

Tanaka – $37.9 MILLION

Porcello – $31.8 MILLION

Kluber - $37.8 MILLION

RA9:

Britton – 1.15

Quintana – 3.23

Hamels – 3.61

Tanaka – 3.46

Porcello – 3.57

Kluber – 3.45

WHIP:

Britton – 0.800

Quintana – 1.125

Hamels – 1.305

Tanaka – 1.082

Porcello – 1.023

Kluber – 1.044

FIP:

Britton – 2.01

Quintana – 3.42

Hamels – 4.02

Tanaka – 3.26

Porcello – 3.52

Kluber – 3.19

ERA+:

Britton – 687 (not a typo)

Quintana – 129

Hamels – 141

Tanaka – 141

Porcello - 143

Kluber - 150

Based on these stats Tanaka is an extreme long shot at winning the AL Cy Young Award but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he should be. He’s done more with less in terms of offense, especially in the first half of the season, he faces some of the best competition in the American League (it looks likely that the AL East could send three teams to the postseason in 2016) and he pitches in one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in all of Major League Baseball. The problem with the AL Cy Young Award voting and sabermetrics is we have yet to see any sort of consistency in the voting and in the criteria for voting which complicates things a ton. Will Tanaka win it? It depends who is looking at what stat at what time, what they had for breakfast and which way the wind is blowing I guess because I have no idea. I do know one thing though, Tanaka should at least be in the discussions for the award when it’s decided on and handed out this winter.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference except “VALUE” which is courtesy of Fangraphs.

Weekly Prospects Check In: Justus Sheffield

The New York Yankees needed some extra arms for the pennant chase up in the Bronx and they basically raided the Triple-A Scranton team to achieve that goal. Everything is a domino effect so in turn the RailRiders raided the Trenton Thunder and the Thunder raided the Tampa Yankees, so on and so forth. One man that benefited from all this paperwork and all these roster moves is the showcase of our weekly check in this morning, Justus Sheffield. Sheffield was one of those arms throwing down in High-A Tampa that got the call up to Double-A Trenton around this time last week.

Here is the stat line that got Sheffield bumped up to the next level in the Yankees system: 

Year	Age	Tm	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2016	20	3 Teams	10	6	3.09	25	25	125.1	107	47	43	6	53	129	1.277	7.7	0.4	3.8	9.3
2016	20	Lynchburg	7	5	3.59	19	19	95.1	91	40	38	6	40	93	1.374	8.6	0.6	3.8	8.8
2016	20	Tampa	3	1	1.73	5	5	26.0	14	6	5	0	10	27	0.923	4.8	0.0	3.5	9.3
2016	20	Trenton	0	0	0.00	1	1	4.0	2	1	0	0	3	9	1.250	4.5	0.0	6.8	20.2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/9: Jeter Passes Ruth

As we all know Derek Jeter currently sits at the top of many Yankees records including the all-time hits list for New York but Jeter moved into second place on that very list on this day in 2008. Jeter passed the Yankees legend Babe Ruth on the list with his 2,874th hit of his career, a first inning single in a Yankees 7-1 victory on the road. At the time the only player ahead of Jeter on the Yankees all-time hit list was Lou Gehrig with his 2,721 hits.


Also on this day in 1998 surprisingly the New York Yankees clinched the AL East division crown when they increased their lead over the second place Boston Red Sox to 20.5 games. The Yankees would set an American League record in 1998 with a 114-48 record but I think clinching the division on September 9th may be more impressive.


Finally on this day in 1961 the M&M boys Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle passed another set of Yankees teammates in the MLB record books. On this day Maris hit his 56th home run of the season and when you combine that with Mantle's 52 the Yankees teammates held the record for the most single season home runs by a pair of teammates with 108. The M&M boys passed the 1927 Yankees teammates and legends Babe Ruth (60) and Lou Gehrig(47) for the MLB record.