Meet a Prospect: Alex Guerrero

With their 18^th round pick, 547^th overall, in the 2018 MLB First Year Players Draft the New York Yankees selected Alex Guerrero, a catcher from Eagle High School in Idaho. Guerrero, in an interesting stat, did not have a stolen base during his entire High School baseball career, so let’s meet the man who far from threatens starting pitching while on the base paths. This is Meet a Prospect: The Alex Guerrero Edition.

Alex stands 6’0” and weighs in at 185 lbs. batting from the left side but throwing from the right. I joked about his lack of stolen bases while in High School and mentioned that he did not threaten starting pitchers while on the bases, but he definitely threatened them as a senior at Eagles High School with his bat. Guerrero batted .413 with three home runs, 16 RBI and eight doubles which was good for a .532 OBP and .682 slugging percentage.

Here is what PerfectGame.org had to say about Guerrero prior to the Draft:

“GUERRERO IS SOLID BEHIND THE PLATE DEFENSIVELY BUT HIS BEST TOOL IS HIS STRONG LEFTHANDED BAT. HE HAS QUICK HANDS AND A SHORT AND DIRECT SWING AND HAS SHOWN THE ABILITY TO DRIVE THE BALL WITH CARRY TO ALL FIELDS. GUERRERO HIT .452-3-24 AS A JUNIOR AT EAGLE HIGH SCHOOL, AND AT WASHINGTON, WHERE HE IS SIGNED, HAVING AN OUTSTANDING TRIO OF CATCHERS IN THEIR 2018 SIGNING CLASS, IT HAS BEEN SPECULATED THAT GUERRERO MIGHT MOVE TO A CORNER POSITION TO GET HIS BAT IN THE LINEUP.”

Guerrero has already signed with the club, thus foregoing his commitment to the University of Washington, so let’s welcome him not only to the Yankees organization, but to the Yankees family as well. Guerrero unfortunately does not have a Twitter account that we know of, so we will have to send our congrats and well wishes the old-fashioned way I guess. Make us proud, Alex.

Oh, and it is also worth mentioning that in High School the newest Yankees catcher did post a 4.1 GPA and scored a 1360 on his SAT’s. Between that and his decision to sign with the Yankees the guy seems to be a pretty smart guy.

Predicting the 2018 MLB Trade Deadline: Chris Archer

Starting pitching, as usual, is going to come at a premium before the July 31^st trading deadline and one such pitcher that I can see being traded is a familiar foe for the New York Yankees. His name is Chris Archer and he is a right-handed starter for the Tampa Bay Rays. As much as I would like the Yankees to be able to acquire such a talent like Archer I truly believe that Tampa Bay would refuse to deal him to the Yankees just based off principle. With that in mind I think there will be many suitors for Archer if he were to be made available, but no suitor will outbid the Arizona Diamondbacks for his services. That is my prediction anyway, and here’s why.  

First and foremost, the Rays don’t necessarily need to trade Archer yet as the right-hander comes with team control for the 2019 season and a pair of team options for the 2020 ($9 million option, $1.75 million buyout) and 2021 ($11 million option, $250K buyout) seasons respectively, but trading Archer makes the most sense in order to jump start their rebuild. The team shed salary and traded away most of their best MLB-caliber players during the offseason before 2018 and there were reports that the team at least dangled and listened to offers for Archer, although no team ever got reportedly close. Archer drastically needs a change of scenery and a trade to the National League West would benefit him immensely in my opinion, as well as boost the starting staff of a team that is desperately trying to win now with Patrick Corbin inching towards free agency in 2019.  

I am under no illusions that I am an expert in the needs of the Rays, although I would assume they would take the best available talent in terms of prospects that are close to MLB ready, and I am also under no illusions that I know more about the state of the Diamondbacks farm system than can be found in a simple Google search, but my first impressions are that Arizona has the pieces to get a deal done.  

On MLB.com’s Top 30 prospects list for the Diamondbacks there are fifteen starting pitchers including four in their Top 10 prospects list, #1 overall RHP Jon Duplantier, #4 RHP Taylor Widener, #7 RHP Taylor Clarke, and #9 overall RHP Matt Tabor. One of two of these would have to be included in a potential deal I would think, further boosting the fourth best farm system in all of Major League Baseball in 2018. Tampa Bay may also be interested in Arizona’s third base prospect Drew Ellis as the Rays don’t have a third base prospect in their Top 30 prospects.  

The “who” in the deal is an unknown and all of the above players mentioned are purely speculation on my part, but the fact that the Diamondbacks will likely be interested in and would likely acquire Archer’s services if he were to be made available is written in stone in my opinion. The Diamondbacks have the prospects to get the deal done, the Rays likely want to sell him this July, and Arizona needs the pitching boost if they want to hold off and dethrone the Los Angeles Dodgers. It seems like a match made in baseball heaven, and we have a little over a month until we potentially see the deal all play out. 

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners 6/21

And just like that we have a getaway afternoon game here in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners. After this afternoon’s game the Yankees, hopefully anyway, will board a plane and head down to Tampa St. Pete to take on the Tampa Bay Rays. First things first though, we have the finale this afternoon of the three-game set that will pit Luis Severino for the Yankees against James Paxton for the Mariners. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Follow us on Twitter, @GreedyStripes, and “Like” us on Facebook, The Greedy Pinstripes, to keep up with us and the team all season long. Enjoy the game, Severino is an ace… and he is my ace and go Yankees!!

Meet a Prospect: Derek Craft

With their 16^th round pick, 487^th overall, in the 2018 MLB First Year Players Draft the New York Yankees selected Derek Craft, a center a wide receiver a right-handed starting pitcher out of the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA). Craft is an imposing figure out on the mound, so let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The Derek Craft Edition.

Craft stands 6’8” and weighs in at 200 lbs. making him an uncomfortable at-bat for opposing hitters every time that he takes the mound. Craft was dominating as a junior posting a 1.89 ERA in 52.1 innings of work as he split time between the bullpen and the starting rotation. Craft made 24 appearances in 2018, although only three of them came as a starter, and held opposing hitters to a .211 batting average against while striking out 62 in 52 innings of work.

2018 was definitely a breakout season for Craft after struggling for much of his sophomore season so be on the lookout for him as he could potentially fly through the Yankees system. New York may opt to go the Chance Adams route with Craft and convert him into a starter, or the team could simply have another bullpen weapon waiting in the wings for Aaron Boone’s disposal in a couple of seasons.

Craft has signed with the New York Yankees as of the time of this writing so let’s all welcome him not only to the organization, but to the Yankees family as well. You can follow Derek on Twitter by giving @pitchDMC a follow. While you are there go ahead and give us a follow as well, @GreedyStripes. We follow back!

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners 6/21

Good morning Yankees family. The Seattle Mariners have done the New York Yankees some favors as of late beating up on and slowing down the Boston Red Sox in their previous series, but the Yankees have not shown much gratitude during this three-game series in the Bronx. No mercy from the Bronx Bombers thus far and hopefully there will be no mercy today as well as a pair of aces take the mound in the finale of the set. This afternoon in the Bronx the Yankees will send Luis Severino to the mound to face off with the ace of the staff in Seattle in James Paxton. Let’s get to it here in the Bronx.

Severino was sharp once again in his last start hurling eight shutout innings in a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Severino has not allowed more than three runs in a single game since May 19^th and has only given up more than three runs one time all season. Dominating.

Paxton on the other hand had the shortest start of his season come in his last start lasting just 2.1 innings pitched with six hits and six runs, five of them earned, in a loss to the Boston Red Sox. Thanks a lot, James. Paxton has been sharp this season though and was 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA in his previous nine starts before his struggles against the Red Sox.

The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Enjoy the game, put some distance between ourselves and the Red Sox, and go Yankees!!

Hello… Buyers and Sellers

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the blog. Earlier in the week I laid out a plan to go over various things over the next month or so here on the blog, but none more important than the July 31^st trade deadline. I want to step outside my horizons some, not too much, and cover not just the Yankees during this hot stove season, but as many of the teams and players that could be making moves and moving as I can. That process started a couple days ago but I feel like before we get too far into it that we have to lay out who the potential buyers will be, who the potential sellers will be, and who won’t probably know what they are doing for a couple more weeks. That seems like a good starting point to me.

BUYERS:

New York Yankees

Boston Red Sox

Cleveland Indians

Houston Astros

Seattle Mariners

Atlanta Braves

Washington Nationals

Philadelphia Phillies

Milwaukee Brewers

Chicago Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals

Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

SELLERS:

Tampa Bay Rays

Baltimore Orioles

Toronto Blue Jays

Chicago White Sox

Kansas City Royals

Texas Rangers

New York Mets

Miami Marlins

Cincinnati Reds

San Diego Padres

TO BE DETERMINED:

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Oakland Athletics

Pittsburgh Pirates

San Francisco Giants

Colorado Rockies

Oh, and baby. I love you and I would buy you a million times over if I could. You are the most beautiful, most kind, most sincere and most awesome person that I know. I love you to the mailbox and back! A million kisses for you this morning.

This Day In New York Yankees History 6/21: Yankees Club the Rays

On this day in 2005 the Yankees had a week of it at the plate in a 20-11 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Rays led the Yankees 10-2 at one point in the game before the Rays lost the lead. This would make the second time in Rays franchise history that they led by at least eight runs in a game only to lose by at least nine runs. The Rays gave up 13 runs in the bottom of the second inning which was the second time they have given up at least 13 runs in an inning in the same season, a major league record they did not want to be a part of.


Also on this day in 1967 the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox had a benches clearing brawl to keep the fans entertained. Joe Foy was struck in the helmet and in retaliation the Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg hit the Yankees pitcher Thad Tillotson to start the fight in the second inning. No ejections were handed out and Reggie Smith is brushed back in the next inning while Dick Howser leave the games in the fifth inning after being hit in the head with a pitch.


Finally on this day in 1941 the New York Yankees team consecutive streak of hitting a home run in 17 straight games is extended with a seventh inning home run by Phil Rizzuto. The home run would tie the major league record originally set by the Detroit Tigers and would come in a 7-2 loss to that same Tigers team in Yankee Stadium. This was only Rizzuto's second career home run.