Sean Rodriguez the 2016 Version of Garrett Jones?

When the New York Yankees went into the 2015 season Brian Cashman had to presumably feel pretty good about his team. Mark Teixeira was two years removed from wrist surgery and was gluten free with the hopes of staying healthy all season. The team had a young and rangy shortstop in Didi Gregorius and a big arm in the rotation in Nathan Eovaldi to matchup with Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and the Tommy John recovering Ivan Nova. Cashman had all the makings of his super bullpen and he had Carlos Beltran back in the fold after getting the bone spur removed that hindered his right fielder for much of the 2015 season. The final pieces of the Yankees squad was the bench, a bench that included John Ryan Murphy, Brendan Ryan, Chris Young and Garrett Jones. The latter, Jones, was slated to be a fifth outfielder of sorts while also allowing manager Joe Girardi to give Mark Teixeira the days off he needed to stay healthy. Jones didn't work out in 2015 unfortunately and was designated for assignment twice, could the Yankees try to emulate that plan in 2016 with former Pirates water cooler abuser Sean Rodriguez?

S-Rod is listed as a second baseman, first baseman and outfielder according to Baseball Reference but let it be known, Rodriguez is not especially good at any of those positions. He's marginal at best when it comes to his defense but truth be told, Jones was too. Rodriguez, like Jones, would essentially be the 25th man on the roster just with more versatility. There is no guarantee that New York is sold on the Dustin Ackley and Robert Refsnyder platoon at second base so adding as many options and as much depth as they can is advisable in my opinion. Rodriguez fits that mold, gives the Yankees another option in the outfield and they give the team another true first base option (not that they especially need it with Greg Bird still with the club).

Rodriguez is right handed, a need, and he'll be just 31-years old for most of the 2016 season. The biggest issue may be that Rodriguez would not be willing to take a part-time role with the Yankees over a full-time role for a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates or another National League team. Rodriguez played in 139 games last season with the Pirates and slashed .246/.281/.362 with just four home runs and 17 RBI for the Wild Card winning Pittsburgh team. Rodriguez made a name for himself in the American League though with another AL East team in the Tampa Bay Rays so if he's be willing to come back to the East and take a part-time role knowing that he would eventually see playing time with a manager like Joe Girardi and a veteran team like the Yankees then this may be a great find for the Bronx Bombers for 2016.

Jeter's Late Single Backs Up Greene's Great Start in 3-2 Win Over Rays

Shane Greene gave up just 2 earned runs in 6+ innings and Derek Jeter hit a go-ahead single in the top of the ninth today as the Yankees finally ended their five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Rays. 

For most of this one, as expected, Greene and the Yanks led 2-0, an advantage built in the second when Martin Prado took Tampa Bay Starter Drew Smyly deep to left with a man on second.

Nonetheless, after a trio of Rays hits plated a run in the bottom of the sixth and a Chase Headley mental error on an infield chopper led to another crossing of home in the seventh the contest was even, appearing to kill the Yanks' confidence. 

Fortunately, as you can see by that final score, that wouldn't prove to be the case, with an infield knock by Brett Gardner, a throw into the Tampa dugout, and the aforementioned single by Jeter off Jake McGee in the ninth re-giving New York the lead, something they'd never lose thanks to a perfect last at-bat by the always-reliable David Robertson.

Still, since that defensive meltdown cost Greene the W you can't help but be a little dissapointed in the way this afternoon's ballgame played out, as it probably shouldn't have needed the late rally it did. 

Yankees Fall Below .500, Get Swept By Rays 6-3

For the Yankees and their fans, the fact that the team lost the first two games of this week's Rays series was already pretty bad. 

Going into the set, the Bombers were slumping, making a dignity win in today's series finale an absolute must.

Unfortunately, the struggling, currently-dead-in-every-way club couldn't even do that, getting swept by the Rays 6-3 and dropping to 41-42.

At the beginning of the Yanks' offensive day, things didn't look like they could get much better, as Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right.

Later on in the third, Brian McCann would also take Tampa Bay's Jake Odorizzi (Win; 5.2 IP, 3 ER) deep, with Gardner tacking on another with a fourth-inning single to put the Pinstripes up 3-2.

That hit from Gardner, coming with two on and two out, was New York's only with RISP in 9 at-bats this afternoon, dropping their average in those situations to .036 since Saturday.

Still, at that point, the Yankees held a 3-2 lead, the third time already they had broken a tie. 

Sure, you could argue the way they did it wasn't pretty, but the fact that Vidal Nuno was doing alright was definitely reason for confidence.

Or, so it was thought. 

In the top of the fifth, Nuno (Loss; 5+ IP, 4 ER) surrendered an RBI Single to Rays LF Brandon Guyer, soon followed by another lead off hit in the team's next turn.  

Immediately after that inning-starting knock, Sean Rodriguez drove a Shawn Kelley pitch over the left-center field wall, giving Tampa a lead and essentially ending the ballgame.

The Yankees had given up their fifth run, something that usually kills their confidence, as they are just 1-32 this season when giving up that many trips around the bases.