Yankee Stadium Legacy: #13 Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy was the Yankees manager during the 1930's and definitely did a great job in doing so. McCarthy took over the helm of the Bronx Bombers in 1931 and went on to win 107 games and his first World Series title in 1932. McCarthy added four more World Series rings to his collections for the decade and another two in the 1940's before ending his New York career with 1,460 victories over 16 season.

And just like that New York fans we're an Alex Rodriguez, 13 days, away from Yankees Opening Day.

Quick Hit: Scott Feldman Astros Opening Day Starter

Just a quick hit to get your Tuesday started, the Houston Astros have announced that Scott Feldman will be their Opening Day starter. Why do we care? The Yankees will face the right handed starter on Opening Day on April, 1, and that is not a joke. CC Sabathia will be on the mound for the New York Yankees to face off with Feldman.

With a righty on the mound I can see a very left heavy Yankees lineup which may or may not look a lot like this:

Jacoby Ellsbury
Derek Jeter
Carlos Beltran
Brian McCann
Mark Teixeira
Alfonso Soriano
Kelly Johnson
Brian Roberts
Brett Gardner

This Day In New York Yankees History 3/18

On this day in 1937 Lou Gehrig ended his holdout after agreeing to a one year deal worth $36,000 with a $750 signing bonus. Gehrig had originally asked New York for $50,000. The deal still made the Yankees first basemen and last season's American League MVP the highest paid player in all of baseball.

On this day in 1943 the New York Yankees, and five other teams, had to open spring training camps in northern locations. The Yankees opened up camp in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

On this day in 2008 the "Evil Empire" attempted to help with the healing process on the campus of Virginia Tech University after 32 students and staff became victims of a shooting spree the previous April. The Yankees played the Hokies at Virginia Tech's English Field and George Steinbrenner donated $1 million to a memorial fund while also making arrangements for his team to participate in the exhibition. The ESPN Red Sox did nothing.

"Impact" Of Yankees Farm System Ranked 20th In MLB

Over on Fangraphs.com, a great site for any baseball fan saber head or not, Tony Blengino ranked all 30 teams farm systems by what kind of "impact" they will have. When Blengino ranks impact he took into consideration who would project as above average major league regulars and the Yankees are ranked near the bottom of the list. In fact the only true "impact" player the Yankees farm has according to Blengino is Gary Sanchez. I am inclined to disagree with Blengino but for the sake of not being bias or a homer I will keep that opinion to myself.

Tyler Austin was named a "non-impact MLB regular" on the list, which is part of the article where I begin to disagree, and none of the players in the lower levels of the system were listed. I know the Yankees do not have a great farm system right now but I really feel it  is underrated by most. Hopefully the Yankees plan to rebuild and retool the farm turns some heads on these lists for next season.

Will Kuntz Leaves Team For MLS, Martone To Replace

UPDATE: Brian Cashman confirmed that Steve Martone would be the man to replace Wil Kuntz in the Yankees pro scouting department. Martone has long been a baseball operations staffer, according to Andrew Marchand on Twitter..

There's been a change in the Yankees' scouting department. Will Kuntz, the Yankees' manager of pro scouting, has decided to take a job with Major League Soccer.

Brian Cashman said that Kuntz loves soccer, so taking the position (the specifics of which are currently unknown) isn't a surprise. And seeing as how Kuntz was unable to find any hidden gems like Bartolo Colon or Eric Chavez since taking over as the manager of pro scouting in 2011, the team wanting to move on wouldn't be a surprise either.

There's no word on who will be hired to replace Kuntz, who took over for Billy Epler when Epler was promoted to Assistant General Manager, but chances are that that somebody will come from within.

New York Yankees Spring Training News & Notes 3/17

Both Vidal Nuno and Adam Warren pitched on Saturday and neither are scheduled to start this week in any kind of spring training games. Either the Yankees have seen enough or Nuno and Warren have seen their last starts for this spring. Both guys needed to impress if they had a chance at being the fifth starter so this news cannot be good for either.

Tyler Austin and Scott Sizemore took outside batting practice today with this being the first time since Austin's wrist flared up again after the team's first full squad workout. Sizemore was shut down due to a tight quad muscle, not his twice surgically repaired ACL. Both players say they are fine and working back so we will see.

Jacoby Ellsbury took full batting practice inside today while Brendan Ryan took batting practice and had a full workout. Joe Girardi still expects Ellsbury to miss tomorrow's game as a precaution and still expects Ryan to be in a game this week, possibly Wednesday.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched five simulated innings indoors as the Yankees game was rained out today in Bradenton. Kuroda was scheduled for somewhere around 75 pitches and this rain out will not change the Yankees rotational schedule.

Chad Jennings with the assignments from the day. Chad also took a stab at predicting the 25 man roster and his roster is the exact same one that I predicted on Twitter last night, check it out if your curious:

Today’s batting practice groups in Tampa:
Group 1: Kelly Johnson, Brian McCann, Gary Sanchez, Ichiro Suzuki
Group 2: Tyler Austin, Brendan Ryan, Scott Sizemore

· Today’s second string: C John Ryan Murphy, 1B Corban Joseph, 2B Zelous Wheeler, SS Dean Anna, 3B Jose Pirela, LF Ramon Flores, CF Jake Cave, RF Yeral Sanchez

· Today’s scheduled relievers: Chase Whitley, David Herndon, Mark Montgomery, Brian Gordon, Yoshinori Tateyama (with Fred Lewis, Robert Coello, Branden Pinder, Jamas Pazos and Manny Barreda also making the trip)

New York Yankees @ Pittsburgh Pirates 3/17

UPDATE: Game Rained Out

The New York Yankees take on the Pittsburgh Pirates today in the latest spring training game in the Grapefruit League. Hiroki Kuroda will  be on the mound for the Yankees as the season inches closer and closer to meaning something. The game will be televised at 1:05 pm ET and will  be on MLB Network on a delay. Enjoy the day Yankees fans, even if it is a Monday.

Potential 2014 Milestones For Alfonso Soriano

Alfonso Soriano currently ranks 51st on the All Time home run list with 406 home runs, just one behind Duke Snider for Top 50 all time. If Soriano hit 30 home runs this season, which is very much possible, he would jump all the way to 42nd place on the list passing the likes of Bernie Williams, Cal Ripken Jr, Mike Piazza, Paul Konerko and Andruw Jones.

If Alfonso can stay in 92 games in 2014 he would reach the 2,000 game mark for his career.

12 stolen bases for Soriano gives him 300 stolen bags for his career.

Yankee Stadium Legacy: #14 Frankie Crosetti

Frankie Crosetti was constantly taking one for the team leading the American League in hit by pitches eight times during his 17 year career. Crosetti spent all 17 of those seasons in Yankees pinstripes and not only was a master at getting on base but also turned that high OBP into a lot of runs. Crosetti scored over 100 runs each year from 1936 to 1939 while scoring a career high 137 runs in 1936.

A mere two weeks, 14 days, until Yankees Opening Day.

This Day In New York Yankees History 3/17

On this day in 1936 Joe DiMaggio made his Major League debut in a big time way collecting four hits, including a triple, in an 8-7 exhibition loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Not bad for a 21 year old future Hall of Fame outfielder.

On this day in 1977 a federal court ruled in favor of Bowie Kuhn's decision to void the 1976 sale of Athletic's players by Charlie O. Finley. The Oakland owner sued the commissioner for illegal restraint of a trade when his deals to send Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox for $2 million and Vida Blue to the Yankees for $1.5 million were invalidated "in the best interests of baseball." This is definitely an influential and precedent setting case in the history of American sports and the judicial system.