Ackley to DL, Williams Done for Season

Dustin Ackley hasn't been in a Yankees uniform for a week and has already found his way onto the disabled list with the team. Ackley has been placed on the 15 day DL this week after a herniated disc was found in his back. Ackley had an epidural and will be out at minimum "20-30 days" but we all know it will be a lot longer, maybe the rest of the season.

Caleb Cotham has been called up to replace Ackley.

Speaking of possible season ending injuries the Yankees outfielder Mason Williams will have season-ending shoulder surgery.The Yankees tried to rehab the injury that occurred on a dive back from first base while with the big league club.

Anyone Else Tired of Hearing about the Mets?

I started this week off the same way I start any week off, I get up, I go to work, I check my Twitter and I count down the hours until the next Yankees game. This week was different though because my Twitter was clogged with all this talk about the New York Mets. The Mets were fresh off a sweep of the Washington Nationals that landed the team in first place in the National League East Division. Talk of 1986, the World Series, playoffs and sugar plum fairies danced around in all the major news and radio outlets including WFAN and Boomer and Carton. Nowhere was there Yankees chatter to be seen or discussed and frankly I am getting pretty tired of hearing about the Mets.

Okay the Mets are in first place again, good for them because it is a great story. No one is mentioning in that story that they play in a division that had three teams selling off pieces at the July 31^st trading deadline and nowhere in the story is anyone talking about the Yankees climb back to the top.

It is the Yankees who had led their division, the American League East Division, for more days than any other team in the division and it is the New York Yankees that hold one of the best records in all of the American League. It was also the New York Yankees that knocked the New York Mets out of the first place when the team spanked their little sister’s from across town earlier in the season. The Yankees, not the Mets.

I don’t want to take away from what the Mets are doing, it’s a great story and it’s great to see because I love all things New York. Those fans also deserve a good team after putting up with shotty management and generally bad personnel decisions over the year but some around the local media are already etching the World Series trophy and if anyone knows this one simple fact it is a Yankees fan; World Series are not won on paper, they aren’t won in the media and they damn sure aren’t won on August, 4^th. Let’s chill with the Mets are God talk, please?

Yankees players looking forward to Severino's debut

The Yankees are ready to see what Luis Severino can do.

The 21-year-old right-hander, the top pitching prospect in New York's system, is set to make his big-league debut Wednesday night against the Red Sox -- and his new teammates are as eager for it as anyone.

"It's definitely exciting. We've been talking about him for a while," reliever Dellin Betances told Newsday. "He's been doing a hell of a job in Triple-A."

That he certainly has, going 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA over 11 starts at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He's thrown 61 1/3 innings during that time, holding opponents to a .184 batting average and three home runs.

But can he handle expectations that come with such numbers, right in the middle of a pennant race?

"I don't want to put too much pressure on him and I'm not going to make too much of one start, two starts, three starts," manager Joe Girardi said. "I know the kid is talented and I know at some point he's really going to help us, but I think we're all interested in how he handles it."

The Yankees likely would have acquired either David Price, Cole Hamels or Johnny Cueto had they dealt Severino last month, arguably increasing their championship odds. Price and Cueto both carry ERAs below 3.00, after all, and Hamels' final outing with the Phillies was a no-hitter.

Indeed, keeping Severino could hurt the Yankees in the short-run -- but that doesn't have to mean it was the wrong decision.

"We're very excited about it," DH Alex Rodriguez said. "Sometimes the best trades you make are the ones you don't make."

USA Today Weekly MLB Power Rankings

The Yankees had a rough week this past week as the team had to play two tough road series against two red hot American League teams in the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox. The Yankees split the four game series with Texas and won two games out of three against the White Sox to go 4-3 on the week, would that be enough to keep their #6 position from last week’s rankings? Would the St. Louis Cardinals continue their dominance at the top of the list? Keep reading.

The biggest rise of the week goes to the Toronto Blue Jays who rose five slots to the #8 position while the biggest fall went to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who fell five slots to the #10 position. Meanwhile the St. Louis Cardinals took home the #1 spot while the worst team in the rankings went to the Philadelphia Phillies at #30. After the tough week for the Yankees the team remained at the #6 position signifying them as the third best team in the American League this season and the best team in the AL East.

To round out the rest of the American League East you have the Toronto Blue Jays finishing at the #8 position while the Baltimore Orioles finished the week ranked #14 overall. The Tampa Bay Rays came in at the #18 position while the Boston Red Sox find themselves in familiar territory at the #24 position.

The Top five teams according to the rankings are the #1 St. Louis Cardinals, the Kansas City Royals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. The five worst teams according to the rankings are the #26 Oakland Athletics, #27 Colorado Rockies, #28 Milwaukee Brewers, #29 Miami Marlins and the #30 Philadelphia Phillies.

The July 31^st trade deadline has come and gone and many of the teams listed above made major moves to improve their ball club. It may take a week or two, or longer, for these teams to gel and fully reap the benefits of the trades so be sure to watch these rankings closely over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully the Yankees rise or at least stand pat, like they did at the trading deadline, so they can hold off the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 8/4

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox start a three game set this week at Yankee Stadium with the Yankees in the driver’s seat of the American League East Division race. Boston sits at the bottom of the division with a double-digit deficit but that doesn’t make the team any less dangerous. The Yankees will send Masahiro Tanaka, their ace, to the mound tonight to face off with the Red Sox starter Henry Owens. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

• Tanaka comes into this start looking for more consistency and command than his last start where he gave up four runs and nine hits to the Texas Rangers in a loss. Tanaka will also look to improve on his career marks against the Red Sox which currently sit at 2-2 with a 4.70 ERA in four career starts against Boston.

• Owens will be making his Major League debut tonight in the Bronx after garnering the position of the Red Sox #5 starter in a deep farm system. The left-handed pitcher will look to showcase a low-90’s fastball, changeup and curveball tonight against a red hot Yankees offense. Owens had a 3.16 ERA in Triple-A this season before the call up.

Yankee Stadium will play host to six very important games this week including the contest tonight as the Yankees play host to the Red Sox for three games and will then play host to the Toronto Blue Jays for three more very big games. The Yankees can throw the last bit of dirt on the Red Sox season with a sweep this week and can truly make things hard on Boston with a series win and if that were to happen nothing could make me any happier. Go Yankees!

Matt Moore & the Cautionary Tale of Tommy John Surgery

The New York Yankees went against the grain a bit last season when they learned that their 25 year old ace Masahiro Tanaka had a less than 10% tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. Instead of putting Tanaka under the knife to get the UCL replaced while having the right-hander miss not only the remainder of the 2014 season but much of the 2015 season the Yankees took the road less traveled. Tanaka and the Yankees, under the advice and supervision of not one but five doctors including the team doctor and Dr. James Andrews, the Tommy John surgery specialist, decided to try and rest and rehab program hoping that the ligament would heal on its own avoiding the surgery. The Yankees were killed for this decision by the media and the fans and every hanging curve ball or every loss for Tanaka leads to outrage about not getting the surgery, even though it was the right decision not to.

There have been more than a few pitchers who have tried to rest and rehab the UCL rather than going under the knife but only a couple have actually had any success with it. Ervin Santana followed the same path and has never needed the surgery to date while Adam Wainwright went years without needing the surgery. Tanaka has been so far so good on the elbow since the rehab, despite what you read on Twitter after a bad outing, making the Yankees and that team of doctors look better and better every single start. The main reason behind the decision, at least in my opinion, was because while the TJS success rate is as high as it has ever been the surgery is far from 100%. Look at Matt Moore of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Moore was demoted back to the minor leagues and Triple-A over the weekend after continuing to struggle on the mound this season. Moore is in his first season removed from the Tommy John surgery and will head to the minors looking to sort out his issues. Moore has posted a 1-3 record in six starts since returning from the DL and has failed to go past five innings in any of the starts. Moore is just the most recent example, Ryan Madson has been trying to work his way back from Tommy John surgery for parts of four seasons now with limited success. The surgery is not 100% and even if it was 99% effective you want to avoid the knife if you can, the Yankees did that and I commend them for it. 

TGP Daily Poll: Yankees Win AL East Division

The July 31^st trade deadline is over and other than a few smaller trades here and there or a few prospect call ups the teams are set for the Race for October. Toronto bulked up their team but it will be the Yankees that win the AL East Division race.

Vote in our poll on Knoda.com

And a short side now before I end the post, in the last 10 games both the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees are 6-4 and Toronto has made up exactly 0.5 games and only because Toronto played yesterday and won in David Price's debut while the Yankees were off.  

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge

The Judge, better known as the Yankees Triple-A outfielder Aaron Judge, was one of the four prospects inside the Yankees system deemed untouchable by New York’s GM Brian Cashman at the July 31^st trading deadline. Cashman stuck to his guns and his word and did not trade any of the four prospects we all know by now, Judge, Luis Severino, Greg Bird and Jorge Mateo, leaving the future just as bright in New York as it has ever been.

Judge battled a back injury, the Yankees won’t call it that but I will, that kept him off the disabled list but out of game for the RailRiders for right at a week. Judge was seen in the locker room with his back iced and wrapped up so however minor the flare up was, it is an injury. Judge has since returned last week and returned to hitting bombs out of PNC Park, a great sign for the Yankees outfielder and the team itself.

Judge is back, Judge is still a Yankee and Judge is still the future. Carlos Beltran is being put on notice.

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA-AAA	92	406	50	99	22	15	57	5	40	98	.277	.350	.482	.832
2015	AA	63	280	36	71	16	12	44	1	24	70	.284	.350	.516	.866
2015	AAA	29	126	14	28	6	3	13	4	16	28	.262	.349	.402	.751

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Abi Avelino Named FSL Player of the Week

Abiatal Avelino Named FSL Player of the Week

Tampa, Fla. - The Florida State League named Tampa Yankees Infielder Abiatal Avelino Player of the Week today. This honor was for games played July 27 - August 2, 2015.


Avelino played in eight (8) games and collected 13 hits in 30 plate appearances for a .433 batting average. He had one (1) homerun, scored eight (8) times and had two (2) RBI's. He had six (6) stolen bases, an OBP of .452 and a slugging percentage of .533.


This is the third year of professional baseball for the 2011 non-drafted free agent from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.


The Tampa Yankees are the Single-A Advanced Affiliate of the New York Yankees. For more information about the Tampa Yankees call (813) 673-3055 or visitwww.tybaseball.com.

This Day in New York Yankees History 8/4: A-Bomb x500 and A-Bomb x600

At one point in his career everyone thought that Alex Rodriguez would be the man to finally break Hank Aaron's and then Barry Bonds all-time home run mark. Alex hit two home runs on this day on his way to the record books. It all started in 2007 when Alex became the 22nd and the youngest player (32 years and 8 days) to hit 500 home runs. Alex only took 14 seasons to reach the mark when he hit the three run home run off Royals starter Kyle Davies. Alex joined Mickey Mantle as the only other player to hit his 500th home run inside Yankee Stadium.

A mere three years later on this day in 2010 Alex was in the news again for hitting a home run, this time his 600th home run of his career. Alex would pass Babe Ruth to become the youngest player in the history of baseball to reach the 600 home run plateau. A Rod's first inning two run home run would make him the seventh player in baseball history to reach 600 home runs.

Also on this day in 1985 the Yankees honored Phil Rizzuto by retiring his #10 jersey before the game. Rizzuto was a former Yankees player and a play by play color broadcaster that was best known for his "Holy Cow" expressions. The Yankees honored Rizzuto by a gift from the team of a cow wearing a halo.

Also on this day in 1985 Tom Seaver becomes the 17th player in major league history to win his 300th game. Seaver ruins Phil Rizzuto Day at Yankee Stadium by beating the Yankees 4-1 allowing only six singles to reach the milestone.

Finally on this day in 1968 the Yankees held their second of three days honoring the great Mickey Mantle. Prior to the game over 2000 fans paid tribute to the future Hall of Famer in the Bronx.