Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays 8/8

The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays face off again head-to-head this afternoon at Yankee Stadium with a familiar face in a new place taking the mound in the Bronx. The Yankees will send Ivan Nova to the mound looking to build on his strong outing last time out to face off with the Blue Jays newest toy, David Price. The Yankees have done well against Price in recent years and especially have this season but Price is too good of a pitcher to feel too much confidence against heading into the matchup. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

• Nova heads into this start fresh off a dominant start last time out. Nova has made seven starts since returning off the disabled list from Tommy John surgery and holds a 3.10 ERA in that span. As expected Nova has struggled with his command at times and has not struck out nearly as many batters as he did in 2013 and prior but has pitched well enough to give the Yankees a chance to win in almost all seven of his starts.

• Price heads into this start against the Yankees, his second in a Blue Jays uniform, fresh off a dominant performance in his last start. Price allowed zero runs in eight innings retiring the last 15 batters he faced in a Toronto victory. Price struck out 11 batters and will look to get the monkey off his back with the Yankees uniform on tonight.

Day games inside Yankee Stadium are always really frustrating or really fun for the fans. I say that because the ball tends to fly out of the ballpark a lot in the Bronx during the day and these two teams can absolutely smash the ball. The Blue Jays may have the best offense in Major League Baseball this season while the Yankees may have the best home team offense in the league, despite what the stats may say. This is going to be fun, or frustrating, but hopefully fun. Go Yankees!

TGP Daily Poll: #TooManyDamnHRs

The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays are both known for hitting the long ball and face off three times this weekend in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium is known for giving up its home runs, especially during the day, with New York will hitting more this series.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Jorge Mateo

Jorge Mateo, one of the four untouchable Yankees prospects at this season’s trading deadline, has been stellar this season to say the least. His bat is light years ahead of what it was at this point in 2014 and his stolen base totals are going through the roof with every passing game. Mateo has run and hit his way onto the top of most every Yankees prospects list and has also run his way all the way to the High-A Tampa Yankees after being promoted from the Low-A Charleston Riverdogs.

Mateo has a very outside shot at stealing over 100 bases combined this season between his time in Charleston and Tampa, although he would really have to pick up the pace in order to do so, and at one point this season had an outside shot at chasing down Billy Hamilton’s all-time stolen base record for a single season in Minor League Baseball. While the stolen base record would have been nice a fully, healthy and productive season will have to do for Mateo.

Congratulations on the call up Jorge and keep up the outstanding work!

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	A-A+	98	419	54	102	18	2	33	74	37	82	.273	.342	.385	.727
2015	A	96	409	51	98	18	2	33	71	36	80	.268	.338	.378	.716
2015	A+	2	10	3	4	0	0	0	3	1	2	.444	.500	.667	1.167

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

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This Day In New York Yankees History 8/8: The New Yankee Stadium

The 2000 edition of the New York Yankees consistently showed a ton of heart and a never say die attitude. This was on display once again on this day in 2000 when the Yankees went into the bottom of the ninth inning down 3-2 to the Oakland Athletics with the Oakland closer Jason Isringhausen on the mound. Isringhausen would throw just two pitches on this day allowing a home run to Bernie Williams on the first pitch he saw and another home run to David Justice on the first pitch he saw. Just like that the Yankees went from being down 3-2 to walking off with a 4-3 victory in the Bronx.

Also on this day in 1972 the Yankees put to sleep the rumors that the Yankees may be leaving Yankee Stadium as they signed a new 30 year lease to play in the "new" Yankee Stadium starting in 1976. The Yankees would honor the 50th birthday of Yankee Stadium in 1973 and would play their home games in the Mets Shea Stadium for the next two seasons while the House that Ruth Built was remodeled.

Finally on this day in 1970 the Yankees held Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium where Casey Stengel was honored before the game. The Yankees honored Stengel by retiring his #37 uniform number since he led the team to seven World Series championships during his 12 year tenure with the Yankees from 1949-1960.

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays 8/7

There’s no such thing as a meaningless August series in 2015 because parity is in full form around Major League Baseball. That will be on full display this evening as the New York Yankees welcome the revamped Toronto Blue Jays to Yankee Stadium for a three game weekend series in the Bronx. The Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound tonight to face off against their second knuckleball pitcher in RA Dickey. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees play host to Troy Tulowitzki all weekend long and David Price at the stadium tomorrow so be sure to click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog to see these games live. If you can’t make it out to Yankee Stadium then that’s no problem, simply jump on Twitter and follow @GreedyStripes to root like hell for the home team.

TBA is ready to do work and deliver another series victory for the Yankees and I’m ready to keep this high powered offense down so ESPN will shut up about it for a night. Go Yankees!

Rethinking the Idea of a Salary Cap in MLB

Whenever I was asked the question, as a Yankees fan, whether I would care if Major League Baseball instituted a salary cap I always claimed that I would be all for it. Much like we see in the NFL or the NBA year after year there are always those one or two veterans who have always wanted to play for (fill in the blank) or are chasing a championship ring or trophy who sign for the league minimum. There are also the players who are willing to take less money and restructure their contracts to bring in or keep another player a la Peyton Manning or Tom Brady which are all factors that I think would help the Yankees still “get their man” while playing within the rules. Then I got rethinking the whole salary cap thing with the new collective bargaining agreement expiring after the 2016 season.

First and foremost why would you want to fix what isn’t broken? Major League Baseball has been flourishing in attendance, television deals etc. for quite a few years now with loads of young talent and money flooding the game right now. Why mess with that by forcing a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees or other high market teams to carry lesser players just to save a few bucks here or there? Also, why bankrupt (for lack of a better word) teams like the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays who aren’t lighting $100 bills in their fireplace all winter long to stay warm because with any sort of salary cap comes a salary floor as well.

Player salaries are down across the board in Major League Baseball believe it or not from a high of 56% of all revenue being paid to players in 2002 down to 38% as recent as 2014. These rates will continue to go down as you see fewer and fewer Alex Rodriguez type mega contracts and more and more reliance on young studs and rookies, not to mention new television deals like the St. Louis Cardinals just signed for an easy $1 BILLION.

The Yankees would continue to win with or without the salary cap simply because of the team’s popularity and such not only domestically about around the world. The problem here is that I think the league would lose in the long run with a salary cap so let’s hope the owners and MLB Players Association pass on that before 2017. 

Can CC Sabathia Be Relied On in October?

"Maybe I can try to hit instead?"

The New York Yankees seem like the team is ready to break their long stretch of two consecutive missed postseasons and look primed to at least win one of the two Wild Card spots available in the American League. The plan is obviously to win the American League East Division but for the sake of simplicity let’s say the Yankees simply make it into the playoffs, can the team really afford to rely on CC Sabathia in a five-game or seven-game series?

Sabathia hasn’t been all bad in 2015, it has been close but not all bad, but it seems like when some pitchers are getting stronger and better it feels like CC is beginning to regress again. I don’t have a stat to back that up and I don’t have this long drawn out analytic reason for why I think it, I am just a guy that watches every game and knows what he sees. CC is going deep into games less and less, he’s getting right-handed bats out less and less not that he did much of it at the beginning of the season and now he’s beginning to get left-handed hitters out less and less. Is it fatigue? Is it enough of a sample size to scout and prepare for? Or is it simply CC isn’t as effective and is leaving pitches up and over the plate? Unfortunately, I do not know.

The fact of the matter is in a five-game playoff series the Yankees will need a third starter and maybe even a fourth starter depending on the schedule that has yet to be released. Assuming health is not a factor you have Masahiro Tanaka lined up for a Game One start or a one-game playoff in the Wild Card Round while you have Michael Pineda lined up to take the ball in Game Two. At this point I’m not sure who I would take when it comes to Sabathia and Ivan Nova, Nathan Eovaldi has to be a lock by now though, but I believe New York would rely on the lefty before Nova in the postseason. That could potentially be a disaster for New York, especially if they use Tanaka in a one game playoff.

The good news for New York is that they can make some sort of trade or call up to rectify the situation. Maybe that solution pitched Wednesday night for the Yankees, Luis Severino, but one thing is for certain… CC Sabathia seemingly cannot be relied on anymore. You might get some good starts out of him but on a consistent basis Sabathia is done. Bottom line. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays 8/7

The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays start a big three game series this weekend at Yankee Stadium as both teams are fighting for the American League East Division crown. The Yankees have a nice lead in the division, although Toronto has cut into that lead since the All-Star Break and since the July 31^st trading deadline has come and gone, while the Blue Jays are looking to make the playoffs for the first time in my lifetime of watching the game. Tonight New York will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound looking to put another game between the Yankees and the Blue Jays while Toronto will send knuckleball pitcher RA Dickey to the mound hoping to close the gap. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

• Eovaldi has been all you could ask for and maybe some more as far as back-end of the rotation starters the last two months for the Yankees. For most of the summer Eovaldi has not allowed more than three runs in a game, the last time coming on June 10, and has given the Yankees some strong starts this season. His biggest issue has been, and maybe always will be, going deep into games so hopefully he takes that next step forward tonight.

• Dickey has been red hot lately allowing just two earned runs or fewer in each of his last five starts. Dickey is riding a modest three game winning streak but goes up against a Yankees pitcher in Eovaldi who is getting nearly seven runs of run support every single start so something will have to give tonight in the Bronx.

The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays have 13 more games head-to-head this season including tonight’s contest which should make for an exciting two months of baseball. The Yankees stood pat and relied on their own in Luis Severino at the trading deadline while the Blue Jays took the polar opposite approach unloading a slew of prospects for established veteran players. Which route will reign supreme in 2015? That question begins to be answered tonight. Go Yankees!

Five Bold Predictions for the Rest of 2015

The New York Yankees have less than two months left in their 2015 season and things have gone according to plan thus far, can that continue though? New York has gotten more than expected out of the likes of Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and the overall health of the club while second base among other positions continues to be a black hole at times this season. Nobody knows what is going to happen for sure with the team going forward but I didn’t get nicknamed “The Yankees Wizard” on twitter last season for nothing so here are five bold predictions for the rest of the 2015 Yankees season.

Alex Rodriguez will finish the 2015 season with 30 home runs on the dot. Alex came into the 2015 season with expectations at an all-time low and has crushed them along with many, many fastballs over the fences around the league. The last time Alex hit 30 home runs in a season was in 2009

 Robert Refsnyder comes up and stays up with the big league club. The Yankees are riding the hot bats of Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan now but it won’t last forever, if it even lasts long at all. Refsnyder will be up and get the same confidence and backing from management that Luis Severino is getting now.

 CC Sabathia ends the 2015 season on the disabled list. Sabathia has shown no signs of breaking down physically since his knee surgery in the offseason but the less and less effective he is the more I believe something may be wrong physically.

 The streak will continue. I was born in the Bronx, New York and have since moved down to Atlanta, Georgia where my live Yankees watching has become few and far between. In my 29 years of living I have never once seen the Yankees lose while I was in the stands and that streak continues on August 29^th when I’m down in Atlanta watching them play the Atlanta Braves.
 

The New York Yankees will not only win the American League East Division but they will also win the 2015 World Series. The AL East seems easier said than done at this point but I have faith in this team and I truly think, if healthy, this team is special. Sure the starting rotation isn’t top notch and the offense relies on #TooManyDamnHRs sometimes but they find new and inventive ways to win every single night it seems and play their best against the best teams and the best pitchers. That’s scary for opposing teams in the postseason. Those are mine, what are yours?

Leave them below in the comments section.