Yankees Trade Partners: The Chicago White Sox Redeux

We’ve already discussed the Chicago White Sox as potential trade partners for the New York Yankees once this season but that was when many of us were under the impression that the Chi Sox were in the hunt as buyers at the August 1^st trading deadline. Recent comments from their GM Rick Hahn state otherwise as the team is now prepared to once again rebuild so we have decided to give the White Sox a redeux, or remix, to their trade partner post to see if the team still matches up with New York on a potential trade this season.

If the White Sox decide to totally blow up the team the most attractive, and most expensive, pieces Chicago has will be left-handed starting pitchers Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. Both would also fit into the plans for the Yankees as they search for controllable players beyond the 2017 season. Sale is under contract through the 2019 season while Quintana is an absolute bargain, in my opinion, through the 2020 season. The problem, which has been the problem in New York for quite a few years now, is whether Brian Cashman would be willing to part with the prospects that it would take to land one or both of these arms.

You would have to think that Jose Abreu would at least be discussed in a deal if Chicago were to start selling off everything that isn’t tied down and the general consensus is that New York will be in the market for a first baseman this winter. Whether that first baseman is intended to start or serve as insurance for Greg Bird will obviously be determined by how Bird progresses from shoulder surgery but if the team were to land a talent like Abreu, which again would be expensive and because of that unlikely, you have to think Brian Cashman at least has that conversation with Rick Hahn. Abreu is just 29-years old and under contract through the 2019 season.

The final piece the Yankees would possibly be interested in, with an extension anyway, is third baseman Todd Frazier. Now I know what you’re thinking, the Yankees already have Chase Headley. You’re right but in a perfect world who would you rather have going forward? Headley or Frazier? Yes, Frazier. Frazier is a free agent after the 2017 season and is 30-years old so he isn’t the ideal candidate but like I alluded to earlier he is a major upgrade over Headley in my opinion. Also Headley has been much better of late and his contract isn’t like an Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira contract that is close to unmovable as possible.

Will the Yankees get any of these players from Chicago if they decide to sell? Stay tuned and find out.

Weekly Prospects Check In: Tyler Austin

The New York Yankees may have found something in Tyler Austin but it was possibly at the worst time for the young first baseman. Austin has been played all over the diamond since being drafted by the Yankees and was called up and given the first base duties basically out of necessity and thankfully for the Yankees Austin caught fire and the team may have found some lightening in a bottle. The bad news for Austin is that Mark Teixeira is attempting, and successfully attempting thus far, a rehab program with his knee, Chris Parmelee is almost back from his hamstring injury and the road to the Major Leagues is just as blocked as ever for Austin.

It’s a shame that in New York the injuries have to pile up and the player has to voice his opinion loudly enough o warrant a two week suspension before the moves that so obviously need to be made get done. We’re still rooting for you Tyler, keep proving them wrong! You beat cancer, you can beat a couple ignorant front office people in the Yankees organization. 

Year	Age	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	24	AA-AAA	89	377	52	91	26	15	66	4	51	87	.283	.379	.509	.889
2016	24	AA	50	210	22	46	10	4	29	1	30	46	.260	.367	.395	.762
2016	24	AAA	39	167	30	45	16	11	37	3	21	41	.310	.395	.648	1.043

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day in New York Yankees History 7/23: Gehrig’s Grand Slams

During the 2013 season Alex Rodriguez became the all-time leader in career grand slams in Major League Baseball history when he hit his 24th grand slam of his career. Rodriguez tied fellow Yankee Lou Gehrig with his 23rd grand slam of his career in June of the 2012 season against the Atlanta Braves. Gehrig had been the all-time grand slam leader for over 60 seasons before Alex tied and passed him. It all started way back on this day in 1925 when Gehrig hit his first grand slam of his career.

The Yankees would beat the Washington Senators 11-7 on this day with Gehrig's grand slam as the difference. Gehrig would hit 22 more grand slams during his 17 year tenure as the Yankees Captain and Iron Horse.

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants 7/22

Interleague Play time. Game time. Tanaka Time. It’s time! It is time for the New York Yankees to play host to the San Francisco Giants in the first of a three game set here this weekend in the Bronx. In the first matchup of the weekend the Yankees will send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound on regular rest to face off against the ace for the Giants in Madison Bumgarner. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

See Jeff Samardzija back in the Bronx tomorrow and the NL starter in the All-Star Game Johnny Cueto on Sunday in the Bronx live by clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. Also be sure to look the part and grab a TGP T-Shirt by clicking that section at the top of the blog as well. There are more than just the showcased Jacoby Ellsbury milk carton shirt that immediately pops up so give the site a look around.

Follow along during this game and every game this season either by liking us on Facebook or by giving us a follow on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes. Tanaka vs. Bumgarner. This one will either be really, really fun or really, really frustrating. Stay tuned to find out which one. Go Yankees!

Yankees Minor League Pitcher Suspended & the Game is Still Not Clean

Ladies and gentleman this game that we all know and love called Major League Baseball is not clean and it likely never will be. No matter what penalty you associate with a failed test for drugs, alcohol, steroids or behavior human beings are going to continue being human beings and I think that fact needs to be remembered when the new collective bargaining agreement is talked about and presumably agreed upon this winter. This game is not clean and I don’t believe doubling or even tripling the suspensions again will make it clean. Keep reading.

Four more minor league players have been suspended this week for failed drug tests including one member of the Yankees farm system. Jean Peralta is a pitcher in the Yankees organization and he, Angelo Almonte (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Jose Pinales (Chicago White Sox) all received 72 game suspensions while Wally Vrolijk of the Baltimore Orioles received a 50 game suspension.

Almonte, Peralta and Pinales all tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol while Vrolijk tested positive for the stimulant Methylhexanamine. With these four suspensions, which all come from the Dominican Summer League just as an FYI, the grand total of minor league suspensions climbs to 61 while under the Major League program there have been 13 suspensions in 2016.

And those numbers will continue to climb. Why? Because 61 have gotten caught in the minor leagues and only 13 in the Major Leagues and you can possibly double, triple or quadruple that and get the amount of players who haven’t been caught and may never get caught. The risk is worth the reward, look at Alex Rodriguez’s annual salary and lifetime earnings if you disagree with that.

This game is not clean ladies and gentleman and it never will be. 

Press Release: Thunder Announce 2017 Schedule

Press Release - July 21, 2016

Thunder Announce 2017 Schedule

With just a few weeks of fun remaining in the 2016 Thunder season, the team and the Eastern League announced the first look at the 2017 schedule this afternoon.

The Thunder will begin the 2017 campaign with a seven-game road trip and will celebrate Opening Night at ARM & HAMMER Park onThursday, April 13 against the Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox).

2017 will feature 10 straight home games against the rivals of the Thunder beginning on May 19 when the Portland Sea Dogs, Reading Fightin Phils (Philadelphia Phillies), and Binghamton Mets (New York Mets) all visit ARM & HAMMER Park. Reading travels to Trenton for three series' in 2017, May 22-25, July 4-6, and September 1-4. In all, the Thunder will host their rivals 23 times in the 2017 season.

The team will play 10 home games in April, 16 in May, 14 in June, 13 in July, 13 in August and four in September. The Thunder play 70 home games against all 11 Eastern League opponents. All affiliates between Eastern League teams and MLB Parent clubs will remain the same as 2016.

Mid-week day games will continue at ARM & HAMMER Park in 2017 with 10:30am "Education Day" games slated for Thursday April 20,Wednesday May 3, and Wednesday May 24. Special "Camp Day" games are scheduled for Wednesday July 26 and Wednesday August 16. The Thunder will also play their annual "Business Person's Special" at 2:00pm on Wednesday August 23 at ARM & HAMMER Park.

The schedule for fireworks dates and promotions for 2017 will be released at a later date.

Fans can join a waiting list for 2017 ticket packages by calling 609-394-3300.

2017 Schedule

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants 7/22

The New York Yankees stay home after an impressive series victory over the Baltimore Orioles to welcome in the probable 2016 World Series Champions (because it’s an even year and because I’m feeling extremely sarcastic today) in the San Francisco Giants to town. On paper, and thank goodness these games are not played on paper, this has all the makings of being a tough and frustrating weekend for the Yankees and their fans as the Giants send their three best pitchers to the mound to square off against the Yankees with Madison Bumgarner taking the mound in the opener. Opposing the former World Series MVP will be the Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka. Happy Tanaka Day.

Tanaka had possibly his best start of the season last time out when he held the Boston Red Sox to just three hits in six innings of work on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Tanaka did give up a solo home run to Dustin Pedroia for his only earned run of the contest while walking one and striking out seven before handing the win over to “No Runs DMC.”

Bumgarner will be making his first ever trip and appearance at Yankee Stadium, the new one or the original, tonight as he looks to improve on a sketchy interleague play record for his career. In 19 regular-season interleague starts Bumgarner has posted a career 8-7 record with a 3.75 ERA. The postseason on the other hands is a whole different story.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. Madison Bumgarner wanted to participate in the Home Run Derby this season and while it was probably a good idea that he didn’t, no one was touching my pick to win it Giancarlo Stanton, it will still be fun to watch him hit in a very hitters friendly ballpark in the Bronx. It will also be interesting to see the Yankees ace and the Giants ace face off head-to-head tonight inside Yankee Stadium. Go Yankees!

Yankees Batters vs. Giants Pitching

There are good things and bad things about everything in life including Interleague Play in Major League Baseball. The good thing about Interleague Play is you get to face teams that you normally wouldn’t face and see players live or on television that you normally wouldn’t see but the downside, at least for American League fans, is seeing their pitchers hitting, running the bases and potentially hurting themselves. Thankfully for New York they begin a three-game Interleague matchup tonight with the San Francisco Giants but the games will take place in the Bronx where the pitchers don’t hit and the porch is short in right field.

Let’s see what the Yankees offense has done against the Giants pitching throughout their careers:

All stats and photos courtesy of ESPN.com

Weekly Prospects Check In: Jorge Mateo

Jorge Mateo returned from his two week suspension on Wednesday as he continues to search for what else he could possibly do to earn a promotion to Double-A Trenton. Mateo was suspended just before the All-Star break and the XM Futures Game for a violation of team policy which we all presumed and assumed meant that he spouted off at the mouth because he was frustrated that he wasn’t called up yet. At least that would coincide with the report from George A. King that stated Mateo was frustrated that he hadn’t received the promotion yet.

So Mateo is back and here are his stats he hopes to see transferred to the Trenton Thunder very soon: 

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	21	Tampa	77	345	47	83	9	6	36	26	25	75	.266	.322	.404	.725

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day in New York Yankees History 7/22: The Mick Mans Shortstop

As you probably know we like to bring you this day in New York Yankees history every single day for better or worse. Well today it's the worse as on this day in 2012 the Yankees set a franchise record and not one they want to remember. The Oakland Athletics would tie the game with a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and would later complete the sweep with a 5-4 walk off victory of the Yankees in the 12th inning. This marks the first time in Yankees history that New York was swept in a four game series while losing all four games by only one run. Ouch.

Also on this day in 2007 the Yankees knocked around Devil Rays pitcher Shawn Camp to the tune of three home runs and nine hits in 1.1 innings of relief. The Yankees would rout the Rays 21-4 and send the Yankee Stadium crowd home happy.

Finally on this day in 1954 Casey Stengel, probably the best manager of all time in my opinion, moved Mickey Mantle to shortstop from center field in the top of the 9th inning to add another bat to the lineup. Mantle would respond by hitting a walk off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat the White Sox 4-3.