Two Prospects In Dominican League Top Prospects List

Two New York Yankees prospects have been included in Ben Badler of Baseball America's top prospects list from the Dominican Summer League. Rafael DePaula, who seems like he has been in the Yankees system forever because he should have been in the system a long time ago, made the list to the surprise of nobody after making a strong professional debut as a starting pitcher last season. He is expected to move through the Yankees system rather quickly and will definitely be stateside in 2013. Yankees SS Abiatal Avelino is also on the list after signing for $300K back in 2011. Avelino is also expected to come state side in 2013 with the Charleston Riverdogs so watch out for both of these guys.

Manny Ramirez Has Verbal Agreement W/ Taiwanese Team

First I will say that I fully realize that Manny Ramirez is not a Yankees player, never has been, and never will be a New York Yankees player. I will give the readers a little bit of a back story behind The Greedy Pinstripes, where the name came from, and how it relates to Manny Ramirez. In the off season before the 2009 season where the Yankees signed CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixeira, and traded for Nick Swisher I playfully lobbied for the Yankees to sign Manny Ramirez. I can remember the Yankees need for right handed power, for a left fielder, for clutch hitting, and basically every other good thing that came along with Manny Ramirez. The fact that it would be a slap in the face to the Boston Red Sox did not hurt either but that is for another day's discussion. I started saying "Get Greedy, Get Manny" after every post on this forum that I used to be a member of and it caught fire in the forum so before I knew it I had a bit of a following behind me. What started out as a joke turned into a Yankees fan alliance of sorts and the "Get Greedy" mentality and such never seemed to die down so when we decided to start our own Yankees fan blog we knew we had to incorporate the "greedy" aspect into it and The Greedy Pinstripes were born.

I said all that to say this...

Manny Ramirez has a verbal agreement to play baseball in 2013 for a Taiwanese team, the EDA Rhinos of the Chinese Independent League, although the deal will not be official until March 7th of this year. Ramirez has until that date to find a major league team to sign with but reportedly his agents called every American League team that needed a power right handed bat and nobody showed any significant interest in Manny. With a career .312/.411/.585 triple slash with 555 home runs you figured it would not be difficult for Manny to find a home with a team as a DH but I guess that is where three failed steroid/performance enhancing drug tests come into play. 

Scranton Rail Riders New Mascot Competition

The Scranton Rail Riders have released the two finalists to see which mascot will join Champ at Scranton home games this season. The mascots will be named in a Name The Mascot contest with elementary school students from around the Scranton area picking the winning name.

CC Sabathia & Family Does The Harlem Shake

The Harlem Shake, for some unforeseen reason( maybe I am finally starting to get old), is the newest craze on the internet and has even made its way to the major leagues. Yankees starter CC Sabathia and family made their own Harlem Shake video and shared it with us via Youtube. Check it out!

We Will Not Be Seeing A Johnny Damon Reunion

Johnny Damon threw his name into the hat as a potential replacement for Curtis Granderson after he fractured his forearm and will miss the next 10 weeks. Damon even said that he was willing to accept the league minimum salary and would knowingly sign until Granderson came back from injury and then move on if that is what the Yankees wanted, which I do not know if you can put that kind of language into a contract but for the league minimum I guess the Yankees could eat the salary anyway happily. Brian Cashman has already all but shot down the idea of a Damon reunion in reports since the injury though. Damon is kind of expecting to be overlooked once again since the Yankees chose to sign Nick Johnson instead of him for the 2010 season and chose to sign Raul Ibanez in 2012 instead of him.

Joba Chamberlain As A Starter? Here We Go Again..

We all remember the fiasco with the "Joba Rules" and the innings and pitch limits set on Joba Chamberlain when the Yankees experimented with him as a starting pitcher not too long ago and we may have to hear about it just a little more. In a post game interview Joba was asked what his ultimate aspiration would be as a Major Leaguer and his answer was to be a starting pitcher. His 2008 shoulder injury ultimately sealed the deal with Joba as a starter but he still believes that he can do it. I want to make it clear that he never requested being put in the rotation or said he thinks he should be a starter he just answered a question honestly and will probably catch flak for it.

Joba said in the interview "do you think you have the capability to start? Yes." Joba went on to say "Do I have four pitched that I can throw for a strike? Yes. Do I have two plus pitches in the bullpen that I can throw at any time? Yes. I feel like I'm good enough to do both. I've proven that I can do both." No worries Yankees fans though Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi quickly shot down the idea of Joba as a starter this season so maybe we won't have to hear about this all season long.

Kevin Youkilis Scratched With Sore Oblique

Kevin Youkilis has been scratched from today's Spring Training game with a sore left oblique. He will be shut down for a few days while he rests it. Here we go again with the year of the injury.

New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies 2/26

The New York Yankees continue their Grapefruit League schedule today while playing the Philadelphia Phillies this afternoon in their fourth Spring Training game of the young season. The Yankees will send young pitcher Jose A. Ramirez to the mound as he was recently added to the 40 man roster this season. The game will be televised at 1:00 pm ET on MLB Network.

Teixeira, Ichiro, Murphy provide offense as Yanks fall to Phillies 4-3

Spring Training is Spring Training so the Yankees losing three in a row shouldn't be that alarming, especially since the Yankees placed all their minor leaguers in during the 6th inning. However, if you're a fan, you'd like to see more than one win come from the Yankees so the Yankees are going to have to try and go back to the drawing board to figure out what they have to do to win tomorrow. But instead of talking about how the Yankees lost, let's take a look at some positives from today's game.

Mark Teixeira: Teixeira provided the Yankees with an early lead in the ball game, hitting an RBI double that scored Ichiro Suzuki. Teixeira was 1-for-3 on the day, but we'll take the RBI.

Ichiro Suzuki: It looks as if Ichiro and Brett Gardner are having their own little competition. After Gardner had a three-hit day yesterday, Ichiro answered back with a three-hit day of his own. He also showed hustle and was a thrill to watch as he ran around the bases. Typical Ichiro.

David Robertson: David Robertson made his Spring debut today and proved that he still had it, pitching a scoreless inning although he gave up a walk. I would say Robertson is in mid-season form if he can have constant 1-2-3 innings.

Joba Chamberlain: Joba Chamberlain (along with his unpopular mustache) made his Spring debut as well, also working a scoreless inning although he gave up the first hit for the Phillies to Ryan Howard. Still, it was a good outing. He also made sure to ruffle some feathers when he said that he believes he could be a starter again.

J.R Murphy: J.R Murphy came into the game during the 7th inning, but he made a lasting impression during the end of the game when he hit a towering 2-run HR to give the Yankees at the time a 3-1 lead. He then doubled in the 9th while the Yankees were trailing 4-3 yet he just missed his second HR of the game.

HONORABLE MENTION

Eduardo Nunez: Nunez went 0-for-3 today, I know--but at first he gave some fans a warm and hearty laugh when his helmet fell off after showing some hustle to first base. The warm and hearty laughter soon turned into annoyance after his helmet fell off another two times, making us wonder if Nunez might want to consider getting a new helmet size.

WHAT'S NEXT: 

-- Tomorrow the Yankees will play the Baltimore Orioles at GMS Field at 1:05 p.m. only on YES Network.

Spring Training 2/26/13 Lineup

Eduardo Nunez SS
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Travis Hafner DH
Matt Diaz LF
Melky Mesa CF
Bobby Wilson C
Addison Maruszak 3B

RHP Jose Ramirez

Start Time: 1:05 p.m
T.V: MLB.TV (Philadelphia Phillies T.V) 

UPDATE:

Youkilis scratched from Yankees lineup (left oblique). Will be reevaluated in a couple of days, Girardi said.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) February 26, 2013