Yankees Prospect Banuelos to Compete for 2015 Rotation Spot

It appears the Yankees are finally convinced that Manny Banuelos is ready for the big leagues.

Team assistant general manager Billy Eppler recently told Baseball America that it expects Banuelos to compete for a spot in the 2015 rotation next spring. Banuelos, 23, missed all of 2013 due to Tommy John Surgery, and has a 3.29 ERA over six professional seasons.

“He was able to achieve the objective to build innings and increase the workload [this season],” Eppler said. “He was on a plan designed by Gil Patterson and monitored by our medical people.”

Banuelos is coming off a year in which his ERA was a somewhat high 4.11 at High-A Tampa, Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. According to Eppler, the average speed of Banuelos' fastball this season was also just 91.7 mph, a dip from the 95 he hovered around the year before.

Nonetheless, Eppler is confident in his abilities.

“He is still in the stage of where you have to watch him but he will be ready to roll in spring training," he said. "He will come in and compete for a job. The velocity was there and he developed a cutter as well.”

It's a safe bet that Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia and Brandon McCarthy (if he gets re-signed) are all already guaranteed starting jobs, but that shouldn't stop Banuelos from at least having a chance. Ivan Nova is expected to be out until May, essentially leaving the uncertain likes of Shane Greene and David Phelps as his only competition. 

Using BIP to Make the Case for Carlos Gonzalez

Earlier in the day we looked at Troy Tulowitzki’s BIP numbers if he had taken his 81 home games in Yankee Stadium in 2014 and not Coors Field. While the Yankees have a genuine need and desire for Tulo I do not believe the same can be said for outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. The Yankees outfield seems to be set barring any sort of a trade or injury but just for fun let’s also take a look at CarGo’s BIP locations from Coors Field in 2014 and see how they translate into Yankee Stadium.

Again we will use the same color code and same image to decipher the results:

Doubles

Home Runs

Fly Outs

As you can see Gonzalez would also benefit from leaving the friendly confides in Coors Field and moving his talents to right field in Yankee Stadium. CarGo could conceivably add 5-10 home runs a season or more in the Bronx if he were acquired and could, if healthy, add a potent bat to the Yankees lineup. I know it won't happen and I am not exactly convinced that it should happen but damn it would be nice on paper. 

Starting Pitchers Should Not Be Allowed to Win the MVP Award

It was reported on Thursday evening that Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the MVP Award for the American League and Clayton Kershaw won the award for the National League. I made this same argument when Justin Verlander won the award a few years back for the Tigers and I will make the same argument today, a starting pitcher should not be allowed to win the MVP Award in my opinion.

Starting pitchers have their own award that they can win and it’s called the Cy Young Award. How is it fair that Kershaw, who undoubtedly was the most valuable player in the league, can win the award for pitchers and the award predominantly for the positional players. If a positional player could win the Cy Young Award or the Mariano Rivera Award and such I would have no problem with it but they can’t. The relievers have their award, the pitchers have their award, and the positional players should have their award.

While I understand that the positional players have Silver Slugger Awards that does not carry the same weight as being the most valuable player in the league. It seems like a one-way street that only the pitchers can take in my opinion and it doesn’t seem right with me. As a member of the IBWAA I had an MVP vote and I refused to vote for Kershaw for that exact reason, I voted for Giancarlo Stanton.

This is a debate that will rage on forever I think and a debate that most feel extremely passionate about one way or the other. I won’t win this debate with anyone and I’m not interested in a debate because you won’t win one with me either. This is my opinion and my opinion is that a starting pitcher who pitches every fifth day and has their own prestigious award should not be allowed to win the MVP.

Discuss. 

Yoan Moncada Gets Graded

Yoan Moncada held a showcase for team's and while I could bore you with the details how he took ground balls at every position and took batting practice and yada yada yada I will simply cut to the chase and jump to the grades. In case you didn't know a scout grades players on a 20-80 scale with 80 obviously being the best. A player with average speed, hitting, etc. will receive a 50 so anything below is below average and anything above is above average and so on and so on. The papers are graded and here are the results:

Hit - 60
Power - 60
Arm - 60
Speed - 70
Fielding - 50

Using BIP to Make a Case for Troy Tulowitzki

The Colorado Rockies have at least opened their phone lines to discuss deals for both Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. The New York Yankees undoubtedly have an interest in Tulowitzki as their shortstop position is currently vacant and their offense in 2014 is still missing in action. When New York acquires or discusses bringing in a big star player to the Bronx I like to take a look at their Balls in Play, or BIP, from their old stadium and compare it to Yankee Stadium.

Many around the league are quick to point out the flaws in Tulo’s game including his injury history and his Coors Field and road game splits. What I did in the image below is I took all the balls that Tulo hit in Coors Field and compared them to Yankee Stadium. Use the color chart below to decipher the image.

Doubles

Home Runs

Fly Outs

As you can see Tulo would have gained power from hitting in Yankee Stadium. There is always discussions about younger players about their doubles turning into home runs eventually and that is exactly what would happen with Tulo if he came to the Bronx. Conceivably at least two of his fly outs would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium and with the right wind current a few more could have gone out. Tulo would actually get better in New York looking at this picture... imagine that in Pinstripes.

TGP Daily Poll: A Rod is Still a Yankee on Opening Day

Everyone around the league, the fans especially, want Alex Rodriguez off the Yankees either by suspension, retirement, or a buy out of his contract. A Rod will be a Yankee on Opening Day.

Vote in our poll!!

This Day in New York Yankees History 11/15: A Rod wins 2nd Yankee MVP

On this day in 2005 the Yankees Alex Rodriguez won his second MVP award in three seasons edging out the Red Sox David Ortiz in the vote. Ortiz may have won the award had he played a position and not been a full time DH, sparking a heated debate and controversy, but the Yankees and Alex will take it either way.

Also on this day in 2001 Roger Clemens won the American League Cy Young award with a 20-3 record with a 3.51 ERA. Roger would become the first player to win this award for the sixth time in his career and the first Yankees player to win the award since Ron Guidry won it in 1978.

Also on this day in 1961 Roger Maris won his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award after setting the single season home run record with 61 round trippers. Maris only beat the second place finisher, his teammate Mickey Mantle, by four votes with a 202-198 vote.

Finally on this day in 1951 the Yankees Gil McDougald won the American League Rookie of the Year Award. It is worth noting that Willie Mays won the award in the National League on the same day. It is also worth noting that neither player were listed on their team’s original Spring Training rosters.

Pettitte's Advice to A-Rod on How to Deal With a Steroid Scandal

Former Yankees Pitcher Andy Pettitte has broken his silence on Alex Rodriguez' steroid scandal.

The 42-year-old retiree, who last played Major League ball in 2013, said that Rodriguez should just admit his wrongdoings. Pettitte, who was cited in the Mitchell Report in 2007, essentially did the same thing after it came out that he had taken HGH in 2002, though he claimed he only did so to speed up the healing of an elbow injury.

"Just get everything out," Pettitte told ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews Thursday night. "Everything has to be out, otherwise it seems like something's always chasing you around. That’s just the best way to do things, I think, the easiest way to do things."

Pettitte played alongside Rodriguez from 2007-2010 and from 2012-2013, winning three division titles and a World Series with him during that time. He had three series-clinching victories in the 2009 playoffs, the same ones in which Rodriguez hit .365 with six home runs. 

"Whatever’s out, I hope it’s all out and he can move forward and be a productive player, because I care about him, I do," Pettitte said. "He's a friend of mine. Once you play with a guy and you get to know him, you spend time with him, you just love him and I do. I wish him nothing but the best."

As is likely the case with the rest of the Yankees family. Nonetheless, with the recent revelations that Rodriguez paid his cousin $900,000 to keep quiet before urinating on said cousin's floor, it'd be strange if a confession suddenly fixed everything here, regardless of how sincere it may be. 

Marlins and Stanton About To Make History

It's not official yet, but pretty soon Yankees fans can take solace in the fact that their team no longer has the highest paid player in baseball history*.

Jon Heyman was the first to report that the Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton are about to finalize a 13 year contract worth $325 million.

I'd be smiling pretty damn big too if I was about to make that much money.

It's hard to believe a team with a payroll under $50 million last season will pay one of their players $25 million (or that's what the average annual value of the deal would be), but if anybody in the league deserves that type of payday it's Giancarlo.

Stanton finished the 2014 season with a batting line of .288/.395/.555, to go along with 37 home runs. It was recently announced that he finished 2nd in National League Most Valuable Award voting behind Clayton Kershaw.

It's being said the not only will Stanton get the largest contract in baseball history, but his deal will include an opt-out clause. So the chances of seeing Giancarlo in pinstripes is not dead. Although, I'm afraid that it will be after the eighth year of his contract, when he'll be 35 years old and on the decline.


*Unfortunately, those same Yankees fans still have to come to terms with their team paying Alex Rodriguez $61 million over the next three years for next to nothing. 

MLB Games Don't Need to be Sped Up

Major League Baseball is continuing their undying quest to speed up the game of baseball this offseason by putting together a committee whose sole job is to find ways to speed up the game. The reasoning for the change is that the average MLB game eclipsed the three hour mark in 2014 and I respond with a "so what?"

While I understand that MLB plays 162 games a season and plays almost every single night where as the NFL plays once a week and the NBA plays three to four times a week. If you look at the average times per game in the three major leagues you have 3:08 for MLB while scoring is down across the league. In the NFL we used the 2013 season as the 2014 season is incomplete and came up with 3:10 with a mere 11 minutes of "action" in the game. The NBA apparently doesn't have this problem or keep track because I could not find the stat anywhere but those fourth quarters, especially when close, are brutal with constant time outs and such.

Why should MLB increase their game speed while the NFL, who kills MLB in ratings, continues to pack more commercials and less action into their games and are doing it successfully? By the way in case you were wondering here are some of the rules that are being discussed and likely to be implemented in 2015:

1. Batter's Box Rule: The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter's box throughout his at-bat, unless one of a series of established exceptions occurs, in which case the batter may leave the batter's box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate. (Exceptions include a foul ball or a foul tip; a pitch forcing the batter out of the batter's box; “time” being requested and granted; a wild pitch or a passed ball; and several others.)
2. No-Pitch Intentional Walks: In the event a team decides to intentionally walk a batter, no pitches shall be thrown. Instead, the manager shall signal to the home plate umpire with four fingers, and the batter should proceed to first base to become a runner.
3. 20-Second Rule [AT 17 SALT RIVER FIELDS HOME GAMES ONLY]: A modified version of Rule 8.04, which discourages unnecessary delays by the pitcher, shall apply. Rule 8.04 requires the pitcher to deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball with the bases unoccupied. The penalty prescribed by Rule 8.04 for a pitcher's violation of the Rule is that the umpire shall call “Ball.”