Monday, August 27, 2012

Roger Clemens Looks Good In Independent League


Roger Clemens, at age 50, proved that he can still get hitters out. Those hitters may be in the Independent League but still that league is full of former majors leaguers. Roger Clemens pitched 3.1 IP in his first start in nearly five years while striking out two guys, allowing one hit, no walks, while throwing 37 pitches and hitting as high as 88 mph.

Obviously Clemens is trying to get back to the majors to delay his Hall of Fame eligibility, which would reset if he throws just one major league pitch this season, but he is not saying that. If he just has the competitive spirit and wants to pitch in the Independent League to get it out of his system, fine. Just do not lie to us yet "again" Roger and that will go farther then five years of waiting and hoping that people "misremember" your perjury trial and steroid accusations.

Mark Teixeira To Miss 1-2 Weeks With Calf Strain


UPDATE: Mark Teixeira has a grade 1 calf strain and will miss 1-2 weeks with this injury. Happy Happy..... Joy Joy..

Mark Teixeira has a left calf strain and is going for an MRI tonight to check it out. We will know more after the MRI is done. 

Mark Teixeira was seen grimacing and limping noticeably while running the bases in the 4th inning. He immediately ran back to the clubhouse after scoring on a Russell Martin RBI single. Mark Teixeira has left the game after running the bases and replaced by Eric Chavez. We will keep you updated on whether this is just a cramp or yet another loss to the middle of the Yankees lineup.

Luke Joseph Robertson Born Today


Congrats to David and his wife Erin Robertson on the birth of their first child, a baby boy, Luke Joseph Robertson. Luke came in weighing 8 lbs 7 oz and healthy. Congrats to them again they, with their big hearts and generosity, are going to make absolutely amazing parents.

David Robertson is going to, amazingly, be in uniform tonight for the Yankees and available to pitch tonight. That is either being nuts or dedicated David but we are in a pennant race so I cannot say that I do not appreciate the dedication.

Blue Jays @ Yankees 8/27/12

Robinson Cano Home Run ties the game at 1-1
Cano hits his 2nd home run to put the Yankees up 2-1
Russell Martin hits an RBI single to put the Yankees up 3-1
Swish Bomb Makes it 6-3 Yanks!
Yankees lose a wild one 8-7

The Yankees start a stretch where they play 22 consecutive games against American League East opponents so we will really see where we stand really soon. This stretch starts tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays at home at Yankees Stadium. David Phelps will be starting in place of Ivan Nova tonight and will be facing off against Henderson Alvarez. Jose Bautista will be back for the Jays so the pitching needs to be on point tonight. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on YES.

Lineups

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Raul Ibanez LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF


Go Yankees!!

Yankees Acquire Steve Pearce


In the head scratcher of the day the Yankees have acquired, for the second time this season, 1B and OF prospect Steve Pearce. This time the Yankees receive him from the Houston Astros for cash considerations, which means we will pay his salary for the rest of the season.

Steve has bounced around from the Minnesota Twins, then to the Yankees, then traded to the Orioles, then claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros and now re acquired by the Yankees in a trade all in one season.

Brandon Laird, this is where the head scratching part comes in, was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Pearce. Apparently there will also be a 25 man roster move to make room for him with the big club. What?!?!

First off I do not expect anyone to take a waiver on Laird so, assuming he accepts a AAA job(which he will), then it will be nice to have him off the 40 man. The thing I do not understand is why bring Pearce up to the majors? There is something we are all missing here and not being told.

8 Current Yankees With At Least 200 Home Runs


With Curtis Granderson's 200th career home run yesterday in Cleveland the Yankees currently have 8 active players with at least 200 career home runs. That is an amazing stat if you think about it to have that many current players with that many home runs in one lineup. Granted some guys had most of theirs with other teams but still impressive nonetheless.


Alex Rodriguez - 644
Andruw Jones - 433
Mark Teixeira - 337
Raul Ibanez - 267
Derek Jeter - 253
Eric Chavez - 245
Nick Swisher - 204
Curtis Granderson - 200


The next highest home run total is Robinson Cano at 169 career so expect him to reach the 200 plateau sometime next year. Too bad it is a bad thing to hit too many home runs #sarcasm

Meet A Prospect : Melky Mesa

With September call ups and an expanded active roster on the way I thought it would be a good time to look at the prospects that we have on the 40 man roster that may not be household names. We will continue our series with AAA affiliate Empire State Yankees OF prospect Melky Mesa.


Melquisdec Mesa was born January 31st, 1987 in Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic. This is Melky's second season under 40 man roster and Rule 5 Draft protection and he has done nothing to disappoint the Yankees brass thus far. He has impressed so much that he recently has been promoted to AAA Empire State Yankees. The speculation has yet to begin but with a few good weeks in Scranton it could start that the Yankees are looking to and willing to put Melky in place of Nick Swisher in 2013. 

Melky has shown, although raw, some amazing power and even more amazing plate discipline at such a young age in the Yankees system. Melky Mesa has the potential to be a five tool player with great defensive ability and a cannon for an arm, out of this world speed, raw power and discipline at the plate, and even hit for average. He has not quite lived up those expectation yet but he was signed as a 16 year old IFA in 2003 so he has some more time to go. The problem is whether the Yankees will wait out his "Jekyll and Hyde" kind of offensive spurts. 

The closest comparison to a current major leaguer I could come up with would be Alfonso Soriano when he was a Yankee. He could easily hit 30 + home runs in a season and steal 30+ bases and play really solid defense. The problem will be a lack of taking walks and way too many strike outs. I would take another Soriano though if that is what Mesa became.