Friday, December 21, 2012

Jim Miller Clears Waivers, Outrighted To AAA


Jim Miller was designated for assignment to make room for the recently signed Ichiro Suzuki and has cleared waivers and will be sent down to AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre. In 33 appearances last year in the majors for the Oakland Athletics Miller pitched to a 2.59 ERA with a .217 batting average against while being much better against lefties then right handed batters. He will add some considerable depth to the AAA bullpen and be in line for a Bronx call up if need be.

Had To Share This Hal Steinbrenner Photo


A Picture is worth a thousand words...

Raul Ibanez To Sign Soon

It turns out that the Yankees are indeed interested in Raul Ibanez as a platoon DH, however George King of the New York Post says that their talks have not involved any sort of negotiation.

I don't like that the Yankees are even considering bring back Raul, as he's not even that good against right-handers. Mind you, a batting line of .248/.319/.492 isn't horrible (his 2012 mark), but it's hardly what a team should want out of a platoon DH.

King makes note that Ibanez would like to sign within the next 7-10 days, so at least this isn't something that will drag on all offseason. I mean... it's better to just rip the bandage off quickly, rather than do it slowly and suffer the pain longer.

Casey McGehee Signs With Japanese Team

There's at least one player from the 2012 Yankees, who I'm not interested in re-signing, that won't be back next year.

Via Sankei in Japan, NBCSports is reporting that Casey McGehee has signed a 1 year deal with the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Casey finished 5th in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2009, after hitting .301/.360/.499, but things went downhill from there. He had a line of .151/.220/.264 in 22 games for the Yankees in 2012, after having been acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It didn't seem like the Yankees were interested in bringing back McGehee, but seeing their signing of Ichiro, along with their interest in Ibanez, I wouldn't have been surprised to see the 30 year old back in the Bronx in 2013.

Prospects : Top 10 DSL Players To Come To US In '13

Greg Corcoran over at Bronx Baseball Daily did it again with his Top 10 Yankees DSL players that could come stateside in 2013. Go over and see the original post HERE and give Greg some love and some views but with his permission here is the write up for your reading enjoyment. For the full write up click the link and head over to BBD.



There have been whispers that the Yankees are likely to have another rookie league team for 2013. The GCL rosters are filled three ways. The amateur draft, the DSL, and miscellaneous signings.With that, the Dominican Summer League, which is where the Yankees keep their young international talent to develop them for baseball in the USA, is going to play an even more important role in the Yankees farm system. Luckily the system is stocked with talent in their baseball program in the Dominican Republic, which has to be one of the major reasons for the decision to create another GCL team.
This list does not include new signees, or anyone who didn’t play at least a game in the Dominican Summer League this year. One caveat to this list is that you have to take DSL statistics with a grain of salt. They are still somewhat important, but the season is short and the competition doesn’t compare with rookie ball. It’s a big jump.
10. Erick Canela (Dominican Republic), RHP
9. Jose Figueroa, OF (Mexico)
8. Chris Cabrera, RHP (Dominican Republic)
7. Renzo Martini, 1B (Venezuela) 
6. Wilmer Romero, OF (Dominican Republic)
5. Abiatal Avelino, SS (Dominican Republic)
4. Christopher Tamarez, 3B (Dominican Republic)
3. Luis Severino, RHP (Dominican Republic)
2. Dallas Martinez, RHP (Mexico)
1. Rafael DePaula, RHP (Dominican Republic)
Other names to watch out for: Brian Cuevas (SS out of the Dominican Republic) Luis Torrens (catcher just signed out of Venezuela), Yancarlos Baez (SS signed out of the Dominican Republic), Jesus Aparicio (C out of Venezuela), Simon De La Rosa (RHP just signed out of the Dominican Republic), Daniel Vavrusa (C out of the Czech Republic) Omar Luis Rodriguez (LHP signed from Cuba for $4 million), Alexander Palma (OF signed out of Venezuela).
Some of these other guys could be coming over in 2013 or 2014. If Omar Luis Rodriguez gets his visa issues taken care of, he’ll be in the states as well. As you can see there is a wealth of talent in the Dominican Republic right now.  The sense is that most other teams in the league are really impressed with what the Yankees are doing at that level. If they continue to pump out solid prospects at the current rate, the Yankees will have a real surplus of top prospect talent in the not so distant future.