Friday, June 7, 2013

Game Thread NYY @ SEA 6/7


The Yankees will try and make it 5 straight wins tonight, as they send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound to face Jeremy Bonderman.

Here is tonight's lineup...

1. Brett Gardner CF
2. Robinson Cano 2B
3. Mark Teixeira 1B
4. Travis Hafner DH
5. Kevin Youkilis 3B
6. Vernon Wells LF
7. Ichiro Suzuki RF
8. Reid Brignac SS
9. Chris Stewart C

Tonight's game can be seen on YES, and starts at 10:10pm EST. You can also chat with us during the game on Twitter at @GreedyStripes

Yankee Draft Picks On Day Two


Last night I took a look at the Yankees three first round picks following night one of the MLB First Year Player draft. Round 2 also happened last night, and the Yankees decided on Gosuke Katoh, a second baseman out of Rancho Bernardo High School in California.

Katoh is a left-handed batter, who styles his swing after Ichiro Suzuki, meaning he's a contact hitter but with little power. Gosuke, like Ichiro, uses his plus speed along with a compact swing. Although he doesn't have a strong arm, it's said to be good enough for second base, and along with having good hands and good range he should be a fine defender. Katoh has verbally committed to UCLA.

The draft continued today, and the Yankees selected the following players in rounds 3 through 10...

Round 3 Pick #103 Michael O'Neill, CF University of Michigan

-Michael is actually the nephew of Paul O'Neill. Like his uncle, Michael is known for making consistent hard contact using all fields. He doesn't currently have home run power, but he has room to add muscle that could change that. Although you wouldn't call him "fast", Michael is a smart runner. He's also said to be a solid defender, although it's unclear where he'll end up as he's not fast enough for CF, but doesn't have the power of your typical corner OF.

Round 4 Pick #134 Tyler Wade, SS Murrieta Valley HS (California)

-Another left-handed hitting infielder, who had an excellent senior season. Tyler is a speedy athlete, yet stands 6'2" and weighs just 178 pounds, meaning there's plenty of room to add some bulk. Even so, scouts don't expect him to hit for power in the future, but his line-drive swing makes him somebody to keep an eye on offensively. Wade's good arm and range make it so he could remain at shortstop up to the Majors. He's committed to San Diego State.

Round 5 Pick #164 David Palladino, RHP Howard College

-Last year Palladino's season was cut short due to needing surgery to repair a tendon in his knee. After transferring to Howard from South Carolina-Upstate, David had a fine season. The  6'9" 230 pounder has a fastball that reaches the mid-90s, but it's a straight pitch that requires him to use a strong downhill angle. He also throws a curveball, changeup, and slider. Even though he's a big guy that throws fairly hard, he has an easy delivery. Palladino is committed to LSU.

Round 6 Pick #194 John Murphy, SS Sacred Heart University

-Another left-handed hitting shortstop, Murphy hit .374/.449/.576 with four home runs and 29 stolen bases for Sacred Heart this past season. Although he's a fine hitter, he's a bit impatient at the plate. If all goes well, John could be a good top of the lineup hitter.

Round 7 Pick #224 Nick Rumbelow, RHP Louisiana State University

-Rumbelow has a fastball that sits in the low 90s, but is pretty straight. However he also has a sharp curveball that could become a plus pitch, thus covering for an average fastball. The problem with Nick is that his delivery is far from effortless, and he doesn't have good control. Scouts are concerned that his poor arm action could lead to health problems, and his best-case scenario is as a two-pitch reliever.

Round 8 Pick #254 Brandon Thomas, CF Georgia Tech University

-After leading the Yellow Jackets in batting average and on-base percentage in 2012 as a junior, Thomas is having a fine senior year. Although he missed a couple of weeks with mononucleosis, he bounced back well. Brandon is a switch-hitter with a line-drive swing, but he's a strong kid that can hit for power. He's a plus runner but will need to learn to take better routes to balls if he's to stick at centerfield.

Round 9 Pick #284 Kendrick O'Connor, LHP Auburn University

-O'Connor transferred to Auburn this year, after spending time at Georgia Tech and Northwest Florida State Junior College, and split time between the bullpen and the rotation. He doesn't throw a hard fastball, which tops out in the upper 80s, but it has good movement. He has good control of his changeup and curveball, making them look like they could be average MLB pitches. Kendrick is an aggressive pitcher with some deception in his delivery, making him an intriguing prospect.

Round 10 Pick #314 Tyler Webb, LHP University of South Carolina

-A 6'6" lefty with a fastball that sits in the low 90s, to go along with a good curveball. Webb was dominant this year as the closer for the Gamecocks, but scouts are a bit wary of him due to a history of elbow injuries. Tyler seems to be in the high-risk/high-reward department.

Rounds 11-40 will start at 1pm EST tomorrow.

New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners 6/7


The Yankees won last night, and going by the definition given by Lou Brown, they are now in the midst of a winning streak.

Although seeing 6 runs on the board is great, what's not so great is the fact the Yankees did all that damage in one inning. What makes it worse is that Travis Hafner provided the only hit outside of that inning when he led-off the 8th with a single, only for Kevin Youkilis to hit into a double-play. In fact, the only other time a Yankee even reached base outside of the 3rd inning was when Cano was hit by a pitch in the 1st.

Hiroki Kuroda will start this one for the Bombers, as the Mariners will counter with Jeremy Bonderman. Kuroda is coming off of a so-so start against the Red Sox, when he went 5.1 innings while giving up 3 runs off of 8 hits, striking out 5 and walking nobody. Bonderman made his season debut 5 days ago in Minnesota, but got hit pretty hard, giving up a total of 7 runs off of 9 hits, while striking out 1 and walking 1.

Yankees Could Save $15m Next Year Due To ARod Suspension

Ken Davidoff wrote an interesting piece over at the NY Post's website, breaking down the possibility of the Yankees saving upwards of $15 million towards the Luxury Tax next year, should MLB be able to suspend him for 100 games in 2014. Of course, that's assuming the investigation and appeals process takes that long to occur (a much stronger possibility than a suspension actually happening).

Yankees Release Wang

It was inevitable, as he was pretty far down on the starting pitching depth chart, but Chien-Ming Wang has been granted his release after exercising an opt-out clause in his contract.

It was reported last week that six clubs were interested in CMW, however Wang was looking for a Major League contract and apparently none of those teams were willing to go there with him at the time. I don't know if things have changed on that front, but it was only a matter of time before a team would need another starter.

Wang started 9 games for a total of 58 innings with AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and had an ERA of 2.33.

EDIT: Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Wang will sign with the Blue Jays, and join their rotation next week.

Game 61 Lineup: Yankees @ Mariners

Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Travis Hafner DH
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Reid Brignac SS
Chris Stewart C

RHP Hiroki Kuroda

 

Baseball Draft Cards Tyrone Hill


Welcome to Day 2 of the MLB First Year Player's Draft where today's share out of my personal baseball card collection is a Topps draft pick card featuring Tyrone Hill.

Morning Bits

Good morning everyone!

The Yankees kicked off their grueling ten game West Coast road trip in fine fashion last night in Seattle with a 6-1 win over the Mariners.

Phil Hughes was outstanding, going 7 innings and allowing only 3 hits and no earned runs.

Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira homered to lead a big night for the Yankees offensively that saw every Yankee in the lineup get a hit except Austin Romine.

Since coming off the DL due to a torn tendon sheath in his wrist Teixeira is only 5-22 (.227) but 3 of those hits have been home runs.

Tonight's game matches Hiroki Kuroda (6-4, 2.59 ERA) vs Jeremy Bonderman (0-1, 13.50 ERA).  Game time is 10:10 ET and the game will be televised on the YES Network.

Now on to today's news links:

 

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News has this article about the Yankees draft picks.

Howie Kussoy of the New York Post has this piece about Brett Gardner's home run swing.

Howie Rumberg of AP has this to say about A-Rod's uncertain future with the Yankees.

Have a great day everyone!

This Day In Yankees History 6/7


On this day in 1936 the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees played a 16 inning marathon at Yankees Stadium that surprisingly included ZERO strike outs combined.


On this day in 2007 Joe Torre won his 2000th game as a manager. Torre has managed the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and New York Yankees in his career.