Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Yankees Send Four To The Instructional League


The Yankees are sending four players to the instructional league after this season, Tyler Austin, recent International Free Agent signing Leonardo Molina, and two of our three first round picks in 2013 in Ian Clarkin and Eric Jagielo.

Molina has not made his professional debut so this will be our first look at the latest $1,400,000 man. Molina was signed as a 16 year old international free agent out of the Dominican Republic this year.

 Tyler Austin is listed as a first basemen for the instructional league for some odd reason. Whether the Yankees are thinking of permanently moving him or if they are just trying to give him another position under his belt remains to be seen. I think we will know more when Austin heads to the Arizona Fall League this year. Tyler missed almost two months with a wrist injury that limited him to a .257/.344/.373 triple slash for the AA Trenton this year.

Clarkins first professional season did not go as planned after his debut being delayed after an ankle injury limiting Ian to just five innings in 2013 giving up five hits, four walks, and six runs in three games. Jagielo appeared in 51 games and put up a triple slash of .266/.376/.451.

After various injuries and such all four of these guys can use all the extra work that they can get before the 2014 season so this should be a fun Instructional League to cover.

Game Thread: Yankees @ Blue Jays 9/18


The Sprint Towards October continues tonight in Rogers Centre as the New York Yankees look to continue beating up on their little brothers in the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays. The pitching match up is the combination of Phil Hughes and David Huff facing off with JA Happ for the Blue Jays and it can be seen at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network and MLB TV. The Yankees are looking to not only win but come out of any game against this psycho Happ healthy and 100%. #SprintTowardsOctober

Here is the Yankees lineup

Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano LF
Vernon Wells RF
Mark Reynolds 1B
Eduardo Nunez 3B
J.R. Murphy C
Brendan Ryan SS


Follow us on twitter by following @GreedyStripes. Go Yankees!

Toronto Blue Jays Suck Meme

#SprintTowardsOctober

New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays 9/18


The #SprintTowardsOctober continues tonight in Toronto as the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays play the middle game of their three game set north of the border in Rogers Centre. The Yankees will send the Phil Hughes and David Huff show to the mound to face off with JA Happ for the Blue Jays. Who will Happ hurt this time around and how do we never miss this guy every series? The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Boone Logan Open To Returning

So Boone Logan is open to returning to the Bronx.

In 60 appearances this season, Logan has an ERA of 3.26, and same-sided batters are hitting .244/.312.379 against him. So bringing Boone back next season seems like a good idea. Except for a couple of things...

  1. The going rate for left-handed relievers is around 3 years and $13.5 million. Meanwhile, Logan hasn't been worth more than $2.7 million in any of his 8 MLB seasons (per Fangraphs' Dollar Values). 
  2. The Yankees have two left-handers that have yet to reach their arbitration years (Cesar Cabral and Vidal Nuno), and another who will be arbitration eligible for the first time (David Huff). So the team does not have to spend $4-$5 million a season for another one. 
On top of those two things, if the Yankees are going to spend money on the bullpen they should do so on a set-up man for David Robertson. Although I'd rather they use that money to improve the offense (*cough*Brian McCann*cough*), as well as add a starter like Matt Garza or Masahiro Tanaka. If the team decides to bag the austerity budget then by all means bring Logan back, but if $189 million is still the goal then a LOOGY is one place I'm perfectly okay with them cutting back.

Jose Abreu Showcases For Teams At End Of September


Jose Dariel Abreu may be the biggest positional free agent to come out of Cuba, both literally and figuratively, in recent memory. Abreu is now set to showcase his power and skills for major league teams at the end of September in hopes of earning a major league contract this winter. The 26 year old first basemen will host the audition for MLB teams in the Dominican Republic after defecting from Cuba just one month ago. 

Scouts have said that Abreu's power is undeniable and may even be greater than Yasiel Puig's power over in Dodger town but that is where the scouts agreeing ends. Some scouts wonder if Abreu can catch up to a major league fast ball where other scouts think he could step into the majors now and hit around 25-30 home runs. Abreu is not a big average guy and probably projects to be a .260-ish hitter in the majors but if he can hit 30 home runs and Curtis Granderson fan can tell you that sometimes that is enough. The difference between Puig or Granderson is Abreu seems to be all bat and a DH type and less of a flexible player that you want in the field so there is always that to think about as well.

Abreu has drawn comparisons to other major league players like Kendrys Morales, except with more power, Dayan Viciedo, and Pedro Alvarez. All three of those players are good major league players and would be welcomed additions to the Yankees any season so I am all in on Abreu for 2014. The Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees, Giants, Mets, White Sox, Pirates, and Marlins all look like possible landing spots for Abreu although I am going to throw my prediction in now and say he lands in San Francisco, write it down.

Speculation has Abreu making somewhere in the neighborhood of $32,000,000 for four years all the way to $60,000,000 for six seasons. With a weak first base market headlined by Mike "Babe" Napoli and a struggling and aging Justin Morneau we may see Abreu break the bank this year and unless we want to sign a 26 year old DH, and just for the record I say do it and deal with the loss of defense at first base every once in a while, I cannot see it happening. Abreu should still be fun to watch as he comes to a television near you in 2014.

This Is Not A Storybook Ending For Rivera And Pettitte

In nearly 18 years in Major League Baseball Andy Pettitte's ERA is 3.86. Along with that, he's amassed 255 wins. Andy also has 19 wins in 44 postseason starts, while having an ERA of 3.81. Let's also throw in the fact that he's finished in the top five of Cy Young voting four times, while finishing 6th once. Unfortunately I'm not writing today in order to prove how great of a pitcher Pettitte is or has been. We'll save that for later. Right now I wanted to point out that we may only see Andrew Eugene Pettitte pitch two more games before he calls it a career.

We will be talking quite a bit about this man during the offseason.

Then comes a man that, without argument, is the greatest closer in the history of baseball. 651 saves, a career ERA of 2.22, 13 All Star appearances, finished in the top five of Cy Young voting five times, and a postseason ERA of 0.70 in 96 appearances (!).  In nearly 19 years in Major League Baseball, Mariano Rivera stands head, shoulders, torso, waist, legs, and feet above every reliever to have ever stepped on a mound. Sadly, the way the Yankees have played in their last four games, we may never see this man save another game.

Like all of us, Russell Martin is in awe of Mo.

The worst part about this possibly being the last season these two great men perform for us is that it's happening in the Yankees worst season since they donned the pinstripes. Even in Pettitte's two seasons in Houston, the Astros finished with a better winning percentage than this year's Bombers likely will (the Yankees have to win 9 of their final 11 games to not have the worst winning percentage since Andy and Mariano debuted in MLB).

I'm sure the team, from the front office, to the coaching staff, to the players themselves, feel horrible about what is happening. And they feel even worse as they've seen ceremony after ceremony celebrating the career of The Sandman/Super Mariano/Mo. We all want the best for our friends, or for those that we admire. Hell, I feel bad when I don't come through with a base hit when runners are in scoring position during a beer-league softball game. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I were in the visitor's clubhouse of the Roger's Centre last night, let alone how I would have felt in the visitor's clubhouse at Fenway Park Sunday night.

I don't know who to blame for what's happened this season. Joe Girardi for his poor decisions? Brian Cashman for not building a better team? Hal and Hank Steinbrenner for not allowing Cashman to spend more to acquire better players? The trainers for not being able to avoid all these injuries? The players for simply not doing their jobs? Maybe we shouldn't point the finger of blame at anybody. I mean, maybe this is just the perfect storm of crap, and it was unavoidable. But the fact of the matter is that I, and probably the vast majority of Yankees fans, are disgusted that we have to say goodbye to at least one man that deserves to go out on top, and with the World Series trophy hoisted above his head.

This is how Mo should go out.

The John Sterling Gaffe's In Alex Rodriguez At Bat



With the Yankees being the richest and best organization, in my very humble yet biased opinion, you figured we would have someone a little better than this calling our games, no?

Unrealistic 2014 Free Agent Targets: Stephen Drew


Stephen Drew has already passed on becoming a member of the New York Yankees once after the Yankees offered him more money than the Boston Red Sox in the 2013 off season only for him to take Bostons one year deal over our reported one or two year deal. The problem was the Yankees offered him less playing time then the Red Sox as we wanted him to play some third base and platoon and the Red Sox wanted him as an every day short stop on their squad. The Yankees, assuming Derek Jeter exercises his 2014 players option to return to the Yankees which he will, seem unlikely to be able to offer him much more playing time this season either and maybe less time next year then they would this year. As much as Stephen Drew would fit in with this Yankees team he still considers himself to be a full time player and with Derek Jeter presumably in the fold for 2014 I cannot see Stephen Drew having a change of heart after this season. 

Drew's batting average leaves a lot to be desired as he is around a .250 hitter at this point in his career but he more than makes up for that with solid defense and an adequate throwing arm at short.Drew has not hit above .300 since his rookie season in 2006 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Drew probably will not hit double digit home runs if he came to New York, something that before this season he had not done since 2010 which was his third consecutive year of doing so, and would be a bottom of the order type hitter for us I would think. As much as I think Drew would fit in with us being able to play all over the infield I cannot see him taking less playing time to play with us thus making him an unrealistic free agent acquisition for us in 2014. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/18


On this day in 2007 the Yankees beat the Orioles 12-0 giving Mike Mussina his 10th victory of the season. Mussina became the first pitcher in American League history to win 10 or more games in 16 consecutive seasons.


On this day in 2008 Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia became a 20 game winner for the first time in his career when the Yankees beat the Orioles 11-3. CC would become the fourth Yankees pitcher to win 20 games since the year 2000 joining Roger Clemens (2001), Andy Pettitte (2003), and Mike Mussina(2008).