Saturday, November 2, 2013

Gardner Nominated For Heart & Hustle Award


It's not the MVP Award or anything like that but the Yankees center fielder Brett Gardner has been nominated for the 2013 Heart & Hustle Award for the second time in his career. Past Yankees nominees for the award include Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Mariano Rivera although no Yankees player has won the award. The other nominees include Dustin Pedroia,  Raul Ibanez, Nate McClouth, Sam Fuld, Nick Punto, and Juan Pierre. Obviously this award generally goes to the most "gritty" player on the field so start engraving Pedroia's name in it now. 

Here is the lawyer talk for what the award signifies and how it got it's start:


Created by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association in 2005, the Heart & Hustle Award is voted on by Alumni and active Major League players and is presented annually to an active player who demonstrates a passion for the game of baseball and best embodies the values, spirit and traditions of the game.

The MLBPAA formed 30 committees, comprised of Alumni players with established relationships to each team. One player from each Major League team is chosen by the committees based on the passion, desire, and work ethic demonstrated both on and off the field. These players will be recognized prior to an upcoming home game. As the season draws to a close, fans, all Alumni and active players will vote to select the final winner from the 30 team winners.

New York Yankees AFL All Star Game Results


The Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game has been played and is in the books with the AFL West beating the AFL East 9-2. For those of you who did not know the Yankees players, outfielder Mason Williams and infielder Peter O'Brien, are on the AFL East team that got beat pretty badly tonight.

Mason playing center field finished 2-2 with a double and an RBI while O'Brien finished 0-2 with a strike out and three men left on base as the teams catcher tonight. The AFL All Star Game is the best prospects in the league, not the best performing prospects, are chosen to make up the rosters so it is good news for all you "prospect humpers" to see two of our own included.

Now if we could start winning some games with the Scorpions again...

Yankees Well Represented In 2013 Gibby Awards


Robinson Cano, David Robertson, Ichiro Suzuki, Alfonso Soriano, and Mariano Rivera have been named  nominees for a 2013 GIBBY Award according to MLB.com. GIBBY Awards not only pick the MVP award winners but a plethora of other awards picked by the fans like best starting pitcher, comeback player, defensive player, breakout player, etc. All awards can be voted on by going to MLB.com or going HERE to vote for the hometown Yankees.

Robby Cano is nominated for Hitter of the Year.

Rivera is in the running for best Closer, Comeback Player of the Year, Best Story Line of 2013, Best Moment for this 2013 All Star Game entrance, and the Cut4 Topic that was trending in baseball in 2013 with the "No Mo Zone" that was chalked out in Kansas City.

Robertson is nominated for best set up man in baseball.

Joe Girardi was not nominated for the Manager of the Year award but Dusty Baker, who has been fired, is for some reason. Well I got the reason because if you look at the lists all those skippers took their teams to the playoffs but still, it's Manager of the Year not hey you got your team to the playoffs award. Oh well.

Brian Cashman, Hank Steinbrenner, and Hal Steinbrenner were shut out of the Executive of the Year awards as well surprisingly.

The Yankees triple plays is consideration for the must see play of the year so go ahead and vote for that too while you're over there.

Ichiro's 4,000 hit is in consideration for the Must See Moment of the Year as well as Mariano Rivera's All Star Game entrance and such.

Soriano is nominated for the best hitting performance with his 3-3, 2 HR, 3 R, 7 RBI, and BB performance against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on August, 14th.

Finally the Yankees and the Red Sox game on June, 2nd is nominated for the Oddity award as the game was delayed multiple time due to severe thunder that scared the crap out of players in both dugouts.

Mariano Rivera To Be Honored By The ALS Association


The ALS Association Greater New York Chapter will hold their 29th annual Lou Gehrig Sports Awards Benefit on Thursday November, 7th at 6:30 pm ET at the New York Marriott Marquis and their honoree this year is Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

Ron Darling, long time New York Mets player and sportscaster, and Phil Simms, long time New York Giants quarterback and CBS sportscaster, will also be honored along with the Yankees retiring closer. Former New England Patriot Kevin Turner, who currently is suffering from ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease depending on what you call it, will also be honored at the event.

Visit http://www.als-ny.org/ for more details on the organization and the event.

Derek Jeter's New Contract Explained, Finally


It is official thanks to Joel Sherman that Derek Jeter's new contract will indeed cost the New York Yankees money on their $189 million luxury tax AAV and not save them money. The original deal had Jeter simply accepted his player option would have been for a $10,750,000 AAV and this new deal is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,810,000. The Yankees were not concerned with AAV and the luxury tax threshold but more worried about making Derek happy and not having an awkward or drawn out negotiation like the last time Derek was a free agent.

Derek's new contract also includes incentives which could push the deal higher including $4,000,000 for a MVP award and $2,000,000 if he finishes anywhere between second and sixth place. Also Derek could make an additional $1,500,000 if he wins the Silver Slugger award, $500,000 for winning the ALCS MVP, another $500,000 for winning the World Series MVP award, and finally $500,000 more for winning the gold glove.

Now that we have that settled we can move on to qualifying offers...

Instant Replay Being Tested In The Arizona Fall League


Last year we heard talks of Major League Baseball implementing more instant replay in baseball last year but it was ultimately pushed back with the hope and expectation of it being expanded in 2014. Today we learned that the MLB is using new instant replay methods in the Arizona Fall League this year which is encouraging for all those in favor of it. The games where the instant replay will be expanded will be played starting on Tuesday November, 5th and will continue through Saturday November, 9th for a total of five games.

AFL umpires will be in the games that will be televised and will be under the microscope of the MLB and their officials and umpires during the games where the new protocols will be tested. This whole instant replay thing is being pushed heavily by former Yankees manager and current MLB Executive Vice President Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa, and others including Atlanta Braves President John Schuerholz.

This is just the first step as this will help the officials behind this draft a final plan that will then need to be approved by the Major League clubs, the Major League Baseball Player's Association, and the Worlds Umpire Association before being implemented for 2014.

Posting For Tanaka Delayed


Since Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball can't come to an agreement on a new posting system, it looks as though Masahiro Tanaka may not be a Yankee for a while yet.

It turns out that while MLB wants less money to go to the team posting a player, NPB teams want more more money to compensate for giving up said player. Personally, I think it's ridiculous that a player can't go to whatever team he wants... assuming that the player isn't under contract with anybody. It's not like the Yankees would get any money should Hiroki Kuroda return to Japan next season.

It should also be noted that Tanaka has yet to hire an agent, as his team... the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles... is keeping him isolated during their playoff run. So whether or not he was posted on November 1st, which is when the posting period normally starts, Tanaka would need to get an agent to help negotiate his contract.

Current Arizona Fall League Standings - 11/2

The Scorpions are currently 5.5 games out of first place in the AFL East. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 11/2


On this day in 1964 the Columbia Broadcasting System becomes the first corporate owner of a Major League Baseball team when they bought 80% of the New York Yankees. Dan Topping and Del Webb sold the stake in the Yankees for a staggering $11.2 million at the time. The Yankees would reward CBS with a sixth place finish in the American League and a second place finish in the American League East in their first year of ownership with a 77-85 record.


On this day in 1985 a great Yankees fan Daniel Burch was born in Lebanon Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He would go on to co own and create the "greatest Yankees blog ever" in his own very humble and biased opinion. Hey it was a slow day in New York Yankees history, sue me.