Thursday, March 13, 2014

Yankees Finally Finalize Panama Roster


Pitchers
74 Bruce Billings
64 Cesar Cabral
62 Robert Coello
38 Preston Claiborne
40 Matt Daley
57 Chris Leroux
61 Jim Miller
30 David Robertson
52 CC Sabathia
63 Yoshinori Tateyama
43 Adam Warren
83 Chase Whitley
Catchers
29 Francisco Cervelli
80 Jose Gil
66 John Ryan Murphy
82 Gary Sanchez
Infielders
93 Dean Anna
2 Derek Jeter
72 Corban Joseph
86 Jose Pirela
89 Yangervis Solarte
98 Zelous Wheeler
Outfielders
65 Zoilo Almonte
36 Carlos Beltran
95 Adonis Garcia
11 Brett Gardner
73 Antoan Richardson
12 Alfonso Soriano

Yankees Sign Remaining Pre-Arbitration Players

The Yankees signed all of their remaining pre-arbitration players to major league deals today. This is all procedural right here, these players need a contract for the season if they make the Major League roster and the Yankees finalized them all today. All of these players are far from free agency and still under Yankees team control for quite some time. We still felt like this was worth mentioning since we mentioned it here when New York signed Dean Anna ($500,000), John Ryan Murphy ($502,700), and Vidal Nuno ($504,500) to pre-arbitration deals.

All of these players include Eduardo Nunez ($576,900), David Phelps ($541,425), and Michael Pineda (538,475). It is worth mentioning that the Major League minimum this season is $500,000 so all of these guys got slightly better than that, not totally uncommon. These are also all split contracts which means they will only make this salary if they make the 25 man roster, they will earn different (unreported) salaries in the minor leagues.

Jose Campos Optioned To High A Tampa Yankees


Jose Campos made his spring debut on Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers in a tie and is now headed to High A Tampa with the Tampa Yankees after being optioned out of Yankees camp today.  You may remember Campos as the other guy that got traded in the Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda trade or for him missing most of the 2012 season due to a arm injury.

Campos is still only 21 years old and is being brought along slowly as the Yankees are easing him back into playing games. Campos also had his innings and pitch counts limited in 2013 because of the injury, because that worked so well with Joba Chamberlain, and pitched only 87 IP in 2013 mostly for Low A Charleston with the Riverdogs.

Cervelli Replaces McCann On Panama Trip


This may or may not put the trade rumors surrounding Francisco Cervelli to bed for a few days as Cervelli will be replacing Yankees catcher Brian McCann on the roster heading down to Panama to honor Mariano Rivera. The reason we were given from manager Joe Girardi was to give more time for McCann to work with Masahiro Tanaka who starts Tuesday and Hiroki Kuroda who will start the game on Wednesday. CC Sabathia and Adam Warren are expected to make the starts in Panama in the short two game series against the Miami Marlins.

It is worth noting that McCann has not caught Tanaka in a game at all this spring and Opening Day is right at two weeks away, so the reasoning makes some sense. Especially when you consider the fact that Cervelli has caught Tanaka twice and the fact that McCann needs to get used to catching Tanaka's splitter and working with him.

While we are on the Panama trip it is worth mentioning that Girardi told us that Derek Jeter would start Game One in Panama at shortstop and would be the team's designated hitter in Game Two. Jeter, Carlos Beltran, Brett Gardner, and other prominent players will be unavailable Monday when the Yankees travel to Bradenton, Florida to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates due to the flight and travel, just as another FYI.

Yankees Assign 10 Minor Leaguers To Yankees Camp


The New York Yankees assigned a total of 10 players to the big league club today, presumably to have plenty of players when half the teams heads down to Panama to honor Mariano Rivera. The Yankees added switch pitcher Pat Venditte, LHP Tyler Webb, catcher Wes Wilson, short stop Carmen Angelini,  infielders Ali Castillo, Robert Refsnyder, and Rob Segedin, and outfielders Taylor Dugas, Ben Gamel, and Jake Cave.

An alright day; Yanks go 1-1 in today's split squad games

Michael Pineda (against the Orioles) gave up just 3 hits in a scoreless 2.2 innings of work and Ivan Nova (against the Phillies) threw a quality start (3 earned runs, 5 innings) today as the Yankees beat the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field, 6-0, and fell to the Phillies in Clearwater, 6-2, respectively. Now at first glance, that Nova line may not look all that great, although really, he was fine. I mean let's be honest, he's not gonna lose a start like this in the regular season, so let's just applaude him on the definitely solid effort that he put up here.

Anyway, some notable offensive performances this afternoon came from Carlos Beltran, who hit an RBI Single against the Orioles, Alfonso Soriano, who also hit an RBI Single against the Orioles, Brett Gardner, who doubled a home a run in Tampa, Jacoby Ellsbury, who homered against the Phillies, and Francisco Cervelli, who singled home another run today in Clearwater. So yea, I'd say today went alright. The pitching and offense were solid in both games, even though one, unfortunetaly, was a loss. 

Bovada Says Ellsbury A 2014 MVP Candidate


Bovada is a site that does a great job computing the statistical chances teams have of winning the World Series and such major awards like the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Bovada was at it again recently ranking the players who had the best chance to win the AL MVP Award and a Yankee made the list in Jacoby Ellsbury. You can click the link HERE to see who Bovada has winning the AL and NL  MVP and Cy Young Awards for 2014 but I will showcase the running for the MVP award for you here.

2014 AL MVP - Odds to Win   
Mike Trout                     5/1
Miguel Cabrera              6/1
Jacoby Ellsbury            12/1
Albert Pujols                 12/1
Josh Donaldson            14/1
Robinson Cano             14/1
Evan Longoria               14/1
Adrian Beltre                 16/1
Chris Davis                   16/1
Dustin Pedroia              16/1


New York Yankees Split Squad Schedule 3/13


The New York Yankees will play a split squad set of games today in Spring Training as a part of the Grapefruit League. The Yankees home game will be played against the Baltimore Orioles with Michael Pineda on the mound at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees will be on the road playing at the Philadelphia Phillies and we will see Ivan Nova on the mound in that game. Both games are scheduled to start at 1:05 pm ET with the home game being televised on the YES Network and the road game not being televised today. Enjoy the day Yankees fans, let's play two.


Francesa Show To Air On Fox Sports 1 March 24


Earlier in the offseason we broke the news that Mike Francesa and his show would be moving from the YES Network, unseated by Michael Kay and his show, to the newly formed Fox Sports 1 Network, see HERE. Mike himself confirmed the rumors finally today and gave us a definitive date, March 24th. Don't worry Mongo Nation and Mike Zaun fans, the master will be back soon diet coke and all.

Yankee Stadium Legacy: #18 Tommy Henrich


Tommy Henrich was part of a talented New York Yankees trio that included Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Keller, making up one of the best outfields of the time. The Yankees outfield of the 1940's made opposing pitchers have a lot of sleepless nights. Henrich showed his strength specifically in 1941 by hitting a career high 31 home runs. In 1948 Henrich led the American League with 81 extra base hits for the Yankees.

18 days until Yankees Opening Day

This Day In New York Yankees History 3/13


On this day in 2008 actor Billy Crystal joined the ranks of Garth Brooks and Tom Selleck as celebrities to appear in an exhibition spring training game with the New York Yankees. Crystal struck out in the first inning as the Yankees leadoff hitter after signing a one day contract with New York. Crystal would wear #60 since he would turn 60 years old on 3/14 2008.