Saturday, August 30, 2014

Meet a Prospect: Josh Outman


Josh Outman was acquired from the Cleveland Indians this week for a player to be named later or cash considerations so first and foremost welcome to the family. Outman is another in the long line of marginal upgrades for Brian Cashman this season but the acquisition did spell the end of the Rich Hill era so it cannot be all bad. You’re not officially a Yankee until you get one of these posts made about you so with further ado let’s meet a prospect, the Josh Outman edition.

Josh S. Outman was born on September 14, 1984 and spent his college years at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis. Outman would transfer to Central Missouri State to play for their baseball team, the Mules. While with the Mules Outman posted a 10-2 record and helped the team finish third in the NCAA Division II World Series. Outman finished his career in 2005 with the Mules when he was drafted along with four other teammates in the MLB Draft. The Philadelphia Phillies took outman in 2005 and quickly named him their 12st best prospect in the organization as soon as 2007.

On July 17, 2008 Outman was traded with prospects Adrian Cardenas and Matthew Spencer to the Oakland Athletics for starting pitcher Joe Blanton. Outman was called up to the Major Leagues in that same season for the first time on September 2nd and pitched two scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals. Outman quickly earned the nickname “Out-Man” in 2009 because of his ability to get major league hitters out but the Out Man would only last 12 games in 2009 before falling to Tommy John surgery on June 30.  Outman would miss the entire 2010 season while recovering from the ligament replacement surgery.

Outman returned to the mound in 2011 to pitch 58.1 innings, nine starts, with a 3.70 ERA and 3-5 record finally proving he was healthy. The now healthy Outman was traded to the Colorado Rockies after the 2011 season along with pitcher Guillermo Moscoso for outfielder Seth Smith. Outman spent 2012 and 2013 seasons with the Rockies only to be traded once again to the Cleveland Indians for the 2014 season for outfielder Drew Stubbs. Outman avoided arbitration with the Indians when he signed a one year deal worth $1.25 million and was quickly designated for assignment by Cleveland on June 18. Outman fell out of grace with Terry Francona and was traded to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Outman has baseball in his blood and his brother, Zachary, was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 28th round of the 2009 MLB First Year Players Draft. Now Outman is a member of the New York Yankees and will serve as the left handed specialists in Joe Girardi’s bullpen. Good luck Josh, make us proud. 

Pineda Solid, But Offense Stays Home in Embarrassing Loss to Toronto

Michael Pineda surrendered just two earned runs in 6+ innings and Shawn Kelley escaped a second-and-third, no-out jam in the bottom of the seventh, but since the offense decided not to play and Drew Hutchison took advantage of them doing so the Yankees fell to the Blue Jays today, 2-0, in a tough-to-watch middle game north of the border.

Coming off yesterday's late comeback in which they scored six times in their final three at-bats, naturally, the Yankees were expected to compete in this one, especially since the pitching matchup of Pineda vs. Hutchison seemed to be in their favor. 

Nonetheless, after Toronto RF Jose Bautista hit a two-run shot into the upper deck in the home team's half of the first the contest essentially ended, with the Yanks never scoring off Hutchison in seven frames. 

Granted, with two outs in the top of the fifth they loaded the bases on a Mark Teixeira double (their only hit of the game) and a couple of HPBs, but since the usually-clutch Martin Prado still flew out to end that threat I think it's fair to say it doesn't matter, as it was merely a letdown on a day full of them.

8/30 Yankees Open Game Thread vs. Toronto Blue Jays


Welcome to the Saturday afternoon edition of the open thread for the second game between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. I feel like we just did one of these a few hours ago, probably because the Yankees are playing a day game after a night game. The Yankees and Blue Jays are both fighting for their playoff lives this weekend so the games should be fun to watch as a fan. New York will send Michael Pineda to the mound to take on Drew Hutchison for Toronto in Rogers Centre. The game will be played at 1:07 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with WFAN.

Get your Yankees tickets now as the season is winding down entering our final month of the regular season, buy now before it’s too late.Also be sure to give us a follow on twitter by following @GreedyStripes and be sure to check out our page on Facebook by searching for The Greedy Pinstripes.


It’s an open thread so wake up and get to chatting. Enjoy the game Yankees family and enjoy the rest of your afternoon and weekend. Go Yankees!

Capuano Not As Excited As You'd Think After Beating Blue Jays

After last Sunday's victory over the White Sox, Yankees Pitcher Chris Capuano was understandably full of joy. 

No, he hadn't gotten the win in the contest due to David Robertson's blown save, but yes, his team had taken a game they trailed for the majority of, something that seemed to show an "it's about the team" attitude in Capuano.

So, though the veteran did finally get his first W yesterday with a 6-3 shutdown of the Blue Jays, I guess it's not that surprising that he was the same way last night, telling reporters following his nice start that he doesn't worry about getting decisions.

“At this point, we just want to win games as a team,” Capuano said, via The Star Ledger. “I’m not worried about stats or getting wins as a pitcher. You can’t control that.”

Capuano, a 36-year-old lefty who has previously played for five other clubs, came to the Bronx from the Rockies' Triple-A affiliate back on July 24, a trade that's definitely helped out the Yankees.

No, Capuano hasn't dominated during his first month in Pinstripes, but since he has still kept them competing you can't help but like having him in the rotation, where he's also thrown pretty well against the Tigers and Orioles.

Ellsbury Out Today With Ankle Injury

Yankees Center Fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who has 4 home runs and 9 RBIs in the team's last nine games, will miss today's middle contest with an ankle injury, Joe Girardi's starting lineup reveals. 

Ellsbury, who signed a 7-year/$153 million deal with New York this offseason, suffered the wound while sliding into home in last night's ninth inning, a play on which he was called out after both a Blue Jays and a Yankees challenge.

Currently, there is nothing suggesting that the injury is serious, although it is possible that #22 could be out a few days.

If so, like in this afternoon's case, backup Ichiro Suzuki would likely see some more playing time, a happening that'd probably make Ellsbury's absence tolerable. 

8/30 Yankees Game Preview vs. Toronto Blue Jays


The New York Yankees continue their playoff push this afternoon as they look to continue to beat up on the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East division race and second Wild Card. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound this afternoon to face off with the Blue Jays Drew Hutchison. The game will be played at 1:07 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Pineda has been impressive since coming off the disabled list throwing three quality starts helping to solidify the Yankees patch work rotation. Pineda is 1-0 in three starts since coming off the DL with a 2.08 ERA to go along with one walk and 12 K's. 

Hutchison is coming off his ninth quality start of the season last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays as he went six innings and allowed one run on six hits and struck out seven in the no decision. Toronto lost the game in extra innings 2-1. 



Go Yankees!!

Please Don’t Piss On Me & Tell Me It’s Raining


Anyone ever heard the old saying “don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining?” If you haven’t what it basically means in a nutshell is don’t tell me one thing and then do another. For example, what the New York Yankees did when they allowed Matt Thornton to be claimed by the Washington Nationals for just his contract while the team was in the middle of a pennant race. Brian Cashman and company smoothed the transaction over by dropping a few prospects and up and comers names at the fans to get us all excited, and it worked, and has failed to mention another word about it.

Some fans were introduced to the names of Tyler Webb, James Pazos, Matt Tracy, Pat Venditte, Francisco Rondon, and Jacob Lindgren to name a few for the first time when the transaction happened and some were excited to think about the prospects they had been following for so long may finally get a chance in the major leagues. A few days later the Yankees announced the contract purchase of former Boston Red Sox lefty Rich Hill and a subsequent call up. Hill has either given up runs or rotted in the Yankees bullpen and no other mention of the Yankees young left handed pitchers has come out of the mouths of anyone in the Yankees camp.

Are you going to call up Webb, Lindgren, etc. or are you going to continue to marginally upgrade with veterans, see Josh Outman, and continue to Band-Aid the situation? I can take it either way as long as you’re shooting me straight and not BS’ing me. Which is it Cash? Is it raining, Jacob Lindgren, or is it more piss?

Stay tuned…

Quick Hit: In Case You Were Wondering Who Won The Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero Trade


Just in case there was anyone left out there that had any doubt whether the Yankees or the Mariners won the blockbuster Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda trade I believe we may finally have our answer. Pineda has been hurt since coming over to the Yankees but has looked stellar since coming off the disabled list while Montero has also been injured and not looked stellar at any point in his Mariners career. In fact Jesus Montero is on a minor league rehab assignment right now with Seattle's Class-A short season affiliate. 

During the rehab game a Mariners crosschecker, or scout for those who didn't know, sent Montero an ice cream sandwich to the dugout during the game. Montero apparently didn't see the humor or the good nature of the scout and reportedly had to be restrained after going after the crosschecker with a baseball bat. 

Potential Roster Moves To Accommodate September Call Ups


Rosters expand just two days from today as we turn the calendar to September and the New York Yankees are allowed 40 active roster players, not just 25. While we have all heard the names of Kyle Roller, Jacob Lindgren, Robert Refsnyder, Jose Pirela, Tyler Webb, and others we haven't discussed much who could potentially be coming off the roster to accommodate these players.

Just looking at the Yankees 40 man roster more than a few players are injured and lost for the season and a simple 60 day DL transfer away from clearing a roster spot. Players like Jose Campos, who is out with Tommy John surgery, and Slade Heathcott, who had another season ending surgery, Masahiro Tanaka, who just had a setback while rehabbing a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, and Jose Ramirez, who knows what is wrong with him this time, could easily be transferred to make room on the active roster.

Players who could potentially be cut since they are taking away valuable innings and development time from the prospects in the farm include Matt Daley and Brendan Ryan if you want to stretch a little.

The great part about the way the Yankees have been constructing their roster is that so many players are extremely flexible and versatile allowing Brian Cashman and company a plethora of options including the ones we discussed above.

Two more days, stay tuned.

This Day In New York Yankees History 8/30: A Rod Hits 40 Home Runs


The New York Yankees are also well known as the Bronx Bombers but in their long storied history they have only had two right handed batters that have ever hit 40 home runs in a single season, Joe DiMaggio and Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez joined DiMaggio, who hit 46 home runs in 1937, on this day in 2005.

Also on this day in 1961 a computer named Casey was used to predict the chances that Yankees outfielder Roger Maris would surpass Babe Ruth's single season home run record of 60 within 154 games. The IBM 1481 predicted that Maris had a 55% chance of hitting 61 home runs in 154 games to establish the new mark for home runs but ultimately Maris hit his 61st home run in the Yankees 161st game of the season.

Finally on this day in 1939 the Yankees Atley Donald throws a recorded 94.7 MPH pitch to establish a new record for the fastest fastball in Major League Baseball history. Donald would also win 12 straight games that year to set an AL record for most consecutive victories by a rookie starting pitcher.