Monday, November 17, 2014

New Yankee Wilson Confident Blue Jays Will Like Russell Martin


Yankees' Reliever Justin Wilson, who was traded to New York from the Pirates last week, said that MLB's only club outside the U.S. will enjoy Martin's personality during a recent appearance on the Yankees Go Yard radio show. According to Wilson, Martin deserves even more than the aforementioned length he got, in spite of the fact that the latter's already 31. 

"That guy is a warrior, he deserves probably a 10-year contract," Wilson said. "I don’t think he’s ever going to get old. That guy works extremely hard."

Wilson and Martin spent the last two seasons together in Pittsburgh, with Martin helping Wilson record a 2.97 ERA during that time. Wilson also compiled a 9-5 record as Martin's battery mate, throwing a total of 133 2/3 innings. 

"He’s a great mind behind the plate, great competitor," Wilson said. "He wants to get you through every outing depending on how you feel out there."

Martin, a 2007 Gold Glove winner, played for the Yankees from 2011-2012. He brings a career .259 average with him to Ontario, having collected 1,035 hits since 2006.

Ten Biggest New York Yankees Contracts


With Giancarlo Stanton set to sign a record setting 13 year deal worth $325 million I got thinking of the Top 10 contracts that the New York Yankees ever handed out. Enjoy. 

1.) Alex Rodriguez (10-years, $275 million, 2008-2017)
2.) Derek Jeter (10-years, $189 million, 2001-2010) 
3.) Mark Teixeira (8-years, $180 million, 2009-2016)
4.) CC Sabathia (7-years, $161 million, 2009-2015)
5.) Masahiro Tanaka (7-years, $155 million, 2014-2020)
6.) Jacoby Ellsbury (7-years, $153 million, 2014-2020)
7.) Jason Giambi (7-years, $120 million, 2002-2008)
8.) Mike Mussina (6-years, $88.5 million, 2001-2008)
9.) Bernie Williams (7-years, $87.5 million, 1999-2006)
10.) A.J. Burnett (5-years, $82.5 million, 2009-2013) 

Most Popular Article of the Week: Marlins & Giancarlo

Marlins and Stanton About To Make History

http://www.thegreedypinstripes.com/2014/11/marlins-and-stanton-about-to-make.html

It's not official yet, but pretty soon Yankees fans can take solace in the fact that their team no longer has the highest paid player in baseball history*.

Jon Heyman was the first to report that the Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton are about to finalize a 13 year contract worth $325 million.

I'd be smiling pretty damn big too if I was about to make that much money.

It's hard to believe a team with a payroll under $50 million last season will pay one of their players $25 million (or that's what the average annual value of the deal would be), but if anybody in the league deserves that type of payday it's Giancarlo.

Stanton finished the 2014 season with a batting line of .288/.395/.555, to go along with 37 home runs. It was recently announced that he finished 2nd in National League Most Valuable Award voting behind Clayton Kershaw.

It's being said the not only will Stanton get the largest contract in baseball history, but his deal will include an opt-out clause. So the chances of seeing Giancarlo in pinstripes is not dead. Although, I'm afraid that it will be after the eighth year of his contract, when he'll be 35 years old and on the decline.


*Unfortunately, those same Yankees fans still have to come to terms with their team paying Alex Rodriguez $61 million over the next three years for next to nothing. 

MLB Considering Instant Replay Changes to Speed Up the Game


From the Associated Press:

PHOENIX (AP) — Joe Torre was pleased with the first season of baseball’s replay challenge system, even if teams were not always sure what could be reviewed.
What the Major League Baseball executive vice president could have done without was all the on-field lingering by managers.
A successful first season in the books, MLB might look at tweaking replay challenges to prevent managers from stalling in the middle of the diamond while someone on the bench signals whether a call should be contested.
“When we first talked about challenges, if you got out of the dugout you couldn’t challenge, but I didn’t want to take away from the fact that the manager could run out there and argue,” Torre said Wednesday at the general managers’ meetings.
“I didn’t really plan on them meandering out there and having a conversation, but you live and you learn,” the Hall of Fame manager said.
MLB instituted a new replay system allowing a manager one challenge per game, another if that one is successful. Reviewable plays covered everything from force and tag plays to fan interference and home runs.
Though the new system was occasionally criticized for making long games even longer, most managers and players were pleased with the system — they just wanted the correct calls to be made.
But because a lot of the plays happen so quickly, managers would routinely go out to discuss a call on any close play to give their own video people time to run back the play. Some got carried away, lingering on the field, pretending to discuss the call with the umpires while awaiting word from the dugout whether to challenge the play or not.
Baseball is trying to cut down on the length of games, not add to them, so Torre said the rules committee has discussed ways to prevent that from happening.
“That’s one area we’ll do something differently,” he said. “I’m not sure what that is, but certainly we will eliminate some of that standing around because 10 seconds is a long time in our game.”
Length of games has been an issue in baseball for years and MLB is looking at way to speed up.
Baseball has been experimenting with pitch clocks in the Arizona Fall League, requiring hitters to stay in the batter’s box and pitchers to throw their next pitch within 20 seconds.
Some players in the league have complained about feeling rushed, but the games have been quicker, so MLB will take a look at possibly implementing some elements of the pace-of-play measures.
“This has been, just from all the evidence we have from the Fall League, a real positive as far as gathering information,” Torre said. “And that’s what we have to do in determining whether this will work.”
Baseball may also tweak the blocking-the-plate rule. The measure seems to have cut down on collisions and injuries, but has led to confusion on exactly what’s allowed.
Baseball clarified the rule late in the season, saying umpires should not call runners safe on a blocking call if the ball clearly beats them.
“Right now, we’re going to discuss in the rules committee and, along with the players’ association, see if we can make it a little clearer,” Torre said.

TGP Daily Poll: Yankees Will Sign Yoan Moncada


Yoan Moncada was declared a free agent over the weekend and will sign with the New York Yankees.

Vote in our poll!

This Day in New York Yankees History 11/17: Thurman Munson is MVP


On this day in 1976 Yankees catcher Thurman Munson received 18 of the 24 first place votes to capture the American League MVP award.George Brett finished in second place and was no match for Munson's .302 average with 17 home runs and 105 RBI's. Munson is the first Bronx Bomber to be selected as the MVP and the Rookie of the Year, as Munson won the ROY in 1970.


Also on this day in 1964 the New York Mets signed former Yankees star Yogi Berra to a player/manager deal on a two year contract. The Yankees had recently just fired Yogi as a manager for them and will have to watch Yogi collect two more hits in nine National League at bats.