Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Yankees Reassign Five More Minor League PLayers

After tonight's game with the Toronto Blue Jays the New York Yankees sent down and reassigned another five minor league players. As you can see from the tweet above New York sent Gary Sanchez to Double-A while Domingo German went to High-A. Branden Pinder will likely start the season in Triple-A while the team did not specify where Greg Bird and Kyle Roller went. Roller seems all but guaranteed to start the season in Scranton where Bird will likely be assigned to Trenton just to clear a bit of a logjam.

Spring Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays 3/17


The New York Yankees are fresh off their first off day of their Grapefruit League schedule and should have fresh legs tonight when they play host to the Toronto Blue Jays at home inside George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees will get their first glimpse of ace CC Sabathia and his surgically repaired right knee tonight when he makes his spring debut for the Bombers.


The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on MLB Network and the YES Network. Go Yankees and Go Fat CC!!

Trenton Thunder Spring Training Games Begin Friday

Thunder Spring Training Games Begin Friday

The 2015 Thunder roster will begin to take shape this week as New York Yankees Minor Leaguers have reported to Spring Training in Tampa, Florida. The first Spring Training game for the Thunder will take place on Friday, March 20 against the Altoona Curve, the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
2015 Spring Training Schedule:
Date
Opponent
Site
Time
Friday, March 20
Altoona (Pittsburgh)
Bradenton, FL
1:00 pm
Saturday, March 21
Reading (Philadelphia)
Clearwater, FL
1:00 pm
Sunday, March 22
New Hampshire (Toronto)
Tampa, FL
1:00 pm
Monday, March 23
New Hampshire
Dunedin, FL
1:00 pm
Tuesday, March 24
New Hampshire
Tampa, FL
1:00 pm
Wednesday, March 25
CAMP DAY
Thursday, March 26
Reading
Clearwater, FL
1:00 pm
Friday, March 27
Altoona
Bradenton, FL
1:00 pm
Saturday, March 28
Altoona
Tampa, FL
1:00 pm
Sunday, March 29
CAMP DAY
Monday, March 30
Reading
Clearwater, FL
1:00 pm
Tuesday, March 31
Reading
Tampa, FL
1:00 pm
Wednesday, April 1
Altoona
Bradenton, FL
1:00 pm
Thursday, April 2
New Hampshire
Tampa, FL
1:00 pm
Friday, April 3
Altoona
Bradenton, FL
1:00 pm
Saturday, April 4
CAMP DAY
Sunday, April 5
BREAK CAMP

*Game times and opponents subject to change

The Thunder's spring home is at the New York Yankees Minor League Complex in Tampa, FL. All requests for player interviews and credentials while the team is in Florida should be coordinated through the New York Yankees.
It was previously announced that Al Pedrique will manage the Thunder in 2015, his third season as a member of the Yankees minor league coaching staff. He will be joined in the dugout by former Thunder catcher PJ Pilittere (Hitting Coach), Jose Rosado (Pitching Coach) and Michel Hernandez (Defensive Coach). Each member of the 2015 coaching staff enters his first season as a coach in the Eastern League. Strength & Conditioning Coach Orlando Crance returns for a third season with the Thunder and Lee Meyer also returns for his second season as Athletic Trainer.
The Thunder open the 2015 campaign at Erie (Detroit Tigers) on Thursday, April 9 at 6:35 pm. Opening night at ARM & HAMMER Park will be on Thursday, April 16 at 7:00 pm when the Thunder host the New Hampshire Fisher Cats to begin a seven-game homestand.
Tickets to all games are on sale now for Thunder games by phone at 609-394-3300 or online at TrentonThunder.com/Tickets.
--THUNDER--

Former Yankees Pitcher David Wells is Coaching


Former New York Yankees pitcher, among other teams, David Wells has been trying to land a job as a professional coach in the major leagues since he threw his last pitch some eight seasons ago and Wells has finally landed a coaching job. It may not be the coaching job he envisioned when he retired admittedly but it is a coaching job none the less at his Alma mater with the Point Loma Pointers. The school has already named the field after him, the Pointers play on David Wells Field, and now the 51 year old perfect game throwing Boomer is teaching teenagers how to pitch.

Wells pitched the Pointers to a city championship 33 years ago as a player and now the 51 year old looks to bring another championship season to the school as a coach. When Wells was asked why he thought he hadn’t landed a job with a major league club despite having “all the knowledge and the big games that I’ve pitched in and being in the playoffs constantly” and why he had to settle for a job at his former High School Boomer responded with the following:

“I think they look at the fact that when I played, I was outspoken." I did my job very well. But I'm a grown man. I can do what I want to do, sometimes burning the candle at both ends. Those things happen, but I'm not that guy. If I'm going to take a job and be serious about it, I'm not the guy who played. I'm the guy that's applying for a job and trying to help out the organization. I don't think they've gotten over that yet. But it's no big deal."



As you remember Wells pitched a perfect game in a Yankees uniform inside Yankee Stadium in 1998 with a “skull rattling hangover.” Wells won two World Series rings, was a three time All Star and finished with a 239-157 record before retiring before the 2008 season and now he is teaching 20 teenagers at Point Loma High School in San Diego. You have to start somewhere Boomer, just keep your head up and have the biggest and best impact you can on these kids and the league will see the error of its ways eventually. 

Remembering the Yankees Side of Al Rosen


Al Rosen possibly had the best season ever by a third basemen in his career while playing with the Cleveland Indians, that side of him you know, but this blog post is more about his Yankees tenure. It has been well documented, especially since his passing late in the week at age 91, how he got the nicknames “Flip” and “The Hebrew Hammer” and less of the two years he was the Yankees President and CEO.

When Rosen retired from baseball in 1956 he spent two decades as a stockbroker, 22 years to be exact, before making his triumphant return to Major League Baseball. Rosen quickly became regarded as a GM who still thought like a player of the game and became the only former MVP to also earn baseball’s Executive of the Year award. The Yankees gave him his return back to baseball in 1978 when the team and owner George Steinbrenner named him as their President and CEO.

After spending two seasons with the Yankees the Houston Astros came calling giving him the same job from the 1980-1985 season. In 1985 the San Francisco Giants named Rosen their president and general manager which would be a position he would have held until the 1992 season. Rosen made an immediate impact with the Yankees obviously as the team won the World Series in his first season but possibly his finest moment was bringing the last place Giants in 1985 all the way to an NL West title in 1987 and the NL pennant in 1989.


Rosen worked in the game like he played in the game and showed a true love for the sport and the game. Rosen will truly be missed as Major League Baseball lost a great man on March 15, 2015. May Al Rosen rest in peace and our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to his friends, family and anyone who was affected by his passing.

Headley says he and A-Rod have had no issues so far in camp


The relationship between Yankees infielders Chase Headley and Alex Rodriguez was expected to be somewhat awkward going into spring training, but at least so far, the two have had no problems.

Headley said as much during a recent appearance on the New York Daily News Yankees Podcast -- a feature hosted by beat writer Mark Feinsand.

Headley, fresh off his signing of a four-year/$52 million deal in December, is set to be the Yankees' starting third baseman this season -- a team decision that will likely limit Rodriguez to the DH spot come April.

But according to Headley, he and Rodriguez have gotten along fine over the first few weeks of camp, and A-Rod in particular has caused no difficulties as he attempts to come back from a suspension for steroid use.

"He's been tremendous to me," Headley said of Rodriguez. "[His presence] really hasn't been an issue."

Rodriguez said earlier this offseason he still believed the third-base job was his to lose, a statement quickly countered by Yankees GM Brian Cashman. Cashman said that Rodriguez -- who played solid defense in three games at the position this week -- is not currently seen by the Yankees as someone they can rely on, but rather someone they have low hopes for. 

Still, Rodriguez's return to the field has sparked an unsurprising media firestorm at the Yankees' complex -- one Headley says he tolerates and doesn't hold against the veteran. 

"You knew there was going to be the attention," Headley said. "But as far as any friction, there's been none and we don't expect anything."

The Yankees seem to already have an idea of what their Opening Day lineup will look like, and in the group they have used multiple times throughout the first half of the preseason, Headley has batted sixth and Rodriguez seventh. That placement could represent a higher club confidence in Headley, who has hit .364 in nine contests this month.

Headley maintains that he and Rodriguez are working well together, though, and says the possibility of tension between the two will have to disappear eventually.

"I think both of us have the same goal, which is to win a championship," Headley said. "And I think that when guys are on the same page, a lot of that other stuff goes away."

Tony Clark has no Beef w/ Alex Rodriguez


The head of the Major League Baseball Players Union and former New York Yankees player Tony Clark (2004) has no beef with Yankees third baseman and DH Alex Rodriguez after his 162 game steroid suspension in 2014. This is news because during the suspension and appeal process that followed Alex filed, and later dropped, lawsuits against his own union, Major League Baseball and the team physician for the Yankees.

This has to be encouraging if you’re in the Alex Rodriguez camp when you hear rumors about the team refusing to pay home run milestone bonuses that were written into his contract. That is sure to be a legal fight that without the Union’s backing would be disastrous in Rodriguez’s favor.

Clark was quoted as saying:

“There were challenges throughout," Clark said Sunday after his annual spring training meeting with Yankees' players. "Everybody has come out the other side. He's part of the fraternity. The guys I have spoken to, a lot of guys have moved forward. The commentary I've heard this spring has been very positive."
"The opportunity to see him back out on the field, I'm happy for him," Clark said. "Seeing him in the shape he's in, I'm happy for him. It was a difficult stretch. I'm glad to see him back on the field."


Alex screwed up just like hundreds have before him and sure he took the immature and wrong route with it, no one can or will deny that, but it’s in the past. History is history. Let’s just play some damn baseball.

TGP Daily Poll: CC Sabathia’s Encouraging Start



CC Sabathia is set to start his first game of the spring on Tuesday and will deliver an encouraging start for Yankees fans. Two innings and one run or fewer with let’s say two strikeouts. Most importantly though the knee will make it through it all in one piece.

Vote in our prediction poll on knoda.com 

Enjoy Big Savings with the Tampa Yankees




Season Tickets
Be a 2015 Most Valuable Patron with the Tampa Yankees. Receive a game worn grey or navy TY jersey and enjoy all 70 home games at Steinbrenner Field.

Price: $150 & $50

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Fireworks 7-Pack
Get two reserved tickets to each of our seven fireworks nights and receive a 1978 Commemorative World Champions Ring from the George M. Steinbrenner Series.

Price: $40

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Silver Sluggers Club
The Silver Sluggers Club is open to all fans ages 55 & older. Receive free admission to Thursday & Sunday home games & get a $5 food/drink voucher to use at Sunday games. 
 
Price: $15
Blue's Crew Kids Club
The Blue's Crew Kids Club is open to all fans ages 14 & younger. Receive free admission to Friday & Sunday home games & get a $5 food/drink voucher to use at Friday home games. 
 
Field of Dreams
Children receive a baseball for pre-game autographs & get to take the field with the Tampa Yankees for the National Anthem. They can also enjoy a reserved seat, hot dog & soda. 
 
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Give your child a birthday party that they are sure to remember. They'll get to throw out the first pitch & receive an autographed baseball, T-Shirt, a birthday message on our video board.  
 
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Group Outings
Bring a group out for an affordable night at the ballpark. Every guest receives a reserved ticket & Tampa Yankees cap. We have four food options to choose from plus an additional catering menu.
 
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This Day in New York Yankees History 3/17: Charlie Finley Selling Players


On this day in 1977 a federal court ruled in favor of Bowie Kuhn's decision to void the 1976 sale of Athletics’ players by Charlie O. Finley. The Oakland owner sued the commissioner for illegal restraint of a trade when his deals to send Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox for $2 million and Vida Blue to the Yankees for $1.5 million were invalidated "in the best interests of baseball." This is definitely an influential and precedent setting case in the history of American sports and the judicial system.


Also on this day in 1936 Joe DiMaggio made his Major League debut in a big time way collecting four hits, including a triple, in an 8-7 exhibition loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Not bad for a 21 year old future Hall of Fame outfielder.