Saturday, June 13, 2015

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 6/13


For the second week in a row FOX Saturday Baseball has picked up a prime time game between the New York Yankees. This time around the game will showcase the New York Yankees facing off with the Baltimore Orioles inside Oriole Park and Camden Yards. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with Bud Norris for the Orioles in the game that will start at 7:15 and can be seen on MLB TV as well as FOX.

Get your Yankees tickets for when the team returns home to the Bronx by clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. Old Timers Day is coming up at Yankee Stadium and so is HOPE Week so you will want to be in town and at the Cathedral of Baseball when those events come around. If you can’t be then it’s totally understood just jump on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) and/or the comments section of the site to interact with us during each and every game.


It’s Saturday night and the Yankees are looking for another victory, let’s hope Mr. Sabathia can deliver the team that victory tonight in Baltimore. Go Yankees!

Yankees Outright Esmil Rogers, Call up Sergio Santos?


After the embarrassing loss to the Baltimore Orioles in last night's game the New York Yankees outrighted Esmil Rogers off the 40 man roster. Esmil has cleared waivers and now has the choice to either elect free agency or accept a Triple-A assignment. It is not 100% official yet but it seems that recently signed Sergio Santos is on his way from Double-A to take his 40 man roster spot in the bullpen. Stay tuned.

UPDATED: Santos has been called up to take the place of Rogers while Jacob Lindgren has been sent down to Triple-A. In his place Jose A. Ramirez has been called up.

Meet a Prospect: Mason Williams


Mason Williams has been called up to the New York Yankees this weekend after spending his entire professional career in the minor leagues. Mason’s climb to the major leagues has not been an easy one as he has experiences his fair share of ups and downs including a DUI and almost being left unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft this winter. All of that is in the past allowing us to now focus on the present after Williams was called up to replace Jose Pirela on the Yankees active roster. We may be a day late and a dollar short, story of my life, but now is as good of a time as any to meet a prospect, Mason Williams.

Mason Williams was born on August 21, 1991 in Florida to parents Derwin and Colleen Williams. Williams grew up in Florida and spent his high school years at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida playing for their baseball team. Williams excelled at West Orange High School enough to forgo his scholarship and commitment to the University of South Carolina after being drafted by the New York Yankees in 2010. The Yankees took Williams in the fourth round of the MLB First Year Players Draft and signed him to a $1.5 million signing bonus.

Williams began his professional career with the Gulf Coast Yankees in 2010 appearing in just five games before getting the bump to the Staten Island Yankees in the New York Penn League for 2011. Mason won the NYPL Most Valuable Player Award in 2011 slugging three home runs with a .349/.395/.468 slash with 31 RBI and 28 stolen bases in just 68 games. After that monster 2011 season Baseball American named him the Yankees 5th best prospect in their farm system and the top prospect in the NYPL while Keith Law had Williams ranked 34th overall. Mason was on his way.

Williams got the promotion to the Charleston Riverdogs in 2012 and continued where he left off in 2011 collecting a .304/.359/.489 slash with eight home runs and 19 stolen bases before earning another promotion to the High-A Tampa Yankees. Williams looked to be settling in well with Tampa slashing .277/.302/.422 with three home runs in 22 games before a dislocated left shoulder ended his season. From 2013 to 2015 Williams never seemed completely right after the dislocated shoulder and a DUI conviction and was almost left unprotected by the Yankees in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft.


Williams was ultimately protected and was added to the 40 man roster and assigned to Double-A Trenton before the season. By May 20th Mason was already promoted to Triple-A with the RailRiders before earning the ultimate promotion on June 11th to the big leagues for his major league debut. Mason didn’t exactly take the easy way or the quick way to the major leagues but the important part is that he is here now and he made it. Congratulations Mason and welcome to the family. 

All-Star Game & World Series Home Field Advantage


So there I was sitting at work on Monday, in a meeting of course, when my phone goes off to update me on the latest MLB All-Star Game voting. I saw that, along with a few dirty looks from co-workers, Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales joined five other Kansas City Royals in the starting lineup for the American League while Brian McCann, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner and Carlos Beltran were all among American League All-Star leaders on the ballots. With home field advantage for the World Series on the line I got to thinking would I rather see Teixeira at first base or Hosmer. McCann or Salvador Perez. A-Rod or Morales. Ellsbury or Lorenzo Cain. Then I got thinking, does it really matter?

So I did my research as I wondered how often a team with a better record lost out on their completely earned and justified home field advantage in the World Series because their team of All-Stars lost the Mid-Summer Classic just four months earlier. The first season where the All-Star Game actually meant something and somewhat counted was in 2003 meaning that 12 World Series have been affected since the inception of the rule that the team representing the league that won the All-Star Game would have home field advantage in the World Series.

Let's take a look at who won each of those two All-Star Games, which teams represented the American and National Leagues in the World Series those past 12 seasons, and whether the All-Star Game "counting" mattered or not. 

2003
American League beat National League 7-6
AL representative in World Series: New York Yankees (101-61)
NL representative in World Series: Florida Marlins (91-71)
World Series winner: Florida Marlins  4-2



2004
American League beat National League 9-4
AL representative in World Series: Boston Red Sox (98-64)
NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (105-57)
World Series winner: Boston Red Sox 4-0



2005
American League beat National League 7-5
AL representative in World Series: Chicago White Sox (99-63)
NL representative in World Series: Houston Astros (89-73)
World Series winner: Chicago White Sox 4-0



2006
American League beat National League 3-2
AL representative in World Series: Detroit Tigers (95-67)
NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (83-78)
World Series winner: St. Louis Cardinals 4-1



2007
American League beat National League 5-4
AL representative in World Series: Boston Red Sox (96-66)
NL representative in World Series: Colorado Rockies (90-73)
World Series winner: Boston Red Sox 4-0 



2008
American League beat National League 4-3
AL representative in World Series: Tampa Bay Rays (97-65)
NL representative in World Series: Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)
World Series winner: Philadelphia Phillies 4-1



2009
American League beat National League 4-3
AL representative in World Series: New York Yankees (103-59)
NL representative in World Series: Philadelphia Phillies (93-69)
World Series winner: New York Yankees 4-2



2010
National League beat American League 3-1
AL representative in World Series: Texas Rangers (92-70)
NL representative in World Series: San Francisco Giants (92-70)
World Series winner: San Francisco Giants 4-1



2011
National League beat American League 5-1
AL representative in World Series: Texas Rangers (96-66)
NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (90-72)
World Series winner: St. Louis Cardinals 4-3



2012
National League beat American League 8-0
AL representative in World Series: Detroit Tigers (88-74)
NL representative in World Series: San Francisco Giants (94-68)
World Series winner: San Francisco Giants 4-0



2013
American League beat National League 3-0
AL representative in World Series: Boston Red Sox (97-65)
NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (97-65)
World Series winner: Boston Red Sox 4-2



2014
American League beat National League 5-3
AL representative in World Series: Kansas City Royals (89-73)
NL representative in World Series: San Francisco Giants (88-74)
World Series winner: San Francisco Giants 4-3



2015
Yet to be determined.... stay tuned 

*bolded denotes who would have had home-field advantage due to record

As you can see in the twelve seasons where the All-Star Game actually counted the numbers of teams who would have had home-field advantage without the game actually meaning something was eight of the twelve instances. The team with home-field advantage has won eight of those twelve World Series while interestingly enough two of those series have gone all seven games. In those pair of seven game series only last year's Kansas City Royals lost with the home-field advantage making you wonder how the game would have went if the shoe were on the other foot. While the game should not count for anything and definitely should not determine what league will have the home-field advantage in the World Series I'm not quite sure it's worth jumping up and down for because it hasn't negatively affected that much. 


Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 6/13


For the second consecutive week the New York Yankees are playing in prime time under the lights on a Saturday night. Last week it was a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim inside Yankee Stadium and this week it’s a game against the Baltimore Orioles inside Oriole Park and Camden Yards. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with the Orioles starter Bud Norris. The game will be played at 7:15 pm ET and can be seen on FOX and MLB TV.

  • Sabathia is coming into this start fresh off his first win at Yankee Stadium this season when he beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to improve to 3-7. Sabathia looks to improve upon his very impressive career stat line which includes an 18-7 record and a 3.40 ERA against the Baltimore Orioles tonight.


  • Norris had been on the shelf until his last start after battling a case of bronchitis that kept him off the mound since May 10. Norris picked up where he left off in his last start against the Cleveland Indians allowing just one run on four hits in five innings of work collecting a victory.



With a day game tomorrow after the night game tonight you should expect many regulars in the lineup tonight with the skeleton crew playing tomorrow afternoon in the finale. How long CC can go tonight will really determine what the Yankees can do with the bullpen tonight and going forward with the Miami Marlins series looming so let’s hope for some length from CC tonight and Adam Warren tomorrow afternoon. Go Yankees!

Twitter Poll: Five Man or Six Man Rotation


Ivan Nova make his second, and likely his final, rehab start with the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders today before likely being activated off the 60 day disabled list. Nova has worked himself all the way back from Tommy John surgery and has looked good in his extended spring games and minor league rehab appearances leaving the Yankees hopeful and with a bit of a roster crunch going forward. New York has five starters currently in the rotation before Nova presumably returns to it and a gaping hole in the bullpen left behind by the injury to Andrew Miller and the inefficiency of the likes of David Carpenter and others leaving the question, how will New York handle the Ivan Nova return. You guys know how I feel about it because I laid out my plan yesterday morning on the blog, I don’t think Nova should even be making this start in the minor leagues when he could be making the start for the big league club tomorrow in Baltimore, but I was curious to see what you, the readers and fellow fans, thought… sounds like all the makings of a Twitter poll.









To be involved in our next Twitter poll head over to the app to give @GreedyStripes a follow and be on the lookout for out next Twitter poll question. We will not use your responses without informing you first. 

TGP Daily Poll: Top 10 Picks Signed


The 2015 MLB First Year Player’s Draft has come and went without the Yankees taking a player with real signability issues. The team will likely sign every player they drafted in the first 10 rounds of the draft.


Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Jorge Mateo


After the New York Yankees drafted defensive-minded shortstop Kyle Holder with the 30th pick overall in the MLB First Year Player’s Draft the fans were left wondering why. Why would New York draft another slick fielding shortstop who could or couldn’t have “elite” defense when they already have the likes of Didi Gregorius, Brendan Ryan, Stephen Drew, Abi Avelino, Tyler Wade, Ali Castillo and the top shortstop prospect of them all Jorge Mateo. While the Yankees brass, mainly Damon Oppenheimer, were quick to defend their pick of Holder and his offensive abilities you have to wonder what the team really thinks of Mateo and his ability to swing the bat.

Mateo can pick the ball and Mateo can take his walks, run the bases and steal said bases but whether Mateo can swing the bat enough has always been and will always be the biggest question surrounding him. When you look at the stat line you may think that he isn’t hitting that bad or that he’s hitting like an average MLB shortstop but you have to consider what level he’s hitting at. It’s only going to get tougher from here although he is only going to get older, more mature and fill out more from here as well and I totally understand that.


I’m not down on Mateo, not at all, but I am trying to temper expectations a bit for the young man. He’s not going to be ready this year, next year or the next and he may never be more than what we currently have in Didi Gregorius. I am hopeful for more and I think the team can get more out of a young Mateo but if they don’t that has to be okay too. 


YearLevGPARH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
2015A532272653652223991648.259.314.366.680

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/13: Roger Clemens 300th Win & 4000th K


On this day in 2003 the Yankees Roger Clemens finally got his 300th victory of his career throwing 6.2 innings pitched in a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The 40 year old Clemens would become only the 21st pitcher to ever win 300 games and the first since 1990. Clemens also got his 4,000th strikeout of his career joining Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136) as the only two members of the 4,000 strike out club.

Also on this day in 2001 the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Enrique Wilson and his .186 average to the Yankees for relief pitcher Damaso Marte and his 3-1 record and 2.50 ERA. The rest is history, although a right would be wronged in 2009.

Also on this day in 2001 in what should have started a fight the New York Yankees lost to the Montreal Expos in 12 innings after Mark Smith hit a "home run" that was clearly foul on replay. The Yankees would be forced to restore the missing screen on the bottom three feet of the fair side left field foul pole to keep this event from ever happening again.  The section was originally removed so the fans sitting behind the pole would not have an obstructed view of the game.

Also on this day in 1994 Don Mattingly passed Yankees first baseman Wally Pipp for consecutive games played in a Yankees uniform. Mattingly played in 1,469 straight games and is only second to the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig and his 2,130 straight games.

Also on this day in 1957 another ugly brawl broke out when Art Ditmar threw a pitch behind Larry Doby's head. The White Sox infielder took exception to being thrown at and punched the Yankees pitcher Ditmar. Billy Martin, Walt Dropo, Bill Skowron, and Enos Slaughter were all in the middle of the fight.

Also on this day in 1948 the Yankees held Babe Ruth Day on the silver anniversary. Members of the 1923 team, his first team he played with in Yankee Stadium, and 49,641 fans sang Auld Lang Syne to Ruth. The #3 uniform was retired and immediately sent to Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame.

Also on this day in 1924 the Yankees outfielder Bob Meusel is hit by a pitch in the back by the Detroit Tigers Bert Cole and bedlam starts in the Bronx. The Yankees outfielder would throw his bat and charge the mound resulting in a nine inning brawl. The brawl included everyone from players, fans, and police and would see the Tigers forfeit the game 10-6 because the umpires could not clear the field after 30 minutes. Wow.


Finally on this day in 1921 Babe Ruth pitched the first five innings in a 11-8 victory over the Detroit Tigers for the first and only time this season. Ruth also hit two home runs in a season in which he broke his own major league record for home runs in a single season with 59. This would be the last time Ruth would pitch for the Yankees this season.