Sunday, June 28, 2015

Bring me Martin Prado


With every passing day it looks like the Yankees may have made a mistake when they traded infielder Martin Prado and RHP David Phelps to the Miami Marlins for RHP Nathan Eovaldi and INF/OF Garrett Jones. Phelps has been great as a starter and even dominated his old team earlier this season while Eovaldi has been consistently inconsistent this season. Jones has struggled in extremely limited playing time both offensively and defensively while Prado has been much better than any second baseman that the Yankees have thrown out there this season while the team has been forced to play Chase Headley, Stephen Drew and Mark Teixeira almost daily due to the lack of back up options. With the hamate bone injury to Prado's teammate Giancarlo Stanton and with the Marlins already struggling this season despite adding numerous players this offseason could Miami start selling off some of their players including Prado?

Miami is not going to go all fire sale on the league and sell of every major piece they have, not unless they want a very upset Stanton and Christian Yelich who both recently signed long-term extensions with the club, so let's get that idea out of our minds but that does not mean that the team won't sell off a few pieces at this year's trading deadline. Unless this team starts going on a run the team may want to start selling off some of their impending free agents while the team continues building towards the 2016 season, 2017 seasons and beyond. That list of players includes RHP Dan Haren and Mat Latos along with outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and Prado. 

Haren and Latos presumably do not interest the Yankees while Miami seems unlikely to trade Ichiro if they plan on bringing him back for the 2016 leaving Prado as their main trade piece. The Yankees have an obvious need at second base and seem unwilling to call up top second base prospect Robert Refsnyder leaving the team two options, ride it out with Drew or to make a trade. Adding Prado for cheap would allow the team to give Headley regular days off at third base, Drew a full-time bench position and Teixeira regular days off while adding another right handed bat to the lineup with playing in New York experience. 

It probably won't happen and honestly I don't know what Miami would even want in return but it couldn't be much with that much salary and two months left on his contract. 

Gregorio Petit Sent Down, Esmil Rogers Called Up, Slade Heathcott Placed on 60-Day DL

Nobody is going to be upset to see Gregorio Petit sent down to the minors, but unfortunately his replacement on the active roster is our buddy Esmil Rogers.

Out of 27 pitchers to have appeared in a MLB game for the Yankees this season, Esmil is tied with a couple others for the 3rd worst fWAR at -0.1. For comparison, Nick Rumbelow has only gotten two outs for the Yankees this season, but his fWAR is actually better at 0.0.

Hopefully Esmil only pitches in games that are way out of hand.

On a side note, I've heard many people say that the Yankees should cut their losses and put Sabathia in the bullpen, and call up Luis Severino to take his place in the rotation. While Luis has done great in six starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, throwing to a 1.73 ERA and 0.936 WHIP, I have no problem with him throwing a little more there. In fact, I'm perfectly fine with him starting in AAA for the rest of their season, and then getting in a few relief appearances in MLB before the end of the season.

Although, CC in the bullpen sounds good.

Slade Heathcott was placed on the disabled list on May 29th with a quadricep injury. He had a grade 2 strain, and Joe Girardi believed his stay on the DL would last longer than 15 days. Well, here we are about a month later, and now Heathcott has been moved to the 60-Day DL.

It's been really sad to see what's happened with Slade, as he has plenty of promise but can not stay healthy. He's still only 24, though, so there's time. However, it's getting to a point where we may never see a healthy season out of him.

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Houston Astros 6/28


The New York Yankees and the Houston Astros will finish off their series  together this afternoon inside Minute Maid Park. The Yankees and Astros have gone head-to-head three times before this contest and the pitching has taken center stage in much of the series. The Yankees will send one of their aces Michael Pineda to the mound to keep that trend going against one of Houston's best starters Collin McHugh. The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees return home next Friday to play host to the team that they are chasing in the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays, so you have a little less than a week to click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog and get your Yankees tickets. By clicking the link you can get your tickets without having to pay an arm and a leg in fees and shipping costs thanks to our friends at Ticket Monster. If you can't make it to the stadium then that's not a problem, simply jump on Twitter and give @GreedyStripes a follow to interact with us during each and every Yankees game.

Pineda is ready to reclaim the Big Mike moniker so I'll let him have the stage right now. Go Yankees!

What Other Prospects Will Debut in 2015?


The 2015 season can easily be described as the year of the prospect as many of the best and top prospects across the league have made their major league debuts this season. While New York has not called up a prospect that could come close to the hype that surrounds Byron Buxton, Kris Bryant and others the team has called up many of their own prospects and plugged them into key spots and situations. The impressive list of players that the Yankees have called up include 2014 MLB Draft top pick Jacob Lindgren, outfielders Slade Heathcott, Mason Williams and Ramon Flores and a plethora of pitchers including Danny Burawa, Nick Rumbelow, Branden Pinder, Diego Moreno, Jose De Paula, Bryan Mitchell, Jose Ramirez and a slew of others. What other prospects could the Yankees call up in 2015?

If the revolving door surround the Yankees bullpen continues to swing open and closed the team may eventually call up Nick Goody. Goody is fully recovered from Tommy John surgery and is the next in line to be called up to Triple-A before the All-Star Game setting him up for a potential call up to the Bronx. The team may also decide to call up their top prospect Luis Severino in your typical "keeping up with the Jones's" type move to get his feet wet and plug him into the bullpen to limit his innings on his arm going forward. There are other bullpen options including Tyler Webb, James Pazos and reunions with Joel De La Cruz and Jose Ramirez if need be giving Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi plenty of options to build a bullpen on the fly.

Stephen Drew sucks, if you follow us on Twitter you know that I feel that because I say it at least once in every single game. While the Yankees top second baseman prospect Robert Refsnyder is not exactly tearing it up on the offensive side of the ball I truly believe a lot of that has to do with how the Yankees like to "over-groom" their players and leave them in the minor leagues for too long. Refsnyder seems bored and unchallenged in Triple-A and a call up to the major leagues could wake him up and re-energize him both offensively and defensively. The infield is actually the least of the Yankees worries for once which is great since the team lacks upper level infield options once again in 2015.

Finally if the Yankees need to upgrade their starting pitching a bit the team can always call up left hander Miguel Sulbaran who was acquired in the deal that sent Eduardo Nunez to the Minnesota Twins. Sulbaran has made it all the way to Triple-A in his minor league career. Joining Sulbaran in the "solid but not top prospect" category is Brady Lail, Jaron Long and possibly Eric Ruth who are both enjoying stellar breakout seasons in the upper levels of the Yankees farm system.

Trades are going to happen over the next month or more so a lot can change between now and then but if the Yankees needed a call up at any of these top positions today these men would likely lead the charge.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Houston Astros 6/28


The New York Yankees and the Houston Astros finish their four game series off this afternoon inside Minute Maid Park. Pitching has been the key to the series, especially for the Astros who have held the Yankees offense down for much of the series, and that is expected to continue this afternoon in Houston. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off with the Astros starter Collin McHugh. The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.


  • Pineda did not look like "Big Mike" in his last start against the Philadelphia Phillies where he allowed eight earned runs on 11 hits in just 3.1 innings pitched. If the Yankees want to make the playoffs and win the American League East they will need much better pitching performances out of Pineda going forward. 



  • McHugh has looked great in his last two starts of 2015 posting a 2-0 record with a 3.21 ERA improving his record in his last 25 starts. In those last 25 starts which span from the 2014 to date McHugh posted a 15-3 record with a 3.55 ERA and has allowed two or fewer walks in 14 of his 15 starts this season. 


The Yankees take their talents out west after this contest as the team takes on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim inside Angels Stadium. Those west coast games are tough for the east coast fans because the games are over well after midnight in most cases although the Wednesday game is your general 7:05 pm ET start. The Yankees always want to end a series on a high note and want to win as many roads games as possible and that starts today in Houston. Go Yankees!

TGP Daily Poll: Big Mike Returns to Houston


There are two different versions of Michael Pineda, you have Pineda when he pitches mediocre or less and you have Big Mike when he's dominant. Big Mike returns to the mound on Sunday afternoon in Houston against the Astros. 6 IP 2 ER or less.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Luis Severino


Luis Severino made his seventh start in Triple-A this season on Friday and has been getting better and better which each of those starts. When the All Star Futures Game rosters were announced this season Severino was left off those rosters despite running through the Yankees system in 2015 and doing well at each stop. This sparked speculation that the Yankees have plans for Severino in the second half of the season, maybe a call up to the bullpen?

The Yankees love to bring up prospects who were starting pitchers in the minor leagues and plug them into the bullpen. The team allows the player to then get their feet wet while limiting their innings and allows the team to evaluate the player in lower pressure situations. This seems like a great idea for Severino going forward and it may be the plan for the RHP in the second half, we'll just have to stay tuned because the Yankees aren't saying anything of the sorts out loud just yet.

YearLevWLERAGIPHRERHRBBSOWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
2015AA-AAA522.541474.1562621220721.0226.80.22.48.7
2015AA223.32838.0321714210481.1057.60.52.411.4
2015AAA301.73636.12497010240.9365.90.02.55.9

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/28: Mariano Rivera's 500th Save



On this day in 2009 the great Mariano Rivera joined Trevor Hoffman in the 500 career saves club. The Yankees would beat the New York Mets 4-2 in Citi Field while Rivera got the save and his first and only RBI of his career with a bases loaded walk.

Also on this day in 1949 Joe DiMaggio finally came off the disabled list for the Yankees after missing the first 69 games of the season with a heel injury. Joe D would hit four home runs in a three game sweep of the Boston Red Sox fresh out of the box.

Also on this day in 1939 the New York Yankees established the major league record for most home runs hit in a game in a doubleheader with a total of 13. The Yankees would sweep the Philadelphia Athletics on this day by beating the A's 23-2 in game one with eight home runs and 10-0 off five home runs in game two.

Finally on this day in 1907 the Yankees had a catcher that gave up 13 stolen bases in one game, none other than Branch Rickey. While he was not a great catcher he was the man that brought Jackie Robinson to the game so he gets a pass in my book.