Yankees Off Night Open Thread

The New York Yankees spent the day traveling from Yankee Stadium to the great city of Cleveland to prepare for a big three game series against the Cleveland Indians. After the team's first series loss in what feels like forever this weekend at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays their division lead is shrinking smaller and smaller. The Yankees have to take advantage of these softer series in the schedule if they want to win the division.

Tonight is done so I leave you with a music recommendation out of my own personal collection, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. Catchy, enjoy.

ICYMI: Five Bold Predictions for the Rest of 2015

The New York Yankees have less than two months left in their 2015 season and things have gone according to plan thus far, can that continue though? New York has gotten more than expected out of the likes of Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and the overall health of the club while second base among other positions continues to be a black hole at times this season. Nobody knows what is going to happen for sure with the team going forward but I didn’t get nicknamed “The Yankees Wizard” on twitter last season for nothing so here are five bold predictions for the rest of the 2015 Yankees season.

• Alex Rodriguez will finish the 2015 season with 30 home runs on the dot. Alex came into the 2015 season with expectations at an all-time low and has crushed them along with many, many fastballs over the fences around the league. The last time Alex hit 30 home runs in a season was in 2009

• Robert Refsnyder comes up and stays up with the big league club. The Yankees are riding the hot bats of Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan now but it won’t last forever, if it even lasts long at all. Refsnyder will be up and get the same confidence and backing from management that Luis Severino is getting now.

• CC Sabathia ends the 2015 season on the disabled list. Sabathia has shown no signs of breaking down physically since his knee surgery in the offseason but the less and less effective he is the more I believe something may be wrong physically.

• The streak will continue. I was born in the Bronx, New York and have since moved down to Atlanta, Georgia where my live Yankees watching has become few and far between. In my 29 years of living I have never once seen the Yankees lose while I was in the stands and that streak continues on August 29th when I’m down in Atlanta watching them play the Atlanta Braves.

 

• The New York Yankees will not only win the American League East Division but they will also win the 2015 World Series. The AL East seems easier said than done at this point but I have faith in this team and I truly think, if healthy, this team is special. Sure the starting rotation isn’t top notch and the offense relies on #TooManyDamnHRs sometimes but they find new and inventive ways to win every single night it seems and play their best against the best teams and the best pitchers. That’s scary for opposing teams in the postseason. Those are mine, what are yours?

Leave them below in the comments section.

Most Popular Article of the Week: Yankees Interested in Cuban RHP Yasiel Sierra

The New York Yankees face strict and serious spending restrictions in the next two international signing periods after spending in excess of $30 million during the 2014-2015 IFA signing period. With the restrictions New York will not be allowed to spend more than $300K on any international free agent that subject to international spending rules. Much like almost every rule in Major League Baseball and in life there is always a way around the rules and in this specific situation New York can take advantage of players who have had at least four seasons in the Serie Nacional or equivalent league because they are not subject to these IFA rules and are considered true free agents. Enter Yasiel Sierra.

Sierra is 24 years old and is a right-handed pitcher who recentl defected from Cuba and the Serie Nacional. Sierra is known to hit 97 MPH on the radar gun and has reportedly added a nice slider and changeup to go along with the heat. Not much is know about Sierra at this time but he has done enough to garner the attention of the New York Yankees. The Yankees, who have not signed a Cuban born prospect off the international free agent market in what feels like forever, held a private workout for Sierra in the Dominican Republic last week and seem interested in signing him.

No word on if he will sign, if he's close or anything like but stay tuned because when it breaks we'll have it here on the blog. Until then check out his stats from the Serie Nacional.

Year	Age	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2010	19	0	0	12.00	4	0	0	3.0	5	4	4	1	4	0	3.000	15.0	3.0	12.0	0.0
2011	20	1	1	5.33	25	3	3	52.1	58	34	31	5	26	30	1.605	10.0	0.9	4.5	5.2
2012	21	4	2	2.20	41	4	8	81.2	69	22	20	1	41	57	1.347	7.6	0.1	4.5	6.3
2012	21	4	2	2.20	41	4	8	81.2	69	22	20	1	41	57	1.347	7.6	0.1	4.5	6.3
2012	21	2	2	1.80	21	2	7	45.0	39	10	9	0	17	32	1.244	7.8	0.0	3.4	6.4
2012	21	2	0	2.70	20	2	1	36.2	30	12	11	1	24	25	1.473	7.4	0.2	5.9	6.1
2013	22	6	6	3.92	25	18	3	101.0	79	47	44	3	64	79	1.416	7.0	0.3	5.7	7.0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

The 2015 New York Yankees Are Still Special

How quickly the tide can turn inside Yankee-Land, huh? I can remember about a week or so before the July 31st trading deadline how much fun it was to watch Yankees baseball. The New York Yankees were winning and the fans were on their side. The chants of this team being "special" and the comparisons to the 2009 World Series Championship teams were in full force until the Toronto Blue Jays came to town this weekend. Just a week ago this team was special and after one series this team is "choking way its lead" and not going to make the playoffs. News flash ladies and gentleman, the sky is not falling and this team is still special.

The sky is not falling and this team is still special, I had to say this again because I truly do believe that. There is a reason that these teams play 162 games in a Major League Baseball schedule and for as long as there's been baseball in this country there have been hot streaks and cold streaks. This is just a cold streak, nothing more and nothing to get too excited about in my opinion.

Sure the Yankees should have made upgrades before the trading deadline but sometimes those are the kicks/ I truly believe many GM's around the league have an "eff the Yankees" policy where they blatantly won't trade with New York or they won't trade with Brian Cashman unless the team pays twice as much as the closest competitor. The screams for years have been to not trade the farm system away at the deadline for rentals and veterans past their primes and when Cashman does just that the screams for his head get even louder. Here's your cake and fork, please eat up.

New York will be fine, all this team has to do is get into the playoffs and they can be scary. The offense has been too good for too long to stay down like they have the last few games and the pitching has been too good to lose too many of these 2-1 type games. Toronto is riding their hot streak in early August, all the Yankees have to do is ride their in September and the division crown will be their's. The sky is not falling, this team is still special and the bandwagon is a one way street. Either root now while the division lead is shrinking or go root for the Mets.

Yankees Off Day Walk Up Music Recommendation

The New York Yankees just finished off a six game homestand this week with a series victory over the Boston Red Sox before taking a step back or two against the Toronto Blue Jays. Now the Yankees are leaving the Bronx and the friendly confides of Yankee Stadium to make the trip to Cleveland to face off against the Cleveland Indians. No Yankees player will take an at bat either at home or on the road today so today would be a good day to bring you some more walk up music from inside Yankee Stadium.

We're actually running out of players to showcase on these posts, a big thank you goes out to Brian Cashman for not really acquiring anyone and making my life harder, so instead we'll take a look at some of the music staples inside Yankee Stadium.

Like Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America" that is played during the 7th inning stretch. 

Or "YMCA" by the Village People that is played before the Top of the 7th. 

And finally there is "New York, New York" after every Yankees win. Cue Sinatra!

TGP Daily Poll: Starting a New Streak

The Yankees hadn't lost a series since early July before the Toronto Blue Jays came to town this weekend and took care of business. Now it's time for the Yankees to start a new streak with another series win, that starts Tuesday in Cleveland.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

Weekly Check In: Gary Sanchez

Gary Sanchez was called up to Triple-A because of an injury to Austin Romine but the young Yankees catcher has made the most of the opportunity. Sanchez hit well in Double-A this season so the promotion was definitely deserved, the Yankees merely took advantage of the free roster spot to try their luck with Sanchez at the next level, but he has been that much better as a member of the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Sanchez has found his power stroke in Triple-A as he is suddenly hitting for not only home run power but doubles power as well. Sanchez now finds himself knocking on the door to the Bronx with every strong performance down inside PNC Field. Sanchez likely needs as close to a full season in Triple-A in 2016 before getting a serious look at the Bronx but just like his promotion to Triple-A he looks to be just an injury away from the Bronx.

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA-AAA	77	331	43	83	18	16	53	7	27	63	.278	.338	.498	.837
2015	AA	58	254	33	61	14	12	36	6	18	50	.262	.319	.476	.795
2015	AAA	19	77	10	22	4	4	17	1	9	13	.333	.403	.576	.978

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day In New York Yankees History 8/10: David Cone & The Streak

David Cone was one of the best Yankees signings in the mid to late 90's but in the year 2000 the right hander seemed to hit a wall. Cone went from throwing a perfect game in front of the Yankee Stadium crowd to not getting a victory in 16 straight decisions, until today. On this day in 2000 Cone finally got the long sought after win when the Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 12-6. Jose Canseco hit a three run home run to help Cone end his skid.

Also on this day in 1986 the Yankees held Billy Martin Day at Yankee Stadium and retired his #1 jersey and erected a plaque in his honor in Monument Park. The plaque read "There has never been a greater competitor than Billy." The four time manager and former second baseman addresses the sold out crowd by saying "I may not have been the greatest Yankees to put on the uniform, but I am the proudest."

Finally on this day in 1957 Mickey Mantle became the first player to ever hit a home run that cleared the center field hedge at Memorial Stadium. The home run was an estimated 460 feet and helped the Yankees beat the Orioles 6-3.