Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Boring Winter Ahead: Watch the 1999 World Series Game Two HERE


Game Two of the 1999 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves.

Yankees Fill Their 40 Man Roster w/ Trade with Dodgers


The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers have hooked up for a trade tonight that will send one player to Los Angeles and two players back to the Yankees. Rob Segedin, third base prospect, and a player to be named later or cash considerations will head to Los Angeles in the trade while the Dodgers will send back left-handed pitcher Tyler Olson and infielder Ronald Torreyes. Both players will require a 40 man roster spot leaving the Yankees 40 man at full capacity.

More to come on the prospects soon, you know how we like to do.

Spring Training Pre-Sale Tickets Go On Sale….

Tomorrow! If you are a MasterCard holder and a fan of the New York Yankees you can buy your individual spring training tickets tomorrow, January 13th. You can begin purchasing them with your MasterCard at 10:00 am ET on Yankees.com or wherever you buy your Yankees tickets. This is only for Yankees home games and George M. Steinbrenner Field and this is only for individual games and for MasterCard holders.


Head down to Tampa and catch a game, just be sure to pick me up on your way down and bring me too!

Yankees to Have a Rookie of the Year in 2016?


The New York Yankees have had eight Rookie of the Year Award winners in their storied history that has spanned over 115 years. The Yankees haven't had one since that magical 1996 season when Derek Jeter came up from Triple-A and led the team to their first World Series championship of my lifetime joining big names like Gil McDougald, Bob Grim, Tony Kubek, Tom Tresh, Stan Bahnsen, Thurman Munson and Dave Righetti as Yankees to win the award. I guess you could say the Yankees are due to have a player win the award soon, will it happen in 2016?

Looking at the potential list of rookies that could win the sward for New York next season you have to wonder if any of them will get enough playing time in the Bronx. The difference between a lot of current Yankees prospects and Jeter in 1996 or Carlos Correa in 2015 is every day playing time. Barring an injury or an unforeseen trade I can't see enough playing time for the Baby Bombers. Injuries cannot be predicted though so here are the list of potential Rookie of the Year Award candidates heading into the 2016 season.

The Yankees are one Starlin Castro injury away from re-opening the book on the shelf labeled Robert Refsnyder. If the past is any indicator of the future this is the only way Refsnyder is going to get into the Yankees lineup so I wouldn't call your local bookie and put a bet on Refsnyder just yet.

Gary Sanchez is expected to be the team's backup catcher in 2016 but he will presumably be used elsewhere as well. I have said many times that the Yankees could add Sanchez's right-handed power in the lineup at the DH position to give Alex Rodriguez a day off to keep him fresh for the second half and it also wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities for Sanchez to learn first base as wel. John Ryan Murphy was learning the position before he was traded so why not Sanchez? He may actually get enough at bats to make a difference, especially if the team wants to take some of the load off Brian McCann behind the dish.

Aaron Judge will likely start the season back down in Triple-A but he is one knee or elbow injury away from presumably being in the Major Leagues. The bad news for Judge is that Aaron Hicks can play any position in the outfield and would likely get the starting job, the good news for Judge though for lack of a better word is that the Yankees outfield has become injury prone all of a sudden with age. Judge may get plenty of opportunities and he may not get a single at bat. It's hard to tell with the Yankees organization.

Jacob Lindgren, the forgotten one, may also win the award and may get enough opportunities to do so in a wide-open Yankees bullpen. Lindgren was drafted with the team's first overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft  and he made his MLB debut last season before an elbow injury ended his campaign a bit prematurely. Lindgren could start the season in the bullpen and could stick there all season long bridging the gap from the starter to the three-headed monster in the Yankees bullpen.

The final potential Yankees ROY Award nominee is basically the only Yankees starting pitching option other than Bryan Mitchell and whoever loses out on the spring training competition, James Kaprielian. Kaprielian was drafted out of college in the 2015 MLB Draft and is expected to be a fast mover through the Yankees system in 2016. The problem for Kaprielian is that he probably won't be up before July and that will likely limit any chance to win the award unfortunately.

USA Today: Way-too-early Top 100 fantasy baseball rankings for 2016


The USA Today has released their self-proclaimed way-too-early Top 100 Fantasy Baseball rankings list for your viewing pleasure. It's never too early to check out the rankings and to get your fantasy baseball preparation ready before your drafts in February and March.

Here are the Top 50 and you will have to click HERE to see 51-100 including the ranking of one of the newest Yankees players Aroldis Chapman.



1. Mike Trout
2. Bryce Harper
3. Paul Goldschmidt
4. Clayton Kershaw
5. Anthony Rizzo
6. Andrew McCutchen
7. Carlos Correa
8. Giancarlo Stanton
9. Josh Donaldson
10. Jose Altuve
11. Nolan Arenado
12. A.J. Pollock
13. Manny Machado
14. Miguel Cabrera
15. Jose Abreu
16. Dee Gordon
17. Kris Bryant
18. Joey Votto
19. Madison Bumgarner
20. Max Scherzer
21. Starling Marte
22. Jake Arrieta
23. Zack Greinke
24. David Price
25. Jose Bautista
26. Edwin Encarnacion
27. Mookie Betts
28. Buster Posey
29. Carlos Gomez
30. Chris Sale
31. J.D. Martinez
32. Ryan Braun
33. Justin Upton
34. Chris Davis
35. Corey Kluber
36. Charlie Blackmon
37. Xander Bogaerts
38. Todd Frazier
39. Troy Tulowitzki
40. Felix Hernandez
41. Jose Fernandez
42. Adam Jones
43. Robinson Cano
44. Miguel Sano
45. Anthony Rendon
46. Carlos Gonzalez
47. George Springer
48. Jason Heyward
49. Gerrit Cole
50. Dallas Keuchel

Top Ten Catchers in MLB History


The time of year when the Hall of Fame vote is announced is fun for me. Christmas is just ending, the New Year is upon us, most of the major free agents are generally signed and we as a fan base are starving for anything baseball related to talk about. As a blogger this is generally the dead time and you guys know me, I don’t do dead time all that well. The Hall of Fame vote gives us something to talk about and debate for a while and when this year’s debate feels like beating a dead horse into the ground we can move onto next year’s class and start all over again. This year will be no different as we begin to talk about the Hall of Fame resumes for Vladimir Guerrero and a couple notable catchers that will undoubtedly go down as two of the best catchers in Major League Baseball history in Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and former Yankees great Jorge Posada.

With Mike Piazza, arguably the best hitting catcher of all-time, getting into the Hall while Pudge and Jorge hope to follow next season I thought this would be a great opportunity to look at the Top Ten catchers in MLB history. This list is my own although I did sample the general idea from AboutSports.com while adding a few tweaks and changes of mine own. Like the list? Share it. Don’t like the list or feel like I snubbed some or left some too high or too low? Leave your thoughts below in the comments section of the site.

1. Yogi Berra
2. Johnny Bench
3. Roy Campanella
4. Mike Piazza
5. Mickey Cochrane
6. Carlton Fisk
7. Pudge Rodriguez
8. Gary Carter
9. Bill Dickey

10. Thurman Munson

I couldn't stop at ten... I'm sorry. I couldn't leave Mr. Torre and Hip Hip off the list. 

11. Jorge Posada
12. Joe Torre

Meet a Prospect: Kirby Yates


The New York Yankees are not above taking a chance, especially in their bullpen, and the team is taking another chance this season with Kirby Yates. Yates was recently acquired by New York from the Cleveland Indians in a deal that saw cash considerations go back to Cleveland. Yates will presumably fight for and win a spot in the Yankees bullpen this spring although the possibility of starting the season down in Triple-A with the Scranton RailRiders is always there. Either way Yates is the newest member of the Yankees organization and the Yankees family so we here at The Greedy Pinstripes will welcome him the best way we know how. This is Meet a Prospect: The Kirby Yates Edition.

Kirby Kali Yates was born on March 25, 1987 and joined his brother Tyler Yates on their goal of playing in Major League Baseball. Both have made it to the big show and both have taken significantly different paths. Kirby was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 26th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball First Year Players Draft out of Kauai High School in Lihue, Hawaii. Yates did not sign and ultimately attended Yavapai College where he missed both the 2006 and 2007 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery. With this knowledge in the back of many teams and scouts heads Yates went undrafted in the 2009 MLB Draft.

Yates signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to begin his professional career and almost immediately rewarded the team with a Triple-A All-Star Game nomination in 2013. This earned Yates the opportunity to be added to the team’s 40 man roster on November 20, 2013 and set him up to make his Major League debut on June 7, 2014.

Yates stuck around with the Rays through the 2015 season before the team ultimately designated him for assignment and traded him to the Cleveland Indians for cash considerations. Yates was not long for Cleveland though after undergoing the same treatment with the Indians. Another designation for assignment and another trade for cash considerations, this time to the New York Yankees. Kirby and his fiancée Ashley Rowe will now look to stick in the Bronx with the big league Yankees and not suffer the same fate three times in an offseason.


Welcome to the organization Kirby and welcome to the family. Aloha. 

IBWAA Hall of Fame Vote, Edgar Martinez and the Yankees


Quick! Someone tell former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera that if he’s reading to look away, this isn’t going to be pretty. The Baseball Writers Association of America elected Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza into the Hall of Fame while the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, or the IBWAA which I am a lifetime member of, elected Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez. In year’s past the IBWAA elected Piazza leaving the gate open for Griffey’s teammate and former DH. We’ve checked in and seen just what Griffey Jr. and Piazza has done against the Yankees so now it would only be right to see the damage that Edgar did to the Yankees during his playing career, especially against the Yankees closer Rivera who he had an extraordinary amount of success against.

I Split G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
New York Yankees 138 594 95 158 44 22 103 6 88 86 .317 .423 .542 .965

By the way Edgar finished his career with a .579/.652/.1.053 triple slash against Mariano. As you can see Edgar was one of the few players to actually have the number of Mariano Rivera in his career. Some players went their entire careers without even making contact against the greatest closer of all-time and much of the contact that was made resulted in a new baseball bat but not Martinez. He owned the Yankees and he owned Rivera specifically. He’s now a Hall of Fame player for the IBWAA, will he ever make it in the BBWAA? Who knows?


This Day In New York Yankees History 1/12: Nothing

Nada? Not a single free agent signing? George Steinbrenner didn't buy or fire someone on this day? Wow. Enjoy the day everyone, this extremely boring day.