Monday, June 20, 2016

Yankees Off Night Open Thread


The New York Yankees are off tonight as they travel home to sleep in their own beds before beginning a home stand against the Colorado Rockies. These same Rockies swept away the Yankees in a two game series in Colorado last week and New York will look to extract some revenge this week in the Bronx. First thing is first though, a night to rest and recharge the batteries. That's exactly what I am going to do as well so I leave you with this open thread for the night. Talk about whatever you'd like, just keep it cool and respectful please.

Don't forget TGP T-shirts and don't forget your Yankees tickets for this week either, both can now be purchased right here on the blog. Support the Greedy Pinstripes and root for the Yankees.

ICYMI: Yankees Sign A Couple Non-Drafted Free Agents


Just a quick update here for you on this beautiful Saturday night. The New York Yankees have signed a few non-drafted free agents to add to their farm system this week. This is not uncommon for the Yankees who signed about five or six of these free agents after the draft last year if memory serves and thus far I could find information on two more the team added this season, Josh Gardiner and Woody Bryson.

Josh Gardiner is a middle infielder who has been playing for the Frontier League’s Schaumburg Boomers, an independent baseball team located in Illinois. Gardiner went to Radford University and was last seen hitting .311 in 23 games this season. There’s no word on where Gardiner will begin his professional career, although Staten Island seems like as good of a pick as any, or what he signed for.

Woody Bryson is a left-handed pitcher out of Villanova University who decided to sign with New York despite having his senior season ahead of him in college. During Bryson’s junior season the lefty made 26 appearances going 4-3 with three saves and a 3.35 ERA in 40.1 innings. Bryson boasted a 10.7 K/9 ratio in 2016 while allowing just 33 hits, just one of them being a home run, in 174 at bats.

Bryson could be a starter, a long reliever or a late inning relief pitcher in his career once all the dust settles. No one knows yet, the sky is the limit for this kid much like it is for Gardiner. The ultimate unknowns. Welcome to the family.

Most Popular Article of the Week: Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and the Yankees Three-Headed Bullpen Monster



The New York Yankees continue to slide in the standings both in the American League East Division and in the chase for the Wild Card slots which could mean a trade or three are on the horizon for the Yankees. New York made players like Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda, Brett Gardner and others available this winter and even more could be available this summer including all of the Yankees three-headed monster in the bullpen that is commonly referred to as “No Runs DMC” inside Yankee Stadium. The Chicago Cubs are already said to be scouting these three and some reports have even suggested that Theo Epstein may want two of the three, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. While the Cubs may have MLB ready talent to trade for both I think it would be foolish to trade both to one team, especially after the Washington Nationals just lost their closer Jonathan Papelbon.


If the Yankees want to do this right and corner the market while using two teams against each other they should trade one to Chicago, preferably Chapman for Jorge Soler straight up if possible, and the other to Washington, Miller for a list of players we will showcase here in this post. I prefer Miller to go to Washington because the Nationals have more in the way of prospects and talent than Chicago does down on their minor league farm affiliates. Here are a few potential players the Yankees could ask for from Washington if a trade involving Andrew Miller were to occur.


I may be reaching for the stars but the first names out of Brian Cashman’s mouth need to be Treat Turner and Lucas Giolito. You can accept less for Miller, who is not a rental unlike Chapman hence my willingness to accept “Baby Puig” in return for him despite his lackluster career numbers, but you have to absolutely ask for the sky and meet in the middle here. Giolito is the Nats best pitching prospect at 21-years old and is fresh off an Eastern League (Double-A) Pitcher of the Week Award. Meanwhile Turner made his MLB debut this season for Washington and quietly went 3-for-3 opening some eyes inside the organization.




If you take less for Miller you take less but prying one of these two away from Washington would be absolutely huge for the Yankees. Turner is another middle infielder that the Yankees may not necessarily need but he’s got a talent set and a tool bag big enough that you have to make room for while Giolito may just be the real deal and a real deal for a long time. Ask for the moon, settle for less if you have to. Just don’t trade both Miller and Chapman to Chicago when the Yankees have all the leverage over both Chicago AND Washington this summer. Stay tuned.

Yankee Stadium Off Day Music Recommendation


The New York Yankees are off again today as they leave the Great Lakes area to come back home to the Bronx, New York and Yankee Stadium. As we like to do with every off day we will bring you an off day music recommendation with a twist to keep you busy on this Yankees off day. In years past we have gone with some of the better known Yankees but today we will go with a lesser known Yankee, lesser known because he is the newest Yankee. Ike Davis.

Every time Ike Davis steps up to the plate at Yankee Stadium the song "Start Me Up" is heard blaring from the Yankee Stadium speakers. Can't go wrong with the Rolling Stones, can you?

Meet a Prospect: Dalton Blaser


The New York Yankees have had a great ability to sign their Top 10 draft picks to date from this season. Obviously we all by now that the Yankees went very college heavy in this draft and in last year's draft due to the fact that the team needed slot money and prospects that would reach the Major Leagues sooner rather than later and today's prospect showcase also fits the mold. Dalton Blaser was a first baseman out of Cal State Fullerton and is now a proud member of the New York Yankees organization, let's meet him.

This is Meet a Prospect: The Dalton Blaser Edition. Blaser was drafted out of Cal State Fullerton with the Yankees eight round pick, 248th overall. Blaser was a 22-year old senior in college and for that reason was not ranked in Baseball America's Top 500 Prospects draft list. This is not meant to be down on Blaser though as he has some talent. This is not the first time Blaser was drafted, the Oakland Athletics saw something in him back in 2012 when they drafted him in the 39th round, and he is now hoping that the decision to head to college was a good one.

Blaser spent his first two years of college at Sierra College in Rocklin, California before transferring to Cal State Fullerton for the 2015 and 2016 season. In 2016 Blaser hit .359/.439/.485 while walking 30 times and only striking out 18 times. Blaser has shown a great batting eye and patience at the plate although he lacks in the power department despite his 6'1" and 195 pounds frame.

Blaser's father, Mark Blaser, was also drafted by the Yankees in the fourth round of 1981 and spent five seasons in the system playing first base, third base and the outfield. Now Dalton Blaser will look to not only follow in his father's footsteps but will also look to follow in his favorite player's footsteps, Derek Jeter. Welcome to the organization Dalton and welcome to the family I have a feeling you're going to do well here.

Weekly Prospects Check In: Nick Swisher


Don't mind me, I'm just eating crow. I am eating crow because I was convinced that I had read that Nick Swisher had a June 15th opt-out date in his minor league contract and I was also convinced that he was going to exercise it too. Why wouldn't he? The Yankees signed him as first base depth for Mark Teixeira and as Swisher watched Dustin Ackley go down he watched Chris Parmelee come up. As Swisher watched Teixeira go down he watched Robert Refsnyder come up. As Swisher watched Parmelee go down he watched as Ike Davis came up. All while sitting down in Triple-A with the Scranton RailRiders.

It seems as though Swisher is going to stick it out, at least for a little while, so we're going to keep rooting for him as long as he's here.

Year Age Lg G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
2016 35 AAA 48 208 15 51 5 7 25 0 12 48 .263 .303 .397 .700

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/20: Joe DiMaggio… Again


Okay so if this post looks familiar there is probably a good reason for that…. It was posted yesterday. For some reason I was a day ahead of myself and totally skipped “This Day in Yankees History” for 6/19, you have my apologies. You didn’t miss much, the Yankees signed Darryl Strawberry and some guy named Babe Ruth hit some home runs or something but regardless I do apologize and promise not to let it happen again.


On this day in 1950 Joe DiMaggio had a two hit day and collected his 2,000th hit of his career. DiMaggio had an RBI single in the third inning and had another RBI single in the seventh inning to reach the milestone. The Yankees would beat the Indians 8-2 in DiMaggio's 1,537th game of his career.


On this day in 1921 Babe Ruth vaulted himself into second place on the career list for home runs. Ruth would hit his 127th home run helping the Yankees beat the Red Sox in Fenway Park 7-6 in 10 innings. Ruth would pass Sam Thompson on the All-Time list and would find himself just 11 home runs away from the All-Time record holder Roger Connor.