Yankees Off Night Open Thread

The New York Yankees are off tonight so when there’s a night without a game we usually leave you with an open thread. An open thread much like the one we leave you with tonight. There are plenty of draft signings, trade rumors and ideas and such to talk about so you should have plenty to keep you busy without the Yankees in your lives again tonight.

By the way, have you seen the card for UFC 200? The rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. The return of Brock Lesnar. The title defense from Meisha Tate. Wow, what a card and I can’t wait for that on July 9^th. Talk about that or anything else you’d like for the remainder of the night just keep it clean and keep it respectful please.

Thank you and enjoy your night. 

Meet a Prospect: Trevor Lane

The New York Yankees went very college heavy in the early rounds of the 2016 MLB First Year Players Draft and for good reason. The Yankees farm system is loaded with talent but much of the talent hasn’t sniffed Double-A competition yet leaving New York desperate for depth from their farm system at the Major League level. The quickest way to get a draftee to the Major Leagues is to draft a college pitcher or position player that is considered to be polished and more MLB ready and let them loose to fly through the system. That’s exactly what they did with their 10^th round pick in this year’s draft Trevor Lane. Let’s meet him.

This is Meet a Prospect: The Trevor Lane Edition. Lane was drafted 307^th overall by the Yankees out of the University of Illinois. Lane is a left-handed power relief pitcher who began his collegiate career at Campbell before transferring to Lower Columbia Community College and then UL. While in the Horizon League Lane was considered to be one of the top relievers in all of the conference after transferring from the rotation to the bullpen this season.

As a starter in 2014 Lane posted a very impressive 12.46 K/9 ratio but he saw that same ratio drop to 7.02 in 2015 forcing his coaches to move him to the bullpen. As a senior reliever in 2016 Lane threw 70.1 innings and posted a 1.41 ERA with five saves and a 90/35 K/BB ratio despite missing time with a concussion. That impressive strikeout rate jumped Lane back to a 12.49 K/9 showing Lane and the Yankees that his coaching staff made the right decision in the move.

Lane is not a big guy by any means, 5’11” and 185 lbs., but he has good mechanics and a good delivery that should quell some of the durability concerns that come with smaller framed pitchers. Lane, like Brooks Kriske who the Yankees took with their 6^th pick out of USC, should move through the Yankees farm system rather quickly and into the Circle of Trust with Joe Girardi relatively soon. Think Jacob Lindgren circa 2015.

Welcome to the organization Trevor and welcome to the family as well.

The Yankees Have Really Owned the Twins Lately

The New York Yankees are off today but they are staying home, watching video and preparing for the Minnesota Twins to invade the Bronx this weekend in a three-game set. At this point you have to wonder if the Yankees even read scouting reports or talk to coaches and managers about the upcoming series with the Twins because it feels like the Yankees have absolutely owned Minnesota over the past few years. So for the purposes of this post I wanted to go back an even 20 years, which coincidentally although not on purpose, dates back to the 1996 Yankees and the beginning of a dynasty to see just how bad New York has beat up on the men from the Great Lakes over the years.

1996: NYY won 7, MIN won 5

1997: NYY won 8, MIN won 3

1998: NYY won 7, MIN won 4

1999: NYY won 6, MIN won 4

2000: NYY won 5, MIN won 5

2001: NYY won 2, MIN won 4

2002: NYY won 6, MIN won 0

2003: NYY won 7, MIN won 0

2004: NYY won 4, MIN won 2

2005: NYY won 3, MIN won 3

2006: NYY won 3, MIN won 3

2007: NYY won 5, MIN won 2

2008: NYY won 6, MIN won 4

2009: NYY won 7, MIN won 0

2010: NYY won 4, MIN won 2

2011: NYY won 6, MIN won 2

2012: NYY won 4, MIN won 3

2013: NYY won 5, MIN won 2

2014: NYY won 4, MIN won 3

2015: NYY won 5, MIN won 1

2016: NYY won 3, MIN won 1

*All stats according to Baseball Reference

Bolded denotes a Yankees season series victory

So if you guys hear a collective chattering of teeth getting closer and closer to the Bronx this weekend it’s probably the entire Minnesota Twins team of players, coaches and managers. It may be another good weekend for baseball in the Bronx is history is any indicator of the future. And I hope that it is. 

Yankee Stadium Off Day Walk Up Music Recommendation

Another day and another off day for the New York Yankees. I’m sure the team isn’t complaining much after playing in 40 games in 41 days but I know the fans can sometimes get a little impatient with two days off in a week. Nothing we can do about that though, that’s fully in the MLB scheduler’s hands, but we can enjoy the day, get that project done we’ve been meaning to get done and recharge the batteries both physically and mentally.

Like we do with every off day we bring to you today the walk up or entrance music for one of the Yankees players or stars and today that star is Aroldis Chapman. After hearing Enter Sandman for so many years at the beginning of every 9^th inning in the Bronx we’ve been given a variety of music to enjoy over the years with the latest being “Wake Up” by Rage Against the Machine.

Enjoy the song and enjoy the off day. New York welcomes Minnesota to the Bronx tomorrow for a three-game weekend set inside Yankee Stadium. It should be fun. 

How Long Before Nova’s Demoted & Severino Is Back?

Desperate times call for desperate measures and times are looking pretty grim right now in the Bronx. Rebuilding times also call for rebuilding measures and either way we may be getting closer and closer to the “Luis Severino” chants coming back to the Bronx and the plea’s to send Ivan Nova back to the bullpen may return as well to the Yankees Universe.

Ivan Nova has struggled lately for the Yankees and struggled is putting it mildly. Before entering his last start this week against the Colorado Rockies the Yankees soon-to-be free agent right-hander had allowed five runs in two of his last three starts and had posted a 6.30 ERA in his last five starts. In that start against Colorado he did nothing to make these stats look any better after getting charged with six earned runs in just four-plus innings of work. Meanwhile, and yes I heard Joe Girardi criticize Severino’s starts on the YES Network despite what the box score said, Severino is pitching better and better and well overall in Triple-A. Is it time to make the move?

The Yankees are in a bit of a Catch-22 type situation and thankfully for the Yankees young right-hander both situations should lead to a call up if the Yankees have any inkling of what they are doing with the roster management of this team. If the Yankees plan on competing they know their pitching will have to be close to flawless because the offense has been mediocre at best this season. Having a guy like Nova have your team out of it before the game is even officially a game yet every fifth day is not going to allow you to make up too many games in the standings and will force a losing season and potentially a rebuild in the Bronx. If they want to compete they may almost have to call up Severino and send Nova to the bullpen at this point.

But if the Yankees decide not to do that and decide that they will not compete in 2016 they may choose to blow it up, make some trades and begin the rebuild process. When you rebuild you don’t give starting pitchers pushing 30-years old who are about to hit free agency pitch for the rest of the season, you let the young guns have their fun and go through their growing pains while trading the rental, Nova in this case, for a prospect or two. Either way all signs points to Severino coming back sooner rather than later. But when? No one knows. Stay tuned. 

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge has once again woken up in Scranton and has been last seen hitting the absolute crap off the ball in his last couple weeks. Ladies and gentleman, Judgement Day is coming to the Bronx and it will be here before you know it.

On a serious note Judge has been hitting much better as of late down in Triple-A and has been hitting for much more power than he’s shown lately which is an encouraging sign for both him and the Yankees. With the impending free agency of Carlos Beltran and the struggles from Aaron Hicks this season the Yankees may need Judge more than anyone ever thought they would have at this point in the season.

With that knowledge it wouldn’t surprise me if the Yankees give Judge the September call up this season. It’s not necessary, he doesn’t need a 40 man roster spot anyway, but it may go a long way much like it has for Derek Jeter in 1995 and so many other prospects before and since.

Judgement Day is coming to the Bronx. 

Year	Age	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	24	AAA	67	297	42	67	13	12	39	5	30	70	.259	.343	.448	.791

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/23: Cleveland ROCKED!

On this day in 1996 the Yankees showed how much of a "never count us out" team they really were when they behind early only to come back with nine runs in the sixth inning. The Yankees would win the game 11-9 at Jacobs Field over the Cleveland Indians and it would complete the first time the Yankees would sweep the Indians in Cleveland in a four game series since 1964.


Also on this day in 1950 the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees combined for 11 home runs in a nine inning game, a major league record for the most in a single game. Hoot Evers hit the historic home run as a walk off home to give the Tigers a very dramatic 10-9 victory over New York.



Finally on this day in 1915 the Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Bruno Hass made his major league debut against the New York Yankees at the very historic Shibe Park. The good news was the 24 year old southpaw, known as Boon, tossed a complete game in the contest and in the start established a post-1900 major league record. The bad news was the record was for issuing 16 walks during the nine inning game in a 15-7 loss to the Yankees.