Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Yanks Lose Series As They Get Shut Out By Chicago, 5-0

On an overcast night in Chicago, the Yankees and the White Sox faced off and the rubber game of the three-game series. Michael Pineda took his string of five consecutive quality starts to the mound to oppose Chicago. Trying to silence the Yankee offense that put a nine spot on the Pale Hose last night, Miguel Gonzalez and his 4.88 ERA took the ball for the White Sox. But that same offense that put up nine runs a night ago was stymied by the Chicago right-hander as they Lost the game and the series tonight.

It looked like the April version of Pineda tonight as the White Sox got to Big Mike in the second inning. With two outs, Pineda gave up a line drive single to right-field off the bat of Bret Lawrie, who advanced to second on a wild pitch to the next batter Dioner Navarro. Navarro walked and then Avisail Garcia drove Lawrie in when he smoked a single into left, 1-0 Chicago. The next batter centerfielder J.B. Shuck hit a ground-rule double that scored Navarro and moved Garcia to third, 2-0. And then Tim Anderson capped off the second when he followed up with a two RBI double that put the Sox up by a slam. Like I said, April-Pineda = two-run rally time.

Pineda would settle down over the next few innings but found himself in more trouble in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, the right-hander walked Melky Cabrera, who advanced to third on a single by Todd Frazier. Brett Lawrie drove in the fifth White Sox run of the game when he grounded into a force out to the shortstop Gregorius that scored Cabrera and made it a 5-0 contest. It was all threes and fives for #35 as he was lifted before the start of the seventh. leaving with a final line of six innings pitched, allowing five earned runs on five hits while walking three and striking out five. Nathan Eovaldi, who has really struggled as a starter lately, made only his fourth appearance out of the bullpen in relief of Pineda, the first time doing so in pinstripes.

The Yankee offense has a way of making a below average starter look like an all star and such was the case tonight. Miguel Gonzalez was dominant tonight over New York, pitching seven scoreless innings while allowing just five hits, walking one and striking out three. Zach Duke and David Robertson combined to complete the shut out of the pop-less Pinstripers as they dropped yet another series.

New York flies home tonight and will begin a four-game series with the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians, with first pitch scheduled tomorrow night for 7:05 PM ET.


Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/6


The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox will finish off their three game set tonight inside US Cellular Field with another great pitching matchup. Tonight the Yankees will send Big Mike, and I feel like for the first time this season I can get away with calling him Big Mike again, Michael Pineda to the mound to square off with Miguel Gonzalez for the White Sox. The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees have one more series with the Cleveland Indians before the All-Star break and before beginning a tough schedule in the second half of the 2016 season. That second half schedule will make or break the Yankees as they have head-to-head matchups with the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants and others. If you want to see any games remaining this season be sure to click the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. Also if you want to look the part at the stadium click the TGP T-shirts link at the top of the blog to get a Jacoby Ellsbury milk carton shirt or any of the other great shirts on the site.

Follow along during the game and all season long by giving @GreedyStripes a follow on Twitter and/or by liking us on Facebook. We’re social people and we’re always looking for new people to chat it up with. Maybe one day Michael Pineda will join twitter and give us a follow but until then we’ll have to settle for hopefully watching another gem. Go Yankees!



IBWAA NAMES ESPN.COM’S DAVID SCHOENFIELD HONORARY CHAIRMAN


IBWAA NAMES ESPN.COM’S DAVID SCHOENFIELD HONORARY CHAIRMAN

Los Angeles – In celebration of its seventh anniversary Sunday, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) is proud to announce the naming of David Schoenfield, senior baseball writer ofESPN.com, as Honorary Chairman of the organization.

Schoenfield has been with ESPN.com since December of 1995. He served as the site’s baseball editor from 1996 through 2002, where he worked to bring sabermetric analysis to the mainstream, working with writers like Rob Neyer and the team from Baseball Prospectus. He then became a senior editor and contributor for the site’s popular Page 2 section. After a stint helping coordinate coverage of the 2010 World Cup, he took over ESPN’s SweetSpot blog in 2011. A native of the Seattle suburbs, he unfortunately continues to root for the Mariners from 3,000 miles away in Connecticut .

Schoenfield, who succeeds the Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth as the organization’s third honorary chairman, will announce the results of each IBWAA election via social media and generally champion the group’s efforts during a one-year term. His successor will be announced July 4, 2017.

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

Among approximately 450 others, IBWAA members include Jim Bowden, Jim Caple, Schoenfield and Mark A. Simon of ESPN.com; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs and Jesse Spector, Sporting News.

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a lifetime fee of $75. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

Yulieski Gourriel Is Worth The Risk

Lost in the hubbub of Major League Baseball International signing period was that Yulieski Gourriel is expected to make his decision on where he will sign soon. The Yankees did their due diligence and had a private workout with him. Not much has been said about how it went down but if the Yankees wanted to sign him the have a few things going for them. Alex Rodriguez is Gourriel's favorite player, the Yankees were his favorite team growing up, he and Aroldis Chapman are friends. Additionally, if he is looking for comfort factor New York is probably second only to Miami regarding the Cuban population.

Gourriel has long been a star of the Cuban National Series and Cuban National Baseball Team. He has been highly sought after by not only playoff caliber teams this year but also teams looking to build for the future. He profiles as a player who can play third base, second base, and the corner outfield as soon as he gets the call to the show. With some work, he could also probably play first base as well. Given his age (32) he is probably looking at a 4-5 year contract around 10-12 million a year.

Cuban players are getting harder to scout as more players defect. Gone are the days when there was only one marquee Cuban free agent (a la Orlando Hernandez or Jose Contreas) on the market. It seems like there are always a few established players as well as some projects signed every year. Signings can be anywhere from great (Jose Abreu, Yoenis Cespedes, Aroldis Chapman), okay (Yasiel Puig) to bad (Rusney Castillo, Hector Oliviera, Yasiel Sierra and everyone the Dodgers have signed except for Puig).

The Yankees last attempt to sign a Cuban player was Yoan Moncada who ended up signing with the rival Red Sox either because they offered more money or because Felix Lopez got involved. That is a long story, you can read about it here. Signing Gourriel would reestablish the Yankees in the Cuban market. Recently the Dodgers and Reds have been heavy players. It won't send the Yankees back to the "Evil Empire" days but players may actually see the Yankees as a legitimate destination instead of just another workout.

More important however is the fact that Gourriel seems like he can help the team now and in the future. He will likely need some time in the minors to knock off the rust but once he reaches the big leagues he could serve the Yankees as a super utility player a la Ben Zobrist. He would also bring right-handed pop to the Yankees lineup. I couldn't find projections for Gourriel so here is Ben Badler's scouting report from a couple of years ago.

Gourriel has all the attributes to be an above-average offensive player. He has plus bat speed and squares up all types of pitches with good hand-eye coordination and barrel control. He wraps his barrel behind his head, angling the bat toward the pitcher, but he gets the barrel into the hitting zone quickly and has good plate coverage. He stays within the strike zone and uses the whole field, and with plus raw power on the 20-80 scale, he offers a balance of being able to hit for average, get on base and hit for power.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/6


The finale between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox will take place today leaving just a couple games in a game days before we get the All Star break. I don’t know about you but I could use the All-Star break to recharge the batteries and I’m sure a lot of the Yankees players could as well. So in the finale of this three game set the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound looking to continue his recent trend of good starts while the White Sox will counter with Miguel Gonzalez.

Pineda has been excellent over his last six starts which began after a slight adjustment to his delivery and arm angle was suggested by pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Pineda has posted a 2.74 ERA in that span and has held opposing batters to just a .201 batting average. The return of Big Mike ladies and gentleman.

Gonzalez will be making his 14th career start against the New York Yankees tonight after seeing a lot of them as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. In his career Gonzalez owns a 3-4 record against the Bronx Bombers so here’s to hoping Gonzalez, like the Yankees this season, is afraid of the .500 mark.

The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. Any series where the Yankees don’t see Chris Sale or Jose Quintana should be a win but this series did not go according to plan. Truth be told the Yankees should have swept this series but so is baseball and so is life. Let’s just get a win and get the hell out of dodge. Go Yankees!


Nathan Eovaldi to the Bullpen, Now There’s an Original Idea


Good morning Yankees family and welcome back. By now we’ve all surely recovered from the shock of going to work yesterday after a long holiday weekend and now we can get caught back up on our Yankees news. Over the weekend, after a horrid month of June and a bad start to the month of July, the Yankees have decided to move Nathan Eovaldi into their bullpen and Chad Green into the starting rotation. Now there’s an original idea and the first time I saw it mentioned, although I am willing to admit it may not be the first place it was mentioned in all of the world and on the web, was here on The Greedy Pinstripes when Donnie Passmore mentioned it.

We did a Twitter Poll about it and then I had my say in the matter, seen HERE and HERE, and overall not many people agreed with the decision. I guess the Yankees were reading and decided if Daniel Burch disagrees and so do the readers and followers of the blog then it must be a good idea. One word comes to mind from my childhood… “Doh!”

Michael Pineda starts tonight for the Yankees meaning Eovaldi should start tomorrow in the opener against the Cleveland Indians but instead Ivan Nova will move up a day and Chad Green will get another crack at it before big CC closes out the unofficial first half for New York. Eovaldi has been skipped and has been delegated to the bullpen, I don’t care if the Yankees simply said they would use him as a reliever because Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller had pitched three of the previous four days entering the debacle on Monday afternoon.

In Eovaldi’s last six outings he has posted a 0-4 record with a 9.20 ERA. That’s demotion worth if I’ve ever seen it. And you heard it here first, although we’ll never get credit for the idea anyway. It was probably Joel Sherman’s original idea.


Weekly Prospects Check In: Aaron Judge


The New York Yankees brought Aaron Hicks over this offseason hoping that the switch hitter could not only give days off to both Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner but also provide a spark and a power threat off the bench. The Yankees lived up to their end of the deal giving Hicks farm more playing time than most fourth outfielders receive and the Yankees have given Hicks more than enough chances to snap out of a small sample size drought.

Yes I realize it takes longer for switch hitters to get going because they need to work on things from both sides of the plate but it’s not like he’s playing with the frequency that Ronald Torreyes is. Yet Torreyes continues to hit which leads me to wonder how long the leash is for Hicks and how much longer Aaron Judge must toil away in the minor leagues.


If it is today, which it won’t be because the Yankees are the Yankees, this is what the Judge would bring to the table. The table he would undoubtedly set. 

YearAgeLevGPARH2BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
201624AAA79352508215165353882.270.361.484.844
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/5/2016.

This Day In New York Yankees History 7/6: Hello Brandon McCarthy

On this day in 2014 the New York Yankees acquired Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks along with some cash to offset his salary for starting pitcher Vidal Nuno and a prospect. McCarthy was a great trade for the Yankees as he reinvented himself and kept the team in the playoff chase for much of the second half.


Also on this day in 2014 the Yankees finally designated struggling outfielder Alfonso Soriano for assignment to make room for Bruce Billings in the bullpen. Soriano had burst onto the scene in the second half of 2013 with the team but could not replicate that success in 2014. Soriano would later retire after the designation.


Also on this day in 2002 the Yankees were in a center field plaque kind of mood again as they unveiled one for Reggie Jackson prior to Old Timers Day. Jackson spent five seasons in New York and helped the Yankees reach the playoffs four times and win two World Series in 1977 and 1978.


Also on this day in 1941 the Yankees construct and unveil and center field monument for the late Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium. The memorial was much like the memorial the Yankees bestowed on Miller Huggins in 1932. This was a tribute from Gehrig's teammates to their beloved captain who died just a month earlier of ALS.


Finally on this day in 1938 and the All Star Game was being played at Crosley Field with the New York Yankees Lefty Gomez on the mound to start against the National League. This was Gomez's fourth All Star start and his first loss as the NL beat the AL 4-1. The NL shortstop Leo Durocher becomes the first Dodger to start in an All Star Game and gets a bunt home run.