Yankees Send Yoely Bello To Complete Nelson Trade

The Colorado Rockies sent The Chris Nelson to the Yankees earlier in the season for a player to be named later and that player is Yoely Bello. The Yankees sent Bello to the Rockies completing the deal after he was designated for assignment by the Rockies. The Yankees later DFA'd him which makes it nice that we only gave up a no named pitcher from the Yankees Gulf Coast League team. Bello put up a 6.29 ERA in 24+ innings in his age 22 season. Bello will turn 23 this off season and has only split time between the Dominican Winter League and the Yankees GCL so this is not much of a loss whatsoever.

Angels Claim Chris Nelson Off Waivers From Yankees

On May 15th the New York Yankees designated Chris Nelson for assignment when they called up David Adams and now Nelson has been claimed off waivers. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim claimed Chris Nelson today and will acquire the infielder.

Yankees Call Up David Adams

We knew the day was coming.

David Adams has been brought up from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he was batting .316/.407/.490 with 3 home runs. The Yankees likely would have called him up sooner, instead of trading for Chris Nelson, but they couldn't thanks to a rule that says a player that was released and re-signed to a Minor League contract must remain in the minors for 30 days. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for that rule, but I don't know what that is.

In a corresponding move, Chris Nelson was Designated For Assignment. There has been talk of why the team didn't choose to keep Chris Nelson for now, while Eduardo Nunez was still on the DL, and cutting Ben Francisco since Curtis Granderson is back and they now have 4 viable starting outfielders. However with Alberto Gonzalez as the backup 2B/3B/SS, along with Travis Hafner possibly missing more than a few days due to injury, the 5th outfielder may be needed while one of those 4 viable OF starters fills in at DH.

I'm sure I'm not alone in looking forward to seeing what Adams can do. Kevin Youkilis will eventually be back, but at that point it's probably only a matter of time before Youk is back on the DL anyway.

Ben Francisco May Be Safe After All, For Now

I was thinking about what the Yankees are going to do when the plethora of players on the disabled list start getting healthy and return to the Bronx. Some are obvious as Chris Nelson is probably gone when Kevin Youkilis comes back, some are not so obvious like what we will do with the rotation when Michael Pineda comes back, and some are not as obvious as I once thought they were. Originally I thought that when Curtis Granderson came back we would see the end of Ben Francisco but on second thought that may not exactly be the case. The Yankees outfield is very left handed hitting heavy so it makes sense to keep Ben Francisco on the bench over left hander Brennan Boesch. The difference between Francisco and Boesch, besides the obvious sides of the plate that they both hit from, is that Brennan has a minor league option remaining that Francisco does not. This would make the Yankees more flexible with two right handed outfielder and three left handed outfielders and all of them can play multiple outfield positions, which always helps. As much as I hate to see Ben Francisco continue to stay on this team it makes too much sense to get rid of him for nothing when we can stash Brennan in the minors for the time being.

Yankees Bringing Up David Adams For 3B Soon

According to Mark Feinsand from the New York Daily News the Yankees are preparing to bring David Adams back on the 40 man roster and then promote him to New York to play 3B while Kevin Youkilis is on the disabled list. Since Adams was designated for assignment, released, and then re signed they cannot bring him (or Clay Rapada) back up until May 15th by the new collective bargaining agreements rules.

I cannot say I understand this because we just acquired Chris Nelson to do the same exact thing but I will say that I would rather have David Adams and his power bat up right now over Nelson. Granted we did not give up anything of use for Chris Nelson and he filled the spot while David Adams could not be called up but still. If Nelson is the one DFA'd for Adams then I guess I can see the logic and I cannot see anybody else getting the ax to make room for him. For those clamoring for a Ben Francisco DFA that is going to come when Granderson comes back not for David Adams.

David has been the regular third baseman down in Scranton although he has played some second base, his natural position, and has taken some reps at first base as well here recently. Adams could provide some real depth since we do not have a viable back up option for Robinson Cano or Lyle Overbay at this time. Adams is a right handed hitter that has put up a .314/.404/.477 triple slash with six doubles and two home runs for the Railriders team.

Game Thread: NYY vs OAK 5/4

The Yankees look to bounce back after being shut out last night by AJ Griffin and the Oakland A's. This afternoon Phil Hughes will face off with former Yankee Bartolo Colon at the stadium. Chris Nelson will make his Yankees debut as he is starting at 3B and batting 6th. Feel free to use this thread to talk about the game or follow us on twitter @greedystripes and tweet with us there.

Here is the Yankees lineup

Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chris Nelson 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Eduardo Nunez SS
Chris Stewart C

RHP Phil Hughes

Corban Joseph Sent Down To AAA For Chris Nelson

The Yankees have sent down Corban Joseph to AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre to make room for newly acquired Chris Nelson on the major league roster. Chris will be active when the Yankees host the Oakland Athletics this weekend at Yankees Stadium.

Off-Day Notes: Chamberlain, Robertson, Rodriguez, Jeter, Teixeira, Pineda, Nelson, Granderson

Beauty comes with a price, doesn't it? On a day where it's 73 degrees in New York City...there had to be some news about the Yankees somewhere. Let's get to them.

Joba Chamberlain

-- Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a tight oblique. He said he felt something when he was warming up to pitch on Tuesday and complained of soreness when he arrived at the stadium yesterday. Brian Cashman said that the strain is "mild" and Joba should be back to pitch in two weeks. There wasn't a move on the roster to replace Chamberlain but Cashman did say that he had three names in mind when it came to taking that roster spot: Mark Montgomery, Preston Claiborne and Sam Demel.

David Robertson

-- David Robertson spent his off-day at the doctors office after feeling discomfort near his knee/hamstring. The doctors did an MRI and the diagnosis is a "cranky hamstring". Robertson won't have to go on the DL; instead he is day-to-day.

Alex Rodriguez

-- Alex Rodriguez posted on Facebook that he had been cleared to do baseball activities and that he will head to Tampa on Monday in order to join Curtis Granderson rehabbing their way back to the team. Rodriguez is still expected to be back after the All-Star break, along with Derek Jeter.

Derek Jeter

-- Derek Jeter is still in the walking boot, but he's able to remove it to do exercises. He's expected to be back after the All-Star Break.

Mark Teixeira

-- After doing tee and toss, Teixeira will stay with the Yankees until the end of the homestand, then head off to Florida to rehab with A-Rod and Granderson. Teixeira is expected to be back in June.

Michael Pineda

-- Michael Pineda is throwing to hitters down in Florida. He's reached 93-95 MPH on his fastball.

Chris Nelson

-- After being acquired by the Yankees late last night, he's officially been put on the 25-man roster and is activated for tomorrow. Corban Joseph was optioned to Triple-AAA to complete the roster move.

Curtis Granderson

-- Curtis Granderson is on the road back to the Yankees today. He took more at-bats in an extended Spring Training game. If all goes well, Granderson is slated to come back in about two weeks.

Yankees Trade For Chris Nelson

It was announced on the LoHud Yankees Blog that the Yankees have traded for Colorado Rockies infielder Chris Nelson, who was set to be a free agent after being designated for assignment last week. It's not known what Colorado will receive for Nelson, but it's like either cash considerations or a player to be named later. LoHud also said that Francisco Cervelli has been moved to the 60-Day DL, which would open up a spot on the 40-Man and Active Rosters, but I don't see that as being official yet.

Last season, in 111 games, Nelson hit .301/.352/.458 for the Rockies. He's not getting off to a great start this season, batting only .242/.282/.318. Chris is a right-handed batter, but he doesn't have a big split at all against left-handed pitchers. In 664 career MLB plate appearances he's hit .274/.322/.418 against right-handed pitchers and .293/.323/.409 against lefties.

The fact that Nelson can play 3B makes him a better fit for the roster than Corban Joseph, since Kevin Youkilis was lost to a back injury. With the Yankees already having Jayson Nix as a backup infielder, I think Joseph's time in New York will be short.

Some Notes: Robertson, Nelson, Teixeira, Granderson,

Here are some notes from today:

-- David Robertson: David Robertson looked as if he turned on his ankle during the last pitch of his outing and immediately went to the clubhouse. According to Girardi, Robertson is fine after icing his ankle and he should be ready to go on Friday.

-- Chris Nelson: After the game, the Yankees announced that they traded either cash or a player to be named later to the Colorado Rockies for INF Chris Nelson. Nelson is batting .242 (16-for-66) with 0 HR and 4 RBI's with his time in Colorado. The Yankees have not made a 25-man roster move but they did move Francisco Cervelli to the 60-Day-DL.

-- Mark Teixeira: Mark Teixeira is one step closer to returning to the Yankees lineup. Texieria hit balls off a tee and hit baseballs that were thrown by the coaches towards him. He's not close to getting into a rehab game and he'll continue to build strength in his wrist.

-- Curtis Granderson: Curtis Granderson is the closest to returning to the Yankees lineup. Granderson had two AB in an extended Spring Training game today (there was rain in the forecast that suspended the game) and said he felt great. He feels he needs at least 50 AB before he could return to the Yankees which puts him to return in 2 weeks.