Zoilo Almonte Called Up, Jeff Francis DFA'd

Zoilo Almonte has been called up for tonight's game with the Texas Rangers finally giving the Yankees another option off the bench. Jeff Francis was designated for assignment to make room on the 25 man roster for Zoilo. Finally the Yankees can give Ichiro a day off or two while going with a four man bench. Francis was stinking up the joint and a move was inevitable for the lefty.

Bullpen Struggles in 6-4 Loss to Blue Jays

Since the All Star Break concluded, the Yankees' bullpen has been pretty dominant.

The 8-man group, arguably the best in baseball, had given up just 2 earned runs in the last eight games going into today, a big reason why the team's gone 7-1 during that stretch.

Nonetheless, they do have bad performances every once in a while, something that unfortunetaly happened this afternoon, with Shawn Kelley, Chase Whitley, and Jeff Francis surrendering four trips around the bases as the Yanks fell to the Blue Jays 6-4.

In this one's seventh inning, after Chris Capuano impressively threw 6 frames of two-run ball, the aforementioned Kelley loaded the bases with just one out, causing him to be removed in place of Matt Thornton. 

In his outing, surprisingly, Thornton did throw the ball well, but due to a bloop infield single by Dan Johnson one of the runners he inherited found a way home, breaking a 2-2 tie.

On that play, Yanks' Second Baseman Brian Roberts originally looked like he was going to catch it, a perception proved incorrect when the flare ended up dropping in the grass, letting Melky Cabrera come in from third while putting Kelley in line for the loss and Jays' Starter Drew Hutchison (6 2/3 IP, 2 ER) for the win.

No, Kelley probably didn't deserve to take the fall, but after the Whitley/Francis duo combined to allow three more runs in the top of the ninth he did, with a late two-run home run from Carlos Beltran in the last frame and another one in the fourth from Brian McCann being all New York would get from their offense on the day. 

Yes, Derek Jeter picked up a pair of singles and Chase Headley once reached on a shift-beating bunt, although considering none of those knocks affected how the contest played out they don't really matter, an unfortunate truth.

Yankees Early Returns On Traded Players

Brian Cashman is at it again and may marginally upgrade his team all the way to the playoffs. Brandon McCarthy, Jeff Francis, Chase Headley, and now most recently Chris Capuano were not the big names that Yankees fans have grown accustomed to acquiring at this time of the year but the moves have worked out nonetheless. Let's take a look, while remembering the extremely small sample sizes we're dealing with before we anoint Brian Cashman, at the early return on the newest Yankees.

Brandon McCarthy has had the biggest turnaround of any of the new Yankees. McCarthy had a 5.01 ERA in Arizona while struggling with his command, control, and struggling to keep the ball down and in the ballpark. McCarthy has come to New York and dusted off his cutter to the tune of a 1.45 ERA. McCarthy has won two games for New York at home and the first game on the road the team won while McCarthy took a no decision. McCarthy may be the man we talk about in September that truly saved the Yankees rotation and season.

Chase Headley was hitting .229/.296/.355 with seven home runs and 32 RBI. As a member of the Yankees we still haven't heard John Sterling's home run call and Headley's only RBI was of the walk off variety but Headley has slashed a .333/.333/.500 while playing great defense at the hot corner.

The Francis and Capuano stories are obviously marked as incomplete at this point but Headley and McCarthy may have returned the Yankees to prominence.

Whitley's Six Scoreless Innings, Headley's Walk-Off Single Lift Yankees to 14-Frame Win Over Rangers

To many fans, myself included, a player doesn't officially become a Yankee until he wins a game with a big hit.

No, that thought process isn't completely fair, although it is fun to use, as it somewhat accurately measures how exciting someone is.

For example, in tonight's contest against the Rangers, the newest guy on the team helped put together a much-needed 2-1 W, one that didn't get entertaining for a while.  

After nobody scored in frames 1-12, both sides finally crossed home in the thirteenth, as J.P. Arencibia took David Huff deep to left center and Jacoby Ellsbury singled home Brett Gardner, costing Texas' Joakim Soria a save. 

Following those long-awaited thrillings, Jeff Francis, making his Bomber debut, tossed the bullpen's seventh scoreless inning, setting up what would be a very memorable bottom half.

To start off the significant at-bat, Ichiro grounded out, Brian Roberts doubled, and Francisco Cervelli moved him to third with another knock, bringing the recently-acquired Chase Headley to the plate.

Having replaced Zelous Wheeler in the bottom of the eighth, Headley quickly worked the count to 1-1 against the Rangers' Nick Tepesch, before suddenly lining one into shallow left field.

Originally, the ball looked like it might get caught, something that fortunetaly didn't end up happening, with it eventually short-hopping into Jim Adduci's glove to bring home Roberts. 

The hit, Headley's only on the night in four at-bats, brought more meaning to Chase Whitley's six shutout frames, and ended what was a marathon of a contest.

What is necessarily pretty? No (the Yankees blew a lot of chances throughout), but since it did end up finishing positively you can't help but like what happened, as it brought the Pinstripes' record to 51-48 and their number of games back in the wild card standings to 1.5, a respectable amount. 

Francis Excited to Join Yankees, Pitch in the Bronx

While you could make a strong argument that recent Yankees acquisition Jeff Francis isn't necessarily going to make a difference, you can't ignore the possibility that he could end up being an asset.

Francis, a 33-year-old veteran who was traded from the A's to the Yanks back on July 11, has gone just 0-1 with a 6.08 ERA so far this season, numbers much worse than the ones he use to put up as a Colorado Rocky. 

Now whether those stats improve or not is obviously yet to be known, although one thing you can't hate about the guy is the fact that he's at least excited to wear Pinstripes, something he told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch earlier this week.

"It's probably been said a hundred times over, but (Yankee Stadium has) a lot of history, even though it's new," Francis said. "The team has a lot of history, so it's something that I'm looking forward to."

Since starting his big league career with the aforementioned Rockies back in 2004, Francis has surprisingly never pitched in the Bronx, a rarity that could motivate him in the near future.

Who knows? Maybe all the struggling lefty needs right now is a change of scenery.

The Daily Dozen - July 13, 2014

THE DAILY (HALF) DOZEN
(Twelve  Six Takeaways from Tonight's Game - July 13th, 2014 Edition)

1. Nothing excites fans more than catching a HR ball.  Well tonight, Mr. Gardner's leadoff home run in the 1st went to one of The Greedy Pinstripes followers as reported on Twitter.

Matt Kirwin @MattKirwin23 was wearing an "Evil Empire" shirt and was seen celebrating on the live ESPN broadcast of the game seen below:

Matt is the guy with his first raised sorta like Jeter after winning a World Series.

Congrats Matt and to all of our followers out there we are working on "Greedy Pinstripes" shirts so that the next time this happens we'll get some publicity.

2. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  Trust me, I know this firsthand...if anyone has seen pictures of my wife, they know what I'm talking about.  Anywho...Brian McCann came into the game batting .359 in the last 9 games.  And then he gets a bloop single between Machado and Pearce in the 2nd.  Too bad the Curse of the Bronx Bombless doesn't let Yankees score after the 1st inning!

3. Chris Davis has fallen off a cliff.  Well that is until he plays the Yankees of course.  Chris hit .310 last season with 53 home runs and 138 RBI.  Coming into tonight's game Davis was blasting a .197 average with 14 home runs and 46 RBI.  With his go ahead home run blast to left field tonight he has safely arrived at the "almost" Mendoza Line of .199.  Way to go Chris!  Being a career .258 hitter he was bound for a stat correction.  Maybe his arms are fatigued from hitting all of those homers last year?

"Man....I suck this year! Except against the Yankees..."

4. There were many comparisons made between Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken, Jr. tonight as is mandated in any ESPN broadcast between the Yankees and Orioles.  Here are some similarities:  Jeter and Ripken played SS, they both played for only 1 team in their Hall of Fame careers.  Well...that's about all the similarities.  They aren't even close to the same player and have/had vastly different abilities let alone the # of rings each has.  Maybe Jeter can let Cal borrow a few?  The one thing that I would like to see end up the same is to have Jeter win the All-Star Game MVP like Cal did in 2001.  You know, when A-Rod convinced him to take over at SS (wow, the foreshadowing for A-Rod there, huh?) and then Cal hit that amazing home run?  Come on Jeets!

"Move on over...I got third base...for the rest of my career...man I hate Jeter,
but maybe he'll give me one of those gift baskets..." Source: Fox Sports

5. Does anyone else miss Buck Showalter?  Is it just me?  The guy creates a winning atmosphere everywhere he goes and just manages better than say..."The Binder".  His first year as a manager, which was with the New York Yankees in 1992, he had a 76-86 record.  The next year the Yanks turned it all around to start one of the most amazing runs ever in the history of baseball.  Since 1993, the Yankees haven't had a losing record.  1993 saw a 88-74 season.  The 1994 strike-shortened season had the Yankees sitting comfortably in 1st with a 70-43 record (a .619 winning % for those scoring at home).  He then returned the Yankees to the postseason for the first time in my lifetime in 1995 as the first-ever Wildcard, along with the help of DONNIE BASEBALL, in which all of the future Yankees success arguably built upon.  In his career he was 313-268 with New York (.539), 250-236 with Arizona (.514), 319-329 with Texas (.492 mostly due to the fact that they had A-Rod and not much else), and 332-304 with Baltimore.   In every case, he took over a crappy team and built them into winners.

6. Putting Chase Whitley out there every 5 days is not the answer.  Putting Jeff Francis out there every 5 days is not the answer.  Putting...well, you get my drift...

---DELAYED GAME = CANNOT STAY UP---GOOD NIGHT!

My Plan For Jeff Francis & The Yankees Bullpen

All over the Yankees blogosphere yesterday there was tons of uncertainty as to why the Yankees acquired Jeff Francis from the Oakland Athletics. As you all know Oakland designated the lefty for assignment after acquiring Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel and the Yankees pounced on him for a player to be named later. What will the Yankees do with him? I don't think the Yankees know yet, but I know what they should do.

Francis is not stretched out and it would take him a month or more before he could get fully stretched out to start, if we even wanted him to. Francis could give the Yankees the second lefty in the pen they have coveted for so long but the problem is Francis is the victim of some reverse splits. Francis has held right handed batters to a .226/.263/.415 this season and has held same side hitters to a .250/.294/.250 triple slash. Francis has faced more right handers then left handers this season, which is not surprising as he was a starting pitcher in Cincinnati, and has only allowed two home runs this season, both to right handed hitters.

So I said all that to say this, the plan for Francis and the Yankees bullpen. Francis seems like the latest bullpen arm to be run into the ground and quickly designated for assignment. I truly believe Francis is here to get us through the All Star break and that's it. First decent starting pitcher or reliever that get's designated for assignment or cut comes up to New York and Francis goes bye bye.

I could be wrong, but I hope I'm not. I know his WHIP and peripherals look good, unlike his ERA, but you must remember where he has been pitching. Oakland Coliseum is huge and very spacious with lots of foul ground, Yankee Stadium not so much. Francis has bounced around for the last seven seasons or so and there is a good reason for that and if Billy Beane doesn't want you then neither do I. My plan is this, get him off the team ASAP.

Yankees Acquire LHP Francis From A's

The Yankees have acquired Left-handed Pitcher Jeff Francis from the A's in exchange for a player to be named later, MLB.com's Joey Nowak reports. 

In 13 1/3 innings of relief so far this season, Francis has posted a tough-to-look-at 6.08 ERA, the main reason why he was designated for assignment last week.

Still, it's arguable that those numbers are better than Jim Miller's, the pitcher the Bombers cut today in order to make room for their new acquisition.

Francis, 33, won 10+ games for the Rockies from 2005-2007, the last time he really had success, as the veteran hasn't done anything meaningful since then.

In 2009, he never played after undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgury, before struggling in 2010 and recording an above-five ERA with the Royals in 2011.

Despite those bad stats, we do have to remember that this move could work out, something that doesn't actually need to happen anyway, as it's unlikely Francis will appear often for the Pinstripes much less start due to the sudden re-emergence of Chase Whitley.

In other words, while this trade is news it's not exactly Brian Cashman's solution to the team's rotation crisis, but rather a quick-fix to its need for another bullpen arm. 

Phelps' Scoreless Start, Early Offense Help Yankees Blowout A's

In his last start on Saturday, Yankees Pitcher David Phelps struggled mightily.

The young right-hander, already on a three-game losing streak, gave up 7 earned runs in just 5.2 innings to the Royals, making many fans doubt he'd be able to do any better in Oakland. 

Well, those fans were clearly proven wrong tonight, as Phelps tossed a scoreless 6.2 frames in a 7-0 New York win.

In the outing, #41, now 2-4 with a 4.32 ERA, surrendered just 2 hits, while impressively retiring the first 10 hitters he faced.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Phelps finally gave up his first knock, a bloop single to left from Derek Norris. 

Besides that, the struggling replacement was nearly perfect, allowing just 5 total base runners.

On the offensive side of things, the bats, for the third time in four days, scored twice in the top of the first, when Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Jacoby Ellsbury (RBI) started the game with singles and Mark Teixeira drove in another with a sacrifice fly.

In their very next at-bat, the Bombers again threatened against the A's Sonny Gray (6 IP, 3 ER), getting a single and a walk from Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson followed by another RBI Single from Gardner.

That 3-0 lead, while not necessarily huge, was more than enough for the Pinstripes in the contest, although they weren't done scoring yet, as they'd again dominate Oakland pitching in the top of the eighth.

In that frame, the Yankees collected four insurance runs off Jeff Francis, thanks largely in part to three two-out hits from the bottom of the order.

First off, with men on the corners, Ichiro Suzuki got Francis to deflect a liner, allowing him to reach with an infield single.

After him, Brian Roberts got another man home with a base hit, with Ichiro also crossing the plate due to a wild throw.

And if things couldn't get any better at that point, the Bombers would additionally collect a run-scoring knock from the before-mentioned Johnson, scoring Roberts.

In other words, everything that could've gone right for the Yanks pretty much did this evening, as they won their fourth consecutive contest despite not recording an extra-base hit.