16 Yankees Minor Leaguers Hit Free Agency

16 members of the New York Yankees have officially hit the minor league free agent market. Here is the list:



Andury Acevedo (AAA)

Scottie Allen (AA)

Joel de la Cruz (AAA)

Diego Moreno (AAA)

Wilking Rodriguez (AAA)

Cesar Vargas (AAA)
Jose De Paula (AAA)

Aaron Dott (AA)
Francisco Arcia (AA)

Juan Graterol (AAA)

Kyle Higashioka (AAA)
Cole Figueroa (AAA)

Ali Castillo (AAA)

Jose Rosario (AA)
Ericson Leonora (Hi A)

Rico Noel (AAA)

YES Network: Exit Interview for Rico Noel

For the entire interview CLICK HERE and see below for a short excerpt from the guys over at the YES Network. Lou DiPietro, a friend of the blog, conducted the interviews so definitely give him a click or two, he's great at what he does and an even better person. Thank you!

The New York Yankees' 2015 season ended at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night, thanks to a 3-0 loss to the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card Game.

Following the game, many Yankees players, coaches, and officials were in a reflective mood, beginning both the look back on this year and the look ahead to 2016 - so much so that the YESNetwork.com team was able to conduct a series of "exit interviews" on the subjects.

Here now is the brief exit interview with a Yankees speedster who was on the roster for but did not play in the Wild Card Game, outfielder Rico Noel.

Q. Your first major-league experience ended with your first postseason game, and you did it all with the most successful franchise in baseball. What was that like for you?

NOEL: It's been great, and we have a great group of guys here. There are a lot of savvy veterans to learn from here, and I couldn't ask for a better experience or group of guys. It stinks we didn't get this win (in the Wild Card Game), but it's been a pleasure having them show me the ropes.

Q. Pinch-running has become an art form of late, especially in September. How did you prepare knowing you have such a specialized role on the team?

NOEL: It was just about accepting and embracing the role. The Yankees gave me an opportunity to come up here, and because all the guys are already established, I felt like I had to come up here and embrace the role. It's also a clutch role, where I'm only going to be coming into close games, so I had to really mentally prepare for that - but that's what I live for, coming through in the clutch.

Rico Noel the Latest Yankee Blogger

Derek Jeter started the Players Tribune shortly after retiring after the 2014 season with the goal of giving athletes a chance to put their thoughts, beliefs and feelings onto paper without the middle man. The Players Tribune has done just that in its year of existence and the latest New York Yankees player to grace the pages of the Tribune is Rico Noel. The name of the post was "The Wait" and it can be seen HERE.



Being a base-stealer is about being a realist.


When you’re trying to steal, there has to be a balance. You have to find that middle ground. There’s a sixth sense to it, an instinctive math.

If you try to steal while counting on the best-case scenario — the perfect jump, a bad throw — then you leave yourself exposed: the right throw, in the right location, and you’re toast.

If you try to steal while fearing for the worst-case scenario — a bad jump, the perfect throw — then you leave yourself exposed as well: each at-bat contains a limited number of pitches; missing just one good chance to take the base can be as bad as making an out.

And math, in the end, is really what it comes down to. Strip away the scouting, the timing and everything in between: It’s your speed minus their throw.


When the numbers say stay, you stay. And when numbers say go, you go.


My brother Orlandus is an optimist.

He’s a goofball, but in the best sense. He’s the life of the party. He’s always looking out for everyone, checking in to see if a room is too tense. And if it is, then you can count on Orlandus: He will find a way to break the tension.

Is your cookout feeling a little uptight? Not for long, if Orlandus is there. He’ll just start … dancing. Yes, alone. No, it doesn’t matter what music is on. Orlandus’ll go — and go, and go. And then, before you know it, everyone’s having fun. It’s like magic.

Orlandus is just That Guy: The one who seemingly can create positive energy from thin air. The one who manages to see the optimist’s angle, everywhere he looks. And the one who plays his hand with a smile — no matter what cards he’s been dealt.

This past year, Orlandus was dealt some really tough cards.

In November, he started coughing a lot. He had smoked cigarettes previously, so that was our explanation for it: smoker’s cough. Nobody thought much of it.

But then he started to get some chest pains. We thought, “Okay, let’s check this out.” The doctors ran some tests.

The pains wouldn’t subside.

For the next several months, Orlandus was in and out of the hospital — test, after test, after test. The symptoms got stranger: shortness of breath … feeling like he was about to pass out … and more and more pain.

Until, finally, there was a diagnosis: Congestive heart failure.

It was worse than we could have possibly imagined.

My brother needed a new heart.


I was in Buffalo when the Yankees told me I was being called up to the big leagues.

Immediately, I called my mom. She was so happy for me. She knew what a dream it had been for me to reach the majors — and how hard I worked for it. In many ways, I think she understood it more clearly than I did. Moms always know, you know? They always remember.


It was worse than we could have possibly imagined. My brother needed a new heart.

And hearing her process those memories was when it really sunk in for me. Because she was right: I had worked hard — so, so hard. For it to all pay off, in one moment of news, was an incredible feeling.

To read the rest of the post and to support Jeter and the Players Tribune click the link, again SEEN HERE, and check it out. Thank you. 

My Hypothetical Playoff Rosters - Offense

The New York Yankees are all but officially in the postseason, albeit as a Wild Card team and likely not as an AL East Division champion, so it’s time to start thinking about who the Yankees will bring with them to the postseason. The Yankees have been playing with 39 players for much of the month of September including 14 relief pitchers in the bullpen but that all has to be dropped down to 25 before October 6^th. With this post we will focus on the offense and I will decide who I would bring, not who I think Joe Girardi will bring, with me back to the Bronx to play host to the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whoever wins the second Wild Card in the American League this season.

Here are my left-handed and right-handed breakdowns for the Wild Card Game:

*dependent on the health of Drew. If not Drew, insert Ackley.

With less than a week left in the regular season almost nothing is decided when it comes to the second Wild Card. It looks like the Astros are going to be able to hold off the rest of the pack but will they have to fight down on the last game of the season or will they secure a spot before the weekend? This is important because if the Astros have to use Dallas Keuchel on the final day of the season that would make him ineligible for the Wild Card game unless Houston wants to pitch him on just one day of rest.

I think we all know that Stephen Drew, Dustin Ackley or Brendan Ryan are starting and backing up in this game since Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman are making the decisions, for better or worse, but this is my roster. Noel is in there to steal a base late and pinch run for Carlos Beltran, Refsnyder is in there to hit lefties, Ackley is in there to hit righties and I think this offense leads the Yankees to an ALDS trip as long as the pitching holds up. Speaking of pitching we’ll cover the pitching in our next post. Stay tuned for that.

Meet a Prospect: Rico Noel

Jabionski Rico Noel was born on January 11, 1989 in Ville Platte, Louisiana and is the latest Yankees farm hand to be called up as a member of September call ups. While Noel was born in Louisiana his family moved to Oklahoma when he was a junior in High School.  Many people don’t know the name Rico Noel so I thought it would be good to catch up with him and all you all to meet a prospect, Rico Noel.

Noel attended Lawton High School in Lawton, Oklahoma where he starred for the school’s baseball and football teams. It was there where Noel decided he would rather pursue baseball full-time over football and enrolled at Coastal Carolina University to play college baseball for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Noel began his amateur career as a second baseman before switching to center field in his sophomore year.

Noel did enough at Coastal Carolina to catch the attention of the San Diego Padres who came calling in the fifth round of the 2010 MLB First Year Players Draft along with a $163,000 signing bonus. Noel’s professional career started off well and the speedy outfielder even stolen 90 bases in 2012 while playing in High-A. Noel was also named a Minor League Baseball All Star for May of 2013 but his steep decline with San Diego began shortly after the nod. He began the 2015 season inside the Padres organization but asked for his release in hopes of making it to the Major Leagues.

The Padres released Noel in July and he almost immediately signed with the New York Yankees. Noel struggled mightily in Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders and struggled to the point where he was used as a pinch runner only for the club. That two to three weeks of pinch running has prepared him for his identical role with the Yankees big league club as a September call up.

Welcome to the club Rico, steal me some bases. 

Yankees Reinforcements on the Way

The New York Yankees have announced their first wave of reinforcements and September call ups to be uniform before tonight’s game and that list includes eight players, four of which will require a roster move to be called up. That list includes catcher Austin Romine, second baseman Robert Refsnyder, utility man Jose Pirela, second baseman/outfielder Dustin Ackley, outfielder and pinch runner Rico Noel, right-handed relief pitchers Andrew Bailey and Caleb Cotham and left-handed relief pitcher James Pazos.

Romine was removed off the 40 man roster after spring training but will be added back this month after an injury to Gary Sanchez will likely end his season. The obvious move here is to add Sanchez to the 60 day DL and shut him down for the season unfortunately.

Rico Noel will be listed as an outfielder but the only reason he is here is to steal a base or two late in a game. Noel has 23 stolen bases this season and 283 stolen bases in his minor league career and will likely be added with Cole Figueroa DFA.

Bailey and Pazos both join a deep Yankees bullpen that will be tough to manage for Girardi in the sense that there will likely not be enough innings to match the talent at his disposal. Two roster moves need to be made and part of me believes that Tyler Austin’s days on the 40 man roster may be up as he loses in a numbers game. The other move may involve Domingo German, maybe a phantom 60 day DL trip?
 Who knows?

Refsnyder, Pirela, Ackley and Cotham are already on the 40 man roster so no roster moves will need to be made to accommodate these four. Nick Rumbelow and Nick Goody will also be up when their ten day cool down period expires after being optioned to Triple-A earlier last week.