Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles 9/21

And just like that it is game time here in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. In the first of this three-game weekend set the Yankees will send out CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with Yefrey Ramirez for the Orioles. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX channel 11 in New York and on MASN in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app, and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast on WFAN with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Follow us on Twitter, @GreedyStripes, and “Like” us on Facebook, The Greedy Pinstripes, to keep up with us and the New York Yankees all season long. Enjoy the game, make Buck cry again, and go Yankees!!

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles 9/21

The New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles will begin a three-game weekend set in the Bronx tonight with the Yankees have everything to lose and the Orioles in the position to be the spoiler. Do not let your guard down, and do not give Buck Showalter a reason to sleep well this weekend. In the opener of the series the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with former Yankees farmhand Yefrey Ramirez for the Orioles. Let’s get to it here in the Bronx.

Sabathia heads into the start tonight fresh off the shortest start of his 2018 season where he lasted just 2.1 inning pitched against the Toronto Blue Jays. In the start CC allowed five runs on seven hits including three home runs in a loss for New York. Sabathia has not pitched well against the Orioles this season posting a 0-1 record with a 6.00 ERA. 

Ramirez has made three appearances for the Orioles against the Yankees since being traded to Baltimore in 2017 and has posted a 0-2 record with a 7.50 ERA. Ramirez has made two starts in those three appearances and one relief appearance, the relief outing coming on August 26 where the righty allowed no runs and just one hit in three innings of work.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on WPIX channel 11 in New York and on MASN in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. You can also follow along with the game on MLB TV, with the MLB At-Bat app, and by tuning into the Yankees radio broadcast on WFAN with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Enjoy the game, Yefry don’t make me miss you, and go Yankees!!

Why the Yankees Traded For So Much International Spending Pool Money

I have to admit that when I saw that the New York Yankees traded Double-A pitcher Yefrey Ramirez for just some international spending pool money I was a tad bit upset. I was willing and able to rant when I read it. Then I read that New York also acquired some additional money, $1.5 million to be exact, in the Sonny Gray deal with the Oakland Athletics that sent Jorge Mateo, Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian out west which got me thinking. Why are the Yankees suddenly so caught up in acquiring international spending pool money when the team is no longer under spending restrictions in the IFA market and can spend as much as they want in 2017? So then I started doing some research and here is what I came up with so far.

There has been a change in how the international signing period works and the changes which came from the Collective Bargaining Agreement that runs from 2017-2021 begin with the 2017-2018 international signing period. I am not going to go into the very complicated and detailed reports of the entire agreement but here is the Readers Digest version of it. The new rules allows teams to trade for up to 75% of the pool that the league allots them every single signing period. This year the league gave the Yankees a bonus pool of $4.75 million to spend on international free agents so if you multiple that by 75% and carry the one the Yankees could conceivably acquire $3,562,500 from other teams giving the team a total of 8,212,500 to work with on the international market.

Now it is worth keeping in mind that the Yankees have already signed Venezuelan outfielder Everson Pereira to a $1.5 million deal while also signing Venezuelan shortstop Robert Chirinos for $900,000. The Yankees have made a few other deals as well and according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com the Yankees have already spent $4.28 million of their IFA spending pool this signing period. That leaves the Yankees $470,000 before what the team acquired in the Gray deal, the Yefrey Ramirez deal and the Matt Wotherspoon deal with the Orioles from earlier last month. If the Yankees were to conceivably acquire the entire 75% in bonus pool money that the CBA allows the Yankees would have $3,982,500 in spending money left but who would the team spend it on?

Well at the time of this writing the #6 top rated international prospect Raimfer Salinas is available as well as #8 prospect Antonio Cabello. The Yankees could be gearing up to make a run at one or both of these top prospects to add to the pool that already includes Chirinos and Pereira. Make it happen Cashman, add all the blue chip potential prospects and talent that the league allows you to add, even if losing a player like Yefrey Ramirez did anger me a bit. There’s a plan in place, a plan that I am personally not privy to, and that plan is in action which truly just excites the hell out of me. 

Predicting the First Wave of Yankees Spring Training Cuts

Spring Training is a fun time to be a fan of Major League Baseball and it’s especially a good time to be a young player trying to make your way on the path to the show. Unfortunately though teams invite sometimes triple the number of players that they can actually bring with them to Opening Day which means spring training cuts are one of those things that just have to happen. Here are a few predictions for those first waves of spring training cuts. Spoiler alert, most of these are pretty obvious and can only benefit the player from getting a more formal and personal set of work down in the Minor Leagues as they continue their development.

The Yankees invited a ton of their top prospects to camp like many teams do around this time of the year but none of them had a realistic shot at actually making the team. They knew it and the team knew it. These players will benefit from having more one-on-one time and personal time down in minor league spring training camps than being up at the Major League level so I fully expect Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield, Jorge Mateo and James Kaprielian to be among the first cuts for the team. That’s not a knock on them as much as it will help them in the long run. They had their cup of coffee, they got their advice and their seasoning and now it’s time to go back down and begin the work and the grind that is the 2017 season.

Another group of players were invited just for the Yankees to have bodies for split-squad games and while players like Didi Gregorius, Tyler Clippard and others were away at the World Baseball Classic. Some had 40 man roster spots and some didn’t, and yes I am aware that everyone on the 40 man roster gets an automatic invite, but the list of players that will be “expendable” and have no shot at making the team once the WBC players return will likely include outfielder Billy McKinney, RHP Yefrey Ramirez, RHP Ronald Herrera and LHP Evan Rutckyj. Jordan Montgomery will live to see another day!

With less pitchers in camp you always see the need of having six-or-seven catchers in camp go down significantly as well so the final group of cuts will likely be from the backstop position. Kyle Higashioka, Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine will remain of course but it wouldn’t surprise me to see three or all four of Francisco Diaz, Kellin Deglan, Wilkin Castillo and Jorge Saez get sent down to minor league camps with the first waves of cuts. 

Yefrey Ramirez Named FSL Pitcher of the Week

Yefrey Ramirez Named FSL Pitcher of the Week

Tampa, Fla. - The Florida State League named Tampa Yankees RHP Yefrey Ramirez Pitcher of the Week today. This honor was for games played August 22 - 28, 2016. This is the second time Ramirez has been named FSL Pitcher of the Week this season, the first time was for games played June 27 - July 3, 2016.    Ramirez was perfect through six (6) innings on Wednesday, August 24th and totaled eight (8) innings pitched allowing only one (1) hit, while striking out eight (8) batters.   He was selected by the Yankees from Arizona in the first round of the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft on 12/10/15.           The Tampa Yankees are the Single-A Advanced Affiliate of the New York Yankees. For more information about the Tampa Yankees call (813) 673-3055 or visitwww.tybaseball.com.