Cano & Sabathia Injury Updates

CC Sabathia threw off flat ground today for the first time since being place on the 15 day DL with tightness in his throwing elbow. CC said that everything felt great and is still slated to start on August 24th against the Indians, the first game he is allowed to come off the DL and pitch. If CC says he is pitching on 8/24 then I believe wholeheartedly that the Indians better watch out for the big man in a couple of weeks because he is going to come at then fresh and hungry.

Robinson Cano has sat out the last two games with a stiff neck after sleeping on it weird a couple nights ago. This is not a cause for concern but I wanted to put it out there in case anyone was still wondering why he was not in the lineup. This is a day to day issue according to Joe Girardi and reports and nothing really to worry about. Cano could be used as a pinch hitter as early as today but Joe Girardi does not want to rush him whatsoever so do not expect to see it.

Exclusive Interview With Mike Ashmore

Bringing Sexy Back

We're doing an interview today with Trenton Thunder Beat writer, and author of Mike Ashmore's Thunder Thoughts, Mr. Mike Ashmore. Mike Ashmore is about the best beat writer there is, in my humble opinion, for ALL of the minor league affiliates. That is not a knock on any of the others but Mike's attention to detail and countless hours of work he puts in not only on the blog but being at all the games, shooting videos, uploading to his youtube channel, etc etc etc. The guy is a machine and I appreciate him taking the time to do this with his very hectic schedule.

The Greedy Pinstripes: Where did you get your start in writing and journalism?

Mike Ashmore:
I always wanted to do this, I just never really knew how to get into
it.  Always liked sports, always felt like I was a good writer...just
never knew how to put the two together.  Anyway, I was taking some
journalism classes at Raritan Valley Community College with the
Somerset Patriots beat writer for the Hunterdon County Democrat at the
time, Scott Stanchak.  I happened to be looking at some photos I'd
taken at a Patriots game, and he asked me if I'd be willing to help
him out during the season...so I got my start doing photos for the
original PatriotsBaseball.com, and branched out into features late
during my first season in 2003.

TGP: Did you always want to be a journalist/blogger?

MA:            
Kind of addressed this in the first one, but yes.  And I hate the term
blogger.  There are people with blogs who can write circles around me,
no doubt...but there's a difference -- to me, anyway -- between a beat
writer with a blog and someone who is unfortunately not granted the
same access.  Doesn't make their opinion any less (or more) valid, but
"blogger" has always felt like a derogatory term to me.

TGP: You're name is everywhere now. I think I even heard it on ESPN one time. How awesome is that?

MA:          
It doesn't suck.  But the reality of it is, it's cool for a little
while but doesn't do a hell of a lot for your career.  It's something
neat to add to my resume and have my friends bust my balls about, but
it ends there.  I'm exceptionally grateful to be in a position to
where things like that can happen to me, of course...and maybe it's
because I'm a little later on in my career, but it's not a super big
thing.

TGP: How long have you been doing this? By my count you are in your 14th year of covering sports and 11th as a Trenton Thunder beat writer.

MA:
While I do joke about being an old man frequently, I'm thankfully not
that far into things.  I started when I was 20 in 2003...this is my
tenth year overall and my ninth of doing the Thunder.  It's my seventh
year as the beat writer for the Democrat, my fifth doing the Thunder
Thoughts blog and my third backing up Josh Norris with The Trentonian.

TGP: How excited are you about the possibility of Mason Williams, Angelo Gumbs, Dante Bichette Jr, Tyler Austin, Gary Sanchez, etc all being on the same Trenton Thunder team?

MA:
I honestly don't look that far ahead.  Of course, having a
prospect-laden team will be fun.  But there's also a lot that's been
made about the current squad being essentially devoid of top guys for
most of the year, and this may be the most fun team I've been around
in Trenton in a while.  And pitching excites me more than anything
else...none of those guys you mentioned will be on the bump.

TGP: I know you have to be unbiased, or at least appear that way, but be honest do you ever find yourself favoring certain prospects over others?

MA:
I always try to write in a way so that nobody would ever know what my
favorite teams and so on were if you didn't know already.  I've always
admitted that I was a Red Sox fan for a while -- long story...the
Thunder were affiliated with Boston during the years I went as a
fan...but at the same time, you do this for long enough, and the fan
and the fun both get sucked right out of you -- but I don't think you
could ever tell that was the case while it was the case.  I can't
exactly pinpoint the time where I kind of stopped being a fan...but I
can tell you that I barely even watched the second World Series win
because I didn't really care.  So it was a little bit before then.  So
as far as I go, there aren't any real team biases...even in my NHL
Playoff stuff...I'm still a big Rangers fan, but I took a lot of pride
in the fact that you'd never be able to guess that if you read my
coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals.

To answer your original question...I root for a few things...quick
games, my story and good people.  But I don't favor one guy over
another in my coverage.  If anything, I base who I focus more on based
on who the fans are more interested in.

TGP: Most famous person in your cell phone?

MA: 
There's a good amount of big leaguers in there, but nothing too crazy...

TGP: Most embarrassing song/artist in your ipod?

MA: 
I'd think the Mashmore98 Twitter handle -- at least the "98" part --
should be a real good indication of that.  Pleeeeeenty of bad 80's
stuff and boy bands, etc.

I've been reading your blog for almost 4 years now and I appreciate all the hard work and videos and such that you put into it. Seeing a guy like you get to where you are at, and where you could go in the future, makes me want to do this and succeed so much more. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview for us and our readers and we wish you nothing but the best in the future in all aspects of your life. Keep growing that red playoff beard buddy!

I Just Love This Picture, LOL!!

Follow Mike on twitter @mashmore98

Rangers @ Yankees 8/16/12

Yankees cannot complete the sweep and fall 10-6. Still a great series for us regardless.

The Yankees will finish up their four game set with the Rangers this afternoon looking for a series sweep at Yankees stadium in the Bronx. This is the 17th consecutive game in 17 days which is a part of a 20 games in 20 days stretch that is likely starting to take its toll. Ivan Nova will be on the mound this afternoon and will be facing off against Texas's left hander Derek Holland. This game will be televised at 1:05 pm ET on MY9 and MLB Network's Thursday Matinee.

Lineups

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones LF
Casey McGehee 3B
Russell Martin DH
Jayson Nix 2B
Ichiro Suzuki CF
Chris Stewart C

Go Yankees!!

Chris Stewart Appreciation Post

For a guy that is not CC Sabathia's personal catcher maybe he very well should be because he has been great back there for CC and the Yankees as a whole. In a shocking move to some, including myself, the Yankees acquired Chris Stewart to back up Russell Martin behind the dish late in Spring Training rather then use Francisco Cervelli. Chris Stewart has done nothing to disappoint and has done nothing but make Brian Cashman, once again, look like a genius. Let's take a look at what Chris Stewart has done for the Yankees this season behind the plate in limited action.



.268 AVG (career high)
1 HR (2 away from career high)
12 RBI (career high in MLB)
30 H (3 away from MLB career high)
.294 OBP (0.06 points from career high)
.357 SLG (career high)
.285 wOBA (career high)
0.4 WAR (1.2 career high WAR last season)
4 Errors



His contributions go way beyond the stats. He has allowed us to give Russell Martin regular rest while calling great games behind the dish. He is a real stopper when it comes to opposing base runners and is used to a National League type play, which you do not see around here much time. Chris seems to play his heart out every time he goes out there with no exceptions or complaints. I just hope that we can reward Chris with a ring for his hard work this season.

Yankees Sign Daniel Aldrich

According to Mike Axisa on River Avenue Blues the Yankees have signed undrafted free agent Daniel Aldrich out of the College of Charleston. I will let you read Mike's scouting report, seen HERE, but he is definitely a very interesting sign. With those power numbers you can always find a spot in the minor leagues for him and hope for the best. Especially since we had 400K left over from our draft pool money which his $150 K contract, not confirmed... more assumed, will come out of. Thank you once again to Ty Hensley for signing that below slot deal!

Eric Chavez Needs More At Bats

How about this guy?

After seeing Eric Chavez hit a run-scoring ball to RF in the 3rd inning of Wednesday night's game I was thinking, "there's no way they can keep him out of the lineup when ARod returns". So I decided to take a look at some stats.

In the last 28 days Andruw Jones is hitting a lowly .122/.229/.195 in 48 plate appearances. So taking at bats away from him is a no-brainer. Even if you chalk up Andruw's last 28 days as a slump, and look at his season numbers, things don't get any better. His line for the 2012 season so far sits at .213/.297/.455.

Yeah, things just aren't going so well this year, Andruw.

Over the last four weeks Raul Ibanez is hitting .279/.343/.492 in 67 plate appearances, and his season line is .250/.312/.469. For the record I think the "real" Raul is closer to his season averages than his last 28 day averages, after all this is a guy that hit .245/.289/.419 in 2011.

Then we come to Mr. Chavez, who is hitting .316/.381/.614 over the last 28 days, and .293/.350/.540 on the year. Now, Eric did only hit .263/.320/.356 in 2011, so perhaps he's hitting "out of his head" this season. But don't you think the Yankees may as well take a shot at giving Chavez more at bats, even it they're just "riding the wave"?

In my opinion the question isn't "which of Jones, Ibanez, or Chavez get the majority of at bats?" The question in my mind is "should Chavez play 3B, and ARod DH, when Rodriguez returns from the DL?"

Assuming Alex doesn't jump ship to the NFL. The Jets would surely be interested.

Looking at each players UZR/150 (not my favorite stat, but probably the best one we have for defense), the choice doesn't clear up. Chavez's UZR/150 so far this year is -11.5, while Alex's is -12.5. Sure, Eric's is better, so the choice seems clear, but that's just too close (not to mention the issues with the stat itself) for me to say for sure one way or the other.

Even if you look at the past few years these two have played the hot corner the choice doesn't really clear up. ARod had an outlier season in 2011, when he had a UZR/150 of 20.2 at 3B, while Chavez had a 9.5 that was more like his glory days in Oakland. In the three years before that both players have been below average third basemen.

What it comes down to me is health. Yeah, swinging a bat is not great for somebody with hand issues like Alex, so it's not like he's "safe" DHing every day. But it's a hell of a lot better for him to stay off the field, where he can simply lose his balance bending for a ball, put all his weight on his hand, and mess it up again.

Did you not listen to Jimmy Dugan? There's no crying in baseball!

So matter what order Girardi wants to put the guys, the majority of games should have Chavez at 3B and ARod at DH for the rest of 2012.

Rangers @ Yankees 8/15/12

UPDATE:

Nick Swisher RBI Double, Curtis Granderson sac fly, and Eric Chavez single in the bottom of the 3rd puts the Yankees up 3-0 early. 

Yankees hold on to win 3-2

Tonight the Yankees will host the Texas Rangers in the third game of their four game set at the New Yankees Stadium. On the mound for the Yankees will be Sweaty Freddy Garcia and he will be facing Texas Rangers right hander Scott Feldman. The game will be televised on Wednesday Night Baseball on ESPN and the YES Network at 7:05 pm ET.

Lineups

1. Jeter SS
2. Swisher 1B
3. Granderson CF
4. Teixeira DH
5. Chavez 3B
6. Ibanez LF
7. Martin C
8. Suzuki RF
9. Nix 2B

Go Yankees!!

Felix Hernandez Throws A Perfect Game!

Dont Jinx Me Bro

Perfect game through 7 IP against the Tampa Bay Rays

UPDATE: 3 outs away from a perfect game. As much as Felix Hernandez kills us I am rooting for the guy!!

UPDATE: 25 up 25 down!!!!!

26 up 26 down!!!!!

PERFECT GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melky Cabrera Tests Positive

 "Hey, look, it's my testosterone level."

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera has received a 50-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Testosterone, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. 

The suspension of Cabrera is effective immediately.

For those of you that think this is a mistake, and like Ryan Braun, Melky will fight this and try to prove his innocence, he released this statement through The Players Association -

“My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used. I accept my suspension under the Joint Drug Program and I will try to move on with my life. I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my teammates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down.”

I'm far from a fan of Cabrera's, and to be honest it's probably an irrational dislike. I think it stems from the fact so many Yankee fans were upset when he was traded before the 2010 season. Then again, it may be the guy the Yanks acquired for Melky that was the problem. Who knows? However, even though I won't be joining the Melky Cabrera Fan Club, I'm not going to say his recent success is all because of the extra testosterone.

Sure, perhaps the last time he was tested was in the first half of the 2011 season, when he was hitting .293/.332/.455. And after that negative test he decided to start using a PED so that he could hit... say... .384/.412/.580 in July, and then .323/.350/.448 in September/October. Oh, and put up a line of .297/.328/.505 in August. Then, after getting a raise of $4.75 million, he could hit a whopping .346/.390/.516 (all numbers well above his career averages) before his first time being a free agent.

But thinking he was trying to be this shady is probably ludicrous. And in no way should this news make somebody that is not a fan of Melky, say... me, feel better about that "irrational" dislike. Not to mention going so far as to call Melky Cabrera the c-word (no, not THAT c-word).

Brian Cashman 2012 GM Of The Year

Let's make one thing clear before I even begin writing. I do NOT think Brian Cashman is going to win the 2012 GM of the Year award and no I do not think he will even be in the conversation. If his name if brought up all you will hear is how anyone could win with a $200 million payroll, going over slot on the draft, buying International Free Agents, etc etc etc. All these "unbiased" news people and people with votes will ignore all the under the radar gems we continue to find year in and year out.

Eric Chavez

Eric Chavez was signed to give guys like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira days off in the field. Chavez was a risky signing, especially last season, because of all the injuries but has managed to *knock on wood again* stay off the DL all season long. He has also filled in with great glove work, power shots, and a great presence in the clubhouse. All for under 1 million bucks (900K)

Raul Ibanez

Raul Ibanez, even at age 40, has been nothing more then stellar all things considered. Cashman signed Raul to split time against right handed pitching over Johnny Damon even though Damon had better splits against right handed pitching and was very familiar with New York and loved by the fans here. Granted Johnny Damon wanted more money then Raul Ibanez but Cashman did not falter. Raul has done nothing but come up with big hit after big hit and fill in for injured guys like Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner better then any of us could have hoped for or expected. All for $1.1 million bucks.

Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart, not fist pumping and energetic Francisco Cervelli, has been our back up catcher this season. Despite rumors and denials he has also pretty much been CC Sabathia's personal catcher all of this season. He has filled in admirably behind the dish calling games, throwing out runners, with the bat setting career highs almost all the way across the board, and even done some things on the base paths. All for George Kontos and $482K.

Derek Lowe

Yes I know it was one game so that is why I am listing him last but signing a guy on a pro rated league minimum salary and having the Braves and the Indians pay his salary for us while he pitches four shut out innings and gets a save while also saving our bullpen was ingenious. Do not get me wrong I was leading the "WTF" charge on twitter when we signed him but we all looked pretty dumb last night, including a prolific Texas Rangers offense, when Lowe walked off the mound with his shirt tucked in. If we can get any semblance of the guy that pitched last night then this bullpen just got all the more nastier and maybe even sealed the fate of Freddy Garcia... finally.



I think I have said enough here to show the value that Brian Cashman has brought us this season. I did not even mention the Clay Rapada and Cody Eppley signings that have really solidified our bullpen and made it once again a strength for us even without Mariano Rivera. I also have not mentioned the trade that brought us Ichiro and CASH for basically nothing useful or the Casey McGehee for nothing trade. Andruw Jones for $2 million was not the worst deal that we have ever signed either *cough Carl Pavano cough*. Bringing back Andy Pettitte seemed like a no brainer but Cashman could have said no I guess and NOT giving Russell Martin a big extension looks rather genius right now as well. Granted for every Ichiro trade there is a Michael Pineda trade that does not work out the way you liked it to but it is not like Jesus Montero or Hector Noesi are doing anything special anyway. Hell the Mariners already have Mike Zunino in AA because they are rushing him to the majors to be behind the plate but I digress.

Brian Cashman does have a $200 million payroll, we all know that, but it is the little things that he has done that have kept this team together. It is the minor little signings and such that kept our heads above water while we have $100 million bucks or more (slight exaggeration but with Arod and CC on the DL making around $50 million combined you get my point) sitting on the disabled list. I know Brian Cashman will not even be considered for GM of the Year and that is a damn shame in my very humble and biased opinion but you have our appreciate Brian. Thank you Ninja Cash!