Pineda Throwing In Low 90's In Simulated Game

Joel Sherman tweeted that Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was throwing in the low 90's in his simulated game earlier in the week, his first since his major shoulder surgery last season. Joe Girardi has been quoted in saying that they did not have a radar gun on Pineda for his sim game so I am not sure where Sherman is getting his information from but if it is true that is an absolute great sign for Pineda and the Yankees. Michael is hoping to start his 30 day rehab window sometime in May to be on track for a June return to the Yankees rotation. It will be interesting to see how well Ivan Nova and David Phelps are pitching at that time because that could make the decision for Joe Girardi very difficult come June, not that that is a bad problem to have.

Jose Valverde Almost A Yankee

Jose is either really excited or painfully constipated.

Jon Morosi tweeted that, according to Jose Valverde, the Yankees offered the 35 year-old former Tigers closer a contract. But unlike the minor league contract Valverde ended up agreeing to with Detroit today, the one the Yankees apparently offered was a Major League deal.

I haven't heard if the Yanks had offered that deal before signing Rivera to a one year deal on November 29th, but my feeling is that Valverde may have been thought of as a set-up man for Mo, like Rafael Soriano last season.

I say "may" because Brian Cashman has denied that such an offer was made, saying "false, false, false". Of course one could expect the Yankees GM to say that, as he wouldn't want to possibly make David Robertson think the team didn't have confidence in him. Seeing what happened last year with Soriano I wouldn't be surprised if the offer was true, and Valverde turned it down because he was seeking a contract to be a team's closer.

New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays 4/24

The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays will finish their three game series tonight at Tropicana Field. The Yankees will send Andy Pettitte to the mound looking to keep his perfect record alive and will be opposed by rookie Alex Cobb. The game will be televised on YES and MLB TV at 7:05 pm ET.

Game 22 Lineup: Yankees @ Rays

Going for the series win! Here we go!

Brett Gardner CF
Ichiro Suzuki LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Travis Hafner DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Lyle Overbay 1B
Eduardo Nunez SS
Brennan Boesch RF
Jayson Nix 3B

Andy Pettitte LHP

Some Notes:

-- Here's how you know Summer is about to begin: It's time to vote for the 2013 All-Star Game. Choose your favorite players and hope they get in. Click here and you could vote 25 times. Voting ends July 4.

-- This year you can also vote for three players in each league to participate in the Home Run Derby at Citi Field. Robinson Cano is one of the nominees for the American League, so make sure you vote for Robbie!

Yankees a Different Team vs. Lefties

Despite their anemic offensive output against left handed pitching this season, the New York Yankees are 4-3 against left handed starters this season. A lot like last night, the Yankees have been able to scratch and claw their way to victories against lefties when it looked like they were completely out of the game.

The Yankees did the little things to score enough runs to win last night against Tampa’s lefty ace David Price. Combine that with Phil Hughes’ strong performance, and that is how the Yankees will have to beat lefties until the reinforcements come. Eduardo Nunez went first to third that lead to a run in the fourth inning. Then,in the eighth inning, Ichiro went first to third on a hit-and-run single by Jayson Nix, which led to the Yankees tying the score at two. The Yankees had a similar win against tough Arizona lefty Wade Miley when Brett Gardner got a clutch two out hit to tie the game at three in the seventh inning. Manufacturing runs like that is how the Yankees are going to have to score against lefties.

The Yankees’ slash line against lefties this year is a paltry .190/.262/.299/.561 and against righties it is .301/.368/.533/.901. They have performed by far the best against righties in MLB and about the worst against lefties. This is a stark difference from Yankees teams of the past, as the Yankees have always had a balanced lineup that could hit lefties and righties equally. The Yankees always had a few switch hitters in their lineup and they have not had an at bat from a switch hitter all season. The last two days the lineup has looked exceptionally brutal with the likes of Ben Francisco batting second  and fifth and fifth Francico Cervelli batting fifth on Monday. Obviously the loss of Kevin Youkilis the last few days has hurt, even though he has not hit lefties this year. There is really not much Joe Girardi can do, as he has a very sorry hand to deal with against lefties.

The Yankees probably will not continue to perform this bad against lefties the whole season because it would be historic if they did, but this will be a problem the whole season that needs to be addressed. Vernon Wells (.333/.375/.600.975) and Brett Gardner (.250/.306/.438/.743) and 7 RBI have been the only players performing against lefties this season. Mark Teixeira has performed very well against lefties the last few years, so he will provide a boost when he comes back. However, he will not be able to turn this around by himself.

Youkilis and Robinson Cano need to perform much better against lefties then they have been. Youkilis has been abysmal against them this year, as he has 1 hit in 19 Abs against them this year with a .142 wOBA. That is a very small sample size, and Youkilis does have a great .918 career OPS against lefties, so he should be able to turn it around. Cano had issues against lefties last season and they have carried over into this season. He did hit a home run against Matt Moore on Monday, so maybe that is a positive sign, but the Yankees really need him to get back being to the balanced hitter that he used to be.

This is an issue that could have been seen a mile away this offseason. It started when the Yankees signed Ichiro to create and all lefty starting outfield of Ichiro, Granderson and Gardner. Ichiro was abysmal against lefties in 2012, Gardner has never hit them consistently in his career and Granderson also struggled mightily against them in 2012. I believe that the Ichiro signing was an ownership move and not a Brian Cashman move, but either way it was a terrible one. What Cashman could have done is find a much better utility option than Jayson Nix and a much better righty DH than Ben Francisco. Obviously, Cashman did not expect to be without Derek Jeter for so long, but still Nix should have been upgraded on. Francisco provides no value at all and they should really cut bait with him now.

Right now there is really nobody Cashman can get outside of the organization, as nobody is willing to give away pieces yet, although he will have to by the trade deadline. Zolio Almonte (.263/.411/.404/.814) and David Adams (.317/.417/.463/.880) are both off to very good starts at Triple A and should be brought up to replace Nix and Francisco. Ronnier Mustelier is another option, but he has not played yet this year due to injury. Adams could play third and Almonte can DH or play the outfield. Nix has struck out an incredible 16 out of 43 at bats already, which is just dreadful for a non power hitter and obviously Francisco has done nothing.

It is a miracle that the Yankees have a 4-3 record this year against lefties with the lineup they are throwing out there, which is a testament to the grit and toughness they have shown this year. However, it will be hard to keep up that pace with the current hitters they have in the lineup, so either they will need to improve, which is doubtful, or go in a different direction and call up some reinforcements.

This Day In Yankees History 4/24

On this day in 1917 the Yankees/Highlanders first no hitter was thrown by left hander George Mogride. We would beat the Red Sox 2-1 in Fenway Park. Not only was this the first no hitter in franchise history but it was also the first ever thrown in Fenway.

On this day in 1923 the first shut out ever thrown in Yankees Stadium was thrown against the Washington Senators. President Warren G. Harding was in attendance and saw Babe Ruth launch a home run in the 4-0 Yankees victory.

Hall of Fame Profile: Bill Dickey

The fifth installment of Hall of Fame Yankees is about Bill Dickey.

Full Name: William Malcolm Dickey

Born: June 5, 1907  Died: November 12, 1993

Nickname(s): The Man Nobody Knows, The Greatest Catcher of All-Time

Hall of Fame Induction: 1954 (80.2% vote in 7th year eligible)

Teams Played for: New York Yankees (1928-1943, 1946)

Retired Jersey: #8 by the New York Yankees in 1972 (the only jersey number so far to be retired twice by NY...same # as Yogi Berra)

 

Career Statistics (courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com):

Batting Average: .313 (85th all-time)

On-Base %: .382 (156th all-time)

Slugging %: .486

OPS: .868

HR: 202

RBI: 1209 (142nd all-time)

Runs: 930

Hits: 1969 (59nd all-time)

2B: 343

Caught Stealing %: 46.7 (59th all-time)
Caught Stealing: 464 (76th all-time)
WAR: 55.9 (136th all-time for position players)

MVPs: 4x in the top-6 in voting, 2nd in 1938 to Jimmie Foxx of Boston
All-Star Appearances: (11) 1933, 1934, 1936-1942, 1946
World Series Championships: (14, 8 as a player) 1928, 1932, 1936-1939, 1941, 1943
Little Known Fact: Played himself in two different movies: "The Pride of the Yankees" and the "Stratton Story"

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Bill Dickey played 1759 games at catcher for the New York Yankees between August 15, 1928 and September 8, 1946 and was known as the guy who "taught Yogi Berra to catch"  and before Bench made his mark on the league with the Big Red Machine, the "Greatest Catcher of All-Time."  Dickey wore the number 8 for the Yanks for much of his career and would have that jersey number retired along with his protege Berra to never be worn again in pinstripes in 1972.  There is only one other Yankee that will have his number retired twice by the Yankees and that is Mariano Rivera with the #42 as all of Major League Baseball retired that number in honor of Jackie Robinson.  There are 17 catchers in the Hall of Fame and 3 of them are Yankees with the possibility of a 4th if Posada gets consideration.  Catchers weren't known to be offensive juggernauts in Dickey's time which is evident in his 202 home runs, 1209 runs batted in, and .486 slugging percentage, but for a catcher those numbers were astonishing.  Throw in the fact (no pun intended) that he was a pretty stellar defensive catcher and a .313 batting average lifetime over 17 seasons with the Yankees made him a sure-fire candidate for the Hall.

Dickey won a total of 14 World Series titles as a player, manager, and coach and was on 8 teams as a player winning it all.  He was top-5 in MVP voting 3 times, which once again was unheard of for a catcher at the time.  Other catchers would seem to emulate Dickey starting with Berra and then Bench and so on.  Just missing out on perhaps the greatest lineup ever assembled in the "Murderer's Row" of 1927, Bill played his first full season in the majors in 1929 in which he batted .324 with 10 home runs and 65 RBI in 447 at bats.  He would already be considered a World Series Champion as he was on the postseason roster in 1928 but saw no playing time being relegated to backup catcher.  He wouldn't see any World Series action until 1932 against the Cubs in which .438 in 19 plate appearances with 7 hits, 4 RBI, and a .964 ops.

I have already stated that Dickey wasn't known for his power, but he was actually in the top-10 in the American League in home runs 5 different times maxing out at 29 home runs in 1937, his age-30 year.  He represented the AL in the All-Star game 11 times and would go on to win 7 more World Series titles as a player before joining the Navy in World War II.  In those 7 series he was marginal at best but was a workhorse for the pitching rotation leading them to a stellar run of 6 titles in an 8-year span, which was absolutely unheard of, only to be surpassed by his protege's run of 10 wins out of 14 tries in a 16-year span. One could say that fully two-thirds of the Yankees all-time World Series titles were aided by Dickey (either with him on the team or Berra).  On top of the way he handled the pitching staff, Dickey was known for being a gunner on the base path shooting down 46.7% of all runners that attempted to steal a base.  He was 1st in the league in CS% 4 times and was top-4 10 times.  He was also 1st or 2nd in the AL in putouts 11 times.  With the specialization of catching and modern equipment, etc, his rate of catching base runners looks small in comparison being 59th all-time, but for the time was outstanding.

After the war, Bill Dickey returned to the Yankees as a player-manager and batted only .261 in a limited 54 games.  He retired at the end of that season but would return once again, this time as a first base coach and special instructor for the Yankees new catching all-star that could hit like crazy, Yogi Berra.  Bill Dickey didn't put up crazy numbers like Ruth, Gehrig, or Mantle, or even Berra for that matter, but one could argue that without the mainstay known as #8, the Yankees would not have compiled such great success in such a short span of time in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

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Sources: 

1. Baseball-Reference.com: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dickebi01.shtml

2. Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Dickey

3. Pictures from HowStuffWorks.com, WikiPedia, and baseball-collect.com

Game Thread: NYY @ TB 4/23

The Yankees look to bounce back into the win column tonight as they send Phil Hughes to the mound to face David Price and the Tampa Bay Rays. Feel free to use this thread to talk with us during the game or give us a follow on twitter @GreedyStripes and talk with us there.

Here is the Yankees lineup:

Brett Gardner CF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Ben Francisco DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Jayson Nix 3B

RHP Phil Hughes

Kevin Youkilis Out Until Thursday W/ Back Injury

Manager Joe Girardi has announced that Kevin Youkilis will continue to sit until the Yankees head home on Thursday to play the Toronto Blue Jays. I guess they do not want him to tweak the back on the turf in Tampa which makes sense if you think about it. It hurts not having his power right handed bat in the lineup against lefties, especially lefties like David Price, but it is still early in the season and we need him healthy for the long haul.

New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays 4/23

The Yankees and Rays will continue their series tonight at Tropicana Field in Tampa St. Pete. The Yankees will send Phil Hughes to the mound looking to build on a pretty decent start last time out against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rays will send the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner David Price to the mound looking to keep the Yankees offense down. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on MY9, MLB Network, and MLB TV.