Nova somewhat solid; Banuelos terrible in Yanks win over Astros

Ivan Nova gave up 3 earned runs (8 hits) in 4 innings of work today as the Yankees beat the Astros in a very competetive contest, 9-6. Throughout his first two innings this afternoon, Nova couldn't buy an out, giving up all 3 runs and 6 of those 8 hits, but in his last couple frames he seemed to turn things around, making his overall outing, as it says in the title, somewhat solid.

After #47 left this one, left-handed pitching prospect Manny Banuelos came in for his spring debut, giving up a double, a walk, and a home run to the first three guys he faced. After that disaster, he did get the next two batters (the last two batters) he faced out, but still, the damage had been done. He had been terrible.

Anyway, the Yankees, as you can see by that score, did still end up winning this game thanks to a nice offensive day, which included an RBI Double from Mason Williams, a two-run home run from Kelly Johnson, and an RBI Single from Brett Gardner. So yea, the pitching this afternoon was overall bad, but the offense was still pretty good. I guess that evens things out.

Army, UConn Face Off At Yanke Stadium In 2014

Yankee Stadium will host a college football game again this season as the Army Black Knights and the Connecticut Huskies will face off at the stadium that the boss built. The game will take place on Saturday, November 8 of this year and the game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network. Tickets for the game will go on sale on March 11 at 11:00 am ET. Tickets can be purchased at www.goARMYsports.com, (877) TIX-ARMY, www.uconntickets.com, or (877) AT-UCONN. Obviously these will probably be available at Ticket Master and www.Yankees.com but those details are not quite available yet, stay tuned.

Ervin Santana Officially Off The Yankees Board

Everyone who disagreed with my posturing for Ervin Santana can be happy today as he comes off the Yankees board signing a one year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. The deal is worth $14 million which is pretty much right at what he would have made accepting his qualifying offer. That has to be a bit disappointing for Santana after a 2.9 WAR season in 2013 but he has a chance to play with possibly a better team, albeit in a tougher division, in 2014. Congrats to him.

New York Yankees @ Houston Astros 3/8

The New York Yankees will travel to play the Houston Astros in the latest Spring Training game in the Grapefruit League. The game will be televised at 1:05 pm ET on MLB Network and MLB TV. Ivan Nova will look to be super again for the Yankees in this game as he makes his second start of the spring. Enjoy the day Yankees family and Go Yankees!

Here is the Yankees lineup

Brett Gardner CF
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Kelly Johnson DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Dean Anna SS
Scott Sizemore 3B
Zoilo Almonte LF
Mason Williams RF

Should The Yankees Be Interested In Juan Francisco?

We all heard and read that the Brewers were among the teams scouting the Yankees excess catching depth recently. Milwaukee is said to be dangling Rickie Weeks or Aramis Ramirez but why not Juan Francisco? I think we could use Francisco more for a plethora of reasons, especially if it only costs Austin Romine or John Ryan Murphy.

Francisco would give us another power hitter in the lineup and a huge bat coming off the bench from the left side of the plate. Francisco split time with the Brewers and the Atlanta Braves last season and hit 18 home runs in 348 at bats, that's a home run every 19 at bats for those without a calculator. Over a 162 game season that ranks 11th best in the American League, who couldn't use that?

Francisco also gives us a legitimate backup at both third base and first base. He won't win a Gold Glove award at either position but he is probably a better candidate than Alfonso Soriano at first and Eduardo Nunez at third base defensively right now.

Francisco also looks like he is the odd man out on the Brewers roster thanks to former Yankees Lyle Overbay and Mark Reynolds signing deals with Milwaukee over the winter. The Brewers have excess infielders and we need infielders, the Brewers need a backup catcher and we have more than a couple. Let's make a deal Brian Cashman.

New York Yankees Spring Training News & Notes 3/8

Brendan Ryan is being shut down for about a week with a sore oblique, that sucks because those injuries tend to be lingering and a general nuisance. Tests came back clean but manager Joe Girardi plans to keep Ryan out until at least the middle of next week.

Girardi also said that the Yankees probably won't make any cuts until at least after the Panama series, a little later in the spring than usual. The Panama trip ends on March 17 and the Yankees have a bunch of split squad games to Girardi wants plenty of bodies around, makes sense.

Masahiro Tanaka's next appearance will be a simulated game on Tuesday at the Yankees minor league complex.

There will be more later after the game so be sure to check back for that.

Yankee Stadium Legacy: #23 Charlie Keller

Charlie Keller was one of the main power hitters for the New York Yankees in the 1940's. Keller slugged over 20 home runs five times while hitting 30 home runs three separate seasons for New York. Keller was pitched around quite a bit due to his power displays and led the American League in walks twice in his career, surpassing the 100 walk plateau five times. Keller was a rookie in 1939 and hit three home runs and won a World Series ring.

23 days until Yankees Opening Day

This Day In New York Yankees History 3/8

On this day in 1930 Babe Ruth signed a two year deal for $160,000 with the Yankees keeping him as the highest paid player of all time for his era. Ed Barrow, the Yankees General Manager at the time, said that "no one will ever be paid more." Alex Rodriguez and Clayton Kershaw say hello.

On this day in 1947 the New York Yankees beat the Dodgers 1-0 in Havana's new stadium delCerro. The Yankees Snuffy Stirnweiss had a tenth inning single which proved to be the game winning hit, the only Yankees hit of the game.

Pineda dominates as Yankees beat Tigers on a walk-off balk, 3-2

Hiroki Kuroda threw a scoreless 2.2 innings and David Robertson put up another zero in the fourth tonight as the Yankees beat the Tigers at Steinbrenner Field, 3-2. After those two left this one, the man of the night, Michael Pineda, finally came in, throwing an absolutely dominant 2 innings in which he gave up just 1 hit (a single) and impressively struck out 4.

Anyway, the Yanks three runs in this W came on a two-run home run from Carlos Beltran (his second homer of the spring; scoring on the play was Derek Jeter, who singled for 1 of his two hits on the night) and a strange, happening-with-a-man-on-third balk in the bottom of the ninth. So yea, the Yankees won this game. It wasn't the prettiest victory I've ever seen, but hey, I'll take it.

Ervin Santana Wants A One Year Deal

Santana unwilling to wait on 1-yr deal, even though he would be exempt from ’14 qualifying offer after Opening Day. Wants to be in camp now.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 8, 2014

Ervin Santana fired his agent and is now representing himself telling teams that he would be willing to sign a one year deal before Opening Day. Santana has also considered waiting until after June to sign so he would no longer be attached to  draft pick compensation.

Sources: Ervin Santana now seeking a one-year deal, and wants to sign as quickly as possible.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 8, 2014

The Royals, Santana's former team, are said to not be interested even at one year. The time is now for Santana, should we be interested? We should, but we probably won't be. Santana can be offered another qualifying offer after this season if he signs a one year deal, just as an FYI.