Bovada Says Ellsbury A 2014 MVP Candidate

Bovada is a site that does a great job computing the statistical chances teams have of winning the World Series and such major awards like the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Bovada was at it again recently ranking the players who had the best chance to win the AL MVP Award and a Yankee made the list in Jacoby Ellsbury. You can click the link HERE to see who Bovada has winning the AL and NL  MVP and Cy Young Awards for 2014 but I will showcase the running for the MVP award for you here.

2014 AL MVP - Odds to Win   
Mike Trout                     5/1
Miguel Cabrera              6/1
Jacoby Ellsbury            12/1
Albert Pujols                 12/1
Josh Donaldson            14/1
Robinson Cano             14/1
Evan Longoria               14/1
Adrian Beltre                 16/1
Chris Davis                   16/1
Dustin Pedroia              16/1

New York Yankees Split Squad Schedule 3/13

The New York Yankees will play a split squad set of games today in Spring Training as a part of the Grapefruit League. The Yankees home game will be played against the Baltimore Orioles with Michael Pineda on the mound at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees will be on the road playing at the Philadelphia Phillies and we will see Ivan Nova on the mound in that game. Both games are scheduled to start at 1:05 pm ET with the home game being televised on the YES Network and the road game not being televised today. Enjoy the day Yankees fans, let's play two.

Francesa Show To Air On Fox Sports 1 March 24

Earlier in the offseason we broke the news that Mike Francesa and his show would be moving from the YES Network, unseated by Michael Kay and his show, to the newly formed Fox Sports 1 Network, see HERE. Mike himself confirmed the rumors finally today and gave us a definitive date, March 24th. Don't worry Mongo Nation and Mike Zaun fans, the master will be back soon diet coke and all.

Yankee Stadium Legacy: #18 Tommy Henrich

Tommy Henrich was part of a talented New York Yankees trio that included Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Keller, making up one of the best outfields of the time. The Yankees outfield of the 1940's made opposing pitchers have a lot of sleepless nights. Henrich showed his strength specifically in 1941 by hitting a career high 31 home runs. In 1948 Henrich led the American League with 81 extra base hits for the Yankees.

18 days until Yankees Opening Day

This Day In New York Yankees History 3/13

On this day in 2008 actor Billy Crystal joined the ranks of Garth Brooks and Tom Selleck as celebrities to appear in an exhibition spring training game with the New York Yankees. Crystal struck out in the first inning as the Yankees leadoff hitter after signing a one day contract with New York. Crystal would wear #60 since he would turn 60 years old on 3/14 2008.

Ervin Santana Comes Off The Yankees Board, For Real This Time

The last time we had this discussion we were fed some bad information that Ervin Santana had agreed upon a one year deal worth $14 million with the Toronto Blue Jays, that obviously was not true. Almost a week later Santana was signed today by the Atlanta Braves on a one year deal worth exactly $14.1 million, a qualifying offer in 2014 and much like the one Santana rejected from the Kansas City Royals way back in November.

The Braves likely Opening Day starter Kris Medlen left a spring training game with pitching stiffness in his arm and is likely to require a second Tommy John surgery to repair the ligament. Atlanta wasted no time jumping into the Santana sweepstakes and swooped him up today to bring him to Turner Field.

The Yankees never really seemed interested in Santana, whether they should have been or not is another discussion for another post, but this discussion has officially bee put to bed. Santana is in Atlanta for at least the 2014 season.

Yankees Option Sanchez, Heathcott, & Turley To Minor League Camps

The New York Yankees have made at least three more cuts from Major League Spring Training camp today assigning Gary Sanchez to AA Trenton and Nik Turley and Slade Heathcott to AAA Scranton Wilkes Barre. This coming from Yankees.com transactions page, seen HERE.

Turley has been shut down with left arm tightness and has been inactive for most of the spring, supposedly the Yankees are just being overly cautious with him though. Heathcott has been moved along slowly, and I mean slowly, this spring after coming off a minor knee surgery in the winter to clean up his knee. Sanchez, while is fun to watch, has no chance of breaking camp with the Yankees so will benefit more from minor league camps when they open up soon.

Three more cuts today and none of them major yet, I don't expect we will see any of those until after the Panama series and all the players are back and rested.

MLB.com Ranks Top 20 Yankees Prospects By Tools

MLB.com released their Top 20 Prospects for all 30 teams and ranked them by tools using the 20-80 scale that many scouts use. I have embedded the links to read the full write ups but I will include the lists, without the grades, here for you to read. Enjoy..

1. Gary Sanchez
2. Mason Williams
3. Slade Heathcott
4. John Ryan Murphy
5. Eric Jagielo
6. Tyler Austin
7. Greg Bird
8. Ian Clarkin
9. Aaron Judge
10. Luis Severino
11. Gosuke Katoh
12. Manny Banuelos
13. Jose Ramirez
14. Bryan Mitchell
15. Mark Montgomery
16. Rafael DePaula
17. Luis Torrens
18. Abi Avelino
19. Miguel Andujar
20. Jose Campos

New York Yankees Spring Training News & Notes 3/12

Brendan Ryan took some light swings after suffering an oblique injury last week and feels no ill effects from the activity. Ryan says the injury is more in his lower back than his oblique so maybe this will not be a lingering kind of injury.

Tyler Austin is hitting flips in the batting cage, which is basically a modified version of tee and toss. His right wrist feels good and has no lingering soreness.

Jose Campos made his spring debut for the Yankees today pitching in the 7-7 tie.

Dellin Betances threw a simulated game today to Peter O'Brien and faced Jose Pirela and Francisco Arcia.

Francisco Cervelli hit two more home runs today and is batting an even .500 for the spring while leading the team in slugging percentage. Cervelli is being scouted by other teams and is said to be readily available for the right price.

Dean Anna has a stiff neck, not great news for him. Dino needs to be in every game and every inning he can if he wants to win a spot on the team and cannot afford to miss any time. Anna is still expected to make the trip to Panama though so that's great news.

Another day and another hit for Yangervis Solarte, he also walked once in the game as well. Pretty soon we have to stop reminding you that it's early in spring and start recognizing that this guy is killing the ball.

Chad Jennings with the daily assignments:

Tomorrow’s travel squad to Clearwater:
Pitchers: Danny Burawa, Preston Claiborne, Shane Greene, Fred Lewis, Bryan Mitchell, Mark Montgomery, Ivan Nova
Catchers: Francisco Arcia, Francisco Cervelli, Pete O’Brien, Austin Romine
Infielders: Kelly Johnson, Scott Sizemore, Yangervis Solarte, Mark Teixeira
Outfielders: Jacoby Ellsbury, Ramon Flores, Ichiro Suzuki, Mason Williams

· Today’s second string: C Austin Romine, 1B Jose Gil, 2B Zelous Wheeler, SS Dean Anna, 3B Jose Pirela, LF Yangervis Solarte, CF Antoan Richardson, RF Adonis Garcia, DH John Ryan Murphy

· Today’s scheduled relievers: Shawn Kelley, Jose Campos, Robert Coello, Yoshinori Tateyama, Fred Lewis

· Batting practice groups:
Group 1: Derek Jeter, Carlos Beltran, Brian Roberts, Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki
Group 2: Russ Canzler, Kelly Johnson, Mason Williams, Francisco Cervelli
Group 3: Zoilo Almonte, Eduardo Nunez, Scott Sizemore, Austin Romine
Group 4: Francisco Arcia, Adonis Garcia, Zelous Wheeler, John Ryan Murphy
Group 5: Antoan Richardson, Yangervis Solarte, Jose Pirela, Jose Gil
Group 6: Ramon Flores, Corban Joseph, Francisco Arcia, Pete O’Brien, Gary Sanchez

Yankees rally late to tie Tigers, 7-7

Despite getting just 3.2 innings of six-run ball (10 hits, no walks, 1 strikeout) from starter Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees tied with the Tigers today at Steinbrenner Field, 7-7. Now let's be honest, this is just spring training, but still, those numbers are terrible. What got into #18 today? 

Anyway, as the title clearly states, the Pinstripes did still come back to force a tie in this one, as Francisco Cervelli hit two solo homers, Zealous Wheeler drove in two runs with a double, Austin Romine pushed across a run with a groundout, and Zoilo Almonte tied the game with a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth. So yea, overall I'd say this game went alright. I mean, the offense and every pitcher but Kuroda did pretty well, wouldn't you say so?