Reaction to the Yankees Trading Nuno for McCarthy

Since the first whispers of this year's trading season, it's been pretty much guaranteed that the Yankees were going to get somebody.

First off, they were pursuing Jeff Samardzija, followed later by names such as David Price and Jason Hammel.

While those guys are obviously appealing, it seemed blatant from the beginning they weren't actually going to end up in Pinstripes, something that appeared to become official today, as the Yanks sent Vidal Nuno to Arizona in exchange for the struggling Brandon McCarthy.

McCarthy, a 30-year-old veteran who has previously played in the AL with the White Sox, Rangers, and A's, has gone just 3-10 with a 5.01 ERA so far in 2014, making the fact that Yanks wanted him a little strange.

In his career, McCarthy has also spent a lot of time being injured, again causing him to look less-than-favorable. 

Add the fact that Nuno's been pretty good in his last two starts and you have a perfect formula for a letdown, as the Bombers don't really get any better with this deal.

Sure, you could say that the AL East is easier to pitch in than the NL West, although that argument still appears flawed when you consider the former's ability to hit home runs, a skill that can be deadly when playing at Yankee Stadium.

Billy Beane & Brad Pitt Thinks Ricky Nolasco Sucks

If Billy Beane says it than it must be true, I mean the guy just acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel in the same deal and didn't give up nearly enough once again. If Bradd Pitt says it than who am I to argue with the guy who pulled Angelina Jolie? Ricky Nolasco sucks apparently...

"I do, it's true."

First Impressions Of Brandon McCarthy Trade

By now you've all heard that the Yankees traded Vidal Nuno to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Brandon McCarthy. It wasn't a straight swap, as the D'Backs will eat $2.05 million of the $4.1 million owed to McCarthy, while the Yankees will pay a $1 million assignment bonus. So basically this move cost the Yankees $3.05 million, which is okay with me seeing as how McCarthy has been worth $6.6 million this year.

So what do I think of the deal?

For starters, I'm not going to miss Vidal Nuno.

Going by other's reactions to Nuno's pitching, I'm not alone.

After 13 starts, Nuno had an ERA of 5.42, to go along with a WHIP of 1.436, and FIP of 5.15. And allow me to point out that only three of those 13 starts were of the "quality" variety. In fact, Vidal failed to give the Yankees six or more innings in eight of those 13 starts, making guys like Adam Warren and Dellin Betances work a little harder.

Before you start thinking Nuno may have just been a little unlucky, his BABIP against was .301, which is almost exactly average for the league. That's not good for a guy whose opponents had a line drive percentage of 23%.

So it sounds like it wouldn't be hard for the Yankees to improve here. Well, let's see...

Brandon McCarthy has an ERA of 5.01, along with a WHIP of 1.377, and FIP of 3.79. A slightly better ERA, along with a slightly better WHIP, doesn't instill a lot of confidence in me. And while the better FIP may look good on paper, in reality that doesn't do much help, seeing as how McCarthy is a ground-ball pitcher and the Diamondbacks defense in the middle of the infield is definitely better than the Yankees.

I suppose you could say Brandon has been somewhat unlucky this season, seeing as how opposing batters have a BABIP of .347 against. However, those same batters have a line drive percentage of 26%, so it's not like McCarthy isn't being hit hard this season.

To cause further concern over this move, Brandon has had shoulder issues almost his entire career. He first suffered a stress fracture in his scapula back in 2007, making him miss 27 games. Two seasons later McCarthy missed 77 games after another stress fracture. A third stress fracture in 2010 caused him to miss 61 games. Guess what happened in 2011? Yep... another stress fracture making McCarthy sit out 41 games. More shoulder issues, although not any fractures, led to Brandon missing 72 games in 2012. Finally, last season, he missed 55 games with shoulder soreness.

Just typing all that out was exhausting.

So even though Brandon McCarthy tends to pitch deeper into games, taking stress off of the already overused Yankees bullpen, how long will it be before he lands on the DL with another shoulder problem?

I guess you could say I'm not a fan of this move. While it's nice to see that Vidal Nuno will never start a game for the Yankees again, I'm not sure Brandon McCarthy is going to do much better. Not because McCarthy isn't a better pitcher, but because I'm not sure if he can avoid the disabled list. If that happens, then the Yankees and I will be happy.

Alfonso Soriano Has Been Designated For Assignment

Soriano DFA
— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) July 6, 2014

Alfonso Soriano has been designated for assignment by the New York Yankees to make room for Bruce Billings on the 40 man and 25 man roster. It's been a tough season and I have been calling for this all season long but I have a pit in my stomach while reporting it. Good luck Sori, it's not over for you I hope.

New York Yankees Game Preview 7/6 vs. Minnesota Twins

The New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins will finish their four game set this weekend at Target Field this afternoon in the rubber match. The Yankees will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound looking to get New York another victory and the Twins will send Ricky Nolasco out there to try and salvage a win. The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, TBS, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Kuroda pitching eight innings in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays and only allowed two runs in a loss that he didn't deserve last time out. Kuroda has now thrown three consecutive quality starts and has a quality start in five of his last six starts this season and has pitched quite well in his career in July.

Nolasco allowed just one run and eight hits in his last start against the Kansas City Royals pitching six innings. Nolasco picked up his first win in almost a month and pitched his first quality start in a shade over a month in the start. Nolasco had been struggling before this start so let's hope that trend continues and this is not the beginning of a new trend.

We're almost two weeks away from the Yankees coming back to Yankee Stadium to host the Cincinnati Reds so get your Yankees tickets now and head out to the Bronx for a game. With the help of our partners at Ticket Monster we can offer you cheap tickets RIGHT HERE on the blog with no fees or hidden shipping costs. Act now and root for the home team live, there's no better way. 

Go Yankees!!

Bruce Billings Is In The Yankee Clubhouse

Bruce Billings just walked into the clubhouse #Yankees
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) July 6, 2014

We all thought that Bruce Billings was scratched from last night's start in Scranton because he was coming up to be the long man in the bullpen but that may not be true. With Vidal Nuno traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Brandon McCarthy Billings may instead be in line to start Monday against the Cleveland Indians. Stay tuned...

Yankees Trade For Brandon McCarthy

According to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman, the Yankees have acquired Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Yankees have apparently sent Vidal Nuno to Arizona, in what appears to be a salary-dump trade.

Much more to come.

Am I The Only One Worried About Masahiro Tanaka?

Am I the only one that is a little worried about Masahiro Tanaka? Granted he was absolutely amazing to start the season and some regression had to be expected and yes granted he has still been great and with a little run support would be 15-0 right now but none of this makes me worry any less. If this were Tanaka's second season in the big leagues and he had some more experience with the hot summers and the starts every fifth day I would chalk it up to a "bad" stretch but I am beginning to get concerned.

Tanaka's last four starts have been two losses and two victories but we have seen his ERA jump 0.25 points. Again, his ERA is great even with the up tick of 2.27 and he could not be expected to carry a 2.00 or below ERA all season but this post is more concern for August, September, and possibly October more than it is now. Tanaka has allowed four of his 13 home runs this season in his last four while only allowing nine in his 13 starts. Tanaka also allowed seven doubles in his last four starts while only allowing 15 doubles in his other 13 starts. Tanaka's K numbers are down as well in his last four only striking out 10,6,8, and three Twins last time out.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but maybe I'm not.

Quick Hit: Manny Ramirez Upsets The Locals

Manny Ramirez was a tool, plain and simply. Manny, much like David Ortiz, was a roid head that disrespected the game, the Baseball Gods, and his naturally given talent every other player would kill for. This was no more evident than on this day in 2008 when the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox were playing an all important series at Yankee Stadium.

The back story was that Manny Ramirez complained about knee pain and asked to be left off the starting lineup for the series in New York. Manny was then sent for a team ordered MRI which showed no inflammation, damage, or reason for the supposed soreness. The Red Sox then decided to send Manny up as a pinch hitter in a tied game in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium to face the great Mariano Rivera.

Red Sox Nation was visibly upset when Rivera went on to throw three straight fastballs that Manny never bothered to swing at, striking out. It was clear that the relationship with Manny and the Red Sox was over at that point and Ramirez took his talents to the Los Angeles Dodgers after this season and the Yankees have a good bit of history to remember him by.

This Day In New York Yankees History 7/6: Beat By A Bunt Home Run

The year was 1938 and the All Star Game was being played at Crosley Field with the New York Yankees Lefty Gomez on the mound to start against the National League. This was Gomez's fourth All Star start and his first loss as the NL beat the AL 4-1. The NL shortstop Leo Durocher becomes the first Dodger to start in an All Star Game and gets a bunt home run.

Also on this day in 1941 the Yankees construct and unveil and center field monument for the late Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium. The memorial was much like the memorial the Yankees bestowed on Miller Huggins in 1932. This was a tribute from Gehrig's teammates to their beloved captain who died just a month earlier of ALS.

On this day in 2002 the Yankees were in a center field plaque kind of mood again as they unveiled one for Reggie Jackson prior to Old Timers Day. Jackson spent five seasons in New York and helped the Yankees reach the playoffs four times and win two World Series in 1977 and 1978.