Could Stephen Drew’s Vestibular Concussion Explain His Woes in 2014/2015?

The end of Stephen Drew’s tenure with the New York Yankees came to an abrupt halt this season when the Yankees second baseman was diagnosed with a vestibular concussion late in September. Drew had a pretty severe concussion in 2013 when he was a member of the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox that took roughly three-and-a-half months to fully heal and recover from according to reports. Could that concussion and the lingering side effects be the reason or explanation for his less than stellar 2014 and 2015 campaigns?

Athletico describes a concussion as such:

A concussion is a serious brain injury and is very difficult to assess and treat as MRIs and CT scans are almost always normal. If not treated properly, these concussions can cause both short- and long-term problems. One treatment that is getting more and more attention is the use of vestibular physical therapy for individuals who have been concussed.

When someone first sustains a concussion, the initial treatment is rest. At that time they should be managed by their physician. Studies show that 80% of those who suffer a concussion have their symptoms go away completely within the first three weeks. Unfortunately, some people have symptoms that last even longer. Common symptoms include headaches, blurry vision, nausea, dizziness, noise and light sensitivity, balance difficulties, difficulty with concentrating, difficulty remembering, difficulty sleeping, and/or emotional symptoms. Oftentimes a concussed person will complain of difficulty with driving, difficulty with reading a computer, difficulty reading books, and difficulty changing gaze focus. One of the most common complaints that vestibular therapists hear is that they just feel “off” or “foggy.”

In a game where everything is analyzed and in a game where a matter of inches can make or break you every single play of every single night battling a head injury has to be difficult. The problem for Drew is, and I am speculating here as I do not have concrete evidence to back up this statement, that he reportedly felt fine and had no lingering effects of a concussion until almost the end of September. For all we know the problem may have been minor enough to adjust to or not even notice in your everyday life but it could have been something that could make or break you when trying to judge a pitch at 100 MPH.

An interesting nugget specifically linked to sports figures with vestibular concussions from medscape:

"Therefore, if this system is compromised in some way following concussion, it makes sense that a reaction time would be slowed. This is an important point, as athletes with this impaired reaction time may be at greater risk for subsequent injury until they are no longer impaired."

The participants in the study had sustained their injuries more than 21 days earlier and completed computerized neurocognitive tests and symptom reports at their initial clinical visits. They also received vestibular screening, which includes clinical interview and exams evaluating vestibular dizziness and vestibulo-spinal and vestibulo-ocular domains.

To be honest we’ll probably never know what happened to Drew and whether it was this concussion or Father Time merely catching up to him and his bat in 2014 and 2015. The article above says that most MRI's CT scans or tests come back normal. If the Yankees feel like they get nip this concussion in the bud then I am all for a bounce back type season on the New York bench in 2016 because at least now we may have a reason for his struggles instead of merely grasping at straws. 

Pinstripe Alley's Annual Sporcle Quiz

Every season our friends over at Pinstripe Alley put together a sporcle quiz giving you a shot at guessing every player that played for the team in that particular season. In years past I have been quite good at these quizzes, one year (2014 I believe) I fell just one player short of a perfect score, so I decided to take another shot at it in 2015. How well did I do and can you do better?

This year the pitching killed me, who would have thought. I did less than what I expected only getting 51/56 but I did get every single position player. Post yours in the comments section!

This Day in New York Yankees History 10/9: Jeffrey *Bleeping* Maier

Set the stage, the year is 1996 and the New York Yankees are at home playing the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS. New York was trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eight inning when Derek Jeter sent a deep fly ball to right field that cleared the fence for a game tying home run according to umpire Rich Garcia. Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco and manager Davey Johnson protested that a young fan, Jeffrey Maier, had interfered with the ball. The Yankees went on to win the game and the series and many think the young man changed the game and the series.


Also on this day in 1961 the Yankees would capture their 19th World Series Championship when they beat the Cincinnati Reds in Game 5 by the score of 13-5. Johnny Blanchard, a reserve player, would hit two home runs and bat .400 in the series.


Also on this day in 1958 the Yankees beat the Milwaukee Braves in Game 7 of the World Series for their 18thWorld Series Championship. This was also the Yankees seventh World Series win of the decade capping off an incredible streak.


Also on this day in 1938 the Yankees became the first team to win three consecutive World Series titles when they beat the Chicago Cubs in four games.


Finally on this day in 1928 the Yankees would win their third World Series Championship in the franchise’s history as they completed their second consecutive sweep in the Fall Classic. Babe Ruth hit three home runs in the World Series game and the Yankees as a team hit five in the contest.

2015 Yankees: Brett Gardner 2015 Highlights

Brett Gardner just #GARDNERING all season long. Enjoy Yankees family, have a good night. 

MLBTR: Yankees Arbitration Salaries for 2016

MLB Trade Rumors has taken their yearly predictions at the salary arbitration numbers for all 30 Major League Baseball teams including the New York Yankees. CLICK HERE to see all 30 predictions and see below for the Yankees predictions. Enjoy.



Yankees (9)

Sergio Santos (5.110) – $900K
Andrew Bailey (5.034) – $900K arbitration projection; has $2MM club option.
Ivan Nova (5.024) – $4.4MM
Michael Pineda (4.099) – $4.6MM
Dustin Ackley (4.087) – $3.1MM
Nate Eovaldi (4.013) – $5.7MM
Adam Warren (3.036) – $1.5MM
Justin Wilson (3.035) – $1.3MM
Didi Gregorius (2.159) – $2.1MM

Baseball America: Two Yankees in Top 20 Eastern League Prospects List

Baseball American has released their Top 20 Prospects lists for the Rookie Gulf Coast League (Yankees GCL 1 and GCL 2), the Rookie Appalachian League (Pulaski Yankees), the Short Season New York-Penn League (Staten Island Yankees), the Low-A South Atlantic League (Charleston Riverdogs) and the High-A Florida State League (Tampa Yankees) and their latest list covered the Eastern League, home of the Double-A Trenton Thunder. Two members of the New York Yankees made the list, SEE THE ENTIRE LIST HERE, and those men were first baseman Greg Bird and outfielder Aaron Judge.

Judge ranked 15th of 20 on the list and Bird ranked just behind him at #16. The top of the list is topped by the Washington Nationals RHP Lucas Giolito while the Philadelphia Phillies shortstop J.P Crawford was 2nd and the New York Mets outfielder Michael Conforto was 3rd.

Luis Severino did not have enough innings to qualify for the list.

CC Sabathia & My Own Experience w/ Addiction

When news broke about CC Sabathia’s self-admission into an alcohol rehabilitation center I did not want to turn his disease into a post about me like many others likely did. What I did personally was I sent out a couple tweets to Amber and CC voicing my full 100% support, thoughts and prayers and I left it at that. I feel like enough time has gone by now that I can share with you my personal experience with addiction and why I fully and 100% not only support but agree with CC’s decision to enter the rehab now rather than after the playoffs, even if it was just one game.

My entire life I grew up with and around drugs. I’ve heard stories, although it’s adamantly denied by my mother, that my mother did heroine while she was pregnant with me. I’ve heard stories that I was left on street corners in the Bronx or with vendors or shop owners so my parents could go down the road and score some drugs.  I’ve heard stories that would make you cry and that’s just what I’ve heard, that doesn’t count everything I’ve lived through and actually remember. The nights being woken up to my father vomiting and choking on his vomit and me having to turn him over to save his life because he was too high to wake up. The night where my mother left my father because she gave him the ultimatum to pick her or heroin and he looked her in the eyes and told her he loved her, he was sorry and that they were through. The weekends lost, because I got taken away from both parents, because my father was too high to take care of me and my mother had moved down to Georgia to escape it all.

Why I understand CC’s urgency and commitment to search out rehab and search out rehab now is my own struggle with my father. My father was the type of drug addict to blow his entire paycheck either Friday night or Saturday morning and would spend the weekend high before coming down around midnight Sunday. Almost every Sunday night or Monday morning I would get the “I’m sorry” speech or the “I’m going to do better” phone call and every time I would recommend a drug rehab. Every time it was some excuse, I can’t get off work. I don’t have a reliable vehicle right now. I’m too busy. His intentions were good on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and even Wednesday but by Thursday the addiction and the thirst took control back.

If my father had went to any of the rehab’s he swore that he would go to he may be sitting here reading this today and using it as a testament to getting healthy, clean and sober. He’s gone, I was 10-years old. My father, like CC to his children, is far more important than one more week of work, a reliable vehicle or something else that was “more important.” When you admit you have a problem and put a plan in motion to fix this issue then you do it, regardless of what you feel is important. Alcoholism and drug use is a deadly and nasty disease and it will kill you on a long enough timeline so I commend and admire CC for making the right decision as a person, as a father and as a husband. Get well soon CC!

Rico Noel the Latest Yankee Blogger

Derek Jeter started the Players Tribune shortly after retiring after the 2014 season with the goal of giving athletes a chance to put their thoughts, beliefs and feelings onto paper without the middle man. The Players Tribune has done just that in its year of existence and the latest New York Yankees player to grace the pages of the Tribune is Rico Noel. The name of the post was "The Wait" and it can be seen HERE.



Being a base-stealer is about being a realist.


When you’re trying to steal, there has to be a balance. You have to find that middle ground. There’s a sixth sense to it, an instinctive math.

If you try to steal while counting on the best-case scenario — the perfect jump, a bad throw — then you leave yourself exposed: the right throw, in the right location, and you’re toast.

If you try to steal while fearing for the worst-case scenario — a bad jump, the perfect throw — then you leave yourself exposed as well: each at-bat contains a limited number of pitches; missing just one good chance to take the base can be as bad as making an out.

And math, in the end, is really what it comes down to. Strip away the scouting, the timing and everything in between: It’s your speed minus their throw.


When the numbers say stay, you stay. And when numbers say go, you go.


My brother Orlandus is an optimist.

He’s a goofball, but in the best sense. He’s the life of the party. He’s always looking out for everyone, checking in to see if a room is too tense. And if it is, then you can count on Orlandus: He will find a way to break the tension.

Is your cookout feeling a little uptight? Not for long, if Orlandus is there. He’ll just start … dancing. Yes, alone. No, it doesn’t matter what music is on. Orlandus’ll go — and go, and go. And then, before you know it, everyone’s having fun. It’s like magic.

Orlandus is just That Guy: The one who seemingly can create positive energy from thin air. The one who manages to see the optimist’s angle, everywhere he looks. And the one who plays his hand with a smile — no matter what cards he’s been dealt.

This past year, Orlandus was dealt some really tough cards.

In November, he started coughing a lot. He had smoked cigarettes previously, so that was our explanation for it: smoker’s cough. Nobody thought much of it.

But then he started to get some chest pains. We thought, “Okay, let’s check this out.” The doctors ran some tests.

The pains wouldn’t subside.

For the next several months, Orlandus was in and out of the hospital — test, after test, after test. The symptoms got stranger: shortness of breath … feeling like he was about to pass out … and more and more pain.

Until, finally, there was a diagnosis: Congestive heart failure.

It was worse than we could have possibly imagined.

My brother needed a new heart.


I was in Buffalo when the Yankees told me I was being called up to the big leagues.

Immediately, I called my mom. She was so happy for me. She knew what a dream it had been for me to reach the majors — and how hard I worked for it. In many ways, I think she understood it more clearly than I did. Moms always know, you know? They always remember.


It was worse than we could have possibly imagined. My brother needed a new heart.

And hearing her process those memories was when it really sunk in for me. Because she was right: I had worked hard — so, so hard. For it to all pay off, in one moment of news, was an incredible feeling.

To read the rest of the post and to support Jeter and the Players Tribune click the link, again SEEN HERE, and check it out. Thank you. 

The George Steinbrenner Quote That May Define 2016

Baseball is not just a sport anymore; we are a business. We are show business. To compete for the entertainment dollar, particularly in New York, you have to have more than nine guys playing baseball; you have to have an attraction. And I have tried to do the best job I possibly can to give my fans an attraction.”

George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees

This Day In New York Yankees History 10/8: Don Larsen is Perfect

There has only been one perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball and that came on this day in 1956 and it came from a man in a New York Yankees uniform. That man’s name was Don Larsen and the feat came in Game 5 of the World Series as the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 2-0.


Also on this day in 1939 the Yankees completed their sweep over the Cincinnati Reds to win their fourth consecutive World Series championship thanks to “Lombardi’s Swoon.” Joe DiMaggio scored all the way from first in the top of the 10th inning when Charlie Keller almost knocked Reds catcher Ernie Lombardi unconscious in a home plate collision that allowed three runs to score in the Yankees 7-4 victory. Keller earned his nickname “King Kong” with that shot.



Finally on this day in 1927 the best team to ever play Major League Baseball completed their quest and won their World Series by sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games. This was New York’s second World Series of the franchise’s history.


Also on this day in Yankees history the team had a couple exits from the postseason that were notable including the 1995 walk off victory by the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS and Joe Torre's final game in the 2007 ALDS against the Cleveland Indians, but that's none of my business.