Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/6

The finale between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox will take place today leaving just a couple games in a game days before we get the All Star break. I don’t know about you but I could use the All-Star break to recharge the batteries and I’m sure a lot of the Yankees players could as well. So in the finale of this three game set the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound looking to continue his recent trend of good starts while the White Sox will counter with Miguel Gonzalez.

Pineda has been excellent over his last six starts which began after a slight adjustment to his delivery and arm angle was suggested by pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Pineda has posted a 2.74 ERA in that span and has held opposing batters to just a .201 batting average. The return of Big Mike ladies and gentleman.

Gonzalez will be making his 14^th career start against the New York Yankees tonight after seeing a lot of them as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. In his career Gonzalez owns a 3-4 record against the Bronx Bombers so here’s to hoping Gonzalez, like the Yankees this season, is afraid of the .500 mark.

The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. Any series where the Yankees don’t see Chris Sale or Jose Quintana should be a win but this series did not go according to plan. Truth be told the Yankees should have swept this series but so is baseball and so is life. Let’s just get a win and get the hell out of dodge. Go Yankees!

Nathan Eovaldi to the Bullpen, Now There’s an Original Idea

Good morning Yankees family and welcome back. By now we’ve all surely recovered from the shock of going to work yesterday after a long holiday weekend and now we can get caught back up on our Yankees news. Over the weekend, after a horrid month of June and a bad start to the month of July, the Yankees have decided to move Nathan Eovaldi into their bullpen and Chad Green into the starting rotation. Now there’s an original idea and the first time I saw it mentioned, although I am willing to admit it may not be the first place it was mentioned in all of the world and on the web, was here on The Greedy Pinstripes when Donnie Passmore mentioned it.

We did a Twitter Poll about it and then I had my say in the matter, seen HERE and HERE, and overall not many people agreed with the decision. I guess the Yankees were reading and decided if Daniel Burch disagrees and so do the readers and followers of the blog then it must be a good idea. One word comes to mind from my childhood… “Doh!”

Michael Pineda starts tonight for the Yankees meaning Eovaldi should start tomorrow in the opener against the Cleveland Indians but instead Ivan Nova will move up a day and Chad Green will get another crack at it before big CC closes out the unofficial first half for New York. Eovaldi has been skipped and has been delegated to the bullpen, I don’t care if the Yankees simply said they would use him as a reliever because Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller had pitched three of the previous four days entering the debacle on Monday afternoon.

In Eovaldi’s last six outings he has posted a 0-4 record with a 9.20 ERA. That’s demotion worth if I’ve ever seen it. And you heard it here first, although we’ll never get credit for the idea anyway. It was probably Joel Sherman’s original idea.

Weekly Prospects Check In: Aaron Judge

The New York Yankees brought Aaron Hicks over this offseason hoping that the switch hitter could not only give days off to both Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner but also provide a spark and a power threat off the bench. The Yankees lived up to their end of the deal giving Hicks farm more playing time than most fourth outfielders receive and the Yankees have given Hicks more than enough chances to snap out of a small sample size drought.

Yes I realize it takes longer for switch hitters to get going because they need to work on things from both sides of the plate but it’s not like he’s playing with the frequency that Ronald Torreyes is. Yet Torreyes continues to hit which leads me to wonder how long the leash is for Hicks and how much longer Aaron Judge must toil away in the minor leagues.

If it is today, which it won’t be because the Yankees are the Yankees, this is what the Judge would bring to the table. The table he would undoubtedly set. 

Year	Age	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	24	AAA	79	352	50	82	15	16	53	5	38	82	.270	.361	.484	.844

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/5/2016.

This Day In New York Yankees History 7/6: Hello Brandon McCarthy

On this day in 2014 the New York Yankees acquired Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks along with some cash to offset his salary for starting pitcher Vidal Nuno and a prospect. McCarthy was a great trade for the Yankees as he reinvented himself and kept the team in the playoff chase for much of the second half.


Also on this day in 2014 the Yankees finally designated struggling outfielder Alfonso Soriano for assignment to make room for Bruce Billings in the bullpen. Soriano had burst onto the scene in the second half of 2013 with the team but could not replicate that success in 2014. Soriano would later retire after the designation.


Also 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.


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.


Finally on this day in 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.

Yankees Send Miller, Betances and Beltran to All-Star Game

The Yankees will be represented by Carlos Beltran, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller at the All-Star game.... https://t.co/WNzSemr6wI

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 5, 2016

Congratulations to these three men. Much deserved!

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/5

The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox are just about to kick off the second of their three game set this week in Chicago with another great pitching matchup. The Yankees will send their ace and stopper Masahiro Tanaka to the mound tonight looking to turn things around for himself and the team while the White Sox will counter with another starter who needs to turn things around sooner rather than later in Carlos Rodon. The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees have one more with Chicago and then a short series with the Cleveland Indians before sending some to the All-Star Game and others home to rest for a few days. I think everyone needs a little bit of rest at this point for New York, especially if you look at their tough schedule after the All Star break. Check out the TGP T-shirts section of the site while we have all this time off and also check out the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog to prepare for the unofficial second half of the season.

Tanaka versus Rodon. Let's go. Go Yankees!

ICYMI: Blake Rutherford Is A Yankee!

By Bryan Van Dusen:

Some people didn't think it would happen, as they thought the Yankees had taken too big a risk, but it's true.

Blake Rutherford, the Yankees' first round pick in this past draft, has signed for $3.282 million. He was taken at #18, which is slotted for just $2.4416 million, but the Yankees were able to save a lot of money elsewhere in the draft in order to sign Rutherford.

Blake was the #10 prospect according to Baseball America, but was passed up on by many teams possibly due to concern that he was going to follow through on his commitment to play baseball at UCLA.

I'm very happy that the team was able to sign Rutherford, who could turn out to be a very nice piece of the puzzle in New York.

Most Popular Article of the Week: Imagining Kyle Schwarber in a Yankees Uniform in 2016/2017

The New York Yankees are playing hard to get when it comes to trading one or all of their three-headed monster that they have deemed “No Runs DMC.” D stands for Dellin Betances, M stands for Miller and C stands for Chapman and the Yankees will likely ask the world for any of the three. We already know that to be the case with the Chicago Cubs and their interest in Andrew Miller as the team has informed the Cubs that they would want Kyle Schwarber in return for the lefty set up man in the Bronx. Could you imagine a bat like Schwarber’s hitting inside Yankee Stadium 82 times a season?


Forget the fact that Schwarber has no position to play for a minute and use recent examples of why the Yankees could make this work. They have a 39-year old right fielder with bad knees currently out there coming off the books after the 2016 season, a 41-year old DH coming off the books the season after next, a third baseman who isn’t going to win a Gold Glove or a Silver Slugger any time soon and a wide open position at first base that is dependent on the health of Mark Teixeira’s knee and Greg Bird’s shoulder. The Yankees could find a spot for him if they wanted to and they could hide him defensively, they have done it before and you definitely do it again for a talent liker Schwarber.


The Cubs have said “no” to trading their 23-year old stud but of course a team doesn’t show their best hand right off the bat. It’s still early and the market has yet to really define itself. The tone has not been set and the top guys have not started coming off the board yet making other teams desperate. And the Cubs may stick to their “no” and that’s fine because I’m sure some team will sell a bit of the future for multiple years of Miller and if not, that’s fine too. Keep him. But seriously, can you imagine Schwarber in a Yankees uniform?





Looking at a potential and totally hypothetical 2017 roster with Schwarber in it and a healthy Greg Bird makes me salivate. An outfield of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner and Schwarber and the addition of his big bat to the middle of the lineup finally giving the Yankees a true clean-up hitter that could hit 40-50 out of Yankee Stadium is exciting. Make it happen Cashman. Now.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox 7/5

The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox square off again today in Chicago for the second in their three-game set. In the second contest the Yankees will send their ace and stopper to the mound in Masahiro Tanaka, Happy Tanaka Day Yankees family, to face off against a tough left-hander in Carlos Rodon.

Tanaka will be facing off with the White Sox for the second time this season, the first time saw the Yankees ace allowing four runs and eight hits in just five innings of work. Tanaka did not look sharp in his last start either against the Texas Rangers but will be heading into this start with the glorified extra day of rest he sometimes needs.


Rodon had an up-and-down start last time out against the Minnesota Twins that saw him hurling five strong innings before the sixth inning doomed him and led to a no-decision. Rodon allowed four runs on five hits in 5.2 innings and will look to be better against the Yankees. In his career against New York Rodon has allowed 10 earned runs in nine innings pitched against the Yankees.


The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside US Cellular Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. The Yankees and White Sox have faced off already three times this season before this series and New York took two-of-three from Chicago in that series. You have to remember that at that time Chicago was one of the best, record wise anyway, teams in the American League so that was a huge series win for the Yankees. This would also be another huge series win for New York because it's the penultimate series before the All-Star Game. Get a win, get a series win. Go Yankees!

2016 All Star Game Predictions

Major League Baseball will release just who won the votes in the fan vote section of the 2016 MLB All Star Game and the rest of the rosters will be announced tonight as well. That announcement happens at 7:00 pm ET tonight and can be seen on MLB Network and the announcement will include the "Final Vote" candidates as well. Who do I think will win the votes and which Yankees, or Yankee, do I think will represent the team? Keep reading. 

American League

C: Salvador Perez

1B: Eric Hosmer

2B: Jose Altuve

SS: Xander Bogaerts

3B: Manny Machado

OF: Mike Trout

OF: Jackie Bradley Jr. 

OF: Mookie Betts

DH:  David Ortiz

National League

C: Buster Posey

1B: Anthony Rizzo

2B: Ben Zobrist

SS: Addison Russell

3B: Kris Bryant

OF: Bryce Harper

OF: Dexter Fowler

OF: Yoenis Cespedes

DH: n/a

And the New York Yankees will send Carlos Beltran and Andrew Miller to the big game. Those are my predictions, what are yours?