No Improvement On Injured Wrist For Mark Teixeira

Mark Teixeira visited team doctors over the weekend and still has soreness in his right wrist that has kept him out for most of the season. The season ending surgery is looking more and more likely the longer this ordeal goes on. I do not see why the Yankees will not just allow him to bat right handed and get SOMETHING out of him this season and do the surgery in the off season but what do I know?

Happy 27th Birthday Phil Hughes

A big happy 27th birthday goes out to Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes. Enjoy the day off and your day!

Reid Brignac Clears Waivers, May Elect Free Agency

Reid Brignac was designated for assignment on Friday and has cleared waivers. Reid now faces the decision of whether to elect free agency and try to latch on somewhere else or head down to AAA to play for the Railriders. I would think Brignac would want to stay with the Yankees for now seeing no real option that is all that much better than him but you never know.

Cuban RHP Miguel Alfredo Declared A Free Agent

Ken Rosenthal believes "the next big thing from Cuba" has arrived, and it comes in the form of 26 year-old right-handed pitcher Miguel Alfredo. Well, he has to be "unblocked" by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets first. But after that he's "arrived".

Due to suspensions stemming from his attempts at defecting from Cuba, Alfredo hasn't pitched much in the last couple of years. However, he's said to have a fastball in the mid-90s, as well as a changeup, curveball, and forkball.

It's worth noting that, due to his age, Miguel's contract would not affect the international spending pool. The Yankees haven't been very active when it comes to signing international free agents, and adding to that they have a farm system with many good arms, so I'm not sure the team is really "in" on Alfredo.

Off Day New York Yankees Signatures

Before our time on this blog Bryan V, dm23HOF, and I all were members of various sports related and Yankees forums. On a forum you tend to be more known or recognized, sometimes anyway, for your avatars and your signatures then for your posts unfortunately so needless to say I have a plethora of them saved on my computer. I wanted to take the off day as an opportunity to share some with you. Enjoy and feel free to use them all that I ask is that you link back to The Greedy Pinstripes, thank you.

Off Day News and Notes

Yankees are off today but there has been some interesting news today:

- Alex Rodriguez is closer to playing rehab games, but Brian Cashman refuted a NY Post report that Rodriguez would start on July 1st.

"He has not been cleared by our doctors to play in rehab games yet," Cashman told Wally Matthews of  ESPNNewYork.com. "He's getting closer, there's no doubt about it, but we don't have a date for him to start playing games yet," Cashman said. "It could be July 1. It could also be July 5, or maybe June 25."

- Rodrgiuez also got his twitter account verified today, so he is officially on Twitter. You can follow him at @AROD. Pretty interesting timing for him

- Mark Teixeira's wrist does not appear to be getting any better, as Teixeira is still experiencing soreness. Surgery might seem like a good bet at this point.

“He’s still sore, even after the shot,” Cashman told Andy McCullough of The Star-Ledger. “So our doctors are obviously working through it, trying to analyze the situation. It’s clearly not a good situation."

- McCullough also tweeted that Cashman told him that the Yankees haven't decided what to do with Ivan Nova yet, but said "I don't view Nova as a threat right now to Hughes."

Off Day New York Yankees Baseball Poems

To LOU GEHRIG We've been to the wars together; We took our foes as they came; And always you were the leader, And ever you played the game. Idol of cheering millions, Records are yours by sheaves; Iron of frame they hailed you Decked you with laurel leaves. But higher than that we hold you, We who have known you best; Knowing the way you came through Every human test. Let this be a silent token Of lasting Friendship's gleam, And all that we've left unspoken; Your Pals of the Yankees Team.

Poem on Lou Gehrig's Award by John Kiernan

Nova Good and Bad in Return to Majors

In his first start back with the Yankees since April 26th, Ivan Nova pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out seven.

Two of the earned runs were not entirely Nova's fault, as he was pulled in the seventh inning after hitting two batters. Shawn Kelley came in and walked Evan Longoria on five pitches and then Boone Logan gave up a single to James Loney on a 1-2 count that drove home two.

Nova did some really good things and some not so good things yesterday, which is the case with him a lot of times. Nova allowed 12 base runners in 6.2 innings, which is entirely too many. He was fortunate get huge double play grounders in the first and sixth innings. However, Nova did not allow an extra base hit in the game, which probably means that some of the hits he gave up were unlucky, since he did not allow a ton of hard contact. Also, hitting Ben Zobrist on the foot with a curve intended to be in the dirt on an 0-2 count was pretty unlucky as well.  Extra base hits were what was really hurting Nova last year and in April this year.

Nova threw an incredible 50 curve balls and only 35 four-seam fastballs. He did not throw the slider yesterday that he added to his repertoire last year. He dominated with his curve, as he threw it for 32 strikes, including eight swinging. However, he will not be able to really on the curve that much every game. Nova will have to have better command of his fastball to reach his full potential. Nova has good velocity on his fastball (94.40 MPH this season), but bad location in and out of the zone has been a big problem for him.

This was probably just a spot start for Nova, although he said he thought he pitched well enough to stay in the rotation, but Joe Girardi made no such commitment. He will likely be sent down to Triple- A today to make room for another bench player. However, the best thing for the Yankees long term would be to keep Nova in the major league rotation, move Phil Hughes to the bullpen and move Joba Chamberlain to another team.

Nova is one of the few Yankees pitchers under contract for next season and is under team control through 2016. At 26, with those three more years of team control, and some good talent Nova is a commodity for the Yankees. They need to find out more about him this season so they can have a better idea of what he is going forward. Hughes has been terrible, so Nova is unlikely to do much worse right now than Hughes would. Nova could be apart of the Yankees rotation next year or be an asset in a trade while Hughes will almost certainly be on another roster next season.

So far in his Yankees career Nova has been an inconsistent back of the rotation performer. However, he still has talent and has only two full seasons under his belt. He should not be given up on yet. It would be in the Yankees' best interest to find out more about Nova this season because he can be much more valuable than Hughes in the future.

Off Day Movie Recommendation

The Yankees go back to work tomorrow so spend the off day snuggled up on the couch watching a movie with your loved one, your dog, your kids, yourself, whatever. Off days are for rest and relaxation so you can watch the entire movie right here on The Greedy Pinstripes. Enjoy our presentation of Bingo Long!

Alex Rodriguez To Begin Rehab

The New York Daily News is reporting that Alex Rodriguez has been cleared to begin a rehab assignment on July 1st.

ARod has been doing baseball activities for a little while now, and as far as Alex' return Brian Cashman has said "it's coming."

It's a good assumption that the Yankees will use the full 20-day rehab window, seeing as how ARod had no Spring Training, so it may be a little after the All Star break that we see Rodriguez in pinstripes again. And although Alex hasn't been the MVP of year's past, he's still bound to provide more offense than the fill-ins so far this year at third base (75 OPS+).