Murphy, Not Romine, Called Up From AAA

Baseball source says JR Murphy will be called up Tuesday to take Francisco Cervelli's spot as backup catcher.
— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) April 14, 2014

When Francisco Cervelli went down with a Grade 2 strain of his hamstring I think we all expected Austin Romine, who has already been called up once this season, would be called up from AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre to replace him but it seems we were all wrong. Instead John Ryan Murphy has been called up to replace Cervelli on the roster, presumably because of his versatility and experience playing positions other than catcher in his minor league career.

Seems like a waste of an option for both Romine and Murphy to make this call but Joe Girardi has proven more than once that he knows more than I do. We were all told that Murphy would only be called up to be the starting catcher if something, God forbid, happened to Brian McCann but it looks like plans have changed for Murphy.

Whether this was made to showcase Murphy in a trade, the Yankees do have an insane five catchers on the 40 man roster right now, or whether they just like Murphy more than Romine remains to be seen. Let's just hope Murphy can fill in well for Cervelli without hurting his trade value.

Alfonso To Retire If 2014 Season Is Poor

Alfonso Soriano will retire after the 2014 season if his performance is not up to his standards this season. If Soriano can put on a tear like he did the second half of last season and decides to stick around he would like to play two more seasons and would like to spend those two seasons in New York with the Yankees. Buster Olney broke the story but a subscription is required to read the material so if you have one be sure to check it out, I don't.

If Soriano can still hit and keep up his bat speed, which I think he can, I see no issue with him coming back to New York. Sori can play left field, right field, and can DH. He has also dabbled at first base a little so he is at least a little more comfortable with it than Carlos Beltran was last night which never hurts. The problem is committing two years to a guy that will be 39 years old when he signs the contract and almost 41 when the contract ends.

If Soriano would be willing to go the one year contract indefinitely route I would have no issue with it but in the end, my favorite player and all, if he wants two seasons he is going to have to get it from someone else no matter what if I am signing the checks.

Francisco Cervelli Has Grade II Hamstring Strain

Bad news for the Yankees and Francisco Cervelli as an MRI showed a Grade II strain of New York's back up catcher's hamstring. Cervelli will be added to the 60 day DL presumably to make room for an infielder on the roster tomorrow, I am guessing Scott Sizemore. CC Sabathia suffered a Grade II hamstring strain last year and it took right at eight weeks just to get back to baseball activities let alone a full recovery, which is much more than 60 days. Cervelli will not be back anytime soon for the Yankees.

Shane Greene Optioned Back To AAA

The New York Yankees have optioned RHP Shane Greene back to AAA with the Scranton RailRiders. The Yankees have been going with a 13 man pitching staff and a three man bench for the better part of a week now but with the recent injuries to Derek Jeter, Brian Roberts, and Francisco Cervelli the Yankees need the roster spot for a bench player.

No word on who is coming up but it seems likely two players are on the way up. Austin Romine seems like a no brainer to come up and Scott Sizemore, with the help of a Ramon Flores DFA, seems like the other option. Stay tuned though because nothing is official just yet.

Carlos Beltran American League Player of The Week

Carlos Beltran has been named the American League's Player of the Week by Major League Baseball today for his work last week. Beltran batted .423 (11 for 26) with four doubles, three home runs, six RBI's and seven runs scored over his last seven games. Beltran also slugged .923 and had 24 total bases while tying for the league leads in hits, doubles, and finished second in batting average, home runs, and runs scored for the week. The Player of the Week award is his fourth of his career in the American League and 10th overall.

Congratulations to Beltran and congratulations to the Yankees, there is no way they beat Boston three out of four games without the contributions from Carlos this weekend.

MLB Replay Blows A Call, Boston Goes Crying To Bud

Can the Boston Red Sox please lose a game to the New York Yankees without Major League Baseball looking into it? Please? Just one? First we had Michael Pineda and "Pine Tar Gate" on Thursday night and then Saturday night MLB and their shiny new replay system proved it wasn't perfect, imagine that, blowing kind of an obvious call.

Dean Anna is the Yankee on base with his foot above the bag and the glove and tag on his back after hitting what was called and "confirmed" as a double and not a single and an out. Xander Bogaerts had Anna out and Boston's manager John Farrell challenged the play and the call on the field was upheld giving Anna the extra base hit.

Thankfully the call had no bearing on the outcome of the game or I would be posting that Heath Ledger meme as The Joker saying something along the lines of "MLB Replay makes a mistake and the baseball world loses it's mind."

You wanna hear the best part about the whole ordeal? All that fancy technology in that fancy command center in New York did not have access to the same angle that the fans and the viewers on television had and MLB even admitted it. We all knew this was not going to be perfect but that just sounds like a broken system to me. Somehow this is Alex Rodriguez's fault, I'm sure of it, he has been too quiet.

MLB did not have immediate access to conclusive angle on Anna play at second. Acknowledges that call should have been made differently.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 12, 2014

Off Day Baseball Movie Recommendation

While you are at work supposed to be working you can watch the classic baseball movie Angels In The Outfield in it's entirety right here on The Greedy Pinstripes. You're welcome, don't tell your boss and don't forget the headphones. Enjoy the day Yankees family!

Yankees Leaders After Two Weeks

With the Yankees off today there is no better time to look at the leaders offensively for the club in specific categories. The Yankees have only played 13 games so it's not a full two weeks worth of games but it is close enough. We did this as well at the one week mark and it was the Yangervis Solarte show but this time around there are a few new names showing up on the lists... spoiler alert, it's Jacoby Ellsbury who has been on a tear lately.

Games Played:

Thirteen games for Jacoby Ellsbury making him the only player to get into every single Yankees game this season. 

At Bats:

47 at bats for Jacoby Ellsbury which makes sense when he has played in the most games. 

Runs Scored:

Carlos Beltran has seven to lead the team.

Hits:

Jacoby Ellsbury  leads the way with 17 hits 

Doubles:

Yangervis Solarte leads the team with six doubles, the extra base machine that he is. 

Home Runs:

Kelly Johnson, Carlos Beltran, and Alfonso Soriano both lead the team with three home runs followed by Brian McCann's two he hit Saturday afternoon. 

RBI's:

Carlos Beltran has eight RBI's with his recent home run tear.

AVG:

Ichiro Suzuki leads the team with a .421 batting average, which is encouraging, but the Yankee regular leading the way in average is Jacoby Ellsbury with a .362 average. Yangervis Solarte has come back down to Earth a bit with his .357 average down from nearly .500 last week. 

Wins:

Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova are the only Yankee with two wins this season so far, although CC was helped by that five home run Yankees outburst against the Red Sox on Saturday. 

Losses:

CC Sabathia is the only Yankee with two losses this season. 

ERA:

Vidal Nuno taking one on the chin against the Orioles bloated his ERA to 14.54 for worst on the team followed not so closely by Ivan Nova's 5.94, down from 8.68 ERA. Sabathia has a 6.63 ERA and David Phelps has improved his ERA to an even 5.68. The best Yankees ERA's are Cesar Cabral's, David Robertson's, Adam Warren's, Dellin Betances', and Matt Thornton's 0.00 ERA. The best Yankees starter ERA is Michael Pineda's 1.50 ERA.

K's:

CC Sabathia has the most K's among the rotation with 21 followed closely by Masahiro Tanaka's 18 in one less start. Dellin Betances and David Phelps lead all Yankees relievers with 8 K's. 

Off Day Music Recommendation

The off days are back and so are the music recommendations! I have let a lot of things go preparing for this season that I need to catch up on but you know what, it's not happening today. Leave a comment if this song describes your day today. I say that it describes mine but between work, the kids, the wife, and my inability to stay away from the blog I am probably lying, I'll probably work just as hard as I always do. Here's to hoping to a lazy song for a lazy day. Enjoy the day Yankees family!

Quick Hit: The First Off Day Of The Season

After the Yankees finished what is always a mentally and physically grueling four game set with the Boston Red Sox last week and into the weekend New York has their first off day of the year. The Bronx Bombers started the season playing in 13 games in the first 13 days of their season and finally get a day to clear their heads and rest their bodies. Off days can be especially important for an older team like New York to keep everyone fresh and healthy and it means we're one day closer to getting back Mark Teixeira and David Robertson off the DL without having to worry about their production on the field. Enjoy the day off Yankees players and Yankees fans alike, it's well deserved on both ends.