Yankees Sign Ramon Benjamin To Minor League Deal

The New York Yankees have a ton of depth at starting pitcher in the minor leagues and have added another piece to the puzzle with the signing of Ramon Benjamin to a minor league deal. Benjamin, according to his MiLB.com page, has not pitched since the 2011 season either in the majors or the minor leagues.

Benjamin is 26 years old, will be 27 years old next month, and is listed at 6'1" and throws from the left side. No word on where his Yankees career will start but he will bring a career 3.76 ERA and 18-14 record to wherever he starts. Benjamin has never been above Double-A in the Miami Marlins organization but if I had to take a guess the Yankees will be stashing him in Tampa or Charleston.

Game Thread: Yankees vs. Cardinals 5/27

The New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals will play the second of their three game set tonight at Busch Stadium. The Yankees will send David Phelps to the mound to face off with Lance Lynn for the Cardinals. The game will be played at 8:15 pm ET and can be seen on MY9, MLB TV, and WFAN.

Get your Yankees tickets HERE for this historic series or for any of Derek Jeter's final games of his career. Follow us on twitter by following @GreedyStripes to chat during this game and every game and be sure to also drop us a line in the comments section of the site.

Enjoy the game Yankees family and enjoy the rest of your night.

Carlos Beltran Passes Test Swinging A Real Bat

Carlos Beltran took dry swings with a fungo bat yesterday for the first time since receiving two cortisone shots in his elbow and took the next step today swinging with a real bat. Beltran took 15 swings from each side of the plate and came through this test without any pain or problems as well, which is great news for Beltran and the Yankees. If Beltran felt any sort of pain yesterday or today the Yankees were going to put Beltran under the knife in a mid-season surgery that would require up to 12 weeks of rehab before returning.

Beltran is far from out of the woods and will still need the surgery eventually, if not this season, but so far so good for Carlos.

Two Yankees In Top All Star Voting So Far

All Star Game voting has been going on for about a month now and two members of the New York Yankees are at or near the top of the voting polls so far. Derek Jeter leads all shortstops in his final All Star Game while the Yankees Jacoby Ellsbury is third among outfielders.

Carlos Beltran is fourth among outfielders, Alfonso Soriano is fourth among DH's, Mark Teixeira is fifth at first base, and Brian McCann is second.

Mike Trout leads everyone in the American League and voting and Jose Bautista is in second place in the American League with Jeter coming in at third place.

The 85th Major League Baseball All Star Game will be played on July 15th at Target Field in Minnesota.

Cardinals Fans Apparently Don't Like Lance Lynn

When did the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans turn on Lance Lynn? Not all that long ago Chris Carpenter got injured and Lynn started the season 6-0 or something outrageous like that. How quickly we forget...

Preview: New York Yankees @ St. Louis Cardinals 5/27

The New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals will play the middle game of their three game set this week tonight at Busch Stadium. The Yankees will send David Phelps to the mound to face off with the Cardinals Lance Lynn. The game will be played at 8:15 pm ET and can be seen on MY9, MLB TV, and can be heard on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.

Phelps has held his own since joining the starting rotation and is coming off a game in which he was on the wrong side of a Chris Sale start for the White Sox. Phelps went seven innings and only gave up two runs last time out but the Yankees were blanked by Sale and Phelps took the tough luck loss. Phelps allowed six hits, gave up a walk, and struck out eight batters in seven innings in what was his best start of the season. Phelps threw 104 pitches so he is finally stretched all the way out for the rest of the season.

Lynn has quality starts in three of his four starts this month and is coming off a start in which he allowed just two runs in six innings. Lynn threw 30 pitches and allowed both runs in the first inning before shutting things down for the next five innings only using 59 pitches.

Go Yankees!!

Michael Pineda Throws In Extended Spring Training

George King and Zach Braziller of the NY Post reported that Michael Pineda threw in an Extended Spring Training game this morning. Pineda threw 28 pitches in two innings, and 20 of them were for strikes.

This outing doesn't start Michael's rehab clock, as that won't happen until he throws for one of the Yankees' minor league affiliates. Pineda will throw once more in Extended Spring Training before rehabbing. Some may find this frustrating as the Yankees' rotation needs him, but I'd much rather the team be careful.

Teixeira: Wrist Pain has "Ratcheted Up"

Due to pain coming from his surgically repaired right wrist, Yankees First Basemen Mark Teixeira didn't play yesterday.

The veteran infielder, who was on the DL earlier this season due to a hamstring injury, is currently listed as day-to-day by Manager Joe Girardi, with more off days and DH-ing a possibility for the near future. 

According to Teixeira, the pain in his wrist has gotten worse lately, something doctors told him he should expect to happen occasionally throughout the year.

"It's ratcheted up, definitely," #25 recently told the Newark Star Ledger. "I just want to get it over with. You're sore a lot during the season. You just want to get it feeling better as quickly as possible."

So far in 2014, Teixeira has hit just .248, but does have a team-leading 9 home runs and 25 RBI.

If he was to go down for a long period of time, bench INF Kelly Johnson would likely be his replacement and, considering that Johnson has struggled at the plate this season (hitting just .202), the Yankees really need Teixeira healthy if they are to compete for the AL East, a division the Blue Jays and Orioles have surprisingly started to control. 

Can't Predict Baseball: The Knuckleball Glove Is Born

On this day in 1960 the knuckleball glove is born for catchers as Orioles catcher Clint Courtney became the first backstop to use the glove. Manager Paul Richards came up with the 45 inch glove that helped knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm go the distance in a 3-2 win at Yankee Stadium over the Yankees. Wilhelm did not throw a single wild pitch or passed ball in the game, amazing.

Quick Hit: The Never Say Die Yankees

I am in no way comparing this team to the 2009 team that walked off some 142 times in a season, obvious exaggeration, but this team never says die does it? In 2013 if we got down by more than one or two runs the game was over, we knew it and the players knew it, but this team is so much different. We just keep coming from behind, keep rallying late in the games, and keep winning games we have no business winning. I love it and I love this team, that is all.