Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Arizona Diamondbacks 5/18

Ladies and gentleman it is now game time between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks as these two teams finish off their three-game set inside of Chase Field. It’s been an interesting series full of good pitching performances, timely hitting and pitchers who have no business hitting and it all comes to an end tonight in the finale. In the contest tonight the Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound as he continues to “eovolve” while the Diamondbacks counter with Shelby Miller. The game will be played at 8:40 pm ET inside of Chase Field in Arizona and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

The Yankees head west to take on the Oakland Athletics for a three-game series before an off day and a travel day back to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium. Have your Yankees Tickets in hand for when the team comes back to New York by clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. Until then you can follow along and root for the home team from afar by heading over to Twitter and by giving @GreedyStripes a follow.

One more time and one more pitcher that we just need to hope strikes out every single at bat so he doesn’t have to run the bases. I hate interleague play, can you tell? Go Yankees!

What Did the Braves Expect?

I know this is a Yankees blog but I tend to talk about general MLB stuff sometimes and I’m also living in Atlanta, Georgia so the Braves at least somewhat interest me. I have been watching them as much as I could, as long as it didn’t conflict with any Yankees games of course, and to say the team has been terrible may be the understatement of the century. For that reason the manager Fredi Gonzalez was fired this week with Brian Snitker replacing him but that left me with this very important question/rant. What did the Braves expect?

The Braves have traded everything that wasn’t tied down or on the operating table at the time with the exception of Freddy Freeman so no wonder the team had a 9-28 record at the time of the dismissal. Did they expect to win after trading away Shelby Miller, Andrelton Simmons, Craig Kimbrel and others? Sure the team has the best farm system and easily the best future but what about the now? The now seems more important to me with a new stadium looming, a tax-payer funded stadium mind you that I will have to pay for personally, to play for 2017 than 2018 and maybe beyond.

Fredi got a raw deal. Where many have confronted Joe Torre for being in the right place at the right time with the Dynasty Yankees you can say the exact opposite for Gonzalez and the Braves. He stuck around after managing this team well for so many years and got the axe because the GM and management cut off his hands at every turn.

If the Yankees need another great baseball mind in the organization they absolutely need to bring in Fredi Gonzalez. Make him a consultant to Brian Cashman, something. He is far too knowledgeable to be sitting out on the free agent market because he got a raw deal. Gonzalez was good enough to replace the legendary Bobby Cox in 2011 and he’s good enough to be a Yankee. Come on down Gonzalez. Cashman needs to make this happen. 

Mike Trout Isn’t Coming But What About Jay Bruce?

The New York Yankees need offense and as we inch closer to June, July and the August 1^st and 31^st trade deadlines you have to think any and all major free agents and trade bait’s to be will be linked to New York in some capacity this summer. Why not start now and start with an actual realistic trade rumor that could gain traction as the needle on the thermometer goes higher and talk about the possibility of the Yankees acquiring Jay Bruce from the Cincinnati Reds?

I know, I know. The last thing the Yankees need is another left-handed outfielder to add to the mix but hear me out. Bruce adds what Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks do not. Power. Lots of power. 30-40 home run per season power, especially inside of Yankee Stadium. 

With a team struggling offensively that obviously wants to compete in 2016 a trade for a player like Bruce makes an absolute ton of sense. Any potential deal would also make sense for Cincinnati as they are looking to rebuild the organization from the bottom to the top. Unfortunately for Cincinnati though Bruce's contract is up at the end of the season thus keeping the price tag down, something that fortunately helps the Yankees. 

If the Yankees could snag Bruce for a small package or for basic salary relief and a few prospects I've never heard of I think the Yankees have to make the call. If the Reds will want something to compensate them for taking less on Aroldis Chapman though I think you need to pass. The Yankees are one hot bat away from snapping out of this and going off in my opinion and Bruce could be that bat for New York. 

Make it happen Cash. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Arizona Diamondbacks 5/18

The New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks have squared off twice already this week in the desert out west so what’s one more time, right? So for the third and final time in this series these two teams will square off head-to-head with the series and maybe some bragging rights on the line. In the finale the Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound looking to once again harness all that good stuff and make up that we keep hearing all about while the Diamondbacks counter with a similar project of their own in Shelby Miller.

Eovaldi has an absolute cannon for an arm but velocity will only get you so far in MLB. Eovaldi throws an average fastball of 96.9 MPH but has still allowed more hits than someone of his caliber should leading the Yankees to add a splitter to his repertoire. The early results are encouraging, lots of strikeouts, and Eovaldi looks to keep the trend encouraging tonight in Arizona.

Miller was quietly one of the better pitchers in the National League last season for the Atlanta Braves but he has struggled a bit since joining the Diamondbacks this season. In his last start Miller allowed three runs on seven hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts each against the San Francisco Giants pitching just 5.2 innings.

The game will be played at 8:40 pm ET inside of Chase Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. After the game the Yankees keep heading west to Oakland to face off with the Oakland Athletics in a three game set which should be good for New York. They can’t look ahead though because they face a hell of a pitcher tonight in Miller. Don’t look ahead, get a win. Go Yankees!

Mike Trout Isn’t Coming to New York

Click bait and you all just fell for it. No not this article, this is the farthest thing from click bait, but the real click bait came from reputable news sources claiming the Yankees are the front runners for Mike Trout. First and foremost when was Mike Trout even made available and where was I when it was announced that he was made available?

See this is what major news articles do to get you to click their posts, buy their papers and generally just give them attention. The difference between what they do and what I have personally set out to do is they have to do this, and I don’t blame them for needing to feed their families, and I don’t I will tell you like it is. Mike Trout isn’t coming to New York. Trout isn’t leaving Los Angeles, California, San Diego, Anaheim, or anywhere else for that matter unless Mike Trout wants to. It doesn’t make sense for any parties involved to move him, struggling and losing or not.

Mike Trout is just 24-years old and is under team control for four more years after the 2016 season. If the Angels are truly concerned with rebuilding this is someone you rebuild around, not use to begin a rebuild. Now if Trout had a season or two left on his deal after this season then you absolutely make the trade 100 times out of 100 but four years plus of team control is simply too much to trade away. It doesn’t make sense. Plus, if we’re being honest, no one is going to want to meet that prospect and salary demand. No one is going to want to gut five or six of their top ten prospects and pay a guy over $34 million a season for the next four seasons. There’s money in baseball right now but that just doesn’t make sense and it’s unlikely to happen.

So Trout isn’t getting traded but for the sake of this blog post let’s assume the Angels made him fully available today. Would the Yankees have enough and would they give up the same five or six top prospects for four-plus years of Trout? If history is any indicator the answer is no. History shows us a reluctance for Brian Cashman to trade his top prospects, even for what is widely considered to be a sure thing and a huge draw in Trout. The Yankees logic is they would rather wait on Bryce Harper and throw just money at the problem than their top prospects and top money to Trout.

I’m not say I would or wouldn’t trade for Trout, depending on the package I absolutely would because he is a once in a generation type talent, but I am saying I just can’t see the Angels trading him right now. I also can’t see the Yankees being involved, today as it stands anyway, if the Angels were to make him available. Leave the whole Billy Eppler and Brian Cashman link alone because all that goes out the window. This is Mike Trout and this is once in a lifetime. 

Weekly Check In: Gary Sanchez

El Gary Sanchez made his 2016 debut in the Bronx last week lasting a whole game, and a game against the best pitcher in the American League mind you, before being sent back down to Triple-A. The way the minor league options system works is that if you bring up a player once their option is used up. Thankfully the options are counted by years of service time and not how many times you get called up in a single season. So for instance the Yankees could call up Sanchez every 10 days for the rest of the season and send him back down the next day and still only use one single option.

So Sanchez will be back this season, it's a matter of when and not if. Until then we’ll keep checking in with the Sanchez each and every week as he makes his bid to get back to Yankee Stadium and back to the Bronx. 

Year	Age	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	23	AAA	29	127	13	32	11	5	21	2	7	19	.269	.315	.504	.819
2016	23	MLB	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

This Day In New York Yankees History 5/18: Joe Torre Returns

On this day in 1999 after missing the team's first 36 games Joe Torre returns to the Yankees dugout to manage his first game of the season. Torre missed the first month and a half due to a successful surgery for prostate cancer. The Yankees would lose the game 6-3 against the Boston Red Sox but Torre would receive a two minute standing ovation from the Fenway Park crowd when the scoreboard lights up welcoming him home.

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Arizona Diamondbacks 5/17

The New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks are finally set to kick off the second game of their three-game interleague series this week down in Arizona’s Chase Field. The Diamondbacks went into the deep end of the free agent pool this offseason bringing in tonight’s starter Zack Greinke while the usually generous Yankees did not sign a single free agent this winter instead relying on their young arms and farm system led by their starter tonight Michael Pineda. A tale of two teams going in completely opposite directions collide tonight inside Chase Field at 8:40 pm ET. Who wins? You’ll have to watch to find out that’s half of what is great about baseball.

The Yankees have one more game in the Arizona desert before traveling to Oakland Coliseum to face off with the Oakland Athletics. This gives you five more days to grab a pair of Yankees tickets off the blog before the team returns home to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium. All you have to do is click the Yankees tickets link at the top of the blog and pick your seats without having to pay an arm, a leg, any sort of fees or shipping costs through our partnership with Ticket Monster. Until then you can follow along on twitter by giving @GreedyStripes a follow while we navigate and live tweet each and every game every single season.

Jacoby and the Yankees are ready to wreak havoc and they have their hands full with a great pitcher in Zack Greinke. Let’s see how it turns out. Go Yankees!

You Can’t Let Luis Severino Back in the Rotation, Can You?

The New York Yankees have been left scratching their heads after most of Luis Severino’s starts this season. The young right-hander took the minor leagues by storm in 2015 only to come up to the Bronx and continue his dominance against Major League hitting. The Yankees thought they had their ace for the current and for the future in Severino heading out of spring training camp this season but Severino has done nothing to live up to the hype train that followed him up until his triceps injury earlier this month. With CC Sabathia slated to be back on Friday after a groin strain landed him on the 15-day DL and Ivan Nova pitching for his future and a contract like a mad man possessed you can’t really allow Severino back in the rotation when he returns, can you?

I’ve said it in a few of my game preview posts on the blog and I’ll say it again only because I truly mean it. A young guy or a player with a minor league option is simply a ticking time bomb when you play for the New York Yankees. If there is a veteran or a “sure thing” also biding for playing time and you, the young gun, have minor league options it’s usually just a matter of when a bad start will come that will be used as an excuse to demote you and not if. This is likely going to be the case, in my opinion, for Severino as well but this time I have to say that I agree with it.

Severino’s confidence has to be shattered. If it’s not he is much more of a man than I am. He has been hit and hit hard in almost every start he’s had this season and what compounds the problem is that he is getting beat on his best pitch. His slider is being hit hard and Severino has no idea where his fastball is going these days and a trip back to Scranton can only help him. Another injury will occur and the combination of Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova may need some time off opening a door for Severino to get his foot back in the door. It wouldn’t be forever, it may not even be for a long time, but it would be helpful.

Send Severino down and make sure he’s healthy. Healthy physically and healthy in the mind. 

USA Today Weekly MLB Power Rankings

Two weeks ago I made a pretty bold prediction at the time. I said the New York Yankees would have a 6-1 record that week and I also said that they would be the USA Today’s MLB Power Ranking’s “biggest rise” of the week. I was wrong and the Yankees actually fell a spot that week but this week the Yankees may have finally opened some eyes with series victories over the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox. Was my prediction correct and just delayed by a week or will the Yankees still not do enough to claim the biggest rise spot? Keep reading….

I won’t keep you waiting too long. The New York Yankees finished the week at the #22 position which is four spots higher than their ranking last week and technically tied for the highest rise of the week as well. The rest of the American League East had little movement as well with the Baltimore Orioles finishing 5th, the Boston Red Sox finishing 4th, the Toronto Blue Jays finishing 14th with one less pair of Jose Bautista sunglasses to carry around and the Tampa Bay Rays finished the week ranked 19th.

The biggest rise of the week went to the Boston Red Sox who rose four spots from the #8 position to the #4 position while the biggest fall of the week went to the Pittsburgh Pirates who unfortunately fell four spots all the way to the #11 position. Missing AJ Burnett yet?

The Top 5 teams according to the rankings are the Chicago Cubs, the Washington Nationals, the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. The bottom five teams you don’t want to be according to the rankings are the #26 Oakland Athletics, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cincinnati Reds, the Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves. Get used to it Atlanta!

We’re inching closer to June baseball and these rankings actually meaning something other than a small sample size and a peak into the future. It’s starting to get fun, check in every week for the latest power rankings from the crew over at the USA Today.