The Yankees add Reid Brignac, place Andy Pettitte on the DL, and more

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
Reid+Brignac

The Yankees offense has taken a step back this year, but they are still one of the best teams in baseball largely because of their pitching staff. That staff took a big hit last week as Andy Pettitte went on the DL with a strained trapezius muscle.

The Yankees recalled Vidal Nuno to take his place in the rotation. Sunday’s rainout means that they won’t have to use Nuno this time through the rotation though.

Pettitte has a 3.83 ERA, a 7.1 K/9, and a 2.7 BB/9 in eight starts this year. His injury isn’t expected to keep him out long, but it sounds like he can benefit from a week or two off though. Nuno has done a good job in his couple of appearances this year so it probably won’t be a big deal to give him a rest.

In unrelated news the Yankees made a minor upgrade at shortstop as they acquired Reid Brignac from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for $75,000. To make room for him ..read more

Posted in Transactions, Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Yankees improve to 8-1 against the Blue Jays this season

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
robinson-cano

The Yankees were rained out on Sunday, but continued their dominance over the Blue Jays by beating them Friday and Saturday to improve to 8-1 against them so far this season.

FRIDAY (5-0 win)

As the Yankees have done so many times this year they won Friday on timely hitting and strong pitching. This time it was Hiroki Kuroda who shutout the Jays over eight innings. His line 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR. His ERA has shrank to 1.99 on the season.

The Yankees got a run in the first and another in the fifth, but broke it open with a three run seventh. Austin Romine got the big hit that inning, a RBI-double before Brett Gardner and Jayson Nix drove in two more to chase Mark Buehrle.

SATURDAY (7-2 win)

Robinson Cano went 0-for-4 Friday night, but came on strong Saturday with a pair of homers and four RBI’s to power the Yankees. ..read more

Posted in Game Summary | Tagged | Leave a comment

Are the returns of Granderson and Texeira necessarily a good thing?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Raimundo Ortiz
teixeira-granderson

The Yankees have survived the first month and change of the 2013 seasons without Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis etc. In fact, they have thrived, two losses to the generally punchless Seattle Mariners notwithstanding.

The Yankees are 25-16, in first place in the American League East, and have just gotten Curtis Granderson back. Teixeira has said he is on his way, hoping to be suiting up for the big league club by the end of May.

With the Grandy-man back in the fold and Teixeira coming does this mean the Yankees are due to blow away the rest of the division and romp to another AL East crown? After all, they’re doing this while giving regular at-bats to Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay!

Not so fast. Of course, adding Granderson and Teixeira to any team is obviously a plus, but a basic look at the numbers shows that the play of Wells and Overbay, and to an extent Kevin ..read more

Posted in Editorial | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Yankees lose Pettitte, Stewart in loss to the Mariners

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
pettitte-stewart

The Yankees dropped Thursday night’s game and the series to the Mariners, but more importantly they lost Andy Pettitte and Chris Stewart to injuries at Yankee Stadium.

Pettitte left the game in the fifth inning with a sore trapezius muscle (between the neck and the back) and Stewart left in the seventh inning with a groin injury. Pettitte said after the game that he wasn’t sure if he would miss a start or not, but that he wouldn’t need a MRI. Stewart went for a MRI, although he said that he felt no pop when he hurt his leg.

After losing a starting pitcher and a catcher the game was almost secondary. It was another weak performance by the offense though. These days if Robinson Cano and Vernon Wells aren’t leading the team, they need to be on the winning side of a pitcher’s duel and Cano and Wells went just 1-for-8.

The Yankees did score two runs, one in the second and another in the seventh, on a David ..read more

Posted in Game Summary | Tagged , | 1 Comment

What happens to Lyle Overbay when Mark Teixeira comes back?

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
Lyle+Overbay

Mark Teixeira is still rehabbing down in Tampa the sheath in his wrist which protects his tendon that he tore while getting ready for the World Baseball Classic back in March. The rehab is going slow, as it should for an injury with a high likelihood of a setback, but he says it’s going great and expects to be back with the Yankees by June 1st.

That puts Lyle Overbay in an interesting situation because he has been a big cog on this team, but won’t have a position when Teixeira returns. So what exactly will happen with Overbay when Teixeira returns?

He could ride the bench as the Yankees would still need a backup first baseman even with Teixeira back. This is Teixeira, who has gotten hurt just about every year in Pinstripes, after all so insurance wouldn’t be bad either.

The problem is that once Teixeira is back they can only keep him around until Kevin Youkilis comes off the DL too. At that point they would have Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis, Overbay, and ..read more

Posted in Editorial, Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Yankees crushed by the M’s as David Adams and Brett Marshall make their MLB debuts

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
Brett+Marshall

Phil Hughes didn’t even make it out of the first inning as the Yankees got absolutely crushed by the Mariners in a 12-2 loss at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night.

The Mariners started piling on with a seven-run first inning that include a Raul Ibanez grand slam. The M’s scored two more in the fifth on another Ibanez homer that made it 9-1 and three more in the sixth on a Kyle Seager three-run shot that made it 12-2.

The Yankees offense was largely dormant. They got a run in the first on a Vernon Wells homer and another in the fifth on a Chris Stewart homer. There was nothing other than those two solo shots.

• Hughes was horrible. He faced 10 batters and got two of them out. His line: 0.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR. It was his second bad start in a row for him and it makes me wonder if maybe his back is acting ..read more

Posted in Game Summary | Tagged , | 2 Comments

BBDP May 15th: O’Brien and Reymond homer again

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Greg Corcoran
Peter O'Brien

BBD MVP: Peter O’Brien – 1/2, HR, 3 BB

Shout out to David Adams who got his first major league hit today on his birthday no less. Congrats also to Brett Marshall on making his major league debut.

Be sure to check out the tweets of the day at the bottom, there’s some good pics there.

Triple-A RailRiders: L 11-12 at Toledo. L: Miller (0-3)

Corban “Cojo” Joseph: 1/3, 2 R, RBI, 3 BB, K (.262) Love to see the three walks. Thomas Neal: 3/4, 2 R, BB, K (.329) He’s very Chris Dickerson like. Great guy to have stashed away in Triple-A. Zoilo “Zee” Almonte: 2/5, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI, K (.329) Nine for his last 28 (.321). Pretty consistent numbers all season so far. Ronnier Mustelier: 2/6, R, 2B, 3 RBI, E (3) (.192) Played third today, good to see him get a couple of hits despite the error though. Dan Johnson: 2/4, 2 R, HR (4), 2 RBI, BB, K (.208) Melky Mesa: 1/5, 2B, RBI, 4 K (.264) You read it right, four strikeouts. Chris Bootcheck: 3.0 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR (3.00 ERA) Second bad start in a row. Cody Eppley: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ..read more

Posted in BBDP | Leave a comment

Granderson is back, but the Yankees lose Travis Hafner

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
Travis+Hafner

Curtis Granderson is officially back, but that tough question as to which outfielder sits in his absence may not be as big a deal as it seemed a few days ago because Travis Hafner could be out for a little while with pain in his right shoulder.

The Yankees sent him for a MRI, which came back clear, but Joe Girardi said after the game that he received a cortisone shot and will miss at least a few games. He isn’t expected to be placed on the DL though.

This could potentially be a big deal. It’s the same shoulder that had to be surgically repaired in 2008 which also caused him to miss time in 2009 and 2010. Perhaps now we know why he’s been struggling lately too. In his last 10 games he’s hit just .133/.257/.167.

In the meantime the Yankees outfield situation is not an issue. Vernon Wells DH’d last night with Granderson in left and Brett Gardner in center. I expect it will be like ..read more

Posted in Yankees News | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Yankees come from behind to beat King Felix, Mariners

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Rob Abruzzese
Lyle+Overbay

The Yankees were trailing the Mariners 3-0 with King Felix Hernandez on the mound heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but he left after the sixth and they went to work on the M’s bullpen en route to a 4-3 victory at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night.

It was a pitcher’s duel between Hernandez and CC Sabathia early on. CC gave up an unearned run in the third and then another two runs in the sixth on a Raul Ibanez Yankee Stadium special, a two-run shot that barely cleared the right field fence.

Then a collision between Hernandez and Lyle Overbay in the fourth came back to haunt the M’s when Hernandez’s back began acting up on him. That lead King Felix to leave the game early, but not before Overbay drove in a run with a double. The Yankees then tied it and took a lead in the seventh off of Charlie Furbush, who gave up one hit, three walks, and only got one out.

• The comeback salvaged a strong start by ..read more

Posted in Game Summary | Tagged , | 1 Comment

BBDP May 14th: Camarena leads Charleston to only win in system

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Greg Corcoran
daniel-camarena

BBDP MVP: Daniel Camarena: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 K

Triple-A RailRiders: L 2-10 vs Toledo. L: Cotham (0-1)

Corban Joseph: 0/5, 2 K (.260) Must be bummed about the demotion. David Adams: 2/4, K (.316) He is to be promoted tomorrow, and this game makes it look good that he will hit the ground running when promoted. Thomas Neal: 0/4, 3 K (.308) Ronnier Mustelier: 1/4 (.174) So far, not so good. I’d imagine he’ll get in the flow at some point. Melky “Melkman 2.0″ Mesa: 2/4, R, K (.267) 10 for his last 20 (.500) Zoilo “Zee” Almonte: 3/4, R, 2B, RBI, 2 SB (3) (.286) Really showing he can hit at this level. At just 23, he has a legitimate shot at being an impact big league player. Joba Chamberlain: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 K (0.00 ERA) Soon to be the end of the Shawn Kelley era. Caleb Cotham: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR (7.27 ERA) Way to make me look bad after I posted that glowing scouting report on you earlier. Dellin Betances: 2.0 IP, 2 H, ER, K (5.4 ERA)

Double-A Trenton: L 3-5 at Altoona. L: Nuding (1-5)

Ramon Flores: 0/3, R, BB, ..read more

Posted in BBDP | Leave a comment