Yanks to Call Up Refsnyder and Others

The Yanks are calling up Rob Refsnyder, Dustin Ackley, Jose Pirela,  Austin Romine (whom they should have traded years ago), LHP James Pazos,  Caleb Cotham, Andrew Bailey and pinch runner Noel.   Sanchez is injured, and I guess Slade is too, since they both offer more than a pinch runner.

Yanks Win By Two Touchdowns

Chase Headley and pretty much everyone else in the lineup had a big day, as the Yanks beat the Braves 20-7, after missing the final conversion.   Eovaldi won his 14th, but it was more like early season, short innings Eovaldi than like the recent Super Destroyer we've been watching.  Instead of his one bad inning, he had two, and had to leave the game with none out in the 6th.

Because of the offensive outburst, Betances and Miller got the day off.  Headley, Drew and Ellsbury all homered.  Gardy showed signs of life, and Bird was 2 for 4 with a double, a walk and a sacfly.

Severino Wins Again

Luis Severino pitched 6 shutout innings tonight to even his record at 2-2.   He might have gone farthrer, but Girardi lifted him for a pinch hitter with men on in the bottom of th 6th.   Then in the 7th of 2-0 game,  Girardi brought in Wilson instead of a well rested Betances -- and almost gave away Severino's decision before finally bringing in Betances.  Btw Pitch FX showed Severino getting worse than squeezed at times...

The Yanks ended up scoring another run, but they're still not consistently punishing bad starters like they should have today.

Eovaldi goes for the sweep tomorrow.

This Week on the Blog

This week was sort of a big ugh, as the Yanks continued to lose games and the Giants continued to lose players.   This coming week, though, the Yanks will get some reinforcements and the Giants will have to start cutting guys.  Let's take a look.

Yanks:  The struggling Yanks may have found a team they can beat in Atlanta.  Let's hope Severino and Eovaldi keep dealing in games 2 and 3.  In the bigger picture, the Yanks can start calling up guys who are on the 40 starting on September first.   My guess is that Dustin Ackley and Cole Figueroa will get more run under Girardi than the actual prospects do.   We already know Judge isn't coming, but Ben Gamel is also very deserving but not on the 40.  In either event they'll have an endless bullpen that should now be scotchguarded against the manager.

Down on the farm, the DSL and GCL have now ended, and Chris Gittens and others from the GCL might start floating up to SI or even Charleston.

Giants:  The Giants play the Jets tonight and that's a game that's always overcooked for the preseason. Let's hope they can come out of it healthy.   After the game, the Giants will have to start their two rounds of cuts.  Then later this week they'll have to play the Pats, and then make the rest of their cuts. I still wouldn't be surprised if they traded for a right side OL, instead of waiting to sift through other teams cuts, which they'd still do anyway,

Knicks: There weren't really any rumors this week.  Melo apparently had everyone come down to Puerto Rico to workout.  We'll see if that's a value add.

Rangers:  As September begins the prospects will start filtering back to the mothership to get ready for the Traverse City tournament later in September.  The vets as well might start back as articles about their workouts and what they've been doing are starting to pop up.

In all, I'm hoping it's a productive week for our teams and all of you.

Yanks Score 15 and Win

Yanks went back to hitting homers today down in Atlanta and got shots from Didi, McCann and eventually Chris Young, who was a late game replacement for Ellsbury.   Tanaka was apparently so surprised that the Yanks scored 5 runs in the first, looked horrible for his first half and inning before settling down and K'ing the side in the second.


Other than the much needed win, the key to this one is the possibility that the Yanks will be able to trade McCann back to the Braves at some point.  He's from there and they still love him.  Plus, the young C they let him go for just hasn't developed the way they'd hoped.   He'd probably be a draw there.

I think it might be tough to get this idea through Girardi's dull brain, but Murphy and Sanchez could split the job till one emerges next year.  Here's hoping.

Big Win.

Btw, Jordan Montgomery pitched 6 perfect innings tonight in Tampa down in High A, and last night Chaz Hebert pitched a shutouts for Scranton.  These are both drafted Lefty starters who just keep getting better.

The Yanks are in the Tank

The formerly first place Yanks just went 5-5 on a huge ten game homestand where they should have "gotten fat."  This happened primarily because their offense has been horrible and because they insist on playing guys who can't hit even when the big boppers are bopping, and refusing to use the DL for their older hitters, like Tex or fragile hitters like Ellsbury and Beltran -- keeping them active rather than calling up more young bats.   The Refsnyder buisness is inane, but he, other than creating wins with his glove all of a sudden at Scranton, is a righty hitter who grinds out at bats.   Too many of the current Yanks don't do that and it has been endemic to the entire Girardi era.  They don't dig in and grind like they used to, and like winning Yankee teams did in the `20s, `30s, `40s, `50s and `90s and early underachieving `00s did.  Also, they now have two hitting coaches and neither of them has had the sense to tell Greg Bird to lay off the high pithes that are out of the zone?   WTF?

Now, as we've talked about before, their 40 man roster is screwed up with old players, marginal players, hurt but not hurt enough players and relief pitchers.  The common meme is that Girardi really knows how to handle a pen.   The truth is he's always had great relievers from Mo, Robertson and Hughes to Betances and Miller, usually much more than that.  But his use of relievers has been nothing like efficient and most of the Yanks 101 callups this year have been for relievers, at least one of whom had to be DFA'd.

And beside the stuff with the kids on the farm, who are held to a false standard, the Yanks, who couldn't afford to, threw Warren and not Sabathia into the pen when Nova came back.  Now Sabathia is hurt, Nova is awful and Warren has no regular work, though he clearly has starter stuff.

I'm hopeful that they will still make the playoffs, but this is a bad and unrepeatable formula.  And it's a real shame because everywhere under the MLB level, the Yanks for finally stockpiling and developing talent again.

Yanks Win By Walk Off Sac Fly

Nathan Eovaldi threw 8 innings of shutout ball, in what should have created his 14th win, but because the Yanks value marginal defense above demonstrative offense, they were also held scoreless against a guy who touched ninety once.  That's not 91, that's 90, one time.   They are the offensive reflection of Girardi when they have games like this.

Miller got the win, and Gardy started the winning rally by working a walk.  Then they walked ARod. Then they walked McCann (who had been thrown out at the plate in the 7th) and then Beltran hit a fly ball and Gardy scored.

Much needed win.  But a team with Capuano and dead bats in the lineup better not make big October plans.

This Week on the Blog

This past week was a bit of a mixed bag of things we don't like, like Yankee losses and Giant injuries.      Let's hope this week is a bit better.

Yanks: The Yanks will finally get a day off on Thursday, having completed their stretch of 16 games in a row.  Tex will probably be back at some point, but it's doubful Bird is going anywhere, so it will be interest to see how they get him his AB's.  Today, they're sending CC out to try to get a split with the Indians... the Indians.  Ugh.

Down on the farm, Aaron Judge is heating up.   Judge had been scuffling after they gave him that week off a few weeks ago, but last night he went three for three with a homer and a double - which would have been a homer in YS  - and a stolen base.   He's been a little like Gardy in the respect that it takes him a bit to adjust to a new level.  If he's made his adjustment, he could start pounding on the door.   The thing; however, is that the Yanks don't need to put him on the 40 yet this year, and so may choose not to, since they have so many other prospects who will need it.

Giants: the Giants looked bad again last night, but they still won, and I don't think they were particularly trying to.  The OL looked better throughout the game, which was a relief.   When Eli was in they were just working on their deep game - which they couldn't hook up - and Eli's dumpoffs, some of which looked good.   Andre Williams looks bigger and faster, and Shane Vereen looked explosive in and out of his cuts.   Nice.

On the downside, they had more injuries to Safeties, and Beason got dinged - must be football season.  Devon Unga is a guy who's starting to pop up at Mike.   The young DL's also did some good things.

Rangers:  The Rangers still probably need to make a trade, but that might wait till camp.  It's a shame that they whiffed on all three of the big collegiate FA's, the goalie and and both D's, this offseason.

Knicks:  The Knicks will continue to be the subject of rumors, because they are the Knicks.  Last week the rumor was Jamal Crawford, we'll see what this week brings.

So that's where we are.  The Yanks must keep winning and the Giants must continue getting ready.  The Rangers and the Knicks are still chilling.   I hope it's a great week for all of you.

Giants Today

Okay, today marks the second of four preseason games for the Giants.   This one is against the Jags, and all we can hope for is health.   Last weeks game was costly, and tonight they are down several DB's and both Cruz and Randle are being held out.

Other than health, it will be important to keep an eye on the OL and see if there's any home for them without making a trade.   Beyond that, the starters - such as they are - should play for the first half, though TC could elect to even start the second half with them if he feels they didn't get enough work in the first.

Go Giants, but, HEALTH, HEALTH, HEALTH.

Luis Severino Wins His First

After pitching well enough to win, but not getting much run support in his first starts, Luis Severino finally got some support, and though not as sharp as he's capable of being, still only allowed 1 run over 6 innings.

Luis actually gave up the 1 run on an improbable homer from Lindor, where Severino's fastball provided most of the power.   That happened in the first, but Luis didn't let that or anything else shake him today.   The Yanks came right back with a two run homer from Gardy and a solo shot from McCann and that was all Severino needed.  

I say he wasn't as sharp as he could be because he walked 4 and let his pitch count get up by missing the glove too often, but he also only allowed 3 hits and struck out 6.  I'm sure it was a relief for him to finally get a win, but he's probably been the Yanks best pitcher since he's been up, anyway,

The Yanks did manage to score 6 overall against more good Cleveland pitch and without ARod or Tex in the lineup.     Big win.

Bird Bashes the Twins

It was a pretty interesting game at the Stadium today.   Nathan Eovaldi continues to evolve, and was perfect through 6.1.  Then, in the space of two outs, the Twins scored 3 runs, withouth really hitting a ball hard or far.  So, Eovaldi went from perfect to barely holding onto an quality start.  He did come back and pitch a 1-2-3 7th, though, and thus gave the Yanks better than a quality start.

But the even bigger story today was Greg Bird.  Bird hit his first MLB homer - a two run job in the 4th.  Then hit another two run shot to get back the lead in the bottom of the 6th to get it back.

This, in a nutshell, is why the Yanks were smart not to trade him, and why people will start appreciating the scouts a bit more as the rest of the kids start coming up.  

Betances pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the save.  Scouts found him, too.

ARod Slams Twins and Wins!

Who else likes these big homers we're getting, lately?  Alex Rodriguez, after looking lost for the past week or ten days, busted out of his slump with his 25th career Grand Slam and it couldn't have come at a better time for the Yanks.  They were down 4-1 after a CC meltdown in the 7th (he'd been great early and had gottn through 6 only having given up a run), when Gardy walked to load the bases and ARod cleared them.

I think Rumbelow will get the win, though he let in CC's 4th run, before getting a K to end the 7th.  Greg Bird had two more hits, including his frist RBI and he scored later, too.  Big game for the Yanks and they can go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon.   They need a big homestand.

Yanks Win a Wild One

First of all, our prayers and good thoughts are for Bryan Mitchell, who was finally getting another start tonight, but was felled by linedrive off the bat of former Yankee Eduardo Nunez.   Fortunately he only seems to have a broken nose, but let's hope he doesn't also have a concusion or any other damage.  Let's hope he is able to pitch again soon.   He's a good kid with a big career ahead of him.

In the game, after McCann hit one of his patented 3 run shots in the first, it looked like it would be a blow out.   But Mitchell got hurt, and Caleb Cotham, whose probably already on a plane to parts unknown, came in and gave up a two our rally, and then more runs as he tried to take one for the team.   Sano, who would be Yankee but for Hal, hit yet another bomb of them.     The Yanks finally got things back under control, using their regular pen, and a homer by Beltran tied things up.  

They somehow couldn't score froma a bases loaded situation in the 7th or 8th, but finally did in th 10th.   Greg Bird, who was in for Tex, who'd earlier fouled one off his leg, lead off with a double.  Then McCann doubled, and for reasons unknown Joe Espada had another brain cramp and held Bird at third.   Girardi hates kids, so after they walked Beltran to load the bases, Girardi lifted Bird for Ryan, who scored the winning run, when Eduardo Nunez booted a ground ball...

Whacky game.  They'll probably call up a pitcher or two tomorrow, but should also call up Rob Refsnyder.   All Drew does between homers is make outs and spike rallies.

Bryan Mitchell Tonight

CC's getting pushed back a day and Bryan Mitchell will start tonight for the Yanks.   This could either really help, or it could start an somewhat ugly chain reaction.   First, Mitchell has the chance to be an excellent starter.  He has a fastball, curve and change, and the fastball tops out at 100.    They probably should have taught him a split along the way, but his curve does get swings and misses.   If he can pitch the way he did in long relief last week -- that will be awesome.  If he pitches like he did in his last start, where he looked like a more typical rookie pitcher, that could force another round of Capuano, and could even cause them to rush Pineda.  

So let's hope he finally has his feet under him, after that great showing last week, and he's ready to make his case.  

Yanks Fail to Support Severino

Severino really only made one or two mistakes today, the biggest of which was a hanging slider to Bautista.  Both were made after what should have been ruled a two base error on Carlos Beltran, who's glove the ball contacted, but was instead ruled a two out double by the official scorer.   Even with that, Severino gave them a "quality start" while the O only managed 1 run against a pitcher whose ERA was over 5 when the game started.   This happened because they did not grind out their at bats, which has been a years long issue under Girardi.  When they don't grind they don't give themselves as many chances to win.  It's that simple.

And I can't believe their still letting Drew make more outs than can be justified by the ones he runs into every couple of weeks, and the marginal runs he prevents in the field.   Call up Refsnyder.   He at least GRINDS.  

Severino has pitched well enough to win three times for a winning team, and he hasn't won one yet.  That's inexcusable.  

Mykkele Thompson Gone for the Year

And it just keeps getting worse for the Giants.   Rookie Safety Mykkele Thompson is gone for the year with what they are calling an "Achiles injury."   There's really only one type of Achilles injury that will keep you out all year and that's a tear.  I have no idea what the Giants have done to attract this bad luck, but they're a good, honest organization and it shouldn't last much longer.   Best of luck to Mykkele as he recovers.

Tanaka ACES the Jays

                        
Wow,  it was Tanaka-time today and he devlivered like the ace that he looked like before the shutdowns.   Tanaka just completed a 4-1 victory over the Jays and, frankly, the ump was screwing him out of a lot of strikes as he was doing it.  He struck out 8, and only really got in trouble in the 5th when he walked 2, loaded the bases and gave up a sac fly.    Beltran homered again and so did Tex.  Bird may have, too, but it was over the foul pole, and the umps didn't recognize it.   He later got his first major league hit.

Huge win in a couple of ways.  First,  Tanaka saved the bullpen and gave them an offday.  Second, Tanaka took all the pressure off of Severino tomorrow.

Also, Murphy should catch more often.  He's a cat back there and with more AB's he'll prove to be a better hitter.

This Week on The Blog

This past week was a little tumultuous with the Yanks reeling for most of it, and the Giants looking like scrubs in Cincy.   Let's take a look.

Yanks:  Carlos Beltran may have gotten his signature moment as a Yankee last night.  Sheesh, was that ever huge?  But the Yanks have to do it again today.  Bird is back in the lineup at first, so I assume Tex is DH'ing.  We need a good one with no jacks from Tanaka, then hopefully Luis can go for the sweep tomorrow.  I think the Yanks may be heating up.

Meanwhile, down on the farm, Trey Amburgey, the JuCo CF we drafted and signed in the 13th or so, has been promoted from the GCL to SI.   I don't put much stock in draft year numbers, but he was destroying the GCL and it's nice to see the JuCo's move.   Also, Isiah Gilliam has hit his first bomb this morning.

Giants:  Dear lord was that ever a disgraceful effort.  The Beatty and Schwartz injuries have compromised the OL, and thus the offense.  I don't think the RT that will start the season for us is on the the team yet.   The Giants were going to have to spend another pick or two on the OL as it is, next Spring, but it might be time to spend that pick now, and make a trade.   They'll probably want to wait till final cuts to see if anyone they like hits the waiver wire, but they should really start to think about doing it now.  They HAVE TO do something here.

Knicks:  The Knicks hired a new Coach for their CBA team this past week.  He was an assistant for the Spurs CBA team last year.  It feels very much like Phil Jackson, the executive, admires the way the Spurs build their team, with the draft and stashes, etc. and he's trying to establish that sort of system with the Knicks.   Bravo.   There are far worse teams to model.

Rangers:  The Blueshirts hired two new scouts this week with good pedigrees.  Steve Greeley was an assistant coach this year for BU, but previously had been a pro-side scout for the Bruins.  He'll probably be on the pro-side fo the Rangers, and in a sense take Gorton's place in the FO.  He's only 34.  Nikolai Bobrov is the new head of international scouting.  I guess Anders split.   Anyway, he'd had that job with the Bruins, peviously and is just 39.  I assume Gorton has known them both for some time.   Oh, and they still need to make a trade -- and they could go after Robbie Russo some time this week, if it's the week he becomes available.

So, important week for the Yanks.  Slightly desperate week for the Giants.  Knicks and Rangers are smooth and steady.

Hope your weeks are better than smooth and steady.

Yanks Win

Nathan Eovaldi is now 12 and 2.   It was not a great outing for him, but he was squeezed quite a bit comparted to the Clevelan starter.  I wonder if that's a poduct of the speed of his pitches.    Anyway, if he ever gets fine control, he could really be a monster.   Topped out at 100 today, and his curve ball got as low as 72.    Sheesh.   Let's hope Rothschilde can get him there.

The bullpen wasn't much better, but Jake and Gardy started to wake up and McCann and Drew homered. Bird was 0-5 with 3 hard hit outs and 2 K's.   He looked a lot sharper at first than Jones or McCann have, and that probably caught the manager's unbalanced eye.  Hopefully, they'll let him stick around until he does his thing.   He's going to be a big time Yankee.

I wonder when Yasiel Sierra will go up for bidding?

This next series is a little makey-breaky.  

Giants Tomorrow

Tomorrow the Giant play their first of four preseason games.  Of course, the biggest deal remains to be team health.   It doesn't matter how bad or good they look if they are losing players.  Meanwhile, what should we expect to see.

Last year, the Giants got were able to finagle an extra pre-season game because they got a new offensive coordinator.   I truly believe they took the mutual practices with Cincy so that that they could give Spags and the new D he's installing the extra reps -- in lieu of a 5th contest.

The way preseason usually works is the starters play 1 quarter in the first game, 2 quarters in the second and three in the third, with the subs and hopefuls taking the rest of the downs and pretty much all of game 4.

This year it will probably be a lot like that, but we might see the "strarting OL" or "versions of the starting OL" play more than one quarter tomorrow, likewise, we could see starters and hopefuls mixed in all through the game on defense.   We'll probably see a lot of Ereck Flowers, Landon Collins and the rest of the kids from the last two drafts, as well as the premium UDFA's like Kerry Wynne, and the street guys like Michael Bamiro.   Keep and eye on all of them.  Pray for health.  And...

WELCOME BACK, GIANTS!

Look Up In the Sky... IT'S A BIRD!

Here we go.  Greg Bird has been called up to back up Tex at 1B and ARod.  Frankly, I was expecting the return of Refsnyder in the next few days, but I guess that could still happen.  But this is great news.  Greg has lost significant time to injuries during his development, but this young man can just plain HIT.   He will go nuts if they ever make it back to Yankee stadium.   It's really starting!

Severino Start 2

As we recover from another Girardi loss, let's take a look at what was good about last night.   Firstly, it was Luis Severino.  The amount of longsleeves guys were wearing made me wonder if it was cold, there.  If it was, I wonder is Luis warmed up enough before pitching because, to start, he didn't have his control or command. Luis gave up a run in the first, which included hitting a batter, and another one in the second.  He looked like he might fall apart in the 3rd, but Didi Gregorius started a wildly athletic DP behind him, and the trouble was gone.  Luis was then dominant in the 4th, 5th and 6th and he was done for the night.  6ip, 2 runs, 7 hits and only 2K's.  Not as dazzling as last time, but once again he desevered to win, and this time he showed some guts.

Usually when things go bad for a rookie starter, they get worse, but last night Severino showed the ability to buckle down and stop the bleeding.  More Yankee starters should be like that.

Oh, and Brian Mitchell was terrific.  98 and a hammer curve.   He should get more chances.

Zach McCallister was also good for the Indians, but we threw him away for Austin Kearns.    Abe Almonte played a strong CF and had some hits and we sent him off for Ichiro.

Rangers Sign Jarret Stoll

In what is becoming an annual or semi-annual rite for the Rangers, they have signed a guy who was arrested during the previous season.  Last time it was Ryan Malone, this time it is Jarret Stoll.   Stoll got tagged for possessing both cocaine and MDMA last spring.  Oh well, if that woke him up, he could be decent depth for the Rangers.  If not, Hartord's gonna be a PARTY!   Seriously, is this a new market for the Rangers -- arrested guys?

This Week on the Blog

We got past the trade deadline and the Yanks decided to jump in the tank.   And the news out of Giants camp has been on little injury after another.  Sheesh.   The Knicks and Rangers have been quiet and rational.  Let's hope this weeks is a little better.

Yanks: Joe Girardi does not understand leverage and that killled the Yankees today.  I spent too much time last offseason explaining when our bullpen aces should be used -- and today in the 6th was a perfect example.   Nova, who's coming off of Tommy John, was over 100 pitches when he gave up the grand slam.  My concern now, since the Yanks are blowing their lead is that they NOT make a waiver trade and spend the prospects they just saved. It's a dangerous time, and if they're going to collapse, management should just let them collapse.

Giants: The Giants will spend part of the week practicing against Cincy, and Friday, they will play them in their pre-season game.  Of course, it will only be those of them who are healthy enough to play that we'll see...  Seriously, the Giants need health luck, because they have a chance to be good.

Rangers:  The Rangers still could make a trade for cap relief any day now.   Brandon Halverson is playing well for Team USA, and Pavel B has been hot in KHL pre-season work.

Knicks: Kristaps Porzingis has take over the #6 from the vanquished Travis Wear.  Other than that, Phil will do what Phil does, and we'll see if he does any of it this week.

I hope it's a great week for all of you and neither you nor any of our players get injured.

Yanks Win

Pitching and homer.  CC Sabathia finally had better stuff and kept the ball down.  He went 6 and gave up only 1 run,  and that was after he had a justifiable tiff with the home plate ump.   Jacoby Ellsbury paused his slump for a moment to hit what turned out to be the game winning homer in the 7 and Wilson, Betances and Miller were all good enough to make it stand up.   Big win.

Yanks: Some Minor Matters

We're past the non-waiver trade deadline, and barring a waiver trade, the prospects are safe.  So that's good news, what's more, as we thought, a bunch have been promoted a level since the deadline.  Usually when teams want to showcase a kid for trade, they'll promote him before the deadline so he appears closer to the bigs.  That the Yanks didn't do that with Mateo, for example, indicates they weren't showcasing him.  That they did do it with Sanchez indicates they might have been, but thought better of it when he kept hitting and screaming "CORE!" after he was promoted.  Hopefully, they're both here to stay and the Yanks can move McCann.

Going into the season, the big questions were about the revamped player development team.  They promoted some folks like Gary Denbo, and moved some coaches and execs around, and other than what seems like more promotions -- and fewer guys getting stuck at AA -- it's hard to tell what the differences are.

Also, adding the Pulaski team has weakened what are usually two strong GCL teams.  Both DSL teams are strong, but not so much the GCL.  SI's been pretty good, and then post promotional vacancies have weakened Charleston, Tampa and Trenton as the season has worn on.   Scranton; however, at times resembles the 1937 Newark Bears (if you don't know, that was probably the best single season Yankee affiliate in history).  I can't remember the Yanks ever having this much talent at AAA in my lifetime, and that's encouraging -- on the other hand, but for some big salaried old guys, more of them would be up.  If Slade Heathcott or Mason Williams had been able to stay healthy, the Yanks would have had some tougher decisions, and perhaps a bigger lead in the East.

The Yankees replaced Nardi Contreras with Gil Patterson a couple of years ago, and the differences are hard to judge because pitching injuries are so commonplace that it's just murky.  Also, this year, the Yanks lost Clarkin, Hensley and DeCarr to various elbow injuries.  Clarkin seems to have avoided surgery and is in a throwing program, which is good news.  When healthy, I think he's right behind Severino on our prospect pitching list.  People have soft pedaled his potential, but I believe it is sky high.  In general, fastball control and changeups were an issue under Nardi and remain an issue under Gil.

They picked a plethora of pitchers this year in the draft, and seemingly more starters than relievers, but it's too soon to judge them as all of these just drafteds are basically in culture shock.

Rookie Davis and Cale Coshow, who are sort of long holds on the power pitching front, have popped up, but surprisingly, no one from the DSL or GCL or Pulaski is popping up so far this year.

Once again, the Yanks have a bunch of promising relievers up and down the chain, and the with the way they go through them, that's a very necessary thing.

On the hitting side, the guys at AAA have taken turns dazzling, but you have to then look to young IFA's in the lower levels like Carlos Vidal, Thairo Estrada and Wilkerman Garcia to find possible "Yankee Bats."  But those are encouraging.   And Jorge Mateo went 4-6 in his High A debut and currently leads the planet in stolen bases.  There some other good hitters sprinkled throughout the system but none are really having breakout seasons yet.

So, in all, the system is continuing to grow, though there are still too many injuries to get a super rosey snap shot -- on the hitting side Dermis Garcia has barely played and Louis Torrens has been out all year, to go along with all the pitchers -- but the system is once again productive and offering more than the big league team can handle at this point, and that's something they'll have to work out.

We'll see if anyone else pops up between now and the end of the seasons.

Severino Was Impressive - Yanks Not So Much

Tonight, Luis Severino became the first pitcher in AL history to debut with less than 2 hits, 0 walks and 7 or more K's.   It wasn't enough as Chase Headley made a terrible error behind him to set up a run, and the Yanks couldn't score any more than one against a knuckleballer with a 7+ ERA in road starts coming into tonight.  Just a despicable effort by the team.

Meanwhile, Severino was good. He got squeezed a bit, and his secondary stuff wasn't sharp early, but he got more confortable as the game wore on and all of his stuff started to play up.  The change acts like splitter, and he changed shapes on his slider, which can look like a cutter or a slider depending on how he throws it.  The fastball was 95, 96 and 97.   He's earned more starts and could be the best pitcher on the staff as the season wears on.  Oh. and he also looked very good fielding his position.   There's a lot to be excited about.

And on the day that they brought back Jones to back-up Tex, Greg Bird hit two homers in AAA.

Knicks Signing Thanasis

The Knicks are reported to be in the midst of signing Thanasis Antetokounmpo to a partially guaranteed 2 year deal, which I suppose would allow them to send him back to the CBA without losing their rights.  Thanasis sort of came on at the end of the Summer League season, but really felt borderline as far as a signing would go.  I guess they do like his frenetic fearlessness, even though his "knows how to play" has a ways to go.  At least it gives them another athlete who could have upside and a role to play at some point.

Yanks: Severino Day

Today is the day we've been "dreaming on."  Five hours from now, heralded Yankee pitching prospect will make his debute at Yankee stadium against the Red Sox.  Everyone's hoping for the best, but it sometimes takes some time for elite starters to hit their stride in the bigs.

Speaking of strides, some have criticized Severino's mechanics for not engaging his lower body enough.  But if you watch him closely, you'll realize his lower body is extremely powerful and his pitching keys off his explosive stride.

Around the farm, Jorge Mateo and Billy Fleming were promoted to Tampa.  That probably means Wade is heading to Trenton, and there could be even more moves, as Avelino has been playing second, third and short to give Wade more reps at shot.  Maybe he's going back to Charleston.

Oh, and Garret Jones is back on the big club.

UPDATE: Cotham was sent down to Scranton and Danny Burawa was DFA'd to make room on the 40.   Burawa was a power reliever, who, after walking the world in his MLB debut was sent down to be stretched into a starter.  The Yanks really have to start getting some of the veteran crap off the 40 man roster, because they shouldn't be DFA'ing guys who can throw 97.

REMINDER:  Gary Sanchez is already on the 40 man roster -- in case McCann has to be DL'd for the knee.

UPDAT 2: Rumbelow was also sent down.

Yanks Win

The Yanks just pounded the Red Sox in game 1 of their three game series. Tanaka was strong early, but then fell apart a bit and gave up 3 runs by the beginning of the 7th.   Wilson came in and looked good, but Giradi lifted him with two outs and a 1-2 count for Betances.  Betances walked the guy he took over, then K'd the next guy.   Then the Yanks scored 9 more runs in the bottom of the 7th.   McCann and Young both had three run jacks, and that was that.   Pinder and Rumbelow both looked good in mop up.   ARod and Tex also had good nights.  

Tomorrow is Severino Day and they'll have to make a move to add him, then might make a position player move to replace Ackley as backup 1B.

Knicks Sign Kevin Serpaphin

The Knicks have given their 2.8M exception to French F/C Kevin Seraphin, latlely of the Wizards.  Seraphin is 6'10" and 275 and can back up either spot.  He hasn't played a ton, but his per 36 numbers  last season were 15.2 pts, 8.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.  It would be nice to see the rebounds rise, but he's another young player, and another big body with 6 fouls to give.  He still has upside and this is yet another smarter move by the Knicks.

Brady Lail to AAA/Rookie Davis to AA

With the injuries thus far to Clarking, Hensley, DeCarr and others it's refreshing to see some of the healthy guys really stepping up this year.   Brady Lail and Rookie Davis were just promoted, and each is has really come on.

Brady Lail has four pitches, but gets a lot of quick out with his two-seamer, thus his K's are lower than you might expect from a top pitching prospect, but he's just 21 and already in AAA.  That's really impressive.  He seems to have innate pitchability and sometimes those guys go very far.

Rookie Davis is more of a traditional power pitcher, who's improved his control this year and is dominating like you'd expect him to.   Last season, Rookie had more good innings than bad innings, but in a lot of starts had an inning where things just came off the tracks.  The year before he had missed a lot of the season with an illness that caused him to lose significant weight.  So, Rookie has really battled to get back on the fast track, and this promotion is a tribute to his determination.

So, even with Mitchell and Severino up, there are at least two more starters who seem to be on the way.

Yanks Win

Ivan Nova looked much better and the Yanks won easily today.   Nova's velo is starting to climb up into his pre-injury levels.  This of course helps set up his breaking stuff and it did today.   Ellsbury lead off the game with a homer,  and the rest of the team followed his lead as they crushed one of their presumtive trade targets.  Tex hit his 29th and the bottom of the lineup continued to rake. Drew  has almost crossed the interstate.  They went 6-4 on the trip and will now stay on Eastern Time for the rest of the season.   Tomorrow's a well earned off day.  Let's see if they make anymore roster moves.

This Week on the Blog

Last week was a little less evenful that we thought it would be.  Thank goodness.   The Yanks held fast at the deadline, the Rangers did finally settle with Stepan, the Knicks let Leto go, and signed Sasha Vujacic, and the Giants started practicing.  This week should be a little more exciting.

Yanks:  Severino starts Wednesday. That's the promotion we already know about, but we could see the return of Refsnyder, and who knows what else as the injuries are piling up.  Diego Moreno hit the DL today with an elbow.  That's always ominous.  We'll see who's called up to replace him.  Also, Girardi has to get better with the kids.  They're going to require a little patience to get their bearings.   Later this week, I might take a look at the farm system as it is past the deadline.  Hope I have time.

Giants:  The Giants will keep practicing and making adjustments to their roster.  They still haven't added anyone for the OL, so that bears watching.  Also, the JPP watch will continue.  Keep hoping for health.

Knicks:  The Knicks seem to have a plan, and I like that they are looking to other markets for some of their solves.  Sasha Vujacic hasn't played in the NBA sinc 2011, for example, but he's a three point shooter and  the Knicks were able to get him without using their 2.8M exception.  They keep saying they want another C, but they haven't signed one.  Perhaps they're saving their 2.8M for a specific guy.  Meanwhile, as the week ended it looked like they were going to sign Thanasis.

Rangers:  The Rangers need to find more cap room, and the way to do it is through a trade that will recoup some picks.   Doesn't have to happen this week, but could really happen at any time,

So there you have it.  Severino time with the Yanks, methodical work for everyone else with an eye on continuing to improve their rosters.

I hope al of you have a great week.