Recent Yankee News

Just some recent news from the Yankee universe and the MLB:

• Team president, Randy Levine, was subpoenaed today by a state assembly committee investigating the public funding that is being used for the new Yankee Stadium. Levine is supposed to report at the hearing on Wednesday.
• Rickey Henderson got elected into the Hall of Fame in his first appearance on the ballot. Congratulations to him, he really deserves it considering how great a player he was. He ended with over 90% of the vote, but many analysts expected him to get more than he did.
• Former Boston slugger Jim Rice also made the Hall, in his last year of eligibility.
• Mark McGwire, in his third year on the ballot, actually saw a decrease in number of votes. It isn’t looking good for the performance-enhancing drug users- thankfully.
• The final decision on the Cubs sale should be coming later this week.
• The Braves sign Derek Lowe to a $60 million deal
• The Red Sox sign John Smoltz to a $5.5 million deal
• The Yankees will win the World Series in 2009- at least I’m hoping.

Teixeira a Yank!

The Yankees have agreed to a deal with free agent Mark Teixeira on a 8-year, $180 million contract. Can I hear World Series 2009? We were already the favorites after the Sabathia and Burnett signings and this move certainly gives us another huge boost. It’s a great day in Yankee land and I for one am ready for that 27th championship and the end to this World Series drought.

Kennedy sent down to minors

Ian Kennedy has been sent down to the minors after another abysmal performance in the bigs. The Yankees used the option they had when they called him up, which will send the young pitcher to Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre. He is being told to focus more on improving his pitches than winning games in the minors.

And with that the Yankees are left with the same hole in the rotation that we had prior to Chamberlain’s injury. Who will take the spot is still uncertain as there really aren’t any great options left. In place of Kennedy, the Yankees called up Billy Traber to help out the exhausted bullpen, so again the rotation seems to be one short. Darrell Rasner may jump back in after making a few starts earlier this season, but he hasn’t been playing very well lately. If it isn’t Rasner, then it will probably be, gulp, Kei Igawa or Carl Pavano. Sadly, that is the state our pitching staff is currently in.

On the bright side, Chamberlain is scheduled to start a throwing program this Wednesday as he eagerly anticipates returning to the team that needs him so much. Hideki Matsui is also getting better, as he ran the bases today. Let’s just hope we can stay alive before these two can get in and give us the boost we so severly need. Stay tuned to this blog for more information on who the starter for Wednesday will be. Anyone have any suggestions that haven’t already been thrown out?

Yankees Acquire Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte

Just like always, the Yankees aren’t willing to settle for less than a championship this year. Thank god we have management that always wants to win. With the trade deadline approaching, Cashman’s crew was busy once more despite some suggestions not too long ago that it was time to call it quits for 2008. What they came up with will certainly be a nice help for this year and thankfully not too big a hit for the future.

First off I want to say that Cashman hasn’t sold out. He is still sticking by our young prospects and the fact that we still have Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes shows that. This move does send away prospects, but without them the farm system is far from depleted. We still have good depth at their positions and it really shouldn’t be a big hit. Add that with the fact that Nady and Marte are in their prime and not on the downhill just yet, and this move makes a lot of sense for us.

The prospects we will part with are Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Phil Coke, and George Kontos. Kontos and Coke aren’t likely to become anything special, although Tabata and Ohlendorf certainly seem to have a future. Tabata is considered one of the best athletes in the organization, but he is an outfielder, a position that we have a huge abundance at. Add that with the fact that he is struggling this year and that Nady is also an outfielder, and it doesn’t seem that bad to let him go. Nady will be a great addition to the squad, as he will certainly help the struggling lineup. He bats right-handed as well, which is a big plus since most of our bats are lefties at the moment. He will also be some good insurance should we choose to let Abreu walk next year.

Ross Ohlendorf showed some good potential this year, but the Yankees have a lot of good arms in the farm system, but most just aren’t ready yet. Marte gives us someone who can help the team right now, in a bullpen that will welcome him. With a cohort of young pitchers and the extensive resources we have, I am not too worried about our pitching situation in the future.

So, that’s basically what the trade is all about. Of course everyone won’t agree with my views, but I believe that letting go of these prospects was worth it, especially considering what we got in return and what we have left. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about keeping a strong farm system, but sometimes you just have to let some guys go if you want to win in the present (if we did a deal like IPK for Fuentes, as the Rockies are supposedly seeking, then I would be 100% against it, but looking at who we lost and who we got, it certainly isn’t bad.) Although the 2008 Yankees have received a lot of scrutiny this year with predictions that we wouldn’t make it in the ultra-competitive AL East, I think that we do still have a chance and I am glad to know that the organization feels similarly.

Update: Instead of George Kontos and Phil Coke, the Pirates will be receiving Dan McCutchen and Jeff Karstens. Apparently they had a choice of two players out of a pool of several (including Kontos and Coke) and decided to go with Karstens and McCutchen. It really isn’t that big a deal because none of them are anywhere near big prospects and chances are none of them will have a big impact in the future.

Yankees Trail by 3.5

After another victory tonight, the Yankees have extended their win streak to 5 (and the home streak to 9.) With a Tampa loss, we sit only 3.5gb with a 55-45 record. Tomorrow is the last game of the series against the Twins and after that the Yanks have a day off before starting a series with Boston (who are only 2.5 games ahead of us [likely to go to three later tonight as the BoSox are winning right now] at this point for the wildcard.) The Yankees are far from out of it and if we can keep the momentum going we could see ourselves in second or maybe even first place in less than a week. So, who said that the Yankees are done for this year?

Richie Sexson a Yankee

Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Yankees have agreed to a tentative deal with Richie Sexson. With the offense doing not-so-well, Cashman seems to think that Sexson may be able to help us. The Yanks are going to be paying him the minimum, so if it doesn’t work out then oh well. The main reason that he is appealing is because he bats right-handed, which can certainly be useful for the lineup. We have struggled against left-handed pitchers all year and Sexson may be able to help out that cause a bit. I know Sexson isn’t nearly what he used to be, but I think we should give him a shot (atleast until he starts to play poorly) because there is a [slight] chance that he might help out the team a bit, just look at how the Ponson signing is working out so far.