NYCurve Yankees Blog

The 2009 MLB draft is now over. Below is a list of the selections made by the New York Yankees along with the positions and schools of the players:
1. Slade Heathcott, OF, Texas High (Tx.)
2. John Murphy, C, Pendleton School (Fla.)
4. Adam Warren, RHP, North Carolina
5. Caleb Cotham, RHP, Vanderbilt
6. Robert Lyerly, 3B, Charlotte
7. Sean Black, RHP, Seton Hall
8. Samuel Elam, LHP, Notre Dame
9. Gavin Brooks, LHP, UCLA
10. Tyler Lyons, LHP, Oklahoma State
11. Neil Medchill, OF, Oklahoma State
12. Brett Gerritse, RHP, Pacifica High School (Cal.)
13. Deangelo Mack, OF, South Carolina
14. Graham Stoneburner, RHP, Clemson
15. Shane Greene, RHP, Daytona Beach CC (Fla.)
16. Bryan Mitchell, RHP, Rockingham County High School (N.C.)
17. Chad Thompson, RHP, El Toro High School (Cal.)
18. Hector Rabago, C, Southern California
19. Luke Murton, 1B, Georgia Tech
20. Thomas Keeling, LHP, Oklahoma State
21. Joe Talerico, OF, Brookdale (N.J.) CC
22. Richard Soignier, SS, Louisiana-Monroe
23. Kevin Mahoney, 3B, Canisius
24. Isaac Harrow, 2B, Appalachain State
25. Shaeffer Hall, LHP, Kansas
26. Stephen Bruno, SS, Gloucester Catholic High School (N.J.)
27. Jeffrey Farnham, New Mexico State
28. Aaron Meade, LHP, Missouri State
29. Scott Matyas, RHP, Minnesota
30. Kyle McKenzie, RHP, Thayer Academy (Mass.)
31. Judd Golson, OF, Mountain Brook High School (Ala.)
32. John Ebert, 1B, South Carolina
33. Andrew Aplin, OF, Vanden High School (Calif.)
34. Jacob Petricka, RHP, Indiana State
35. Brett Bruening, RHP, Grayson County JC (Tex.)
36. Ken Ottoson, LHP, South Mountain CC (Col.)
37. Justin Milo, OF, Vermont
38. Adam Bailey, OF, Nebraska
39. Cody Stiles, RHP, J.P. Taravella High School (Fla.)
40. Ben Watkins, RHP, Pittsburgh-Johnstown High School (Pa.)
41. Mariel Checo, RHP, Norman Thomas High School (N.Y.)
42. Danny Black, SS, Feather River College (Calif.)
43. Isaiah Brown, OF, Paradise Valley CC (Ariz.)
44. Evan DeLuca, LHP, Immaculata High School (N.J.)
45. Jeremy Baltz, OF, Vestal High School (N.Y.)
46. Tony Plagman, 1B, Georgia Tech
47. Shane Brown, C, Central Florida
48. Patrick White, OF, West Virginia
49. Xavier Esquivel, RHP, Loyola Marymount
50. Stephen Kaupang, 1B, Cypress College (Calif.)

The Yankees are finally in first place in the AL East after a 3-1 win over the Indians and a 6-3 loss by the Red Sox at the hands of Toronto. Our current record is 28-20, only half a game better than Boston’s 28-21, so we aren’t in the clear just yet, but looking at the way we have been playing over the past couple of weeks, we are definitely the hottest team in our division, if not the entire American League. We play the Indians again at 7 PM EST tomorrow, with C.C. Sabathia taking on his old team which is starting Fausto Carmona. Should be a good one.

It has been a while since this blog has been updated, but with some more free time over the next couple of months, hopefully I will be able to write more posts here. If any of you are interested in coblogging at this site please contact me via this form. Anyway, here are some updates about the team:

• With yesterday’s win, the Yankees are back at .500 with a 17-17 record. We are third place in the AL East, 4.5 behind the first place Jays.
• Alex Rodriguez will make his New Yankee Stadium debut today after coming back from his injury last week. It will be interesting to see how he does and how the crowd reacts after all of the recent steroid news concerning him.
• Believe it or not, Johnny Damon is actually leading the team in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in as of right now with .318, 9, and 26 respectively.
• Phil Hughes will make today’s start against the Twins, hoping to rebound from his dreadful outing against the Orioles on the 9th, in which he let up 8 runs in 1.2 innings.

And some news from around the league:

• Manny Ramirez apoligized to his teammates after being suspended for 50 games due to a drug violation. Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt requested that he apoligize and he complied. It will be amusing to see how things unfold in LA and how Torre deals with it.
• The Twins announced that their new stadium will have roof-top seating. The park is scheduled to open next year and the current price tag is at $545 million.
• The Rockies added Randy Flores to their roster and designated Glendon Rusch.

Stay tuned for more updates soon and thanks for reading…

Late February 2009 MLB update:

• The Dodgers made yet another offer to Manny Ramirez and he yet again, declined. The Dodgers have bid against themselves a couple of times already and I don’t see them doing it again. Manny will have to learn the hard way…
• A. Rod. homered in our first spring training game of the year in which he was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos.
• A. Rod. has been told to keep his cousin, who is the one that gave him the PEDs, away from the clubhouse and the team to avoid unnecessary distractions.
• Ken Griffey Jr. is a Mariner again! It is great to see him back where he started and I want to wish him the best of luck because he is one of the best genuine and pure players of the modern era.
• Johan Santana was scratched today due to a sore elbow.
• Tim Lincecum agreed to a one year, $650k deal with the Giants- what a steal for San Francisco!

Stay tuned for more updates later, especially after the season gets under way. I am truely sorry for the lack of updates, but I am currently searching for other writers to help keep this blog alive- if you are interested use the contact form or leave a comment here and I will reply back.

Here is the latest news from around Major League Baseball:

• First, I will start with the most relevant story for the Yankees and perhaps the biggest in the world of baseball at the moment: Alex Rodriguez admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs while he was with the Rangers. The star third-baseman made the announcement after four sources leaked the information to Sports Illustrated. Now the debate about steroids and the MLB is in full swing once more and the purity of the game is really at stake this time because of all of those people (including me) who were looking forward to A. Rod. breaking the home run record and returning the league back to pureness. Now that isn’t going to happen. I really hope players stop this trend because it really is unfair, but I also think the media and government need to take a step back out of this one. Players in other pro sports, namely the NFL, test positive for PEDs too, yet they are overlooked because “that is what the people want to see.” It does not make sense to have this double standard. The media needs to stop this attack on baseball. The government, on the other hand, needs to stop getting involved as well with this witchhunt for steroid users. We have bigger problems at hand and it really shouldn’t be meddling like this in the MLB, a part of the private sector. Also, shame that those independent sources leaked the information to SI because by doing so they violated the confidentiality rights of Rodriguez, which is a serious crime. I will almost certainly be posting more about this topic later.
• The Angels sign Ervin Santana to a 4 year, $30 million deal.
• The Braves are interested in Ken Griffey Jr.- one of the last great modern players who are still steroid-free. Too bad his injuries held him back otherwise he would be the “savior”…
• C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett had their initial workouts with the Yanks and things are looking good so far.
• The Mets agree with Livan Hernandez on a minor league deal.
• Hank Aaron believes Bonds should keep the record because he feels it isn’t right to just wipe out history. It is a nice though and Aaron is one heck of a guy, but in my mind Bonds will never be home run king.

Just another Major League Baseball news update:

• The biggest story of the past few days was Jeff Kent announcing his retirement. The second baseman spoke with tears in front of reporters at his press conference, remembering the various people who he was hired by and worked with over the course of his 17-year-long career. Kent is one of those guys that was never afraid to speak his mind and he has built a unique identity for himself that is respected all around the league. He took a strong stance against performance enhancing drugs and through hard work he managed to have a very successful pro career, one that will likely end with him being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Kent will be missed.
• Ben Sheets met with the Texas Rangers about a possible deal. Sheets lives in Dallas, so a deal with the Rangers is definitely of interest to him and as we all know the Rangers can certainly use the pitcher. Sheets was offered salary arbitration by the Brewers, so if he signs with the Rangers, Milwaukee will receive draft picks.
• The Brewers agreed to a new 2-year-deal with first baseman Prince Fielder worth $18 million.
• The owner of the Astros says that there is a possibility that Andy Pettitte will go back to Houston this season. The Astros are also looking to see whether or not Roger Clemens will come to spring training.

Stay tuned for more updates and news (both about the Yankees and other major news) in coming days.

Here is some news from around the league for today:

• The Cubs have agreed to a deal worth $4.2 million with closer Kevin Gregg as they try to again build the long-awaited team that will end their World Series drought
• The Orioles have agreed to a big deal with Nick Markakis, worth approximately $66 million over 6 years
• Derek Jeter is on the provisional roster for the World Baseball Classic
• Felix Hernandez of the Mariners avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3.8 million deal with Seattle
• Albert Pujois’ elbow seems fine after his recent surgery on it
• The White Sox and RHP Bobby Jenks have agreed to a one year, $5.6 million contract
• Ryan Madson agreed to a $12 million, three year deal with the Phillies
• New rules have been implemented concerning maple bats and many manufacturers aren’t happy
• There are also conversations about how the new bats will have different “sweet spots”

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.

Just a quick tip for saving a few bucks on tickets (which can be really useful in tough times such as what we are currently facing): Next time you need sports tickets (or tickets for musical/theater events) you may want to check out a new service called Seatwave. Shopping around is always the best when it comes to tickets so that you can get the best price available since they can get very expensive (especially Yankee tickets.) Seatwave is a sort of Ebay for tickets, where sellers post their tickets meaning that you may be able to find good bargains on it. If you are looking to sell tickets you can also post there. The service seems kind of like StubHub, but again it is best to shop around, so looking at both places (as well as others) is probably in your interest if you want to get the best bargain.

I know the blog has been kind of dead lately, but look for more posts to start coming soon. I have been really busy and that has kept me away from the blog, but I will try to post at least once a week from now on. Thanks for the patience and I hope you stick with this blog.