The setback to Michael Pineda this past weekend where he was shut down after only 15 pitches on Saturday, along with the recent struggles of the Yankees rotation, have turned the signing of Andy Pettitte from a “luxury item” to a thing of urgent necessity. So how concerned are the Yankees with Pineda’s latest setback? I spoke with a [...]

Andrew Marchand of ESPN NY has consistently been concerned about Michael Pineda‘s velocity this spring. He, along with some other members of the media and blogosphere, have almost comically tracked each Pineda pitch. The thought of sending Pineda down to the minors seemed absurd earlier in spring, but the signing of Andy Pettitte gave the meme a more [...]

Joel Sherman of the NY Post reported yesterday the competition for the Yankees fifth spot is rigged; in other words, Phil Hughes gets it unless he completely falls apart like he did last spring. Considering the reports from Tampa are that he’s in great shape, I expect him to join CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda in the rotation. Joe [...]

“Doesn’t depend on how I pitch. Always I want to do my job, but I’ve made my decision already,” Mariano Rivera told reporters the other day. He added that his decision has been made, “even if I save 90 games, even if they want to pay as much money as they want to.” It sounds like we saw [...]

I always like to try new things here, so instead of doing a “year in review,” I am doing a “Stock Up/Stock Down” heading into 2012 for New York baseball. This includes a “watch list.” The list could include players, coaches, minor leaguers, and the media. Stock Up  Curtis Granderson – When the Yankees acquired [...]

Dave Cameron of Fangraphs discussed how he believes the Giants may be wise to move Tim Lincecum since he projects to make $20 million dollars in arbitration, which would potentially comprise about 15% of their payroll. The Yankees have the type of prospects to land such a star pitcher in his early prime so this isn’t a crazy idea [...]

The ALDS will start on Friday, September 30th. Despite the fact that we are week away, it doesn’t appear the Yankees postseason rotation is any more settled today than 10 days ago. You know CC Sabathia will take Games 1 in every series. Ivan Nova, a minor leaguer in the middle of the season, very [...]

Last night was Trevor Bauer’s Double-A debut with the Mobile Bay Bears, the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate in the Southern League. Bauer was the third overall pick in the 2011 draft out of UCLA. He was the second Bruins pitcher taken in the first round, with overall No. 1 Gerrit Cole (a former New York Yankee [...]

We “peeled the onion” on Brian Cashman’s comments regarding A.J. Burnett yesterday. Today, Mike Pelfrey is the center of attention with his controversial comments in the New York Post. “It’s unrealistic for anybody at the end of last year to come in and say, ‘The Mets, this is a one-year thing, next year we’re going to win it all…It’s unrealistic.” An [...]

It’s no longer too early to talk about the American League MVP. I believe the four favorites to win the American League MVP are Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Jose Bautista, and Curtis Granderson. I also believe you can make a great case for Granderson. Stating that a Yankees player should be MVP usually causes a [...]

Ivan Nova had another strong outing last night to improve his record to 11-4. He now has 25 career starts, and is 11-4 with a 4.05 ERA. Despite a low strikeout rate (5.8), he gets an extreme number of groundballs (55%), which is what you saw on display last night. The Yankees won’t go with [...]

The dog days of August start to build separation in the standings. In the AL Central, both Detroit and Cleveland made deadline deals. Cleveland made the big splash landing Ubaldo Jimenez, who will start Friday versus Texas. It may not be soon enough as the combination of newly acquired Doug Fister, and Jacoby Ellsbury‘s walk off home run [...]

For as much progress the Yankees have made since the dysfunction of the eighties, you see a glimpse of how ownership has the potential to be a worry. Ken Rosenthal wrote this on Fox Sports yesterday: The Yankees on Sunday made a play for Houston Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez, but that push was driven by ownership, not Cashman, according [...]

During the winter of 2007-2008 the Yankees passed up on Johan Santana because they didn’t want to part with Phil Hughes. That deal didn’t haunt them in the long run as CC Sabathia has proven to be a better investment, and cost just an expensive free agent contract. Hughes was a big part of the 2009 championship team as he [...]

Now that Ubaldo Jimenez is officially a member of the Cleveland Indians let’s take a look at the haul Dan O’ Dowd received for his ace. Is it the “Herschel Walker type deal” he demanded just a few weeks ago? As first reported by The Denver Post, the Rockies will receive a package of four players: left-handed pitcher Drew [...]