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The Pinstripe Magic
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Follow @mlbreportsMonday, May.20/2013
Yankee fans consistently criticize their General Managers decision making process despite the fact that the last four years have been substantial successes. Will Yankee fans come to appreciate Cashman’s ability to find value to help sustain success?
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
There is a tendency for certain fan bases to panic quickly because of past failures. It can be hard to put your faith blindly in an organization that has frequently disappointed you.
The other side of that coin is that certain ball clubs deserve a bit more rope on the organizational end because of a string of impressive results.
One organization has seen such an unbelievable string of successful regular seasons over the last two decades. The New York Yankees. Despite this success, the fans of the organization ride a roller coaster quite unlike anything else in sports.
Vernon Wells Going Yard in Colorado:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu7IGoYtndY]
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Yankees Current State Of The Union + The Phil Hughes Question
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As the Yankees enter May, they do so in second place trailing their rivals, the Boston Red Sox. This is a surprise for many who thought that Boston and New York would struggle in 2013
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
As April came to a close and May began, the Yankees found themselves in an all so familiar place. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox were atop the American League East. It seems like this struggle between century old rivals has dominated the AL East for the better part of the last 15 years.
This year was supposed to be different as New York and Boston were both expected to cede the division to the Baltimore O’s, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays, and perhaps that will still be the case, but after five weeks of the season, it certainly seems like the demise of the Yanks and Sox was greatly overstated.
Part of the reason that the Yankees have managed to prove their naysayers incorrect has been their stellar starting pitching. Each of the top four Yankee starters has pitched well to start the season, but as the title of the article suggests, there is one pitcher who has stood out especially in the last several weeks.
His performance leads to this question: Is Phil Hughes finally becoming the pitcher he was always touted to be? Is the 26-year old right hander finally blossoming into a strong 1/2 starter? The numbers, at least early on, scream YES.
The Phil Hughes Question:
Yankees Update: Week 4 – The Injuries Mount Yet They Are Still The Bronx Bombers!
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After a hot start to the 2013 campaign, Francisco Cervelli has broken his hand and added his name to the long list of Yankee injuries in 2013. The man worked his way back to the Majors and won the Yankee starting job out of training camp. Now only time will tell whether Cervelli can return from injury with the same skill that he opened the season.
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
The end of April was supposed to signal the beginning of the end of the Yankee injury woes. Upon breaking camp, it was thought that Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira would all be returning in the next week or two.
Now, it has become clear that the Yankee injury woes are just beginning.
As discussed in last week’s piece, Jeter’s set-back already has extended his time table until the middle of July at the earliest. Big Tex has been unable to meet his time table as well and is not prepared to take live swings yet.
Granderson is the only player on track to return from injury based on the original timeframe. Grandy is slated to return in at some point in May.
Frankie Being Frankie:
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NYY “Down on the Farm”- Week 4: Familiar Faces
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Wednesday May 1, 2013
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
This week DOWN ON THE FARM….
As stated my Major League article this week, Triple-A lost several assets this week to the Major League club. Austin Romine and Vidal Nuno were both called to the Majors to help ease some of the injury woes facing the Bronx Bombers.
While those new names will graces the scorecards in the Bronx, there are some familiar names still hanging around Scranton, who deserve a bit of attention this week.
Chien-Ming Wang has started two games since his return to the Yankee organization. Wang has managed to keep runners off base and has delivered 22 ground outs in 2 starts.
Obviously, every Yankee fan remembers the terrific seasons where Wang posted other-worldly Ground Ball Rates of above 60%. If his shoulder is healthy and his sinker is, well, sinking, Wang could be a very useful depth piece as the season rolls along for this organization. Read the rest of this entry
Yankees Update: Bad News On El Capitan While The Team Keeps Winning
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Follow @mlbreportsWednesday April.24/2013
Derek Jeter. The Yankee Captain. A future Hall of Famer. Last October, Jeter broke his ankle during the American League Championship Series. All off-season, it was reported that Jeter would be ready for Opening Day. After a series of set-backs, it has now become clear that due to a small crack in his ankle, Jeter will not be ready until after the All-Star Break. Can the Yankees survive without their captain? Only time will tell.
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
Transitions are rarely easy. People, generally, are creatures of habit and routine. Change is almost always seen as a scary thing for most. Yankee fans are no different. The transition from the old guard is an overwhelming theme to this season for the Yankees.
As Week Three of the Major League season moved along, the Yankees received more bad injury news on their shortstop, Derek Jeter. The Yankee captain suffered a significant setback in his recovery from a broken ankle when it was reported that a small crack had emerged in the same location as the injury.
Reports had indicated that Jeter’s surgery would prevent such a re-occurrence. Obviously, this is not the case, and now, the Yankees will be without their shortstop until at the very least the All-Star break.
Yankee fans’ reaction was obvious as the news broke. For the better part of two decades, Jeter has been the constant in the Yankee lineup, and this injury reminds Yankee fans, again, that the times, they are a changing.
The Captain:
Yankees Week Two – Getting Right in Cleveland + A Triple Play = 4 – 1
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Follow @mlbreportsWednesday, April 17, 2013
Week Two for the New York Yankees was a far more fun ride than Opening Week. An offensive outpouring in Cleveland followed by taking 2 out of 3 from Baltimore has left the Yankees within striking distance of 1st place in a very strange AL East. Now the Yankees enter the second half of April within striking distance of 1st place in a very strange AL East.
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
In baseball, a momentum turn can be a slight thing. A player getting a seeing eye single through the infield that turns him from slumping to streaking. A pitcher getting a lucky hop that turns a rally into a double play.
For this Yankees team, the momentum turn seems to have been C.C. Sabathia‘s gem against the Tigers on a Sunday afternoon.
The Yankees used that 7 Inning performance to jump-start the second week of the season. In almost every regard, Week Two was the anti-thesis of Week One.
After Sabathia dominating the Tigers’ line-up and the Yankees getting after Detroit ace Justin Verlander, the Yankees headed to Cleveland where it was either raining or the Yankees were scoring runs.
After Opening Week, the 11 and 14 runs scored in the first two nights in Cleveland allowed the fan base to breathe easy. This run shed some light on an issue I wanted to look at this week.
Before the season got under way, my pre-season piece focused on the Vernon Wells trade and keeping the faith in a Yankees front office.
The line-up’s ability to score runs has been largely based on the performance of their veteran acquisitions in the off-season (and the fact that Robinson Cano is absolutely an offensive superstar).
Pronk Cometh:
Opening Week Jitters For The Yankees
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Follow @mlbreportsWednesday, April 10, 2013
Opening Week was what many suspected, but as the Yankees come out of that leg of the marathon, they are alive and kicking. The question will be as it always was: Can the pitching keep the team in the game?
By Nicholas Rossoletti (Yankees Correspondent/Trade Correspondent): Follow @nross56
As winter turns to spring, anyone who loves the game of baseball begins to become anxious. The season is almost here becomes a rallying cry for those fans who spend the cold winter missing the boys of summer.
Opening Day is a borderline holiday for we baseball fans. It marks the beginning of our six (6) month journey. A time of renewal and rebirth. A time of hope as spring turns to summer and our favorite teams return to their ballparks. The Yankees headed north to begin the season and immediately entered their traditional role in the spotlight of New York.
For over 100 years, there has been no bigger ticket in sports in the Big Apple than the Yankees. Sadly enough opening day was as bad as many of the naysayers expected. CC Sabathia, a traditional slow starter, was beaten badly by the Red Sox.
Sabathia’s largest weakness was the frequency with which runners reached base. Allowing 12 base runners over the course of only five innings, Sabathia provided the Red Sox with opportunity after opportunity.
Much has been made of Sabathia’s decreasing velocity. It was the hot topic after the outing. Sabathia topped out at around 92 MPH on his fastball, which seemed ultimately much more hittable.
Equally worrisome to the loss in velocity is the inability to control the strike zone with 4 Walks during the start. All in all, it made for another horrid opening day from a pitcher that has traditionally been poor on opening day.
Ivan Nova: Back When It Was Working:
Houston Astros Roster In 2013: State Of The Union:
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By Nicholas Rossoletti (MLB Reports Trade Correspondent): Follow @NRoss56
In 2005, the Houston Astros completed a run to the World Series. It was the culmination of the Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell teams in Houston. That team had players on it named Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt,Bagwell and Biggio. This Houston team is a far way from that National League Champion. Houston has failed at epic levels the last two seasons. The state of the current union of this team is summed up in one word: bad. With that said, there is a ray of hope in these dark days.
When I first learned of this assignment, I planned on doing a portion of a piece on the Astros most expensive and possibly most prominent offensive piece, Jed Lowrie. Houston, in an effort to aggressively proceed with rebuilding its roster, traded Lowrie for several pieces. The trade itself has been covered by this site and our Astros’ corespondent already so I’m going to focus on piece of it. Chris Carter, the First Baseman/Outfielder, acquired by the Astros. Carter has shown consistent power at the Minor League levels as he consistently posted well above league average ISO numbers. His brief stint in the Majors with the A’s prior to the 2012 season did not see those numbers translate. Finally in 2012, we got a look at what we hope is the real Chris Carter.
Carter posted 16 Home Runs in less than 300 Plate Appearances while posting a spectacular ISO. Carter is not the type of player who will hit for average as his Strike-Out rates are consistently well above league average, but he does so an excellent propensity for taking walks. Carter is an Adam Dunn - type player. Big power, good On Base Percentage, but a high Strike Out rate with a low Batting Average. Overall, I think he will make a fine number four hitter, but the pieces around him need to fit. The other issue is where does Carter play. He is traditionally a First Baseman, but Houston is currently playing 26-Year Old Brett Wallace at first in an effort to determine his value. More important than Wallace though is one of Houston’s top prospects, First Baseman Jonathan Singleton.
Bagwell and Biggio Mix of Highlights: Who will be the next tandem of Astros greats?:
