2014 New York Yankees season thread Vol. (84-78) .. Essential's Offseason thread coming soon

Pineda looks solid so far. Hopefully he can stay healthy and succeed as a starter.

Kiroda is a beast. That guy was phenomenal both years. If we had some bats last year, he wouldn't have had to carry the team as much when he pitched :smh:
 
KingFoamNYC said:
thanks for the line guys. highest clocked FB ?
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Pineda fastball was 93.

Impressive Pineda strikes out Cabrera
March, 7, 2014

By Andrew Marchand | ESPNNewYork.com
TAMPA, Fla. -- The best hitter in baseball looked overmatched. Miguel Cabrera waited in the batter's box. Michael Pineda stood on the mound.

After ball one, Pineda went to work. He used a slider that Cabrera missed to even up the count. He followed that up with a nasty curve. Up 1-2, Pineda returned to the slider, and Cabrera could not stop his swing.

It is only spring training, but it highlighted an extremely impressive exhibition debut for Pineda.

"It is tough to get Cabrera to swing and miss twice," one scout said.

In all, Pineda went two shutout innings. He struck out four and walked none. His precision was excellent, firing 21 of his 27 pitches for strikes.

And his velocity?

It was pretty good, with scouts clocking his fastball at 91-93 miles per hour and his slider at 79-82. He looked like a different pitcher than he was in 2012, when he arrived in Yankees camp with a bum shoulder, overweight and unable to consistently reach even 90 mph on his fastball.

Because of all that, the Yankees have been waiting for Pineda to look like some semblance of the 2011 All-Star whom they traded Jesus Montero for in January 2012. On Friday night, he received four-star reviews.

"He looked very good and healthy," a scout said.

Pineda was pleased, describing his command as "perfect" and summing the night up as "great."

"I showed Michael Pineda," Pineda said.

In the fifth, Pineda impressed immediately. He struck out Austin Jackson on three pitches, finishing him off with a curve.

After a Stephen Lombardozzi single to left, Pineda induced a double-play ball from Nick Castellanos. The Yankees got the lead runner when Derek Jeter tossed to Brian Roberts, but Roberts could not successfully complete the throw to first. Unfazed, Pineda struck out Danny Worth, again using a curve to end the at-bat.

"If [he] is healthy, he is an uncomfortable at-bat," catcher Brian McCann said.

Pineda is competing for the No. 5 spot in the rotation with David Phelps, Adam Warren and Vidal Nuno. He is the guy the Yankees want to win the job. He only helped his case on Friday.
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Not really worried about the Kelly Johnson / Brian Roberts dynamic anymore. I think Kelly could probably hit high teens in homeruns. If Roberts can put up over 100 games, he'll be solid as well.


Biggest worry is the bullpen. We lost Boone Logan and Mariano Rivera. Replaced with Matt Thornton (clear downgrade) and David Robertson (with no replacement for D-Rob, who was one of the best setup guys in the league. Even if he's great as the closer, we don't have a setup man).
 
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A few things I missed:

Across town, the Yankees are keeping tabs on reliever Joel Hanrahan after inking another rehabbing former closer in Andrew Bailey, reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. As Martino explains, interest in arms like Bailey and Hanrahan shows that the club has some concern with its pen depth.
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Bailey isn't expect to throw until July, and not ready for the Bigs until around late August, early September according to Girardi.

Yankees Monitoring Market For Infielders
By Steve Adams [February 26, 2014 at 11:50am CST]

The Yankees have questionable infield depth at best, with Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts and Eduardo Nunez all figuring to see significant playing time in 2014. As such, the team's scouts are placing a heavy emphasis on watching infielders when looking at other clubs in Spring Training, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. King writes that the Yankees could use their surplus of catching options to bolster the infield.

In addition to Brian McCann, who signed a five-year, $85MM contract with the Bombers this offseason, the Yankees have Francisco Cervelli (who is out of options), J.R. Murphy, Austin Romine and Gary Sanchez on their 40-man roster. With the exception of Sanchez, each could be considered Major League ready. Cervelli, of course, has racked up 623 plate appearances with the Yanks over the past several seasons, while Romine had 168 big league PAs in 2013, and Murphy made his Major League debut as well.

It's natural to speculate on the possibility simply adding Stephen Drew, but as Newsday's David Lennon tweeted earlier today, the Yankees will only add to their infield if the addition doesn't come with significant financial impact. GM Brian Cashman told Lennon: "If we need to do improvements, it’s got to be cheap. We’ve spent our money."

Likewise, it's easy to speculate that the reportedly available Nick Franklin would fit with the Yankees, but Seattle likely feels they have their catcher of the future in 2012 No. 3 overall draft selection Mike Zunino. They're said to be interested in acquiring pitching in exchange for Franklin, should they end up dealing him.

King writes that the White Sox, Giants, Tigers, Astros and Twins all had scouts in attendance to watch Cervelli, Murphy and Sanchez in yesterday's exhibition game against Florida State. While that could just be routine and doesn't necessarily carry much weight, King does add that an industry source indicated that the White Sox are seeking catching upgrades. He also adds that the Yankees will monitor Rickie Weeks during Spring Training, who figures to be plenty available due to his $11MM salary and $11.5MM vesting option. It stands to reason that Milwaukee would need to eat a significant amount of salary in any deal to move Weeks, who batted just .209/.306/.357 last season.
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Teams Scouting David Phelps, Yankee Catchers
By Mark Polishuk [March 5, 2014 at 10:44pm CST]

The Mariners sent a scout to watch David Phelps' recent Spring Training outing, George A. King III of the New York Post reports, while the White Sox and Brewers also had scouts on hand to watch the Yankees' catchers. King previously reported last week that the White Sox had their eyes on the Yankees' catching surplus and that the Yankees were scouting Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks.

With the Yankees known to be looking for infielders, King speculates that Nick Franklin could be a target for the club, especially since Seattle is known to be exploring trades for the young second baseman. The M's are looknig to upgrade their pitching depth thanks to injuries to Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker, though as King notes, it would take more than just Phelps to acquire Franklin.

It would be somewhat surprising to see the Yankees move Phelps given the club's lack of starting pitching depth. Phelps is competing with Michael Pineda and Adam Warren to be New York's fifth starter, and since Pineda hasn't pitched in a Major League game since 2011 and Warren has only three career starts over his two MLB seasons, the Yankees would have to be confident in both pitchers' development to send Phelps elsewhere. Phelps' advanced metrics (3.81 FIP, 4.03 xFIP, 3.91 SIERA) indicate that he pitched much better last season than his 4.98 ERA over 86 2/3 IP would indicate.

The Yankees have Francisco Cervelli, J.R. Murphy and Austin Romine competing to be Brian McCann's backup, and all could fit into reserve roles in Chicago or Milwaukee. The Sox could offer more regular time, as their catching mix of Josh Phegley, Tyler Flowers, Hector Gimenez and Rule 5 Draft pick Adrian Nieto isn't at all settled.

With Jonathan Lucroy firmly locked into the starting job in Milwaukee, the Brewers are only looking for a backup. If Weeks is a target, it's only a matter of how much of his $11MM salary the Crew will agree to absorb (King also suggests Aramis Ramirez as a trade possibility, but I doubt the Brewers would think to trade him unless they struggle during the season and fall out of the race).
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The depth we have at Catcher really is unnecessary at this point. McCann will be the starting catcher for at least 3 years. Cervelli could be a serviceable backup for a long time, only 28, and no one will ever pay him above backup catcher market value. Gary Sanchez is clearly the best of the pack. Murphy & Romine have very little purpose for us going forward. Sanchez is a couple of years away from being in the Majors, but McCann & Cervelli buy us that time.

Same with Phelps.

Also our OF prospects are coming up as pointless as well with Gardner, Ellsbury locked in 5 seasons, and Beltran with 3. Also every year, you can get a solid OF'er in the Free Agent market that gives you decent production.

Now I'm not saying trade prospects for 30+ year old guys, because we know that metric doesn't help us anymore.

But if we could
swing a trade of Phelps + a couple of lower tier guys for Franklin
One of our Catchers (not Sanchez) for Didi Gregorius or Chris Owings, as posted by Pinstripe Alley a couple of weeks ago
Then either Austin or Heathcott for a pitching prospect

I think those are all great moves that could help our farm system, and loosen up log jams (Catcher, OF) and replenish areas of need (SP/2B/SS/3B)
 
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Right now it seems like they have a surplus of catchers but Cervelli is injured a lot. Romine has had back problems in the past that could flare up at any moment. And Sanchez isn't ready. 
 
PhillyzPhan said:
Right now it seems like they have a surplus of catchers but Cervelli is injured a lot. Romine has had back problems in the past that could flare up at any moment. And Sanchez isn't ready. 
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The point is trading young talent for other young talent.

Catching is the least of our worries. And I agree that Sanchez isn't ready, but McCann and Cervelli buy us a couple of years to get him ready.

Murphy & Romine are just speed bumps in the way of Sanchez.

They serve little purpose other than being placeholders.
 
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I understand that but what I'm saying is, if they trade away Romine and Murphy then Cervelli gets injured again like he usually does, then you're on the market again looking for a catcher. Its just like the Dodgers last year when they had a surplus of starting pitchers. Then injuries happened and that "surplus" was gone.
 
Let me know if anyone is interested in catching an Indians vs. Yanks game/series at the Stadium. I'm a Cleveland fan but I only post in here because of Tanaka and my contact with baseball insiders in the NYC area.
 
Soriano says this could be his last year. But hasn't fully decided. Chance to retire with Jeter is intriguing.

If it isn't his last year, we should definitely bring him back in 2015.


Also seeing Willie Randolph as a base coach makes me feel happy about life :lol:
 
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