Here are Garza’s numbers from 2010-2011 (all stats compliments of baseball-refernce.com):

IS A GARZA TRADE WORTH THE YANKEES TIME?

The Yankees, along with the other 29 MLB teams are shopping in a pitcher’s market, which means no Black-Friday or Cyber-Monday sales this off-season.

In terms of Garza, his age is right on as he just turned 28-year old, but can he handle the heavy-hitting AL East now?

Garza spent his first two seasons in Minnesota, until the Twins traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays where he was from 2008-2010.

Any baseball fan knows that 2008 was the year the Rays went from bottom feeders to AL East champs. Garza went 11-9 with a 3.70 ERA and throwing 185 innings during the regular season; and in the 11 wins his ERA was 0.64.

The Rays made it to the World Series in 2008, and Garza took home the ALDS MVP honors after he beat-up the Boston Red Sox. Also, last season the Rays avoided getting swept by the Rangers the night Garza took the hill, so he definitely has exhibited postseason success.

So, how has Garza fared vs. the AL East teams from 2008 till now?

Take a look (all stats compliments of baseball-refernce.com):

Garza’s numbers are just so-so against the AL East, but scouts say that he should be better but just hasn’t been. He features a two and four-seam mid-90’s fastball, a curveball that is wicked far less than hittable, a decent change-up and a slider.

Garza improved from being a pop-up to a ground-ball pitcher before coming into hitter friendly Wrigley Field, but in even more batter friendly Yankee stadium without more improvement….it could spell disaster.

He does have youth on his side, as remember that Cliff Lee did not come into his own till age 28-29.(...)
Read the rest of New York Yankees Trade Rumors: Opinions Wanted On Matt Garza

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Post tags: Chicago Cubs, ESPN, Garza, Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays, Yankee

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The Subway Series and New York City bragging rights were at stake on Sunday afternoon, as the outcome of the rubber match between the Yankees and Mets got decided in one heck of a 7^th inning up in the Bronx:

• Entering the 7^th inning, the Yankees were down 3-1 to the Mets, with no real signs of hope.
• The one on the scoreboard came off another Curtis Granderson home-run in the 1^st inning, but otherwise it was the same old stranding runners-on-base.
• The Captain came up clutch with a double that drove in the two runs that tied the game 3-3.
• Curtis Granderson has 16 home-runs, but the guy is just lethal with the bat period. His sacrifice bunt was perfectly knocked down the third-base line, setting up the go-ahead-run.
• After the Mets walked Mark Teixeira, A-Rod hit a blooper that but ran his heart out and the meager hit was enough for the run to score to put the Yankees on top.
• 13 Yankees hitters produced five singles, two walks, one double, and a sacrifice in this brilliant inning of small-ball.
• Not one of the total eight runs scored in 7th came off a home-run.

Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News reported that was the inning the Yankees have been looking for according to A-Rod who he quoted saying:

“There were a lot of good things that happened in that inning, starting with Gardy, and Dickerson drew a nice walk, a perfect base hit by Jeter and a perfect bunt by Granderson. That sets up the big inning and those are the things we haven’t been doing the last few weeks. We can’t hit a three-run homer every time.”

The Mets only managed to score three runs off the 11 total hits they had off Yankees rookie Ivan Nova.

The Yankees beat the Mets 9-3, taking the rubber game and the series 2-1.

Now Yankee fans can look toward the Empire State Building, as it will be glowing of pinstripes for the next few nights.

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• Yanks Hit 4 HRs, Beat Mets 7-3 in Subway Series (abcnews.go.com)
• New York Yankees: CC Sabathia Is Actually Right On Track (ladylovespinstripes.com)
• Yankees slam four homers to even Subway Series with Mets (nypost.com)
• Powered-up Yanks go all small ball on the Mets (aol.sportingnews.com)
• Mets take Subway Series opener over Yankees in Bronx (cbssports.com)
• Jeter, A-Rod spark Yankees over Mets 9-3 (boston.com)
• Subway Series Rubber Game Lineups (slidingintohome.blogspot.com)

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Post tags: Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Empire State Building, Mark Teixeira, Mets, New York City, New York Yankee, Sports, Subway Series, Yankees

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The only consistency other than losing for the New York Yankees has been center-fielder Curtis Granderson.

Without Granderson’s bat and glove the Yankees would not be in a slump, they ‘d be sunk worse than the 0-6 run the team is now on.

Grandy is easily putting up the best numbers in his career and MVP worthy with 14 home-runs, 31 RBIs, four doubles, three triples and 16 walks.

His last blast was off Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price, who had only given up a home-run to a lefty bat once before in is career to Phillies Chase Utley back in 2009.

It also gave the Yankees a comfy 5-1 lead, which was lost by the middle of the sixth inning, as they lost 6-5.

THE REAL DEAL:

Let me make something clear, the fact that AJ Burnett gave up a three-run homer in the sixth to Rays BJ Upton to give the Rays the lead and eventual win is utterly irrelevant.

Why?

The Yankees pitching has done plenty on their end to get the team in positions to win games, but the bats are completely dead.

Forget the older guys that the entire sports world has written off already; I am talking about Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner, who have been useless in May.

Robinson Cano is hitting well, but is not near his potential yet because Cano can rip.

Here is a chart compliments of Baseball-Reference.com of the Yankee bats in April compared to May. The drop-off is not hard to see.

This will be a long summer in the Bronx if the bats don’t wake up now.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ:

Despite of all the ageism banter about how Alex Rodriguez is 35 years old, I highly doubt he has all of a sudden forgotten how to hit.(...)
Read the rest of New York Yankees: Cleaning Up This Team’s Mess

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Post tags: Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, David Price, New York Yankee, New York Yankees, Paul Konerko, Robinson Canó, Sports, Tampa Bay Rays, Yankee

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It is no secret that the New York Yankees have been on a pitching crusade after losing both Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte this past off-season.  GM Brian Cashman made a lot of heavily criticized moves that seemed desperate at the time, but have actually been the savior and reason behind the Yankees hot start.

Regardless, the Yankees are not going to pass on trading for a possible ace if one is available and again we have Cashman to thank for that.

Cashman has built the Yankees farm system from the ground-up. It also happens to be loaded in all the right places with multiple young catchers who coveted right behind lefty-arms in ranking order of value.

So the watch is on for teams, who by beginning of July, can afford to trade a top arm to fulfill either immediate needs to contend or looking to build towards the future.

The 28 (Red Sox not included) other teams are well aware of the talent the Yankees possess in the minors but it will take an ace to get Cashman to budge.

The recent speculation is that Brett Gardner could be a possibility but I wouldn’t bet on it. Gardner has had a rough first month, but his struggles seem to be going away now anyway and once he starts stealing bases again this idea will get squashed.

WHY THE BRAVES CAN GET RID OF LOWE:

This brings me to the Atlanta Braves, who currently sit at 15-15 and this team cannot afford to watch the Phillies and Marlins surge while they sit dead and stale playing .500 baseball.

Pitching is not the issue, as the Braves retain one of the prime rotations in baseball, with Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens and Brandon Beachy.

Problem is the lack of bats has been costing the team wins.

Luckily Atlanta has viable back-up arms down in the minors that are major league ready and serviceable at the back end of their rotation. This gives Atlanta some wiggle room to get a much-needed big bat to get their line-up, which consists of Dan Uggla and Chipper Jones hitting.

Newsday’s Ken Davidoff ‘s recent article reminded me of the fact that Lowe had been on Yankees GM Brian Cashman’s radar for sometime; as Cashman almost inked Lowe before the 2009 season but instead went with AJ Burnett.

Lowe was recently busted on April 29^th for a DUI; as Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright stated that, last Thursday night Lowe was racing his Porsche down a residential street in the tony Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead and refused to take a breathalyzer at the scene.

So, the 37-year-old Lowe now has legal woes to deal with, but he still made his scheduled start 48 hours after his arrest on May 1^st.

Davidoff seems convinced a Yankees and Braves Lowe-trade could be likely down the road. While I entirely agree with Davidoff about Atlanta getting rid of Lowe for a sustainable bat; I don’t believe the Yankees will be the team on the other end of the deal.(...)
Read the rest of MLB Trade Rumors: Braves To Yankees Trade Reaches All New Lowe

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Post tags: Andy Pettitte, Atlanta Braves, Brian Cashman, New York Yankees, Sports

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Yankees ace CC Sabathia was not at this best, but he still did his job allowing just one run to score. The Red Sox loaded up with players on base in all six innings that Sabathia pitched, but even a hampered CC is good enough to put his team in winning position.

The pitching wasn’t the issue, as Boston’s Josh Beckett performance was surreal and the Yankees looked shell-shocked, making contact with the ball just twice.

Up Next the Yankees will host the first place Baltimore Orioles (no that is not a typo) for a three game set in the Bronx.

AJ Burnett will face Orioles youngster Chris Tillman, so let’s break down this match-up between these AL East leading teams.

Burnett:

Burnett will take the bump for the Bombers, looking for this third win on the season. Burnett has always been nerve-racking to watch, even before his dreadful 2010 numbers. Burnett worked hard to fix himself in the off-season and so far it has paid off.

Some of the credit easily goes to Yankees new pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who seems to have earned the pitcher’s trust from the start and is a perfect fit in the Bronx.

So, am I worried about Burnett?

Actually, I feel good about Burnett but he can’t win if the Yankee bats don’t hit again.

In Sunday’s embarrassment, the team was sans A-rod who statistically has proven to be the nucleus of the Bomber’s line-up. When A-rod was on the DL the bats were dormant. Ironically, it was against the O’s in 2010 when A-rod hit a first pitch bomb and it was a rising from the dead, as everyone started hitting again.

Is A-rod still sick?

Well, when I saw Mr. Rodriguez yesterday with Ms. Diaz drinking lattes in mid-town he looked fine, so hopefully he is playing.

The rest of the Yankee brass need to join A-rod and Cano at the party, who along with new additions, Russell Martin, Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones have saved the ball club from absolute embarrassment.

To sum-it-up…. whatever Jeter is doing isn’t working; Tex is back in April; Gardner in the lead-off is not working out that well; Swisher needs to start to swish the ball out of the park; and Posada is still adjusting to his new role, which is the DH in case he forgot.

Burnett has to keep his eye on O’s Brian Roberts, who in 50 career at-bats against Burnett has three double, three homers, 10 RBIs and 15 hits total. Also, Felix Pie and Adam Jones tend to either hit Burnett or strikeout, pending on which AJ is throwing. Well, now it’s the new AJ so I think he will win these battles.

Tillman:

O’s skipper Buck Showalter is sending 22-year-old Chris Tillman to the mound. Tillman shined brightly down in the minors, but the transition has not been easy and 2011 has not been any better.(...)
Read the rest of New York Yankees AJ Burnett vs. Buck’s Birds aka Baltimore Orioles

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Post tags: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Buck Showalter, CC Sabathia, Justin Duchscherer, New York Yankees, Sports, Yankee Stadium

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Nothing is more exciting then a pitching duel to start a new season, where anything can happen and for one team it marks the start to their championship run.

Opening Day the Yankees will be hosting the Detroit Tigers, with ace CC Sabathia taking the mound against Tigers ace Justin Verlander.

Yankee Skipper Joe Girardi announced the starting line-up, which Mark Feinstein of the New York Daily News reports will be looking a tad different than the last two seasons on Opening Day.

Here is the batting order for the Bombers Opening Day Game on ESPN:

1.    Brett Gardner
2.    Derek Jeter
3.    Mark Teixeira
4.    Alex Rodriguez
5.    Robinson Cano
6.    Nick Swisher
7.    Jorge Posada
8.    Curtis Granderson
9.    Russell Martin

Jeter and Gardner will platoon as lead-off, which is what I suggested a few weeks back. Since Verlander is a lefty, Gardner will be first and the Captain will hit in the two-spot.

Let me just remind everyone that Jeter has hit in the #2 spot of the Yankees line-up for the majority of his career, with darn good success I must say.

This is a good move by Girardi, but I think throwing Granderson against some righties and keeping Jeter more regularly in such a familiar spot might prove to work as well.

There is plenty of time to smooth out all kinks with 162 games to go.

All I can say is, Welcome Home Yankees; and Welcome Back Baseball!!

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Post tags: Brett Gardner, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Joe Girardi, Justin Verlander, Mark Teixeira, New York Yankee, Nick Swisher, Robinson Canó, Sports

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Honestly, my initial reaction was to immediately go on the defense. Considering this is after being subjected to the harsh words used all off-season about the Captain. I just wanted the man to catch a break, after skipper Joe Girardi made it clear that Jeter would be the at the top on Opening Day.

Now that I have had time to digest this idea, it might actually be a good one.

Jeter has only been lead-off since the start of 2009, other than filling in on occasion. He was cemented for the majority of 14 seasons as the Yankees #2.

Moving Jeter doesn’t concern me as much as whether Brett Gardner will be able to handle it. Last season Gardner struggled when atop the Yankee line-up.

Is Gardner speed going to hurt such an offensively dominant group and will his speed get wasted?

This made me wonder with batters like Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano at the heart of your order, wouldn’t attempting to steal a base in essence become redundant?

Jeter has never been a power batter, so what if he starts hitting into double plays, as he did do that more in 2010? That immediately closes the door for Teixeira to hit a sac-fly to move the runners with two outs already.

Question remains if Jeter can still be a pest on the base-pads because we know that Gardner is one of the fastest guys in the league.

Jeter stole 48 bases in 2009-2010, which is almost double what he had in 2007-2008 when he posted 26 combined.

So now my alternative suggestion is, why can’t Curtis Granderson hit leadoff?

Granderson did it for the Detroit Tigers and even though he struggles a lot against lefties, Granderson sustains both power and speed.

Over his career, Granderson has an 81% stolen base rate and against right-handed pitchers he can flat out hit, averaging 25 home-runs, 13 triples and 28 doubles a season over his seven big league seasons.(...)
Read the rest of New York Yankees: If Captain Derek Jeter Goes Moving On Down

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Post tags: Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Joe Girardi, Mark Teixeira, New York Yankee, Robinson Canó, Sports, Yankee, Yankees

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