Yankees Spring Training

finestrg

Rotation player
If Garcia can give us 15 starts up to the trading deadline & win 6 or 7 or so games then he will have done his job as a stopgap solution. By then some big name pitcher should probably shake free in trades from teams that have fallen out of the playoff hunt. I think Cashman will make a move for a back end of the rotation guy at some point, I don't think we can rely on Ivan Nova to be the solution this year, though I hope I'm wrong.

Concerning AJ's run in with Dave Eiland, it was rumored that the altercation stemmed from a drinking problem that Dave Eiland had at the time that AJ called him out on in the clubhouse as a friend, I think Eiland supposedly took exception to it & that's when the altercation ensued. I don't think there is any bad blood between those 2 I've read stories that they were close friends. It was probably just 1 friend confronting another about his problem & that friend feeling overly defensive so he over-reacted. If AJ really wanted to beat Eiland down I'm pretty sure he probably could, but he took the punch as a friend. Sometimes you get into fisticuffs with people you care about & it blows over, I think this was 1 of those times.

Ahhh, right. I forgot that's what happened. I remember talking about it with you now..So what d'ya think happened to Eiland when he left the team 'for personal reasons'? Ya think they sent him to the farm/rehab? Usually you have to be gone for a month or more and Eiland was gone for awhile (I had an old buddy at my first pct. that they sent away to the farm for a little while with a drinking problem and he was gone for about a month or so it seemed)...Seems logical, no? I guess we'll never really know the whole deal..Eiland catch on with another team yet?
 

TheBigCock

Benchwarmer
I like Colon more than Garcia.
Garcia isn't hitting 90 and he is a fly ball pitcher. It will not work for him in Yankee Stadium.
 

STAT1

Starter
Ahhh, right. I forgot that's what happened. I remember talking about it with you now..So what d'ya think happened to Eiland when he left the team 'for personal reasons'? Ya think they sent him to the farm/rehab? Usually you have to be gone for a month or more and Eiland was gone for awhile (I had an old buddy at my first pct. that they sent away to the farm for a little while with a drinking problem and he was gone for about a month or so it seemed)...Seems logical, no? I guess we'll never really know the whole deal..Eiland catch on with another team yet?

I haven't heard anything about him catching on with another team yet, but seems like the "personal leave of absence" that the Yankees gave to him in 2010 lasted 25 days, which would seem to correllate with him going to rehab.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-10-31/sports/27079706_1_private-matter-personal-matter-blasts

Brian Cashman announced on Monday that Eiland would not return for a fourth season as the Yankees' pitching coach, stressing that the decision was his and not Girardi's. Cashman declined to give his reason for the decision, saying it was a "private" matter.
 

finestrg

Rotation player
Getting pumped for the season..Things worked themselves out nicely as they get set to head north. Looks like Chavez all but won the backup corner infield spot (we should get confirmation today sometime)..That's cool. He deserved it. Dude played very well the past few weeks of spring. Nunez probably wins the reserve infield spot over Ramiro Pena (decison in the next couple of days). I like Pena a lot but Nunez has the better overall tools, better bat and he can also play some outfield. I bet that's what they base that decision on..

I like what they did with the back end of the rotation too..Nova's in as the 4 man, as he should be, and they kept both Garcia and Colon and instead traded Mitre to Milwaukee. Tremendous move. Why make a decision between two solid vets when you didn't have to? And they didn't have to.. Mitre wasn't any kind of a difference-maker for us at all PLUS we picked up a nice-looking reserve outfielder in this Chris Dickerson, a guy who, just based on his 3-3 performance, kinda reminds me of Ricky Ledee a little bit... I think Garcia's gonna be fine in the 5th spot..Colon, in the meantime, might be able to give us another power short man from the right side to go along with Joba/Robertson (I can picture maybe something close to what Al Osuna gave us a few years ago) while staying ready in case Nova &/or Garcia falter..At the very least, you gotta figure he'll be a much better long man than Mitre..

All 3 Killer Bs supply outstanding pitching depth down on the farm along with Jorge Vazquez, should we need some more offense... Grandy's injury doesn't look too serious -- saying he's 50/50 for opening day and if not, it shouldn't been long after that (sounds confident he'll avoid even going on the DL at all for this injury).

I think the AL East is gonna be a lot closer than some of the experts think..I think we could be right there with the Red Sox -- no way do I think Boston's just gonna run away with this division..Ready to rock fellas -- only a couple of days to go!!
 
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STAT1

Starter
Looks like we picked up Kevin Millwood on a ML deal. Not sure if he's got much left in the tank but can't hurt to have some depth. Mitre's a goner for a reserve OFer. Dunno much about this Dickerson kid. Any info on him finest? I think Colon as a long reliever is better than as a starter seems like his velocity can't be sustained past a few innings.
 

finestrg

Rotation player
Looks like we picked up Kevin Millwood on a ML deal. Not sure if he's got much left in the tank but can't hurt to have some depth. Mitre's a goner for a reserve OFer. Dunno much about this Dickerson kid. Any info on him finest? I think Colon as a long reliever is better than as a starter seems like his velocity can't be sustained past a few innings.

Ahh, that's right..Forgot about Millwood..Personally, I haven't been high on him since his days in Atlanta when he had much better stuff, but hey, can't hurt I guess, right? Cash has done a nice job assembling some halfway decent veteran arms for the rotation, pen and standby this year..Hopefully all these guys collectively act as a 1-2 yr bridge to get us to the Killer Bs..All I'm looking for. I believe Brackman (the oldest of the 3 KBs and the only one to play college ball---the Yanks picked up the other two when they were babies) may start at AAA; the other 2 AA. If Banuelos and Betances get off to a good start, both could get a quick promotion to Scranton and then who knows, any one of them could pitch in the Bronx as early as this year.

We're gonna have to see how quickly Colon can warm up outta the bullpen--to my knowledge he's never done that before. I saw Joe talking about this the other day on YES..Some guys can get ready quickly; some can't. It'll be interesting to see how he takes to this new role. I personally didn't care for Sergio Mitre at all---to me this dude was like a homeless man's Ramiro Mendoza/David Weathers stuff-wise, and that ain't sayin too much. I remember those two being much more effective by comparison..I'd rather take my chances with some of these bigger-name borderline has-beens and see if we can catch a little lightning in a bottle here..Glad we kept both Colon & Garcia..Both aren't the same anymore but Colon did hit 93 MPH on the gun this spring (if he responds well to the new bullpen role maybe he can even increase that velocity a tick or two by summertime) and Garcia still has enough stuff and guile to get guys out. Not what he was in Seattle but he did manage 10 wins last year in the AL Central.

Yeah, Dickerson I have no idea bro..Been around the minors for a few years now..Looked around the 'net for a scouting report and couldn't find one..Here are his minor league numbers:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=RF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=447736

Nothing too impressive -- looks like he showed some good speed early on in his minor league career..All I know is that Mitre sucked balls and to get a serviceable ANYTHING for the guy was a plus..I imagine Dickerson goes to AAA Scranton to start. Have to keep an eye on him to see how he does. I saw his 3 hits the other day and I immediately thought of Ricky Ledee. Very similar lefthanded swing. Liked what I saw---he looked like he belonged.. No idea how good he is defensively.
 

STAT1

Starter
Yup, agree about Mitre. & yeah warming up is gonna be an issue for Colon but I doubt Joe G will be using him in any spot situations so he'll likely get a full half of an inning at least to get warm. We have enough spot situation guys in our pen this year I don't think our relief corps will be an issue. Pedro Feliciano might be starting the season off on the DL though I hear, so we might be short on lefty matchups late in games.
 
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