Francisco Out in a Huff: Gets DFA'ed for Bullpen Help

According to WFAN's Sweeny Murti, Ben Francisco's days as a Yankee are no longer numbered. The outfielder has been designated for assignment to make room on the 40 and 25 man rosters for pitcher David Huff. The Yankees claimed Huff off waivers from the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.

Francisco was a nice pick up as a reserve outfielder, but lack of playing time and lack of production (which came first, the chicken or the egg?) made him dispensable. The right-handed hitter had just five hits in 44 at-bats (.114) with a home run also his only RBI.

Huff was a part of the Indians rotation in 2009 and 2010 without much success. His 11 wins his rookie year was despite an ERA over 5.00 and a WHIP of 1.558. He bounced between the minor and Major leagues the last few years and has been used more in relief of late.

After he allowed five earned runs in three innings over three appearances, the Indians decided to free up some space on their 40-man roster. He gives the Yankees another left-handed option out of the pen.

Yan-Kees Are Hafner There..Oh Oh, Living on a Prayer

Yeah, it doesn't get much cornier than that. But you can bet the Yankees are praying that Travis Hafner can stay healthy.  Hafner was the hero in Saturday's come from behind 5-4 win against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hafner was a one man wrecking crew for the Cleveland Indians from 2004-2007. Then he became a man with a wrecked body. Hafner played in more than 100 games just once between 2008 and 2012.  So far, he's been vintage Hafner, or "Pronk" as he is known (half project/half donkey), for the Bronx Bombers.

With Ben Francisco not able to hit his away out of a paper bag right now, the left-handed hitting Hafner got a rare start against Blue Jays' left-hander J.A. Happ. A Jose Bautista home run had helped put Yankees starter CC Sabathia and the pinstripes in a 3-0 hole after the the top of the third inning. Super Hafner to the rescue.

With one swing of the bat Hafner tied things up with his 207th career home run and his sixth as a Yankee.  The ball easily cleared the 385-ft mark in right-center field. Brett Lawrie took Sabathia deep in the 6th inning for a 4-3 lead, but Hafner and his fellow resurrected super hero Vernon Wells came to the rescue.

Robinson Cano  continued to rake with a lead off double in the 7th against reliever Esmile Rogers. Wells has struggled with runners in scoring position, but singled to center to tie the game at four apiece. Kevin Youkilis grounded out, but Wells advanced to second on the play. With lefty Brett Cecil on the mound, Wells then stole third base. The extra bag wouldn't matter as Hafner drilled a ball to center field.

Rajai Davis ran the wrong route to the ball, which caromed off his glove and the wall as he tried to recover. By the time Bautista got the ball back into the infield, Hafner was on third was a stand up triple. Just the 13th three-bagger of his 12 year career.

With Joe Girardi not wanting to use Mariano Rivera three days in a row, it was on Joba Chamberlain to nail down the save in the 9th. It's kind of like watching a horror movie between the fingers you have covering your eyes.

Chamberlain struck out Colby Rasmus to start the frame, but Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio reached on back to back singles. Jayson Nix, playing the hot corner, took a potential double and game tying RBI away from Bonafacio on the play.

Chamberlain retired Davis on shallow fly to Ichiro in right to set up a showdown with former teammate Melky Cabrera. Chamberlain won out when the Melk-man tapped to Nix, who merely stepped on the third base for a game ending force out.

Notes

Hafner must think he's dreaming and doesn't want to be woken up. His .309/.433/.727 split (1.160 OPS) is what dreams are made of.

After a slow start Bautista is getting back on track. He now has 18 home runs in 197 at-bats against the Yankees.

Cano, Yankees Leave Their Mark On Buehrle Again

The Yankees wiped the smile off of Mark Buerhle's face again.

Mark Buehrle has had a successful 14 year career in the big leagues. 175 wins, a perfect game, a no-hitter, and a World Series ring are among the items on his resume. He's not a fantasy baseball player since he will only give you a boost in wins, but more importantly, he can't handle the New York Yankees at all. In fact, you couldn't blame him if he never wanted to face them again.

That won't be possible since Buehrle is now smack dab in the AL East after 12 seasons with the Chicago White Sox and one playing for Miami Marlins con man.  Now a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, Buehrle was a handed a 3-0 lead after Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie homered in the first two innings Thursday night.

But just as they did last week in Toronto, the Yankees topped Buerhle and the Blue Jays 5-3. Vernon Wells replicated his feat from the prior meeting by hitting a second inning home run. One inning later, Robinson Cano hit his third career home run off of Buerhle with two men aboard for a 4-3 Yankees lead.

Buehrle had allowed three home runs through his first four starts, but the Yankees matched the total when Francisco Cervelli went deep in the 4th inning. The two run lead was plenty for Hiroki Kuroda, who pitched beautifully from the third inning on. Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera blanked the Jays over the final three fames with just one Toronto runner reaching base safely. Kuroda improved to 3-1 with the win.

Buehrle career record against the Yankees dropped to 1-9 in 14 career starts with a 6.19 ERA. The Yankees have a .324 average against the veteran left-hander, whose WHIP is 1.61 vs. New York compared to his career mark of 1.28 against all of baseball.

Cano has a ridiculous 1.405 OPS against Buehrle with the three aforementioned home runs and a pair of doubles in 20 at-bats (eight hits total).  Wells isn't far behind with a 1.289 OPS, that includes three home runs, four doubles, and a triple as part of a .480 average. He's also driven in 10 runs in 50 at-bats.

Notes

Wednesday night was Eduardo Nunez's time to shine in the field against Tampa Bay. Last night it was Jayson Nix wielding a hot glove at the hot corner in place of Kevin Youkilis. Joe Girardi is hoping Youkilis' back will be in good enough shape to play this weekend.

Ichiro Suzuki had a couple of hits and is 9-29 (.310) over his last five games.

Ben Francisco had one hit in the game, but is just 3-29 on the season. Even though he's a right-handed bat, he has to be the primary candidate to be let go when Curtis Granderson returns.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cano has 7 HR and 17 RBI in his last 15 games. Only Mike Napoli (19) has knocked in more runs in that span.

Let's Get This Party Started - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Enough whining about pay cuts, and age, and injuries. Opening Day and its clean slate is here.

CC Sabathia faces off against Jon Lester. Two left-handers who had their problems last season. Sabathia with a bothersome left elbow that needed surgery and Lester, who was ineffective for the majority of the season.  But that was then, this is now.

Two teams that are getting crapped on by all bunch of baseball experts. But none of that matters or how many games a  team should or shouldn't win. That's why they play 162.

The lineup should go something like this:

CF Brett Gardner
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Robinson Cano
1B Kevin Youkilis
DH Ben Francisco
LF Vernon Wells
SS Eduardo Nunez
3B Jayson Nix
  C Chris Stewart
  P CC Sabathia

The Red Sox lineup will reportedly be:

CF Jacoby Ellsbury
RF Shane Victorino
2B Dustin Pedroia
1B Mike Napoli
3B Will Middlebrooks
DH Jonny Gomes
  C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
LF Jackie Bradley Jr.
SS Jose Iglesias
  P Jon Lester

PLAY BALL

Aardsma Released As We Get Down to the Wire

Joe Girardi's lukewarm praise of David Aardsma- "He's been good"- was an omen that Aardsma's days in Yankees camp were numbered. Aardsma's number was up today as the Yankees designated him for assignment.

Among those sent to the minors were Vidal Nuno, the left-hander who was named as the winner of the James P. Dawson Award for the best rook in camp. I really thought Nuno would make the squad, but perhaps Brian Cashman would rather see him starting games every five days for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders rather than throwing parts of an inning here and there at the Major League level.

Also reassigned to the minor leagues were outfielder Melky Mesa and pitcher Jim Miller, both of whom had legitimate chances to make the squad. Pitcher Sam Demel, picked up on waivers yesterday, was sent outright to Scranton, while pitchers Preston Claiborne, Branden Pinder, Juan Cedeno, Josh Spence,  catcher Bobby Wilson, infielders Dan Johnson, Jose Pirela, Gil Velazquez and outfielders Thomas Neal were sent to the minor league camp.

The Yankees added Jayson Nix and Ben Francisco to the Major League roster and re-signed infielder David Adams to a minor league contract. Adams had been designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

So, he says, who is going north now?

C -  Francisco Cervelli, Chris Stewart
1B - Lyle Overbay
2B - Robinson Cano
SS - Eduardo Nunez
3B - Kevin Youkilis
LF - Vernon Wells
CF - Brett Gardner
RF - Ichiro Suzuki
UT - Jayson Nix
OF - Ben Francisco, Brennan Boesch
DH - Travis Hafner
SP - CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, David Phelps, Ivan Nova
RP - Mariano Rivera, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Shawn Kelley, Cody Eppley

That leaves one one pitcher's spot open. It's possible it will be Adam Warren, who will get the start against the West Point. If not Warren, it likely would be a pitcher not currently on the 40-man roster.

Also, though there is no room on the 25-man squad, Ronnier Mustelier has not been shuttled someone where else as of yet. As I mentioned before I would love to see him get some big league AB's early, but a banged up knee has not helped his cause.

Ramon Hernandez was released by the Rockies today. The veteran catcher stands to make $3.2MM this year. II would get a deal done in a heartbeat if Colorado was willing to include $2MM. Then we could say good bye to Chris Stewart and his overrated defensive game.

Cashman Finally Listens to Me, Inks Boesch

The Yankees hope Boesch strikes this pose often this year

Brian Cashman is clearly finally reading what I am writing about. A mere two days after I urged Cashman to sign Boesch, released earlier that day by the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees GM signed the outfielder to a $1.5MM deal with another $600K possible through incentives.

It looks like the Yankees outfield to start the season could very well be Brett Gardner in center field, Ichiro Suzuki in right and a platoon of Boesch and recently acquired Ben Francisco in left. Francisco could share some of those at-bats with another right-handed hitter, and the two could spell Ichiro at times in right field as well.

Boesch is a streaky hitter that can go on prolonged stretches where he is either ripping the ball or walking back to the dugout after another making out. The short porch in right-field is beckoning, however, and Boesch averages a home run every 32 at-bats primarily playing in a pitcher's ballpark.

Derek, Andy, and Mo and All's Right With the World

Jeter starts to turn two against Philly

The last time Derek Jeter stood out at shortstop during a baseball game my heart dropped into my stomach. Jeter was laying on the ground in terrible pain and was not getting up. Derek Jeter ALWAYS gets up - the one exception being when he got his shoulder destroyed against the Blue Jays in 2003.

Indeed, Jeter did need help getting up after breaking his already injured left ankle in Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS against the Detroit Tigers. Ankle surgery and physical rehab followed. The culmination of recovery was his return to the game, first as a DH and then as the starting shortstop Wednesday evening against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Making Jeter feel even more at home was the Yankees starter pitcher, Andy Pettitte, who made his spring training debut. Pettitte had thrown simulated games up until that point. Pettitte pitched into the fourth inning and left with two men aboard. His line ended up at 3 IP 4 H 1 ER 3 BB 3 K and he felt good afterward.

Mariano Rivera topped the night off with a one inning, scoreless appearance. As is the case in spring training that inning came in the middle of the game, the 5th inning in this case. (Earlier today Mo, gave a nice interview to Michael Kay and Don LaGreca on ESPN Radio. You can hear it by clicking here.) Mo made easy work of it and retired the side in order.

In one of his at-bats, Jeter took a pitch inside for a strike as he leaned over the plate and made a bit of a face at the home plate. Yes, in some ways he's back in form already. He finished 0-2 for the game with a walk.

The Yankees took advantage of five Phillies errors to beat Cliff Lee 6-2. New acquisition Ben Francisco put the Yankees on the board with a 2-run double off the base of the center field wall.  Juan Rivera and Ichiro Suzuki had a couple of hits each and Rivera also made a nice stop at first base.

Melky Mesa continued to impress both at the plate and in the field. He drove in a run and also made a beautiful over the shoulder catch on a drive to center field.

Yankees Should Grab Brennan Boesch

Brian Cashman has been watching the waiver wire like some people watching the Kardashians. Cashman would like a bat as big as Kim Kardashian's behind, but none of those are available. A pretty good bat did become available Wednesday morning.

Though he is inconsistent, has difficulties with left-handers, had thumb surgery which caused him to miss the 2011 post-season, was left off the 2012 post-season roster, and hurt an oblique muscle this spring, the Yankees should pounce on 27-year old Brennan Boesch.

The outfielder became available on Wednesday after the Detroit Tigers gave him his release. With the acquisition of Torii Hunter over the winter there wasn't going to be a lot of playing time for the Tigers' incumbent right fielder. Boesch spent his entire career with the Tigers organization after he was selected in the third round of the 2006 MLB amateur draft.

He broke into the Majors in 2010 and averaged 14 home runs and 58 RBI over three seasons. Though he has a propensity to be a very streaky hitter, Boesch still managed to put together a .799 OPS over 115 games in 2011. His OPS dropped 140 points last year, which or may not have been due to the thumb surgery he had in '11.

Boesch is a player who needs to cut down on his strikeouts and draw more walks, which translates to being more selective at the plate. With that in mind, it was just two years ago that he hit 16 home runs to go along with a .283 batting average and .458 slugging pct. With the short porch in Yankee Stadium, Cashman should be bombarding Boesch's agent Scott Boras with phone calls. Boesch could fill the role Raul Ibanez played last season and though he bats from the left side, he would be an upgrade over right-handed hitting veteran outfielders in camp (Matt Diaz, Juan Rivera, and Ben Francisco).

Boesch's salary jumped from approximately $.5 MM in 2011 to $2.3MM last year, but the Yankees could probably get him much cheaper with a minor league deal (throw in some incentives too). Boesch is also not eligible for arbitration until next year. Boesch is a decent outfielder, though he would more likely see time in left field rather than in right field with Ichiro Suzuki already stationed there.

Okay, enough talking, Cash get moving.

Ben Francisco, Pick Up a White Courtesy Phone

The New York Post's Joel Sherman reported via Twitter that the Yankees have signed veteran outfielder Ben Francisco to a minor league deal.

The 6-year veteran had been signed to a minor league deal by the Cleveland Indians in January, but was released earlier in the day. Yankees GM Brian Cashman was quick to pounce on another possibility for the Yankees outfield, which is missing Curtis Granderson until May.

The 31-year old showed promise early in his career with Cleveland when he slugged 15 home runs in back to back seasons (2008-2009) and topped .770 in OPS both years. Those were the only two seasons in which Francisco had more than 400 plate appearances.

He was dealt to Philadelphia at the 2009 trade deadline along with the center piece of the deal, Cliff Lee. Francisco had an .843 OPS and drove in 13 runs in 37 games after the deal, but was 0-11 in the post-season. That included an 0-7 skid when the Phillies lost to the Yankees in the World Series.

Francisco's output and playing time began to diminish the following season and culminated in 2012 when he played for three different organizations (Blue Jays, Astros, Rays) and had a sub .700 OPS with all of them.

Francisco will compete with veterans Matt Diaz, Juan Rivera, and youngsters like Melky Mesa and Ronnier Mustelier for a spot on the team. Mustelier is also being looked at as a possibility for third base, a position he played  while in Cuba.