Sanchez Promoted To Triple-A

Gary Sanchez joins recently promoted Thunder teammates Luis Severino and Aaron Judge in Scranton.

Gary Sanchez has been a highly touted prospect since the Yankees signed him as a free agent teenager out of the Dominican  Republic in 2009. In fact, this is the first season since 2011 that Sanchez has not been ranked in top 100 prospects by Baseball America, MLB.com, and Baseball Prospectus.

Sanchez has appeared to overcome the immaturity that plagued him earlier in his career and recently got on a hot streak at Double-A Trenton. He leaves the Thunder with a slash line of .262/.319/.476 with 12 HR and 36 RBI in 58 games.

The 22-year old's best season came in 2012 when he played for Charleston ('A') and Tampa ('A+'). He produced an .829 OPS with career highs in home runs (18) and RBI (85). There has been speculation that the Yankees may use him as trade bait at the upcoming non-waiver trade deadline.

Betances Demoted in a Huff

Dellin Betances struggled as a starting pitcher in the Yankees organization so it was decided he would become a reliever. The improvement was drastic and it earned a promotion to the big club. Unfortunately, a four run 9th inning against the Angels Tuesday night earned him a trip back to Scranton Thursday.

The Yankees recalled left-hander David Huff, a waiver acquisition from the Cleveland Indians in May. Huff had one poor inning with the Bombers - a run, hit, and two walks - before he was sent to the RailRiders. Since his demotion, Huff has started in 12 of his 13 appearances for the International League franchise. He had a 1-6 record despite a decent 3.84 ERA. He also struck out 8.5 batters per 9 innings, but gave up more than a hit an inning.

To make room on the 40 man roster, David Phelps was moved from the 15- to 60-day disabled list. Phelps was in the midst of rehabbing a sore forearm. He's had a setback and it's possible he may not pitch again this season. He's not eligible to be activated until the first week of September.

Boesch Gets the Boot

When the Detroit Tigers released Brennan Boesch on March 13 the Yankees quickly scooped him up two days later to help fill out an injury plagued roster. It was a low risk/high reward move considering Boesch was only 28 and showed very good power with the Tigers. Today it was the Yankees turn to release Boesch to free up room on the 40-man roster for Brent Lillibridge.

Unfortunately, things did not work out the way the Yankees or Boesch wanted. His playing time was limited, though he produced decent stats given the chance. He was demoted to Scranton on June 3 and left a game two days later with a strained shoulder. He was placed on the minor league DL and hasn't been able to play since.

As long as his shoulder is not seriously injured he'll find a taker somewhere.

A-Rod's HR Gets Him One Stop Closer to the Bronx

A-Rod: In deep trouble and going deep

He's coming whether you like it or not. Barring a suspension invoked by Bud Selig over the weekend, Alex Rodriguez will be back with the Yankees on Monday. The controversial third baseman homered in four at-bats for the Scranton RailRiders Thursday night in the first of three rehab games at the Triple-A level.

After a good first at-bat that ended with a hard hit ball caught in right field, Rodriguez hit Louisville Bats' starter Chad Reineke's 3rd inning pitch over the fence in right-center for a 2-0 RailRiders lead. Scoring ahead of him was the kid who tried to fill his shoes at the Major League level, David Adams.

One inning later, A-Rod struck out swinging and capped his night by going to the right side again, this time a ground out to first base.

Reports are that he's moving slowly and does not look Major League ready. Hitting to the right side in three of his four at-bats may or may not be an indicator of a slow bat.

The soon-to-be 38-year old is now 6-32 (.188) combined between Tampa, Trenton, and Scranton. In addition to last night's long ball, A-Rod has one other home run and a double. He's walked just once and has struck out eight times.

Pineda Set For Full Time Stint at Scranton

Photo courtesy of the thetimes-tribune.com

Derek Jeter wasn't the only player of importance rehabbing at Scranton Saturday night. Starting pitcher Michael Pineda, who has yet to pitch a game for the Yankees since his acquisition in the winter of 2011-2012, completed his last rehab start.

The Yankees are in no hurry to add him to their roster, however, so Pineda will be activated Sunday or Monday and optioned to Scranton. Pineda's 30 day rehab assignment expires on Monday.

Pineda's final start came against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. He struck out seven over five innings of work, allowed  a pair of earned runs, four hits, and two walks.

RaidRiders beat writer Donnie Collins reported that Pineda, who was extremely pumped up to be playing with Jeter, was consistent through his five innings of work. The 6'7" right-hander's fastball remained steady from 92-94 mph. Overall, Pineda was pleased with his start.

"I was feeling pretty good today," Pineda said. "My slider was good, but my change-up was good, too. I had a little trouble in the first inning. But I made an adjustment and went back to pitching."

For Pineda, this game was a microcosm of what he knows he needs to do to be a successful pitcher. Excited and working too fast, he struggled to keep his left shoulder closed in that first inning, which threw him off mechanically. 

In the second inning, he made sure to keep the shoulder tight, which helped him get better tilt on the breaking ball and keep his change-up down in the zone. 

"The thing is, when I close my left shoulder, all my pitches are good," Pineda said. "Open my left shoulder, something happens. When my left shoulder is closed, every pitch is down and every pitch is good.

Jeter Helps Down IronPigs

Not a headline you read every day. Derek Jeter was 0-2 with a walk and played five innings of shortstop for the Scranton RailRiders in his first rehab game after his second ankle fracture.

Jeter fielded one grounder cleanly, and according to the LehighValleylive.com (home of said IronPigs) showed good range to his left. Jeter seemed to be running fine when he lined out and grounded out.

Wang Headed to Toronto

Chien-Ming Wang is headed back to the Major Leagues according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman. The Yankees signed their former two time 19-game winner prior to this season and assigned him to the minor leaguers. Wang's deal had a number of target dates that gave him the opportunity to leave the organization if the Yankees didn't call him up from Scranton. That day has come.

Wang was offered a Major League deal by the Toronto Blue Jays and will be the team's starting pitcher when the team faces the White Sox in Chicago on Tuesday.

Wang was 4-4, 2.33 in nine starts, but his trademark, hard biting sinker was only clocked in the 88-90 mph range instead of the 93-95 he used to throw.  Rookie Vidal Nuno's success and the possible return of Michael Pineda made Wang expendable.

Good luck to the Wanger, one of my favorite Yankees of the last decade.

Nuno and Nova Hop on the Scranton Shuttle

Much to my surprise it was two pitchers that were removed from the 25-man roster to make room for the return of Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira this evening.

I figured that Vidal Nuno would be sent down upon the return of Andy Pettitte, but with Nuno unavailable after a six inning outing on Thursday night, he became the logical choice for one of the demotions. Nova threw five-plus innings of relief on Wednesday, so he too would be unavailable and the move allows Brian Cashman more time to project a long term plan.

Both players can throw on a regular day at Scranton rather than shorten the Yankees bench by remaining in the Major Leagues.

Decision Day 2 For Chien-Ming Wang

"What to do..what to do."

The Yankees saw the best of Chien-Ming Wang when he won 19 games in back-to-back seasons for them from 2006-2007. He was on his way to another fine season (8-2, 4.07) when he ruptured the Lisfranc ligament in his foot running the bases during a 2008 interleague game against the Houston Astros. Shoulder problems and surgery followed and Wang missed the entire 2010 season.

After two years with the Washington Nationals organization, Wang returned to the Bronx Bombers, but with a clause in his contract that allows the 33-year old to become a free agent today at five different points in the season. May 31 is the second of those selected dates (He chose not to opt out at his first chance.). It might not be a tough decision this time around since the Yankees haven't called up their former Cy Young Award candidate despite injuries to starters Andy Pettitte and Ivan Nova. Brian Cashman recently told the NY Daily News his reasons for not giving Wang a call up.

“He’s pitching some good games but he’s not a candidate for this. He’s not the power sinker he used to be, but we believe he needs to mix in more of his breaking balls to have the type of success necessary to pitch up here consistently,” Cashman said in reference to possible roster replacements when Joba Chamberlain was DL'ed due to a strained oblique.

“He’s becoming a different type of pitcher now because he can’t come up here and just sink that sinker every pitch. He needs to incorporate some of his pitches in there and mix and match because he’s that reduced in velocity,” 

Wang is 3-4, 2.65 in eight starts for the Triple-A Scranton RailRiders. He's put together a 1.176 WHIP in 51 innings with 23 strikeouts and 9 walks. He's allowed just two home runs and is coming off his best start of the season in which he tossed seven shutout innings and allowed only two hits. His ground out to air out ratio of 2.12 is not much different than his seasons in the Major Leagues.

According to the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo there are six teams interested in the Wanger's services. The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly reported that the Orioles are one of the teams.

If Wang stays on, he can still opt out at the end of June, August 10, and August 31.

Grandy is New York Bound

Curtis Granderson let the Yankees fans on Twitter and Facebook know tonight that he's headed to the big ball yard in the Bronx.

Curtis Granderson ‏@cgrand1417m

Just finished 5 games with @swbrailriders now in the car on the way back to NY #RoadToRecovery

Here comes some more offense.