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.

On The Warning Track - 2nd Half Outlook AL East - Yankees

For years the American League East held the unofficial title of the best division in baseball. That’s not the case any more, though the division is still extremely competitive despite its flawed teams. There’s no question that it may take as little as 90 wins to capture the division title and any of the five teams in the division could be on top when the regular season ends on October 4.

The next two weeks will determine whether or not teams are buyers or sellers at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. With a weakened division and the two wild card spots, a minimum of four teams will be buyers, with the Red Sox the lone possible seller as of this writing.

Here’s a look at what you can expect from each AL East team, starting with the Yankees, for the second half of the season.

New York Yankees (48-40): Most media experts and predictors felt the Yankees would finish in 4th or 5th/last place in the division. When you look at the construct of the team, you can understand why those predictions were made. But the Yankees have gotten performances from unexpected sources and have taken an advantage of the inconsistency of their division rivals.

Surprises – There was nothing more unexpected than the performances of first baseman Mark Teixeira and Designated Hitter Alex Rodriguez. Teixeira was selected to his first All-Star since 2009, his first year in New York. The Georgia Tech product saw his production suffer the last few years due to some bad habits and injuries, including a wrist injury that kept him out of all but 15 games in 2013. He entered the break with an AL leading 62 RBI and has his highest slugging pct. (SLG) in six years.

Read the rest of the story on the always free, On the Warning Track.

Derek Jeter Receives ESPN Icon Award at ESPYs

I'm no fan of the ESPY Awards, but last night they presented Derek Jeter with an icon award. If you only he could ever thank the ladies in his life that aren't his Mom or sister. Or at least think Hannah Davis' horse.

To add some irony and RE2PECT to the moment, ESPN had Red Sox fan Ben Affleck present the award.