Yankees Get Anna-mated in Extra

Dean Anna took a long road to the Major Leagues. After six years of minor league ball, spent in the San Diego Padres organization, Anna signed with the Yankees this past Winter as a free agent.  He came to Spring Training knowing the Yankees already had incumbents Eduardo Nunez and Brendan Ryan as utility infielders and backups to starting shortstop Derek Jeter.

But a funny thing happened on the way to being demoted to Scranton. Anna played too well, as did fellow rookie Yangervis Solarte, to go away. Anna received some unfortunate help when Ryan had to go on the disabled list after he suffered a pair of back injuries. When the powers that be decided they can no longer trust Nunez's defensive play, Anna made his first opening day roster at 27-years of age. Solarte, at 26, joined him.

Sunday afternoon in Tampa Bay, Anna had one of the biggest at-bats of his big league career. It came one day after he was called on to pitch an inning the eighth inning of a 16-1 Rays' blowout. With the Yankees and Rays tied at one apiece and two outs in the 14th inning, the left-handed hitting Anna came to the plate with the bases loaded against rookie left-hander C.J. Riefenhauser, who was making his Major League debut.

Anna battled through eight pitches, coming back from being down in the count 1 and 2 to being ahead, 3 and 2. (He fouled off a pair of 2-2 pitches) Riefenhauser went to a slider away that Anna started to chase, but held up. First base umpire Rob Drake agreed and Anna happily trotted to first as Brett Gardner came home with the go ahead run.

The Yankees then broke the game open, on a Carlos Beltran 2-run single and an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano, off Josh Lueke. The Rays put two men aboard in the bottom of the 12th against Preston Claiborne, who was recalled from Scranton earlier in the day, but the right-hander retired Ben Zobrist and Logan Forsythe to preserve the win.

Replay helped the Yankees score the first run of the game in the 4th inning. With Soriano on second base, Gardner hit a deep drive that he thought was a home run, but Wil Myers appeared to make the catch for the third out. Joe Girardi challenged the call and won when video replay showed Myers snaring the ball after it hit the top of the wall.

Yankees Throw In The Towel On Nunez

Too many botched plays caused Nunez's demise in NY.

Eduardo Nunez had the tools and he had the talent. He just couldn't make it happen in the Major Leagues as a Yankee. And in a short time, he will no longer be a Yankee.

The Yankees designated Nunez for assignment Monday afternoon, in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Yangervis Solarte. With Derek Jeter sidelined for nearly the entire 2013 season, Nunez had the opportunity to establish himself, but his OPS was under .700 and he continued to stumble in the field. He committed 12 errors at shortstop and made another pair at third base. In 2011, the numbers were similar - 14 errors at shortstop and 6 at third base.

In Spring Training this year, he faced stiff competition from Solarte and Dean Anna for a utility spot on the team. More than anything, your utility infielders must be solid defenders, and Nunez couldn't provide that. The Yankees waited until this past weekend to announce that Solarte had made the team over Nunez. Solarte took advantage of his situation with hot bat in the exhibition games, but today's move was more about Nunez than anything else.

Fans and the media like to talk about how Nunez was one of the reasons the Yankees couldn't swing a deal with Seattle for Cliff Lee in 2010. The Mariners wanted Ivan Nova and/or Nunez, and the Yankees reportedly said no. However, it's ridiculous to assume the Yankees would have won the World Series again had they acquired Lee. There's also no saying Seattle might not have pulled out of the deal and made a trade with Texas anyway.

The Yankees have 10 days to trade Nunez or he'll be released outright. He'll definitely get a shot with some organization, who might convert him into an outfielder. Something the Yankees should have done a long time ago.