Another Day, Another Injury, Melky II On His Way

The Captain won't be around to greet Melky II this time.

First game back after the All-Star break and the injury list grew ince again. Zoilo Almonte who has had a pretty good introduction to the Major Leagues is the latest victim of the now you see 'em, now you don't conspiracy. It was just more rancid icing on a progressively stale piece of cake that is the Yankees season. To make matters worse it occurred during a 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox that dropped the Bomberless Bombers seven games out of first place in the AL East.

Almonte lunged at the first base bag in attempt to beat out the back end of a double play ball and the bag won. A sprained left ankle is the diagnosis with a pair of crutches the newest part of Almonte's wardrobe. A trip to the 15-day DL is the grand prize as Almonte joins Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis, David Phelps, Francisco Cervelli, Jayson Nix, and (temporarily) Alex Rodriguez on the sidelines.

If this were an episode of the Andy Griffith show, Sheriff Taylor would be saying, "Sarah, get me (Scranton GM) Rob Crain on the phone." RailRiders beat writer Donnie Collins reported that Melky Mesa and Thomas Neal are headed to Boston to join the team for the remainder of the weekend series.

Melky II, this time it's personal, got into three games last September and October and was 1-3 with an RBI. Mesa had a good shot to make the team out of Spring Training and the front office remains high on him despite the fact he's got the lowest OPS (.710) of his career since he was in rookie ball in 2007. Most worrisome are his 93 strikeouts in 242 at-bats and just seven walks. Mesa struck out 118 times in 2012 in 502 plate appearances.

I won't be a total Debbie Downer though- Mesa does have a solid .430 slugging pct. with 9 HR, 10 doubles, and a trio of triples. He's also stolen seven bases in eight attempts. He's been primarily a centerfield in his minor league career, but the Yankees will count on him to play the corner outfield spots. Plus the Yankees can unload the "Got Melk" t-shirts that have been laying around since Melky Cabrera was traded.

Neal got into four games with the Yankees this year and was 2-11 (.182) with one walk and four strikeouts. Entering Friday's play Neal had a nice slash line of .318/.392/.407 with 23 walks in 65 games for Scranton. Unlike Mesa, Neal's career in the outfield has been primarily played in left and right fields.  The Yankees signed him as a free agent this past January 18.

Alberto Gonzalez and Luis Cruiz dodged a bullet Friday when Brennan Boesch was released to make room on the 40-man roster. One of them is likely to go this time, with my guess being Gonzalez, as it was on Friday for Brent Lillibridge's entrance.

Nova Ready to Go, Neal Back to Scranton

Yankees have made it official that Ivan Nova has been activated to start today's game. His roster spot opened up with the Yankees optioning Thomas Neal back to the minors.

Neal was just 2-11 with one walk. Meanwhile, the Yankees are still hoping Nova can recapture the stuff that helped him go 16-4 in 2011.

Youkilis Sidelined Again

Brian Cashman knew it was a gamble, albeit a low risk one, when he signed Kevin Youkilis to a one-year, $12MM contract. Youkilis has been injury prone the last few years with his back in particular a cause for concern.

That concern has manifested itself into a second stint on the 15-day DL. Youkilis missed all but one game in May the first time his back acted up. 

Outfielder Thomas Neal had already been called up with the demotion of David Adams. Unless another move is made Jayson Nix will get the bulk of the time at third base with Reid Brignac starting at shortstop. Perhaps Ronnier Mustelier join the Yankees as well.

Pitcher Chris Bootcheck has also been recalled with Adam Warren sent to the minors after he threw six innings in Thursday's 18 inning marathon. The right-hander was a first round pick by the Los Angeles Angels in 2000 and hasn't been in the Major Leagues since a 13 game stretch with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2009.

The Yankees are Bootcheck's fifth organization, not counting the year he spent Yokohama in the Japanese League. Still just 24-years old, Bootcheck was 5-2, 3.32, 1.283 in 11 starts for the Scranton RailRiders prior to his call up. He'll take over Warren's long man role for the time being.

UPDATE: 11 pm 6/14 - With the injury to Youkilis, the Yankees held on to Adams rather than send him to Scranton. The rookie was in Friday night's lineup, but at his natural second base position with Robinson Cano in the DH slot.

Youkilis didn't feel his pain in his back after Thursday's 18 inning marathon, but felt a combination of tingling and numbness in his right foot. When the sensation didn't go away, Youkilis knew something was wrong.

Talk about knowing some thing is wrong....how did Joe Girardi not realize playing Youkilis and his bad back for 18 innings was the wrong thing to do?  Bad job by the Yankees skipper.

Yankees Play Two to Lose One and the Pattern Continues: Time For a Shake Up Part I

It took 18 innings and overs 5 1/2 hrs, but the Yankees completed an embarrassing three game sweep at the hands of the Oakland A's Thursday, 3-2. Now, don't get me wrong, losing to the A's is not embarrassing. in itself. They're a good ball club and are red hot, winners of 9 of 12 and 41-27 overall.

The inconsistency of the Yankees performance is what is troubling. We all knew that eventually the talent level on the roster would catch up to the standings.  It's been a topsy turvy season due to all the injuries, the reliance on players that aren't used to playing every day, are past their prime, or are injury prone or any combination of the aforementioned.

The starting pitching, once a strength, has struggled outside of Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda was on the hill in Thursday's finale with the A's and completely dominated the Oakland lineup over eight innings. He allowed two hits and two earned runs and had nothing to show for it in the box score.  The Yankees offense  sputtered as it did the entire three game series in Oakland.

Two runs in 18 innings Thursday and eight total runs in the series' 36 innings; that was the entire Yankees output in the series. Robinson Cano's 16th home run of the season accounted for all of the Yankees runs in the finale and that occurred in the 1st inning. The rest of the day was one wasted opportunity after another or no opportunities at all.

The Yankees finished with 10 hits on the day with 80% of the production from Cano (3), Ichiro Suzuki (3), and Brett Gardner (2).  The pen did a fantastic job to keep the game even, particularly Adam Warren, who tossed six scoreless innings. The A's finally pulled things out with a run off of Preston Claiborne and an ineffective Mariano Rivera. Remarkably the team remained just three games behind first place Boston in the AL East and just two games back in the loss column.

That's why the Yankees need to shake things up before things get worse, especially when it comes to the replacement players that were brought in.

The culprits: Let's start with Vernon Wells. The Yankees primary left fielder started out like a house afire - a .911 OPS in the month of April with six home runs and 13 RBI. Since then Wells is 27-146 (.185) and just 4-42 in the month of June. Wells' main accomplishment has been to stay healthy, which is no small feat for him.

Kevin Youkilis seemed like a good stop gap measure with no Alex Rodriguez around, but after an adequate .769 OPS in 17 games, he missed all but one game in May due to a bad back and is 5-37 (.135) in June.

Travis Hafner appeared to be completely rejuvenated in April - a 1.104 OPS with six home runs and 17 RBI in 22 games. MVP type numbers, but "Pronk" is 16-102 (.157) since then with four home runs and 12 RBI.

Lyle Overbay's playing time has been cut down considerably since the return of Mark Teixeira, but up until then Overbay played well over his head and produced a number of clutch moments for the team. Less play means less effectiveness and on top of that Overbay is trying to learn a new position (RF). He's had just six hits in his last 31 at-bats. (.194)

The Yankees hoped that the return of Teixeira would infuse more offense, but so far he is still looking to get his groove back. Tex is 8-49 since he returned from the DL, and thought he has managed seven walks, three home runs, and 12 RBI in 13 games, a .367 slugging percentage is nothing to brag about.

I have already speculated that Ichiro Suzuki's days in the Bronx could be numbered. A .644 OPS in April was followed by a .631 OPS in May. About halfway through June and there's no sign of things getting better, evidenced by Ichiro's .634 OPS. A .293 average for the month is an improvement, but all 12 of his hits are singles and he's attempted to steal a base just (successfully) once.

The Yankees announced on Friday that David Adams was sent down to Triple-A to play regularly. Adams did a nice job at first as one of the fill-ins for Youkilis, but owned a .587 OPS when he departed. The Yankees called up outfielder Thomas Neal, a 25-year old with 23 Major League at-bats (With Cleveland). Neal signed prior to the season as a minor league free agent and had a robust .339 average for the Scranton RailRiders. Add on a .426 on-base percentage and a .446 slugging pct. (12 doubles, 2 HR) and you can see why the Yankees feel his right-handed bat might help against left-handed pitching.

Catcher Francisco Cervelli will likely be back before the All-Star break, though no one knows if he'll hit like before he was hurt. Curtis Granderson has an outside chance of being back before the break, but is likely to be back afterwards. Derek Jeter just got the clearance to resume baseball activities and Alex Rodriguez, well, there's no real idea when and if "Mr. Makes His Own Trouble" will suit up in a Major League uniform again.

In the meantime, the Yankees may have to dip back into Scranton for players like Ronnier Mustelier or Zoilo Almonte to jump start the offense.

Stay tuned for Part II: Time for the Yankees to Cut Hughes and Joba Loose

Nova Looks Good in Weekend Sweep

The New York Yankees entered the weekend with just one win so far in the 2013 Grapefruit League. There hasn't been too much worry (this isn't your father's Steinbrenner) about though. Losses have mainly due to poor fielding, pitching, and lack of hitting by the Yankees' youngsters that have no chance of making the 25 man roster when the team departs Florida at the end of the month.

Ivan Nova is one of the youngsters that is an exception to the rule. A 16-game winner in his rookie season in 2011, Nova struggled with his command, some physical issues, and his confidence last season. The result was  a 12 win season, but an ERA over 5.00 and no spot on the post-season roster.

It didn't start out that way; Nova finished the first half 10-3, 3.92 in 17 starts. In the second half, Nova was the polar opposite and finished 2-5, 7.05 in 11 starts. After he allowed 13 home runs in 165.1 innings pitched in 2011, he allowed 28 home runs in just five more innings pitched a year later. Though his strikeouts went from 5.3 per nine innings in 2011 to 8.1 last season, it was clear that Nova was not placing the ball where he wanted to.

Nova's clean slate for 2013 began on Saturday when he  tossed a pair of scoreless innings in the Yankees 10-3 win over the Tigers. He allowed one hit and struck out one in his Spring Training debut. He threw 27 pitches.

Meredith Marakovitz spoke with Nova about his performance.



The Yankees won their second straight on Sunday, 5-1 over Boston in their first spring meeting with the Red Sox. Adam Warren was solid in three innings of work, with the only blemish a Mike Napoli home run. 23-year old Jose Ramirez followed with three scoreless innings and picked up the win.

Among the offensive highlights was a solo home run by Thomas Neal.

Injury Update

Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera both threw simulated games on Sunday. Rivera threw 21 pitches while Pettitte worked two innings and threw 34 pitches.

Lefty reliever Boone Logan has been shut down for a few days to rest his achy elbow. An MRI only showed some inflammation and Logan is hopeful that he'll be able to get back at it this week.

Starter Phil Hughes' back is feeling better and made 25 tosses from 60 feet on Sunday.

Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was, thankfully, not injured when involved in a car accident on Saturday. Ichiro was on his way home from Saturday's game when his Land Rover was struck by another car attempting to make a left turn across traffic. The other driver was cited for failure to yield.