Youk Could Be Tanaka's Teammate

"Rak-what? Are they in the NL?"

There's probably more than a few people who looked at the above headline and went, "huh?". While Masahiro Tanaka may not be coming to the US, Kevin Youkilis is going to Japan to play for the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Youkilis' agent, Joe Bick, confirmed the information with mlbtraderumors.com. Youkilis signed a one-year, $12MM with the Yankees last season, but played in just 28 games due to a bad back that led to season ending surgery.

The corner infielder has not played more than 122 games in a season since 2009 when he was in his sixth season in Boston. Injuries have taken their toll the the last three seasons as evidenced by Youkilis' plummeting slugging percentage and batting average.

Youkilis was unduly criticized by new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine in 2012 and was sent to the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline in July for Brent Lillibridge and Zach Stewart.

The 34-year old was on fire to start the 2013 season, posting a .931 OPS through the Yankees' first 13 games, but sat out a week after his back contributed to a 1-12 skid. He returned too quickly on April 27 and landed on the disabled list after one game.

Youkilis missed 30 games and then was 6-41 (.146) before his season came to a premature end. This season he'll take the place of another former, short-term Yankee (22 games in 2012), Casey McGehee, who left Japan to sign a contract with the Miami Marlins.

Yankees Add Their Thorn(ton) to Their Flowers

Don't mix up your Thorntons!

At Jacoby Ellsbury's intro press conference last week, manager Joe Girardi said that Ellsbury would "no longer be a thorn in our sides, but a flower in our clubhouse." It was funny and extremely weird.

Tuesday afternoon the Yankees got some thorn back in the the person of left-handed reliever Matt Thorton. The 37-year old lefty agreed to a two-year, $7MM deal to replace Boone Logan in the bullpen.

Originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners, Thornton was acquired by the White Sox in a steal of a deal in March of '06 for outfielder Joe Borchard.

Borchard had once been a highly ranked prospect, but his Major League at-bats never matched his minor league output or his scouting reports. Thornton, meanwhile, became a steady reliever in the White Sox bullpen. He was especially outstanding for three seasons from 2008-2010 as a set up man who would get an occasional save opportunity when the team's closer was unavailable.

Thornton has appeared in 60 or more games in eight straight seasons, including this past year when the White Sox dealt him to Boston in mid-July for minor leaguer Brandon Jacobs. (Coincidentally, Jacobs was part of the three team deal that sent Mark Trumbo to Arizona. Jacobs joined him as the player to be named later in the deal.)

Command is key for Thornton to be successful. During the aforementioned three year period, Thornton struck out 10.3, 10.8, and 12 batters per 9 innings pitched. During that time period he walked less than three batters per nine innings. Since then, Thornton's K's have dropped while his base on balls have risen as have his hits per inning. His 6.2 strikeouts/9 IP last year was the lowest of his career.

With left-handed relievers hard to come by, the Yankees made a decent move to replace Logan. He did very well against left-handed hitters last season, but don't expect an All-Star performance.