Yankees Get Headley - No Additional Joy in Mudville

The Yankees are counting on Chase Headley to strike a pose at the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium.

Had this been the 2012 trade deadline or the offseason heading into 2013, the Yankees acquisition of Chase Headley would have been met with more enthusiasm. But the trade between the Yankees and Padres, announced moments ago, has been met with a ho-hum.

That's because, since his breakout 2012 season, Headley hasn't been impressive at the plate. He led the National League with 115 RBI in 2012, to go along with 31 home runs, 17 steals, and a .286/.376/.498 split. While the Padres are a horrible team, Headley's production should be better than it was, even though he played most of last season with a torn meniscus. He had corrective surgery in the offseason.

Headley was limited to 141 games last year and put up a .257/.347/.400 slash line. He hit 13 HR, drove in 50 runs and struck out 142 times. This season Headley missed some time early with a calf issue and has not hit, particularly at his home field, Petco Park.

.229/.296/.355 is the ugly truth Headley is staring at as he heads to New York. 7 HR, 32 RBI, and 73 K's in 77 games. That doesn't sound much different than one of the players he was dealt for, Yangervis Solarte. The rookie took New York by storm the first two months of the season and has a .254/.337/.381 split with 6 HR and 31 RBI in 75 games. Joining him on the way to San Diego is right-handed pitcher, Rafael De Paula.

The 23-year old was pitching at Advanced-A ball Tampa and had compiled a 6-5 record with a 4.15 ERA. De Paula averaged 10.5 K's and 3.8 BB's per nine innings this season. He's a prospect that could still move up the charts and come back to haunt the Yankees one day. Yes, I am not in favor of dealing pitching prospects.

Headley will become the every day third baseman, with Zelous Wheeler sent back to Scranton. (Wheeler's spot could be taken by another reliever or perhaps outfielder Zoilo Almonte.) The 30-year old Padre will be reportedly be sent with $1MM to alleviate the remainder of the $10.525MM owed him this season. He's eligible to become a free agent next year; that's the biggest positive of the deal  until Headley can prove otherwise.

Headley will also have to choose another number than his current 7 or his old number 16. Now, can this mean the removal of Kelly Johnson? Probably not, but one can wish for it.

UPDATED 2:50 pm - Here's prospect guru John Sickels' assessment of De Paula:

Rafael De Paula, RHP: The Yankees signed De Paula out of the Dominican Republic in 2010. He earned a $500,000 bonus but it took some doing: his identity was in question, with De Paula having used various names and birthdays since scouts started showing interest in him. Once his identity was finally settled, he was suspended for a year until eventually signing the Yankees contract.

He finally got to North America in 2013, posting a 2.94 ERA in 13 starts for Low-A Charleston last year, with a 96/23 K/BB in 64 innings. Promoted to High-A Tampa in the second half, he struggled with his command and his secondary pitches, resulting in a 6.06 ERA in 49 innings and a 50/30 K/BB. He's improved in 2014, lowering his ERA to 4.15 for Tampa with a 104/38 K/BB in 88 innings.

Listed at 6-2, 215, De Paula's current birthday is March 24, 1991. He had one of the top fastballs in the Yankees system, consistently in the mid-90s with movement. However, his slider and changeup are very erratic and he loses the touch with his mechanics at times, hampering his control. Many scouts see him as a future reliever due to his inconsistency with his secondary pitches.

The Yankees Ship Exited April in 1st Place, But Not Without Some Leaks

Masahiro Tanaka was better than advertisted in April.

It wasn't a perfect first month of the season for the New York Yankees, but after April 30's scheduled game with the Seattle Mariners was rained out, they ended the month with a 15-11 record and a 2.5 game lead over Baltimore for first place in the AL East.

The month did not come without its bumps and bruises, and unfortunately for the Yankees, they've hit where they could hurt the most. The first blow came when Ivan Nova had three bad starts in his four appearances. While everyone wondered if it was mechanics, velocity, or just a slow start, the truth was much worse. Nova had torn the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) in his right elbow and had season-ending Tommy John surgery.

For the moment, second year pitcher Vidal Nuno has taken Nova's spot in the rotation. Nuno was solid in threes starts last season and the Yankees are going to need him to be as good this year. The rotation took a another hit when Michael Pineda was caught cheating and suspended for 10 days, and then strained his back. Pineda was seen with pine tar on his right hand in a start against Boston on April 10. He explained afterwards that it was dirt, which everyone knew it wasn't.

It was clear that Pineda was trying to get a better grip on the ball, but the Red Sox didn't complain because they know how prevalent cheating is among the pitchers in Major League Baseball. On top of that, the Red Sox starter that night, Clay Buchholz, is one of the pitchers that is rumored to be a walking medicine cabinet of salves and ointments.

To the untrained eye, it didn't appear that Pineda used any aids whe he threw six shutout innings to beat the Chicago Cubs in his next start. But on a chilly night in Boston on April 23, Pineda went to the well, or pine tar, once too often. To make matters worse, he made no effort to hide what he had done. Red Sox manager John Farrell sad after the game that he didn't want to say anything to the umpires, but it was so blatant he really had no choice. A big smear of pine tar shone on the side of  Pineda's neck. An ejection and a 10-game suspension followed, but Pineda's tale of woe was not complete.

During a simulated game, Pineda felt pain in his lat muscle and went for an MRI. It turned out to be a Grade 1 strain of the teres major muscle, an injury with much more potential danger than a strained lat. It's part of a group of muscles that supports the shoulder. That's not good news for a pitcher who missed all of the 2012 and 2013 seasons after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Pineda, off to a 2-2, 1.83 start, will be out for 3-4 weeks. Considering his past shoulder issues, that could be a conservative estimate. David Phelps will take his first turn in the rotation and could move into the spot until Pineda gets back.

With CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda struggling to find consistency, Masahiro Tanaka has been a Godsend. The Japanese star has been nothing less than outstanding in his first month in the big leagues. His final start of the month, against the Los Angeles Angeles, was probably the best proof of what Tanaka is made of. After four starts, in which he had 35 strikeouts and two walks in 29.1 innings, the right-hander struggled with his control against the Halos. He walked four and allowed five hits in 6.1 innings, but a double play and 11 strikeouts helped keep the Angels to two runs. Though he didn't figure in the decision, the Yankees eventually won 3-2. Tanaka finished the month 3-0, 2.26 with 11 K's per nine innings pitched.

The other big free agent signings had mixed results in their first season in the Bronx. Jacoby Ellsbury was oustanding. The former Red Sox center fielder put together a .312/.369/.452 line with eight stolen bases in 10 attempts. He also scored 14 runs and had nine multi-hit games, including four games with three hits.

Carlos Beltran slugged five home runs, drove in 13 runs, scored 11, and finished with an .826 OPS.

The transition at the plate wasn't as smooth for new catcher Brian McCann. He exited April with a .620 OPS, that included a month-ending 2-20 slide.

Rookie utility infield Yangervis Solarte was the surprise of the month after winning the final spot out of Spring Training. Solarte posted a 1.007 OPS after 15 games and drove in 13 runs.

The Yankees bullpen did an outstanding job for much of the month, which included filling in for an injured David Robertson. Shawn Kelley, David Phelps, and Adam Warren combined for six saves.

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.