With the Yankees rotation in taters and on the brink of losing Andy Pettitte the Yankees are desperate for pitching, but are they desperate enough to consider Carl Pavano as an option? They’re going to have to.
The 32-year-old injury prone pitcher is working his way back from his latest elbow surgery and is expected on a major league mound soon.
Last night he worked three and two-thirds innings for the Trenton Thunder and he put together a pretty impressive performance.
In just his third rehab start Pavano threw 63 pitches, 38 for strikes, and showed signs that he could still be effective this season. During the brief performance he gave up only one hit while striking out four. He wasn’t without rust though as he walked a pair and uncorked a couple wild pitches.
“I’m pleasantly surprised how I feel after the surgery and pleasantly surprised that I’m able to step in and pick up where I’ve left off previous times before injuries,” …

As the baseball season winds down, the Yankees are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in and it may stay that way because Andy Pettitte’s arm is in questionable condition lately.
In the past Pettitte has always been a very solid performer during the summer. Last August he was 6-0 and throughout his career he is an overall 90-41 during the months of July and August.
This season Pettitte has put together a sub-par July (3-3 and 4.74 ERA) and he has had one awful start so far in August. His last two performances have been especially bad as the lefty has gone 0-2 and has given up 14 runs including three homers over 10.1 innings.
All of this has lead to speculation of an injury or merely a dead-arm; either might cause him to miss at least one start.
Yesterday the Daily News reported that Pettitte was experiencing stiffness in his left arm and claimed that it would cause him …

Since his transition from the bullpen to the mound Joba Chamberlain has helped to bring the Yankees back from mediocrity into playoff contention. Now he must watch the team from the bench.

A day after Joba went to see the infamous Dr James Andrews the Yankees have put their 22-year-old power pitcher on the 15-day disabled list with rotator cuff tendinitis according to Newsday.
The Yankees expect Joba to rest at least one week before being reevaluated. At that point if everything goes well he will begin a short rehab before returning to the mound. He is not expected to need surgery and will likely be back this season.
This comes as great news to Yankee fans as there likely will not be long-term damage associated with this and the team still has a chance to make the playoffs this season.
If the Yankees had to finish the stretch run with a rotation of Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Sidney Ponson, Ian Kennedy, and Dan Giese they …

Last night’s deal which sent Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte from Pittsburgh to the Yankees was incorrectly reported. Jose Tabata is still the centerpiece along with Ross Ohlendorf, but Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen have become Pirates as well.
The reports made the rounds before the Yankees announced anything official. Phil Coke, who was originally reported as being part of the deal was pulled from his start last night after one inning. So it made sense that he was included in the deal.
George Kontos was the other double-A pitcher who was supposedly going to Pittsburgh.
This deal is probably better for the Pirates, instead of getting one of the Yankees top prospects and three throw ins they are now getting three pitchers who can contribute in the majors as soon as next year.
Ohlendorf was briefly part of the Yankees bullpen this season and Karstens has appeared in 15 games for the Bombers over the past two years. In seven appearances last season he …

The Yankees front office is showing confidence in a team that has won six games in a row and have gone out and made a splash trading for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte according to SI.com.

Just three games back in the AL East and the Wild Card the Yankees have decided they are going for it and have traded relief pitcher Ross Ohlendorf, minor league slugging prospect Jose Tabata, and double-A pitchers Phil Coke and George Kontos.

Nady has a .330 batting average, .919 OPS, and has 13 homers and 57 RBI’s this season. He will likely be inserted in the Yankees lineup as the everyday left fielder for now. Once Johnny Damon fully mends his shoulder he may get starts as the DH a few games a week.

Marte is 4-0 this season with a 3.47 ERA. His 1.16 WHIP and .217 batting average against are very impressive. He becomes the lefty reliever the Yankees have lacked for years, although …

Johnny Damon is eligible come off the disabled list this Sunday and says he’s hoping to be ready to go that day. That might be a little optimistic, but whenever he does return the Yankees will face a dilemma.
The decision they are going to be forced to make is who exactly their starting center fielder will be, Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner?
As the incumbent Cabrera has the advantage, but these are not the days of Joe Torre and his crony-ism so there certainly is a chance Gardner gets the nod as well.
We’ve seen what Cabrera can do, but after two seasons of growth he has taken a step back and is looking like he’s too small to hit for power and too big to be a speedy center fielder. Defensively he has a great arm, but has made quite a few blunders this season including one that led to an inside-the-park-homerun against the Boston Red Sox this season.
After refusing to deal him …

Maybe Brian Cashman reads Hot Stove, but probably not. Either way he must have figured my idea that the Yankees go out and sign Richie Sexson was a good low risk, high reward situation.
Sexson does add a decent bat against left handed pitching, which the Yankees sorely needed, but don’t get over excited. Sexson is not the answer to the Yankees offensive problems. Sure he’ll help in certain situations, but he is certainly no difference maker.
Yes, Sexson hits lefties and maybe a change of scenery will do him some good – he had a .523 OPS in Seattle and a .875 OPS on the road – but he’s still the same player who hit .205 a year ago. So expecting him to do much better than being part of a strong platoon is a little foolish.
Hideki Matsui is still sidelined and depending on how his visit to the doctor goes today he will be out a long time or a very long …

The Yankees will be holding their collective breaths tomorrow when Hideki Matsui has his knee further examined to determine if he will need season ending surgery.
If he does, then the search will begin on finding a replacement bat for his spot in the lineup. General manager Brian Cashman said that it is his preference to begin the search from within the Yankees’ own organization, but let’s face it, Brett Gardner is not going to cut it. He may be better than Melky Cabrera, but he certainly won’t make up for the .323 batting average and seven home runs Matsui provided.
There is one other possible replacement from within: Juan Miranda. Through 57 games at Scranton this season, Miranda is hitting .301 with five home runs and a .835 OPS. The problem with Miranda is that he doesn’t compliment the Yankee lineup well because he, like everyone else, struggles against lefties. In 57 at-bats against them this year he’s only managed a .175 batting average.
So they …

When the Mariners signed Richie Sexson before the 2005 season they thought they were getting a top of the line first baseman they could have in the middle of their lineup for years. Instead they got an overpaid, under performing, strike out king.

After putting up three consecutive seasons with a OPS of over .900 Sexson had begun to slip in 2006 and in 2007 bottomed out to a career low OPS of .694 and he has duplicated that this year at .696. The target of constant criticism the Mariners finally cut ties with him and released the tall 33-year-old.

They had every right to, he was costing them a lot and doing the equivalent of trying to stay dry in a pool at the plate.

With his future in jeopardy most teams will probably won’t even be willing to talk to him, but the Yankees should. The Yankees might be one of the few teams that could be in desperate need …

After an early season shoulder injury Jorge Posada was cleared to come off the DL on June 5. He played that day against the Toronto Blue Jays and went 1-for-3 with a walk.

He’s supposedly been healthy since then, but backup catcher Jose Molina has been getting regular playing time behind the plate and emergency catcher Chad Moeller is still on the roster.

After a months time people are starting to ask the obvious question, what is Moeller still doing here?

The answer might be that Posada is still hurt even though yesterday he told a NY Post reporter that he’s fine. He can still DH and even play first, but it is becoming obvious that the Yankees don’t trust his shoulder to throw out base runners.

Which might be the reason why Molina has started four games in a row behind the plate and Posada has served as the teams DH against in important games against division rivals. With …

With the season dragging on and the injuries piling up the Yankees recalled two anticipated prospects last week in Brett Gardner and David Robertson.

Their impact should be felt immediately as Gardner will be able to spell the struggling Melky Cabrera in center field and keep the hobbled Johnny Damon fresh in left. Robertson’s impact will be more of keeping the bullpen arms fresh.

Neither player should expect to see regular playing time, but that might not last long. Gardner’s arrival seems to have excited Yankee manager Joe Girardi because it gives him a real speed threat in the lineup. Gardner can also give the Yankees the advantage of the sacrifice hit more often than Cabrera could.

“He’s a guy that can make things happen at the top of the order,” Girardi said. “We’re going to play him,” Girardi said. “Being able to rotate the DH a little bit, we can do a lot of different things. He’s going to get …

When Frank Thomas was released by the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this season one couldn’t help but wonder if Jason Giambi was far behind. At the time he was having quite the terrible season.
For the month of April Giambi had a paltry .164 batting average and a slugging percentage of .411, or over .100 points below his career average. Well he’s turned all that around and what has changed? Well isn’t it obvious: it’s that little critter above his lip.
Since May 17 when the caterpillar first showed up, Giambi’s numbers are out of this world. Take a look at these numbers: G = 40, AB = 130, BA = .338, OBP = .419, SLUG = .715, OPS = 1.134, HR = 11.
Needless to say starring in 70’s porn part time has brought Giambi luck. But is his mustache the best Yankee ’stache ever?
Checkout past Yankees who have donned the whiskers and vote on who’s are the best.
 

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