My Take on the Big Yankees Moves

Hey everyone, Drew back here. As the free agency period is starting to slow down and come to a close, Yankee fans seemed to wonder where GM Brian Cashman had been. Normally, Cashman and the Steinbrenner family are all over the free agents every winter, but it seemed different this year. Obviously, the team's weakness from last year was our starting pitching, with struggles from Phil Hughes, Bartolo Colon, and more famously, AJ Burnett. Burnett has been consistently awful through his 3 seasons in the Bronx, and for about $16 million a year, Cashman did the wrong thing taking him on. But you can't necessarily blame him for the signing. Burnett had been a very solid #2 pitcher for several years, and his performance demanded a salary of maybe just a bit less than what he got.

But when I heard about the big trade that went down yesterday between the Yankees and Mariners, I was a bit stunned. In case you haven't heard, the Yankees sent their top prospect Jesus Montero and a potential starter in Hector Noesi to Seattle for their young future star pitcher Michael Pineda and pitching prospect Jose Campos. I was in shock when I received the Yankees News Alert text message, because of the way they brought up Montero. His hitting skill was un-matched by most catching prospects, and his overall future talent was predicted to be of All Star caliber. I invested in a few of his autographs and was extremely excited for his call up to the big leagues. Last September, he made a splash when they finally called him up for his cup of coffee at the end of the season. He hit .328 in 18 games, slugging 4 home runs, and knocking in 28 runs, which in my book is an unreal first month in the big leagues! 2012 will be his official rookie season, now with Seattle, and he may do even better in a less covered team in the Mariners.

Michael Pineda is going to be a beast in the major leagues, from what all of us fans got to witness last year. With very minimal run support, the 6'7 right hander still managed to win 9 games and sported an ERA of 3.74. He collapsed as the year went on, but he showed many signs of promise. I actually had gotten 2 of his autographs through the mail last season, and I owned him at some points of last year's fantasy baseball season. I'm not sure how he'll stack up in New York, with all of the media and pressure that has scared away many other solid players that just couldn't perform in the environment. My take on his collapse last year was that he lost confidence in his ability to help his team win games, because the Mariners offense didn't give him much/if any run support all season. Also, he was only 22 years old, and it's very hard for a young pitcher, no matter how talented, to pitch that well against so many All Star hitters for an entire year.

While I am a fan of Pineda, I still don't understand why Cashman decided to deal the future face of our franchise, once Jeter retires. The deal does even out in the end, but after how Yankee fans fell in love with the future hitting star late last year, I couldn't believe he would allow his stint to end. They have wanted many top of the line players over the years, and in order to get those guys, they would have to surrender Montero. In fact, a few years ago they could have gotten Cliff Lee from Seattle, if they gave him up. But Cashman wouldn't do it. Finally, he did it. Hopefully he did it, and got the right guy out of it.

Based off their 2011 performance, Pineda's numbers top most of the other big name pitching free agents' stats. CJ Wilson was pretty much the only pitcher that topped him last year, but Wilson is inconsistent and did very poorly in the playoffs. I'm really going to miss Jesus, and I wish him the best of luck in Seattle.. well as long as Pineda can perform to the ability the Yankees management thinks he can!

Immediately following the trade, the Yankees also announced they had signed former Dodgers pitcher Huroki Kuroda to a one year, $10 million dollar deal. I honestly don't know a whole lot about Kuroda, besides the fact that he's an aging pitcher who had one of his better seasons last year, although he also did not receive much run support from his Dodgers teammates. I think judging off of what I've read he could make a solid number 4 starter, and if he doesn't turn out well, he could be a long man in the bullpen, because they certainly have many other arms to test out in the rotation! The rotation now looks to consist of: Sabathia; Pineda; Nova; Kuroda; and either Hughes; Burnett; or Garcia in the 5th spot. I could see them putting Hughes in the bullpen, because as we've seen, he can be dominant in that role. Burnett may either be traded prior to the season or could fill a bullpen role, as much as he won't like the idea. But honestly, I don't think it matters how happy he is, because he earned the role he now has, by failing to perform at the level his contract wanted him to.

Nobody wins in the offseason, because simply, there aren't any games to play! With the Angels signing Pujols and CJ Wilson, the Marlins signing Jose Reyes; Heath Bell; and Mark Buehrle, and all of the other big moves,  it's been an interesting offseason for sure. I hope a few years from now the Yankees won't regret yesterdays moves, but we're going to have to wait and see!

What are your views on the big moves in the Bronx? Who do you think got the bigger edge in the deal?

See Ya!

The Yankees Clinched the East, and We Were There!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Wednesday really seemed to be my kind of day, starting off with my recent big news on being included in Beckett Sports Card Monthly. Just following that, we headed down to Yankee Stadium for the makeup game we missed due to rain in late August, the second game of a double header against Tampa Bay! I was glad the game was rained out because Burnett was going to be the scheduled starter for the game, but with the makeup, we got one heck of a pitching matchup, between one of my favorite young pitchers, Rays' Jeremy Hellickson, and Yankees ace CC Sabathia!

My dad, my Grandpa Charlie, Mike, and I all got down to the stadium after a long day, and hoped to have a nice relaxing night. It didn't look promising. The weather was stable for the ride, but as soon as we got into the stadium the rain picked up more and more. We hoped it wouldn't affect us though. In the meantime, we visited Monument Park! I hadn't been to Monument Park in the new stadium yet, so I was excited to see it for the first time. Check out some pics I took in the Yankees Hall of Fame:

Ain't Looking Too Pretty to Start!

Mike and I with Joltin Joe

R.I.P. George Steinbrenner

Never Forgive, Never Forget.

I have to say, I really enjoyed Monument Park as always. They did a nice job putting it together out in center field, and the plaques and numbers look amazing as always. Even with the poor weather at the time we still all enjoyed honoring the past Yankees greats and of course, Jackie Robinson. Getting back to those ugly clouds though, well, it didn't get much better. It started to absolutely poor. However, they didn't put the tarp down on the field so I still thought there was some hope. Eventually, after about a half hour of rain, I stood up and shouted "Rain, STOP!" Two minutes later... it stopped. Time to go help my dad out with the lottery!

We waited by the Yankees bullpen, which, if you walked down the rest of the row in my section, was right next to our seats! We had these same seats back last year when I got to see Andy Pettitte pitch, even though he didn't last long because of a groin injury he sustained. Soon after we waited, Carston Charles Sabathia came out of the indoor bullpen room and began to throw!

Jeremy Hellickson getting loose

One thing I felt ashamed of not noticing however, was that the whole time CC was throwing, standing right besides Yankee catcher Russell Martin was Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson! I completely didn't realize that he was there until after CC threw out on the field. Fortunately, we did catch Reggie for a moment before he went in to the clubhouse. I double took when I saw him walk by and was like "Oh my god... it's Reggie Jackson!" and started shouting "REGGIE!!" Mike, Dad and I started yelling for him and he stopped to waved to us all before he went in the room. I almost got a perfect picture but I was shaking too much in awe to hold the camera still. 

While that was an incredible moment, I have to say watching CC Sabathia warm up from so close of a distance was unbelievable. He was throwing gas and the pop in Martin's glove was one of the most incredible sounds a baseball can make. Don't get me wrong, watching Pettitte warm up was great, but Sabathia blew him out of the water, especially throwing his nasty slider often in his warm up. 

I also got to snap a few pictures of Yankee pitching prospects, and members of the "Killer Bees": Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman. Both of them are freakishly huge, Betances being 6'8 and Brackman being a whopping 6'11. Last night they didn't fare well in each of their first pitching appearances, but they certainly have the stuff to become solid pitchers down the road.

At about 8:00, the game began! Unfortunately, being the second game of a doubleheader, the Yankees gave Jeter, Rodriguez, and Swisher a game off, and replaced them with Eric Chavez, Eduardo Nunez, and Chris Dickerson in right field. One of the things I wanted most was to be right behind my favorite player Nick Swisher once again, but sadly, I had to deal with Chris Dickerson in front of me, who was as boring as a rock compared to Swish. 

Jesus Montero!

Here are just a few random shots from throughout the game. Sabathia pitched 7.1 innings, allowing 2 runs, both on solo home runs, including a moon shot by Sean Rodriguez that bounced off the foul pole. Fortunately, the Yankees got in on the action in the home run parade, as one of my favorite players, Robinson Cano, blasted a home run into the shallow right field bleachers. Wait. I was in the shallow right field bleachers! 

Notice anything? Yep, we were on TV! If you're still struggling to realize, we were the 4 people all the way in the front, me being the crazy one with the camera over my neck with my mouth wide open. The ball landed 2 rows behind us, and we came extremely close to adding a game used ball to the collection. Unfortunately, we fell just a bit short, but we got to hold the ball, and we got on TV!

Cano broke the tie game early on, and Jesus Montero added an RBI on a double play with the bases loaded and 0 outs. Boy, was it cool to finally get to watch Montero play!

Andrew Brackman

A Close up on Aaron Laffey

Yankee prospect Austin Romine!

In the eighth, CC was starting to break down, with an extremely high pitch count. The Yankees were loosening up Brackman and Betances, but then in order to keep the game in tact, they warmed up All Star set up man David Robertson to help him out. In a 2-2 game, with the bases loaded and 1 out, the first pitch hit off Robertson made up for a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat! Wow!

Then, you couldn't imagine the joy in my face when Brett Gardner was pinch hit for in the bottom of the eighth by good old Nick Swisher! Well, my joy escalated even more when Swish came up clutch, ripping a double into the gap to lead off the inning!

The Yankees soon loaded the bases, for Jesus Montero.. err.. a pinch hitter...

None other than Jorge Posada was Girardi's choice to come up to the plate in a key appearance, and well, he came up huge, with a 2 RBI double to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead! The stadium, silent all night, erupted with chants, one very big one, was in result of the Orioles triumph over the Red Sox to take the series against the struggling Sox. I started an enormous "RED SOX SUCK" chant that carried throughout the outfield, and took part in the Hip Hop Jorge chant! 

Sadly, Girardi didn't bring Rivera in to close it out, which would've made for a perfect ending to the AL East, instead bringing in our insanely overpaid reliever Rafael Soriano, who worked through the inning, leading to a 4-2 Yankees win! With this win, the Yankees clinched the AL East yet again, which is a major accomplishment given all the smack talk Red Sox fans had to offer before the season. To beat traffic, we left with 2 outs, and missed the celebration, which I regret big time. But its okay, we all had a blast and saw a great game! Congrats to the Yankees! Time to bring home World Series Championship #28!

Also, thanks again so much Dad for taking us and spending all kinds of money on us, you're the best! See Ya!

A Few Recent Trades

Hey guys, Drew back here. I got 3 packages in recently, and I guess you can consider them all trades although I haven't been all that active in the trade world due to schoolwork lately. Might as well get to it now, the first trade was with Max of Knuckle Ball Blues. Max has been caught up with a lot of schoolwork lately as well, but me and him were able to work out a nice little trade. I sent him one of my 3 Billingsley TTM autos and got these in return:

3 2010 Topps Pro Debut cards. This set kinda bores me a little, although I do like the Yankees and Renegades. The cards are nice though, being the 1st taste of the product so far for me. We got Austin Romine, Adam Warren, and a blue border Jesus Montero numbered out of 369. Very nice stuff though!

Yes that would be a Topps Pro Debut Jesus Montero sticker autograph! Jesus is one of the Yankees top prospects and I have 2 of his autograph cards now! I think he has the potential to play for us next year, maybe as a backup, but then take over as the starting catcher in the future! I'm definitely psyched to get this card, thanks Max!

Next I made a trade with Rhubard Runner of “é rayhahn, rayhahn". Him and I have tried to work out trades in the past but they haven't worked out right, until now. Check out my part of the trade:

First, a bunch of Yankees inserts, including 4 2009 Topps gold cards (Phil Hughes, Mark Melancon, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Brett Gardner), and 2 2010 Topps gold cards (Jeter/Andrus, Swisher Home Run Derby!), including a Swisher for the PC! Also got an orange refractor of Nick Johnson from Topps Chrome, which is a very nice card despite the player.

The meat of this trade were these 2 relics. First, a Jason Giambi jersey from 2009 SP Legendary Cuts. Giambi is pictured as a Yankee on this card but it says Athletics everywhere, a collectors pet peeve. I don't like that personally, but the card is nice and I sure miss the stache!

The second relic is of my homeboy, Nick Swisher! This card is from 2009 Upper Deck Goudey, which in my opinion was a boring ripoff of the 2007 set. But this card is fairly nice, it says Yankees as the team but he is pictured as a White Sox player, unfortunately, considering he played his worst year in the MLB with them.

Thanks so much Rhubard Runner! On to the last one, which was a very small trade that I almost forgot about (sorry!), which turned into a much larger and nicer trade! Jeremy of "no one's going to read this blog" sent me a bunch of sweet stuff with a special surprise!

First, some 2010 Topps set needs, and a 2010 Bowman Chrome card of Yankees prospect Corban Joseph, who I haven't heard of before. Not much super special to write home about here, but a definite thanks for helping with the set!

That wasn't all however! He also included a bunch of Jets including a few Panini Adrenalyn cards, which actually are pretty cool looking! Also included was a nice chrome Cotchery card from 2009 Topps Chrome, a sweet Sanchez from 2010 Epix, and a Cotchery blue refractor from 2007 Topps Finest numbered out of 299! This card is sweet!

Jeremy has a certain talent, and he likes to share it with other collectors! He is a great artist, and he made me this sketch card himself of Robinson Cano!

I can't describe how awesome this is! I'm glad to add this 1/1 sketch card to my collection! Thanks SO much Jeremy!

Thanks again to everyone mentioned in this post! See Ya!