Katoh, 18, is a high school second baseman out of San Diego. The rail thin speedy slap hitter was considered more of a fourth or fifth round talent heading into the draft, but the Yankees have a tendency to go against the consensus and reach for players they really like in the early rounds. I thought Katoh would sign for something below slot, but apparently not.

Keep tabs on the team’s draft pool with our 2013 Draft Pool page.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

2013 Draft: Yankees sign second rounder Gosuke Katoh

(Christian Petersen/Getty)

Daniel says: What I’ve been thinking is that maybe there was no way of preventing this season’s struggles … I really believe it is just one of those years that a lot of problems fell onto the team all at once from injuries to decline to inconsistent performances (and not just a poor approach to free agency). I think it would help to keep it all in perspective by taking a look at the players the Yankees “missed out on,” and speculate exactly what kind of a difference it would have made had they been brought on. I may be one of the few that does not blame this whole joke of a season on Brian Cashman at all, and I place only a fraction of blame on the front office.

(Apologies, Daniel. I trimmed down your submission quite a bit, but hopefully this will still get your point across satisfactorily. Of course, with loaded question comes loaded answer…)

I suppose the best way to approach this topic would be to take a quick visit to MLBTR’s 2013 Free Agent Tracker. From there, we can try to assess whether any of those “lost” free agent candidates would impact the team’s needs enough to make a tangible difference.

Let’s start with 3B, SS, C, and RF as those were all obvious spots of concern this past offseason. Of course, it is worth mentioning that this kind of speculation is somewhat futile as we don’t know whether any of these players would have performed comparably had they been with the Yankees, nor do we know how the other clubs’ rosters would have been realigned if they couldn’t get some of the players they did. But for the sake of vacuum-written posts everywhere, let’s just go with it.

Third Base

(click every table in this post for a larger view)

The third base market was pretty barren this past offseason. To make matters worse, the Yankees weren’t exactly looking to make major moves at this position heading into the offseason. The decision to repair Alex Rodriguez’s torn labrum surfaced in late-November. He required a month or so of pre-rehabbing prior to surgery, followed by an estimated four to six month recovery time afterward. This resulted in a need for a third baseman who could not only start, but who could potentially handle the rigors of playing all season long should A-Rod‘s return become delayed (which was/is definitely plausible).

Unfortunately, Eric Chavez was already off the table by the first week of December. He signed a one year, $3 million dollar pact with the Diamondbacks, opting instead for a starting gig. Chavez has had a solid season thus far and would have been a decided upgrade over what the Yankees have gotten from their third basemen collectively, though he’s already experienced his first (of what I’m sure will be several) injuries this season.

After Chavez, the alternatives are pretty awful besides Mark Reynolds. We’re talking Brandon Inge (signed a MiLB deal), Drew Sutton (MiLB deal), Mark DeRosa (1 yr/$750k), and the oft-injured Placido Polanco (who’s been terrible with the Marlins). Signing Kevin Youkilis made sense in theory to some degree, but it was an extremely risky move to replace one injury prone player with another. $13M for a fragile Youk plus random assorted parts simply doesn’t cut it.

Shortstop

Derek Jeter sure didn’t do the team any favors when he decided to go break his ankle last October. Man, that screwed things up. The Yankees took a gamble that the Captain would heal by his Opening Day target date (which in retrospect seemed pretty ambitious). Their backup plan, Eduardo Nunez, has been sidelined basically all year which has paved the road for other internal candidate, Jayson Nix who has been serviceable.

Would Alex Gonzalez (1 yr/$1.5M), Ronny Cedeno or Cesar Izturis (MiLB deal) prove a better alternative? None of these options seem particularly appealing to me – then or now. Stephen Drew would have been an upgrade over what the Yankees have for sure, but there was no way Cashman was going to sign him for a part-time gig anyway – remember the assumption was that Jeter would be back by Opening Day. I’m just not sure free agency was the solution for the short stop dilemma in terms of quality. Cash gets a pass here for not biting on any of the alternatives if all the information provided to him at the time suggested Jeter was likely to return on the expected schedule.

Catcher

That brings us to catcher. The plan was – I can’t believe I’m saying this – to roll the dice with Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart. Frankie went down early after contributing at a surprisng pace. Austin Romine came up and played miserably in limited opportunity. This allowed Stewart to secure the starting gig for himself. Now, to be fair, Stewart has surpassed my expectations with his .270/.326/.348 (.299 wOBA, 84 wRC+) line and three home runs, which basically represents career highs for him. Russell Martin, on the other hand, is playing pretty close to his career norm. That is to say seven home runs and a .247/.340/.419 (.336 wOBA, 116 wRC+) line – a rate, mind you, that is sustainable for him … perhaps unlike Chris’ production (or Cervelli’s for that matter).

Pierzynski (102 wRC+) has been pretty good too, and he was signed by the Rangers for a one-year stint. Other FA catchers such as David Ross, Yorvit Torrealba, Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco have all performed generally worse. While Stewart hasn’t been bad, I think it was still a pretty big #FAIL to not re-sign Martin (especially since Martin is also a defensively capable catcher, which is apparently an asset these days). I’ll blame Cashman for this lost production, but who knows. Maybe ownership deserves some of (or the majority of) the blame here too if they either a) passed on Cashman’s recommendation to keep Martin or b) prevented him from retaining Martin because of the proposed austerity budget.

Right Field

Now … the OF, which as it currently stands, is a complete cluster-f mess. As I mentioned last week, it’s no one’s fault that Curtis Granderson fell victim to two fluky injuries, the first of which happened in Spring Training. However, it is of absolutely no surprise that right field ended up being an offensive void after the team elected to drop Nick Swisher in lieu of some Ichiro/Francisco-headed platoon. Once Grandy went down, the team was doubly screwed as it would then be forced to trade/rely on Vernon Wells in left field. Prior to the start of the season, there were some outfielders available. The Yankees could have tried to replace Swisher with another right fielder, or hire a different outfield position and find a way to reorganize the lineup possibly.

For what it’s worth, Swisher hasn’t been all that great in Cleveland thus far; though even while playing relatively mediocre, Swisher’s 107 wRC+ still manages to sit about 30 points higher than the Yankees not-quite-so-dynamic outfield tandem of Ichiro and Wells. I can totally understand not signing a guy like Josh Hamilton for health concerns or Michael Bourn (might as well just get Swisher if you’re spending almost $50M anyway). Heading into the season, Justin Upton was an appealing option though. Ditto Torii Hunter. Mike’s been endorsing Nate Schierholtz from day one. All of these guys would have felt like a better plan going in, and a few would still be improvements now.

Sure, the actual numbers for some of these outfielders may not have panned out favorably through the first third of the season, but the opportunity for success would have been better heading in, and that’s the real point. The team chose guys whose ceilings were likely to be below average for a few of these positions. Again, these decisions were largely driven by the austerity budget, and we’re examining them in hindsight. But neither of those points makes the outcome an easier one to accept. The Yankees have gotten very little production from their corner outfielders and their third basemen, and it shows. Obviously, the Yankees were betting on their pitching and defense to help shoulder some of the burden, which it has, but the overall lack of offense has put a lot of pressure on the team to generate runs in different ways which isn’t always easy.

Now to be clear, this isn’t to say that if Cashman had hired any of these Free Agents, they’d be instant World Series contenders or definitively better off now than where they currently stand. What we’re talking about here is incremental upgrades. If some of these Free Agents came aboard and translated into even a few extra wins over the course of the season, who knows, maybe that ultimately winds up being the difference between making the playoffs and missing it in the hyper competitive A.L. East.

It’s about trying to mitigate the possibility of failure as much as possible before experiencing diminishing returns on the investment.  Frankly, I think even a marginal upgrade in RF and 3B would definitely help considering how awful those spots have been — hence the reason I’m somewhat optimistic about A-Rod when he returns.  Short-stop and Catcher haven’t been as bad relatively speaking, even though we’ve seen how Stewart’s skill set compares to a guy like Martin.  Or, maybe they wind up right where they are as you suggest even with some of these guys. There’s no way to prevent a disappointing season from possibly happening if a maelstrom of injuries occurs. 

I also wouldn’t go so far as to call this season a joke either. Games have been painful to watch at times, but there is a lot baseball to be played and the team is obviously in contention. You are absolutely right, though, in the sense that the perfect storm of injuries has exacerbated an already difficult set of conditions. Ultimately, maybe they get by without some of those Free Agents which is obviously the most desirable outcome as that’s the reality that the team created. In the meantime, keep yourself prepared for some low-scoring ballgames as we find out.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Mailbag: The ones that got away

• Double-A Trenton: LHP Francisco Rondon promoted to Triple-A Scranton. He’s walked way too many guys this year (6.34 BB/9 and 14.4 BB%), even after moving back to the bullpen. C Tyson Blaser was demoted to High-A Tampa.
• High-A Tampa: C Francisco Arcia has been promoted to Double-A Trenton. He and Blaser swapped spots, essentially. Have to think Arcia is just keeping the spot warm for C Gary Sanchez.
• LSU was eliminated from the College World Series today, meaning seventh rounder RHP Nick Rumbelow is now free to sign. He threw one scoreless inning in the event, walking one and striking out three.

Triple-A Scranton (4-3 loss to Rochester) they started Single-A emergency call-up OF Cody Grice and two utility infielders in the outfield tonight, hence the Fernando Martinez pick-up

• C J.R. Murphy: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — first Triple-A homer
• 1B Dan Johnson: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B
• DH Randy Ruiz: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
• RHP Brett Marshall: 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 WP, 7/3 GB/FB — 61 of 102 pitches were strikes (60%) … this start lowered his season ERA (6.94 ERA) and BB/9 (6.49), believe it or not
• LHP Francisco Rondon: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 5/2 GB/FB — 31 of 51 pitches were strikes (61%) … he was up to 95 mph with the fastball

Double-A Trenton (5-1 win over Akron)

• LF Ramon Flores: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — homered off rehabbing big leaguer Chris Perez … threw a runner out at the plate
• CF Slade Heathcott: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB — doubled off Perez … seven-game hit streak, but this is the first of those seven games with multiple hits
• RF Tyler Austin: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K — 15 hits in his last 38 at-bats (.395)
• 3B Reegie Corona & C Francisco Arcia: both 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K — both homered off Perez … they really hit him hard
• RHP Tommy Kahnle: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — seven of 12 pitches were strikes (58%)

High-A Tampa (6-3 loss to Dunedin in 11 innings) no CF Mason Williams after he exited last night’s game after running out a ground ball … not sure if he’s hurt or being benched for not hustling or something else entirely

• CF Ben Gamel: 3-6, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 3 K, 1 SB — a double and a triple, but no runs? geez guys
• 2B Rob Refsnyder: 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 K
• C Gary Sanchez & DH Angelo Gumbs: both 1-5, 1 K — Sanchez allowed a passed ball
• RHP Diego Moreno: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 2/0 GB/FB
• RHP Branden Pinder: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2/1 GB/FB — still hasn’t allowed a run since being demoted three weeks ago
• RHP Charley Short: 3 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 5/3 GB/FB — had allowed four runs in 26.1 innings coming into this game

Low-A Charleston is off until Thursday for the All-Star break. The actually All-Star Game didn’t start until 9:45pm ET tonight because of a lengthy rain delay. The box score is right here, but I’m not sticking around to update the stats. C Peter O’Brien, RHP Alex Smith, and RHP Ben Paullus are the only Yankees farmhands at the game following the recent promotions.

Short Season Staten Island was rained out. Not sure when they’ll make this one up, but there’s plenty of time. Season just started yesterday.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Murphy hits first Triple-A homer in SWB loss

(Jim Rogash/Getty)

With the injuries continuing to pile up at both the big league and Triple-A levels, the Yankees have acquired Fernando Martinez from the Astros for minor league reliever Charles Basford. Martinez was outrighted earlier this year and is not on the 40-man roster, and he will presumably report to Triple-A Scranton.

Martinez, 24, is a former top Mets prospect who never fully developed due to continued injury problems. The Astros originally claimed him off waivers from the Amazin’s last offseason. In 310 career MLB plate appearances, the left-handed hitting Martinez is a .206/.269/.362 (71 wRC+) hitter. He’s produced a .219/.291/.371 (69 wRC+) line in 117 Triple-A plate appearances this summer.

Basford, 22, was selected in the 37th round out of Samford in the 2012 draft. The right-hander pitched to a 5.18 ERA (3.57 FIP) in 24.1 innings for Short Season Staten Island after signing last summer, and he returned to the level this year. Basford allowed four hits and one run in two innings of relief work in his season debut last night.

Baseball America ranked Martinez as one of the 30 best prospects in baseball each year from 2007-2009, but this move is designed to give the team’s top minor league affiliate another warm body, not bolster the big league roster. With Zoilo Almonte called up and Brennan Boesch, Ronnie Mustelier, and Melky Mesa on the DL, Triple-A Scranton is running very short on outfielders. If Martinez shows up in the Bronx this summer, something has probably gone very wrong. Consider this the minorest of minor moves.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Yankees acquire Fernando Martinez

Mattingly’s return will have to wait one more day. (Dilip Vishwanat/Getty)

Thanks for nothing, Mother Nature. The Yankees and Dodgers were rained out on Tuesday and will instead play a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday. Hiroki Kuroda will start the first game at 1pm ET while Phil Hughes gets the ball at 7pm ET.  Because the doubleheader was not announced 48 hours in advance, the two teams will not be able to add a 26th man to the roster. Yeah, it’s a dumb rule, but that’s the rule. They will need to dig up a starter for Sunday, but Ivan Nova lines up nicely.

Use this thread as an open thread for the night. Zack Wheeler is making his debut for the Mets against the Braves, plus you’ve got a game on MLB Network and the College World Series on ESPN2. Game Six of the NBA Finals is on as well. Talk about any of that stuff and more. Have at it.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Open Thread: Yankees & Dodgers rained out

• Fresno State OF Aaron Judge (1s) has already been offered slot money, reports Jon Heyman. He has yet to accept, however. As the 32nd overall pick, Judge is slotted for a bit less than $1.68M. I’m hopeful this will get done soon, as in this week.
• Auburn LHP Conner Kendrick (9) has signed, or at least agreed to sign according to his Twitter feed. No word on the bonus, but he’s slotted for a bit more than $140k. Doubt he got any more than that.
• South Carolina LHP Tyler Webb (10) has signed, which you probably realized when he pitched in last night’s Short Season Staten Island game. Webb was slotted for just over $135k, but he signed for only $30k as a college senior with little leverage. Nice chunk of change saved there.
• San Diego State RHP Phil Walby (12) and Sam Houston State LHP Caleb Smith (14) both signed for $100k, report K. Levine-Flandrup and Jim Callis. The team announced both signings last week. Slot money for every pick after the tenth round is $100k, with any excess spending counting towards the pool.
• Oklahoma LHP Ethan Carnes (21) has signed for $75k, reports KL-F. It’s below-slot but there are no draft pool savings here. That stuff only applies to the first ten rounds.
• Texas HS RHP Shane McCarley (33) will talk to the team about possibly signing this weekend, reports KL-F. He’s a good but not elite quarterback prospect with a scholarship to Old Dominion in his back pocket.
• Washington State SS Ty Afenir (39) has signed, the team announced. No word on the bonus, but again, anything over $100k counts over the pool. I highly doubt he got that much.
• The Yankees have signed USF OF/RHP Chad Taylor as an undrafted free agent, reports Nicholas Flammia. No word on his bonus, but anything over $100k counts against the draft pool. UDFA’s almost never get six figures though. Most don’t even get five figures. I don’t know if the Yankees intend to use Taylor as an outfielder or pitcher — he did both in college and spent most of 2013 on the mound — but I guess we’ll find out eventually.

All of the team’s draft selections can be seen at Baseball America, and you can keep track of the draft pool situation with our 2013 Draft Pool page. It looks like the Yankees might wind up with enough leftover pool money to make a run at one or two of their late-round gambles — Missouri HS 3B Drew Bridges (20) and Florida HS LHP Nestor Cortes (36) seem most likely — though, we have to see what happens with Judge and California HS 2B Gosuke Katoh first.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Draft Signing Updates: Judge, Kendrick, Webb

Youkilis, 34, hit .219/.305/.343 (77 wRC+) with two homers in 118 plate appearances for New York this year. He has missed a bunch of time back trouble this year (one month), last year (two months total), and the year before that (three weeks). This isn’t surprising at all. Backs rarely get better. The three-headed replacement level monster of David Adams, Jayson Nix, and Reid Brignac will continue to rotate around the left side of the infield for the time being.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Kevin Youkilis out 10-12 weeks following back surgery

2:16pm: Via Sweeny Murti: The Yankees will indeed place Mark Teixeira on the 15-day DL with wrist inflammation today. They will use the injury to bring long-reliever Adam Warren back from Triple-A before the ten-day waiting period expires. Murti also hears outfielder Zoilo Almonte could be called up as well, though the team has yet to announce anything. Removing Chris Bootcheck from the roster would be the obvious corresponding move there.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Update: Yankees place Teixeira on DL, call up Warren and Almonte

Donnie Baseball is back in the Bronx for the first time since 2007. (Christian Petersen/Getty)

It has been more than 30 years since the Dodgers last played in the Bronx, not since the deciding Game Six of the 1981 World Series. They have never come to the Yankee Stadium as part of interleague play, at least not until today. The Yankees and Dodgers will play a quick little two-game series that features two highest-priced rosters in baseball. There’s also a neat nostalgic element that, like many of you, I am too young to fully appreciate.

What Have They Done Lately?
The Dodgers are not very good despite their recent spending spree. They lost two of three to the Pirates this weekend and have lost six of their last eight games overall. At 29-39 with a -49 run differential, Los Angeles sits in last place in the NL West with seventh worst record in baseball.

Offense
With a team 94 wRC+ and an average of 3.5 runs per game, the Dodgers are a below-average offensive club. It doesn’t help that CF Matt Kemp (78 wRC+) is a shell of his former self following offseason left (front) shoulder surgery. He’s currently on the DL with a hamstring problem. LF Carl Crawford (133 wRC+) was having a big bounceback year before hitting the DL with a hamstring issue. OF Scott Van Slyke (132 wRC+ in limited time) is out with a shoulder injury and IF Juan Uribe (118 wRC+) is day-to-day with a back problem. He could return to the lineup as soon as tonight.

Puig. (Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty)

As for the healthy guys, it obviously all starts with OF Yasiel Puig (260 wRC+ in limited time). He’s been the talk of baseball since coming up three weeks ago thanks to his dramatic homers and brilliant defensive plays. It’ll be fun to watch these next two days. 1B Adrian Gonzalez (130 wRC+) remains a force at the plate, and C A.J. Ellis (107 wRC+) has been one of baseball’s most underrated backstops for two seasons now. IF Hanley Ramirez (104 wRC+ in limited time) has been banged up all year and OF Andre Ethier (95 wRC+) has been disappointing.

Aside from those guys, manager Don Mattingly really doesn’t have much at his disposal. IF Nick Punto (94 wRC+) has been surprisingly not awful, but both UTIL Skip Schumaker (87 wRC+) and UTIL Jerry Hairston Jr. (85 wRC+) haven’t done much of anything. Ditto IF Mark Ellis (89 wRC+) and IF Luis Cruz (-4 wRC+). Cruz has gotten 124 plate appearances, believe it or not. Recent call-ups OF Alex Castellanos (97 wRC+ in very, very limited time) and backup C Tim Federowicz (61 wRC+) have played like rookies. Really not much to see here. Keep Puig and Gonzalez contained and you’ll be in good shape.

Starting Pitching Matchups

Tuesday: RHP Phil Hughes vs. LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu
I liked the idea of the Yankees pursuing Ryu this winter, but, as I tend to do, I grossly underestimated the cost. The Dodgers paid over $60M — $25.7M posting fee plus a $36M contract — to bring him over from Korea, and so far he’s been worth the investment. The 26-year-old left-baller has pitched to a 2.85 ERA (3.10 FIP) in 13 starts this year, and he’s been especially tough since settling into a groove in late-April: 2.37 ERA (3.08 FIP) in his last nine starts. Ryu has posted very good peripherals in his debut MLB season, with a solid strikeout rate (7.91 K/9 and 21.7 K%) to go along with above-average walk (2.64 BB/9 and 7.3 BB), homer (0.63 HR/9 and 7.8% HR/FB), and ground ball (48.1%) numbers. He’s a true five-pitch pitcher, using 88-92 mph two- and four-seamers to set up a low-80s slider, an upper-70s changeup, and a low-70s curveball. The changeup is his top secondary pitch and a big reason why he has a reverse split — lefties have a .266 wOBA against him while lefties are at .321. The Yankees have never seen Ryu before, obviously.

Capuano. (Scott Cunningham/Getty)

Wednesday: RHP Hiroki Kuroda vs. LHP Chris Capuano
Technically, the Dodgers starter for this game is still TBA. It is widely expected that Capuano will be activated off the DL and rejoin the rotation, however. He’s been out for two weeks with a lat strain, though he threw four scoreless innings during a rehab start on Friday. Capuano, 34, has pitched to a 3.45 ERA (5.15 FIP) in 33 innings across six starts and two relief appearances while battling various nagging injuries this season. His peripherals are not great — 6.55 K/9 (16.1 K%), 3.55 BB/9 (8.7 BB%), 1.64 HR/9 (16.2% HR/FB), and 45.9% grounders — but they figure to improve as he heals up and accumulates more innings. Capuano has consistently been a low-4.00s FIP guy for the last six or seven years now. An upper-80s sinker is his top fastball, though he will mix in the occasional four-seamer at the same velocity. His upper-70s changeup is his top offspeed pitch, though he’ll also throw low-80s sliders and mid-80s curveballs. It’s worth noting Capuano typically handles left-handed hitters well, holding them to a .273 wOBA since coming back from his second Tommy John surgery in 2010. Righties have tagged him for a .343 wOBA during that time. The Yankees roughed Capuano up in 2011 when they saw him during the Subway Series with the Mets.

Bullpen Status
Like the Yankees, the Dodgers were off on Monday. Their pen is relatively well-rested. Mattingly recently replaced RHP Brandon League (5.10 FIP) with RHP Kenley Jansen (2.89 FIP) at closer. The move was a long time coming. LHP Paco Rodriguez (2.81 FIP) and RHP Ronald Belisario (4.03 FIP) see plenty of late-inning work, as does LHP J.P. Howell (3.00 FIP). RHP Matt Guerrier (4.14 FIP) and RHP Peter Moylan (3.23 FIP) round out the bullpen, assuming RHP Chris Withrow (3.06 FIP in very limited time) is sent down to make room for Capuano.

Joe Girardi‘s bullpen is in pretty good shape thanks to the off-day and CC Sabathia‘s eight-inning start on Sunday. As I mentioned this morning, I suspect Adam Warren will rejoin the team today in his usual long man role if Mark Teixeira is indeed placed on the DL. Otherwise everyone is pretty fresh. Check out our Bullpen Workload page for exact recent reliever usage. For the best Dodgers coverage, I recommend True Blue LA and Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness. They’re two of the very best team-specific blogs you’ll find.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

6/18-6/19 Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers

New York’s needs are both obvious and plentiful at this point. They need a corner outfield bat, a shortstop, a catcher, and maybe a third baseman. That’s the bare minimum really, and the offense isn’t good enough for them to just sit around and wait for all the injured guys to return. The Yankees have pitching to spare, both starters and relievers, and they could always dip into their prospect pool as well. As long as they remain close enough to contention, I fully expect them to add pieces at the trade deadline. Not sell.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Cashman: Yankees are “open for business” regarding trades