Today it was announced that Edwar Ramirez was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man for Chan Ho Park.  The Yankees will have 10 days to decided what to do with Edwar.  During those 10 days the Yankees have 3 options; they can play him on waivers (must be done in the first 7 days), trade him, or release him. If the Yankees do decide to place Ramirez on waivers he will probably be claimed by a team in need of middle relief and be given a shot to make the roster out of spring training. If he is not claimed, then the Yankees will be able to put him in the minor leagues. Ramirez...

Recently it was revealed that the contract that Marcus Thames signed with the Yankees has an opt-out clause that he can exercise if he does not make the opening day roster.  When the deal was first announced it was publicized that it was a one year minor league deal for $900k.  There was no word that the contract had an opt-out until Chad Jennings made a short post on Marcus Thames on February 26th. So what does this mean for the Yankees?  As i mentioned in a previous post about the Yankees bullpen situation, the Yankees have some decisions to make about whether to carry 12 or 13 pitchers...

Nick Swisher has never been overweight, but he came into spring training 12 pounds lighter than he finished the ’09 season at.  Swisher’s weightloss may not seem dramatic, but it has the potential to play a key roll in Swisher’s 2010 season.  The Yankees hoisted the World Series trophy on November, 4th of last year, and almost immediately Swish was ready to get back at it.  According to an interview transcript on NoMaas, Swisher began working out on the first Monday in December.  Come early January he had already started doing two-a-days.  The according to the NoMaas...

One year and one week removed from Arod’s Feb 18th spring training press conference last year, in which he spoke about his steroid use, Alex Rodriguez held his spring training kick-off press conference.  This year’s press conference was a lot different from last year’s. The press conference didn’t receive huge publicity, no prepared statements, just a new Arod and a few dozen reporters.  As expected, the questions that Arod answered yesterday were mostly about how far he’s come since the steroid scandal.  The first question that Arod faced was about how...

Nick Johnson! Maybe the slowest baseball player in history who I would be completely okay with putting in the leadoff spot. The guy walks as much as Rickey Henderson. In the last few years he has VERY quietly put up some of the best on base percentage numbers in the league. From 2006 to 2009 he had an on base percentage of .420! A guy who gets on base that often is extremely valuable. And don’t think that walks are luck, or a product of having no other threats in the lineup. Teammate Nick Swisher has the same knack for getting free passes to run the bases. Many people are speculating...

With opening day of the 2010 season only 37 days away, it’s about that time where fans start thinking about the upcoming season and what the outcome will be from standings to player performances. This is a chance to have a little fun playing psychic for the season. So without further ado, let the predictions begin! QuestionsView Results QuestionsView Results QuestionsView Results QuestionsView Results QuestionsView Results QuestionsView Results QuestionsView...

Just when you think things can’t get any worse for Mark McGwire, his estranged brother will be releasing a book shortly titled “”Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball’s Worst-Kept Secret”. As Mark McGwire took the necessary steps to to fix his tainted image by coming clean and taking on the position as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, this is the LAST thing he needed as spring training is just underway. Personally, I am not a fan of Mark McGwire, but I mean come on. Just when you think the drama is finally over, it comes right back...

… well, who knows? There is always much speculation about how MLB standings will shape up come early October when the regular season comes to a close. Speculations are, usally simply that, speculations, until they are taken to the next level.  Baseball Prospectus has developed a system to supposedly realistically simulate entire MLB seasons using the Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm (PECOTA) that they have developed.  This system predicts each team’s wins and losses based on individual player performance compiled into a batting order, depth chart,...

Well, hopefully he would hit the ball very far, and hopefully he would do that very often. Montero has shown in the minors that he is a force to be reckoned with. However, the real question behind what Montero will do is will he be able to play catcher, being an ideal heir to Jorge Posada’s role, or will he be too big physically to actually play catcher? If he does outgrow the position, it isn’t a huge problem, since he is going to be a dynamite hitter either way, he’ll just have to be a designated hitter most likely (why should Teixeira move away from first base? He’s...

Okay, this post isn’t really as much about Girardi as it’s about Ozzie Guillen. Anybody who reads this – go to twitter.com/ozzieguillen. I am personally guaranteeing you that this will be one of the most entertaining Twitter accounts of all sports figures on there, if not all Twitter accounts out there. His second tweet ever? “what I saw on the field today was a lot of grass…” His third tweet? “3 day of Spring Training and im already boreddddddd”. The tweets to come will be nothing short of hilarious. Chicago GM Ken Williams has already chimed...

Thames is the other half of the platoon squad patrolling left field for the Yankees (most likely). He provides a decent amount of pop and was signed at an absolute bargain, so even if he doesn’t hit the way he is expected to, at the very least it wouldn’t have been a waste of money. For you fans out there who may have a long term memory problem, you would have trouble remembering that Thames actually debuted as a Yankee, and hit a home run in his first at bat! After his 12 other plate appearances that year for the Yanks, he spent a year as a Ranger, and then found a home for a...

Rumor has it that the Yankees are going to try turning Kei Igawa into a lefty specialist. He did have a solid season in 2009 against left handed batters in AAA, but I’m still not buying it. Igawa has been a bust his entire major league career, and I don’t see how that it’s going to be any different now. It’s not like he was only given 15 innings to show what he could do either. In 2007 he posted a 6.25 ERA with a 1.67 WHIP over 67.2 innings. I could see the Yankees doing something to get some sort of value out of his contract, but I don’t think they should risk...

Every year Brian Cashman jokingly wishes for what he calls “Camp Quiet”.  Last year the Yankees certainly did not have “Camp Quiet” in spring training as there was a huge media buzz surrounding Alex Rodriguez about his admission of steroid use, his spring training press conference, and his hip surgery.  Another huge attention-grabber was the lack of the Yankees presence in the 2008 postseason, the first time they missed the playoffs since 1993 (’94 there were no playoffs due to the MLB strike).  Questions were swirling about camp on whether the Yankees would...

Yesterday the majority of Yankees positional players reported to spring training.  Position player physicals began yesterday at 7:30 a.m. and live batting practice begins tomorrow (Thursday).  With spring training barely underway, it seems as if Joe Girardi has already made some decisions in regards to the opening day roster.  In an audio file on The LoHud Yankees Blog from February 22nd Girardi said “We’ll make sure that we take what we feel are the 12 best arms”.  While this seems like a relatively unimportant and rather obvious statement by Girardi, it has many...

Time to have some fun. Over the next bunch of days I am going to be taking a look at one key Yankee per day… and I will try and predict their stats. I’m not just talking about saying things like “A-Rod is going to hit alot of home runs”, I am talking stats all the way down to plate appearances, doubles, triples, etc. (I didn’t want to get all the way down to sabermetrics and confuse everyone – myself included). So, without further ado, I give you my opinion and predictions for new outfielder, Randy Winn… Alright, I know I bashed him in the beginning....