WHY THE YANKEES SIGNED RAMON ORTIZ

I'm not sure why the Yankees signed 39 year old Ramon Ortiz, I'm not going to lie. I have never once looked at Ortiz and said "Yeah, we really need to get that guy." Never... and he's been around since 1999. Seriously though, Ortiz is a veteran of the game, he's been around and the only real reason Ortiz has been singed to a minor league deal is two fold, the Yankees are stock piling arms, which is always a good thing and the Yankees now get a chance to give the guy a look, much like Kevin Millwood and Carlos Silva last season. It's just alittle exercise they're going through...maybe something happens, maybe not. Anyway, Marc Carig had the tweet about Ortiz HERE.Don't forget, it wasn't too long ago that Ortiz was released by the San Francisco Giants. Read HERE. In 2011 with the Chicago Cubs, Ortiz racked up a 4.86 ERA with a 1-2 record. He had 25 strikeouts and 11 walks. His best season was 2002 in Anaheim when he was 15-9 with a 3.77 ERA. Those days are long gone, but if the Yankees can strike lightening in a bottle, why not right? Hey it could be worse... we could have just signd Sergio Mitre again... I think I'd jump off a bridge.

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WHY I HAVE YANKEE UPDATES

Just a few things you should know about coming out of Yankeeland:

Brian Gordon: If you didn't know by now, Brian Gordon was sent down to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to clear roster space for Bartolo Colon. Read about it HERE. This move I was sure was going to be Hector Noesi, but I was wrong, and I'm fine being wrong. I'll be curious to see if Gordon makes he way back up. I liked the kid. I like Noesi too, but personally, I almost feel like Cashman's auditioning him for trade bait for the July 31st deadline. Whatever the case, I wanted to let you know, that's where Gordon is right now.
Carlos Silva: The Yankees have decided to release Carlos Silva from his minor league deal and now he is free. Read about it HERE. I guess things didn't work out, or, the Yankees are feeling good about themselves with what they have in the rotation and what other help they have from the kids, as well as a veteran like Gordon or Mark Prior who will be fully healthy soon. Here's Silva's minor league line from Scranton: 2-1 3.52 ERA, 4 G, 23 innings. He gave up 21 hits and 9 runs, struck out 13, walked 4.
Pedro Feliciano: Pedro is working back from injury and he threw off a mound in Tampa. Reports are he threw 30 pitches. Read it HERE. I've said it all year, having that lefty specialist, or in our case, 2 of them, would be a nice problem. Not sure if we'll see Pedro this year, but I hope so.

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THE CHI-TOWN CONNECTION

Joe Girardi’s connection to the Chicago Cubs runs deep. It’s almost Mob like the way he has contacts and friendships in Chicago all these years and they always deliver. Whatever he needs, he gets, and it goes back to Sergio Mitre and that bizarre relationship they had and continues with Rothschild, Carlos Silva, Kerry Wood and now apparently Carlos Zambrano. The latest report is that Zambrano would wave his no-trade clause and that report comes from Fox Sports.

Chicago loves Joe Girardi and Joe Girardi loves Chicago, so in my opinion, I see this Zambrano trade happening. The question is, when and for what? The Chicago ties are amazingly strong so I expect Zambrano in the Bronx by July 31^st or sooner, especially the way this rumor has gained steam the past 24 hours. Look, it would seem appropriate that the Yankees would be in Chicago to play ball and probably have a meeting to have discuss pitchers like Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano. I would expect nothing less. The big question is, can it happen or will it end up being someone like Ryan Dempster instead. Dempster is also on the wish list apparently.

(Photo: Getty)

There are 2 issues with Dempster though. Ryan Dempster is more consistant than Zambrano and is someone the Cubs would rather not part with. Zambrano on the other hand, has been alittle inconsistent and has had emotion issues recently. My guess is the Cubs would love to unload him.

Larry Rothschild knows Carflos Zambrano in and out and have worked together on the Cubs for almost a decade. Having Zambrano come to the Yankees would make sense, he could do his Yoda mind trick on him again like he’s done to transform the entire Yankees pitching rotation.

And while were on the discussion of the Girardi Chi-town Family Mob, let’s revisit the idea of bringing back Kerry Wood. As far as I’m concerned, Wood would be the most ideal choice. The Yankees would use a another veteran in the bullpen and Wood was just so good for us last year, it would be a great reunion. But what the hell do I know.

Girardi seems to be a powerful cat and he knows what he wants. The question is, will he and the Yankee Brass bite on Zambrano or will they instead try and pry Dempster away from the Cubs. Better yet, for my sake, will Kerry Wood be in pinstripes again? Stay tuned…

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WHY I DROP NAMES LIKE I'M SOMEBODY

(photo: NY Daily News)
Eduardo Nunez- Art Stapleton from NorthJersey.com wrote a great piece about Eduardo Nunez. Read it HERE. In it, he basically talks about how Nunez, when given the opportunity in the field, needs to shine or he will surely be a trading chip this year. I agree with that and it goes back to his fielding errors. No doubt, Nunez makes a lot of them and that can really hurt the guy, especially in big games. Yes, he has a decent bat and a great arm, but errors will kill a player and if the Yankees showcase this guy and he proves to fall flat and the Yanks suddenly aren't interested anymore, he could be harder to trade as well. We'll have to see what happens with this kid because I personally, don't love him, but many do. If I had to predict, I say Nunez is traded at some point between now and next season. While the brass have stated they don't want to move him and like his potential, if a team dangles great starting pitching in front of them, I say they trade Nunez.(photo: Star-Ledger)
Rafael Soriano- An amazing tid-bit i didn't even realize. Since Soriano has not played with the Yankees due to his injury, (Read about that HERE), do you know that the bullpen has a 1.85 ERA without him over the last nine games. And by the way, if you thought the NY Sports Media
likes Soriano, think again. Just type in Rafael Soriano in Google News, there's nothing good written about the guy.(photo: Mike Ashmore / Silva with Thunder in photo)
Carlos Silva-Silva pitched in AAA and did well. He tossed seven shutout innings and helped the Scranton Yankee team to a 5-0 win over Louisville. Read the story HERE. Silva seems to be doing OK in the minors and if we were to need a spot start, or if someone goes down, I'd say this maybe a good alternative. We will have to see. You know me and veterans, I like them. Remember what I said about Freddy Garcia? Read WHY FREDDY'S ON A MISSION.

Things are happening about your New York Yankees, educate yourself. We're on our way Ladies and Gentlemen.

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WHY SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

Sometimes Cashman reminds me of the tortoise in the old Tortoise and the Hare story teaching every child about life. He really does, especially after this winter after Lee decided he was afraid to play in New York.With Phil Hughes "maybe" being on the shelf this year with "maybe" Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, many suspect "maybe" Cashman will push the panic button and go get a starting pitcher. (The latest on Hughes is HERE.) According to Cash, that's not the case.

Says Cashman: "There's no starting pitching to go find. Everything we have to deal with is right here in front of us."I get it. Who's out there that we can get? Yes, we long for the days of King Felix in pinstripes, but that may be the big name for the trade deadline. If you're talking about right now, names like Colon, Garcia and Millwood dare I say Carlos Silva have been snatched up already, by us. Guess what? They were the best of the free agent market after Lee and we got them.

So, let me be frank, we need to stop the bitching and stick with what we got. Yes, Yankees fans are used to the here and now and "We can do anything we want." But the harsh reality is, Cliff Lee changed that for Cashman and the Yankees. So now we hate Cliff Lee. So, how do we get back at him? Beat him down with our Bomber bats next time he's scheduled to pitch against us. Or, how's this for a winning scenerio; A Game 7 World Series in Philadelphia this fall. Our Yankee bats could unleash a hit attack to send Lee a message as we go on to win our 28th championship. That, may I suggest, would be the greatest payback of 2011

But back to my point. Cashman is taking things slow. If we learned anything so far, we learned the Yankees put trust in rusty veterans and were getting back on our "cheap" investments. When someone becomes available, Cash will snatch them up. For now though, we stick with what we have...and we should.

WHY THE YANKEES SIGNED SILVA

Jon Heyman tweeted that the Yankees signed former Cub Carlos Silva. I quickly looked at the date and made sure it wasn't April 1st. Weird. Kind of came out of nowhere, that's what I was thinking. Yes, there was rumor about Silva and the Yankees about 1 month ago, but that went away. So if pitching depth is what the Yankees are looking for, I guess they're getting it.

My only guess of why the Yankees signed Silva was that they are worried about Phil Hughes and /or they aren't settled on Freddy Garcia. Plus, reports out of Scranton is that Millwood's minor league debut didn't look too promising. Millwood was limited to 48 pitches, went two-plus innings, but allowed 3 runs on 2 hits while walking 2 and striking out 2. Read it HERE.

Look, in my opinion, we clearly have Freddy Garcia in the 5th slot and Kevin Millwood is just getting ready in the minors for if the Yankees need him, whether for Hughes, Nova, Garcia, whatever. We even have Colon, who's our long man, but can easily start if needed. Do we really need another starter?

The other side of the coin is, stockpiling experienced starting pitching and just being safe than sorry. It just all seems like a bit of a motley crew at this point between Garcia, Colon, Millwood and now Silva. I can honestly say I never expected to see all of those guys in the same room, but the Yankees are managing to help that thought along.

The Silva signing is a minor league deal. Bronx Baseball Daily says of the deal:

"Silva... is still owed his full $11.5 million, but that will be paid by the Cubs with the Yankees picking up just the pro-rated major league minimum which is slightly over $400,000. Silva also has a mutual option included in his deal for next season that obviously will not be exercised. It does include a buyout which the Cubs are responsible for."

So, I guess Silva and Millwood can just hang out together in the minors, compete, and even feed off each other until a call up is necessary. So while Garcia is the 5th starter, I think it will depend on what the Yanks want to do that day. They'll be studying matchups, and cracking open the Girardi binder just to try and figure out for example, if someone like Silva is a smarter matchup against the Rangers, than Garcia. Or, maybe they want to use Millwood one day instead of Garcia because they like the numbers. Who knows. It's all just very interesting.

Stockpiling starters. The new strategy of the New York Yankees... and Girardi and Rothschild just can't get away from the Cub connection, can they? Hmm.

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