REMEMBER BUDDY CARLYLE? HE'S STILL WORKING

Quick note about former Yankee pitcher Buddy Carlyle.  The guy's got a gig. He signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets.

According to ESPN:

"Mets have signed right-handed reliever Buddy Carlyle to a minor-league contract that does not include an invite to big-league camp.
Carlyle, 36, last appeared in the majors in 2011 with the Yankees."

Good for Buddy... and good luck to him.

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MONDAY NIGHT YANKEE NUGGETS

Here are some Yankee nuggets to keep you in the loop tonight. Enjoy this:

Nick Swisher: “I would not say I’m 100%... but I’m close.” That is an honest observation from Nick Swisher about himself. Good to hear. That comes from Chad Jennings at LoHud HERE. OK, I’m on record as saying I want Swisher to have a monster year, he needs it. He needs it for what I believe will be his comeback tour to try and re-sign with the Yankees at the end of the season, or for other teams to scope him out. No doubt if he has a big year, he’ll demand more, but ultimately I believe that if he loves New York as much as he says he does, maybe we can work something out and he won't pull a Johnny Damon. We shall see, but this year is a clear indication, it’s possible that Swisher in the Bronx may slowly be winding down. I hope he sticks around.

Jason Bulger: The Yankees signed righty pitcher Jason Bulger to a minor league deal. Read about Bulger HERE. Who is Bulger? Well, last week Bulger was released from the Twins. He’s a reliever who has a career 4.33 ERA, 133 innings pitched and 138 strikeouts and 75 walks. That's all I got. He's the Buddy Carlyle of 2012.

Preston Mattingly: Mattingly was released by the New York Yankees after being signed by them and being placed in their AA system back in January. Read HERE. I guess being the son of an iconic Yankee father isn’t easy. Good luck to you kid... you’re a Mattingly, you will get work, just don’t give up!

Andy Pettitte: Pettitte doesn’t have his legs yet. All pitchers need their legs to pitch successfully. He needs to get the strength back and that’s what he’s working on. He’s been quoted as saying he doesn’t want to rush it, and that makes sense, so the Yankees will let him do what he needs to do to prepare and I think it’s safe to say we will see Andy back after May 1^st. Read about it HERE.

AJ Burnett: Burnett’s been looking good. He’s thrown 54 pitches in 4 innings over the weekend for a Pirates Double A affiliate. According to Tom Singer of MLB, AJ gave up 1 hit and out of the 54 pitches he threw, 36 were strikes. Read HERE. I hope Burnett shines in Pittsburgh, he deserves some good news.

If there are more nuggets not worthy of a full post, we’ll post them in another nuggets piece like this. We’ve had several nugget pieces recently, check out some of them below:

BYB YANKEE NUGGETS FOR SUNDAY

WHY BYB HAS YOUR YANKEES NOTES

ORDER A BYB SHIRT NOW, DROB WEARS ONE! Also, Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHY YOU LOVE BYB YANKEE NOTES

Alex Rodriguez: ARod is with the Yankees in Minnesota and hopefully the big guy will get into the lineup as the Yankees DH on Sunday. Look, let's be honest, the Yankees are winning. Sure, having Alex's bat in the lineup is great and can help the team, but what's the rush? The story about Alex in case you live under a rock is that he looked alittle timid in his rehab starts in the minors. He admitted he wasn't comfortable even though he felt fine. Read about it HERE.
Freddy Garcia: So what appeared to be a cut on his finger and a delayed start has turned into something more, a brief DL trip. Freddy Garcia has been placed on the Disabled List and will start the following Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles. Freddy hasn't pitched since August 7th at Boston. Girardi said on the DL move "We just thought it was a safer route. He hasn't pitched in 2 weeks." Read about it HERE.
(Photo: Getty)
Buddy Carlyle: Our Buddy... Buddy was released by the Yankees. He posted a 4.70 ERA this season while on the big squad. With Scranton he had a 3.98 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. The Yankees apparently just thought it was time to cut him loose, after all, they are trying to stock up with lefties after signing Raul Valdes (Read HERE) to a minor league deal just the other day. Read about it HERE.
(Photo: Steven Bisig/US Presswire)
Aaron Laffey: The Yankees claimed lefty pitcher Laffey from the Seattle Mariners. Read about it HERE. The best part about Laffey is he's young, 26 years old and he's major league ready, when needed. Laffey has appeared in 36 games for the Mariners going 1-1 with a 4.01 ERA.Gustavo Molina: Our guy Molina, no relation to the Molina brothers was released by the Yankees. He was released to make room to Laffey. Molina was batting .239 in Scranton. Thanks for your service Gustavo.

Stay here at Bleeding Yankee Blue for more as it happens.

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WHY WE HAVE YANKEE NEWS

There are a few things going on in Yankeeland that you should know about:

• Phil Hughes:Yes, the man with no velocity is on a treatment program. It is expected that Hughes will toss 45 pitches and if he feels good, there is talk about a minor league assignment. Yes, it's true, Bleeding Yankee Blue called in in WHY HUGHES NEEDS A TIMEOUT. It just makes sense.
• Francisco Cervelli: Remember him? Yes, the kid's got a following and after his injury in Spring Training he may have been forgotten briefly but Thursday in a rehab game in Tampa, the young man went 2 for 3. Talk is Cervelli could be activated May 1st.
• Jorge Posada: Posada's not hitting, sometimes. So, what to do? He's getting work in the cage and hopefully he'll be able to overcome this "thing". In 15 games, Posada is hitless in nine. Brian Costello of the New York Post brings up the interesting point that IF Posada continues to not hit, what will the Yankees do with him? He says that unlike Jeter, who can still contribute defensively, Posada doesn't have that role because he's the DH.
• Robinson Cano: Cano is the man... the world is starting to see it and right now the guys got an 11 game hitting streak. Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record also raised an interesting stat: Cano's hit in 14 straight vs. the Baltimore Orioles, batting .446. That's 25 for 56. Not too shabby.
• Buddy Carlyle: Buddy is a minor league pitcher the Yankees signed in the off season and Buddy will swap places with Hector Noesi. Noesi will head back to Scranton Wilkes-Barre.
• Mark Teixeira: Mark has spoke out about baseball's playoff expansion and guess what? He doesn't like Bug Selig's idea of expanding the playoffs. MLB will possibly add a wild-card team to each league, bringing the total number of playoff teams to 10 each season. Says Tex: "For a team like us, I don't like it. We battle all year long in a very tough division. If you win the division and have to have five or six days off before the start of the playoffs, or you win the wild card and still have to play another one- or three-game series just to get into the playoffs, it doesn't make much sense."

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.