RED SOX DFA HANLEY RAMIREZ

Photo: Getty Images

He's a good player.  He still has it, he's just slowed down... and the Red Sox know it. And so, they designated Hanley Ramirez for assignment.  The Boston Globe tweeted this:

Source: Red Sox designating Hanley Ramirez for assignment. A look at that startling decision https://t.co/mss93tJztT via @BostonGlobe

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) May 25, 2018

Now the reason is to make room for Dustin Pedroia, but it's gotta be slightly a shock for Hanley, a veteran. Who knows... maybe he saw it coming.  The Globe writes:

Photo: Getty Images

"The Red Sox are responsible for more than $15 million remaining on Ramirez’s salary through the duration of this season. They will have seven days to trade or release him. "

Some team will sign this guy and I will bet he just gets hot again.  Sometimes the same routine kills a player.  Maybe that's what happened to Ramirez in Boston.

Photo: Getty Images

At any rate... I'm a Dustin fan, so this is just fine by me.

I wonder what fellow #BYBHub blog Section 36 thinks about this? They're a Red Sox fan site, and a great one at that.

EVEN HARDCORE YANKEE FANS DON'T KNOW THIS PROSPECT!

Photo: Times Leader

Do you know who this is? It's OK if you don't. A lot of Yankee fans don't....but after this story you won't be able to say that anymore.

It's an exciting time to be a Yankee fan! We have a lot of promising young kids that could potentially form the NEW Core 4 and that makes it hard to keep up to date on all of these guys. Not everyone has fiery hair and a matching personality like Clint Frazier. Some guys lay low for awhile and then suddenly seem to appear out of nowhere!

Photo: MiLB.com / Wotherspoon, left- Joe Harvey, right

There are some guys that just naturally make their way in the spotlight. They have the skills and the personality, like Frazier. On Tuesday, Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield showed why they are two of the best pitching prospects in the system. You know their names but then there are other guys that also pitched that day like Matt Wotherspoon.....wait WHO?! Yeah, maybe you are asking that same question. No, we didn't just make up a random name. Matt Wotherspoon is a legit pitching prospect who has been flying under the radar until now.

Photo: Augusta Chronicle

Wotherspoon was just a kid who pitched between Adams and Sheffield at Tuesday's split squad game against the Red Sox that walked lead off hitter Brock Holt. That would be his only blip because after that he retired the rest of the order. Baseball's number one prospect Andrew Benintendi lined out to left, Holt was caught stealing on his way to second and Hanley Ramirez flied out to center to end the inning.

One inning is all it took to get everyone asking....who is this kid?! The Yankees have an exciting pitching prospect with a successful track record but they almost didn't get him. Back in 2013, the Detroit Tigers drafted him in the 20th round during his junior year at the University of Pittsburgh. He was 9-3 with a 3.70 ERA at the time but elected to return to university to finish his senior year of college. His last year his record slipped to 5-6 with a 4.44 ERA when the Yankees drafted him in the 34th round of the 2014 draft. His last year of college had some growing pains, but now he is pitching at Spring Training. That counts as a win in my book!

(Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports)

Last year we were not talking about Wotherspoon, but he had good numbers. At Double-A he was   4-2 with a 2.66 ERA in 26 games. Two of those games he started. He was eventually promoted to Triple-A and went 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA in 10 games, and one of those he was the starter. The numbers at Triple-A may be a small sample but if he continues to pitch this successfully he may look back at the end of his season and be able to say he started the spring in big league camp and was eventually called up to the Bronx.

There's a lot of hype surrounding Wotherspoon right now. As the Yankees continue to think about their options to add more depth to their pitching the fans have another pitcher to watch closely. Even the biggest farm fanatics out there may have overlooked this kid....but after Tuesday's game I really don't think people will ask "WHO?!" when they hear his name.

The future just keeps getting brighter. We have another pitcher to watch closely down in Triple-A and I bet there will be many more stories to come on this kid, especially on Bleeding Yankee Blue. Next stop, Yankee stadium?

Stay tuned!

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Follow me on Twitter: @NYPrincessJ

HOLE DIGGERS!

I don't like the way this is going down.  It stinks!

If you know anything about the way Bleeding Yankee Blue has operated in 2016, you know that recaps, for the most part, are out the window.  We don't do them... only once in a while and especially on big wins.  But this is a huge series, and this is important and so, here we are with alittle opinion.

Early last week we were on top of the world. The last 2 games we lost, and suddenly we lost the 3rd in a row, and 2 against the Sox. I want to punch someone in the face I'm so aggravated.

The Sox won 7-4 tonight.  But here's the best part of tonight.  Billy Butler cranked out a 2 run homer to try and get the Yankees to rally in Fenway.  It totally wasn't enough, but the reality is, this is a new guy with a totally lame club right now. Think about this for a second; the Yankees could have potentially been a game out of first or at least tied for first place in the American League division if they were shooting on all cylinders by the end of this weekend.

But momentum is a crazy thing... and when Dellin Betances blew his save the other night... and then blew it against Hanley Ramirez again last night.it changed the entire landscape for the Yanks.  The Yankees are in trouble folks... big time.  And now, more than before, we need Joe Girardi to lead us.

Can we do this? I'm not sure anymore, folks.  When you look at the schedule, it really doesn't get much easier.

 2 more games against the Red Sox. 3 against the Rays. 4 against the Blue Jays. Then a 4 game series against the Red Sox at home and 3 against the O's in the Bronx as well. That's it.  Tough doesn't begin to describe this next several games.  If we don't shape up... it's over Johnny. 

I leave you with this. American League East:

Wild Card:

Yikes!

Final: Red Sox 7 - Yankees 4

DEVASTATING!

I'm not about to give you a play by play about how good the Yankees looked tonight.  Bottom line, they looked great, Masahiro Tanaka was great, but I want to explain something that was quite obvious to me tonight as I saw Dellin Betances walk to the mound in the 9th inning at Fenway Park;  He wasn't confident. It was crystal clear to me at his first pitch... and it worried me. 

Betances didn't look confident when he came the mound. He didn't look confident when he walked Dustin Pedrioa and he looked lost when he threw that pitch to the hottest hitter in baseball Hanley Ramirez.  That's the bottom line and in baseball... that's when you know that there's a problem.

I saw the same look in Byung-Hyun Kim's face in the 2001 World Series when he came back the night after he blew the save against the Yankees when Derek Jeter hit a walk off, and I saw it tonight in Dellin Betances when he came to the mound tonight, one night after he blew a save. 

As a fan watching my team in a playoff race... I don't care how you want to be perceived as a pitcher. If I SEE you don't have the courage to perform... I would rather you walk guys like David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez and take your chances with the less of the Yankee killers.

Joe Girardi did the right thing. I can't believe I said that, but I know what Joe was trying to do after Dellin blew the Save the night before. Joe Girardi tried his best to make sure Dellin was able to perform tonight. Because if Dellin ends this game and he gets the save, Dellin Betances gains confidence and then in turn builds confidence down the stretch when we need him most. 

Now he's lost and that's obvious. He's broken and so what do we do now? The Yankees now drop in the standings and suddenly it becomes a crisis.  The Yankees can't keep losing. Seriously... they can't. The Yankees need to win, not only each series now, but almost every game in September.

Impossible? Probably... but we've seen a hot Yankee team before and there is no reason to not see them again!

No recap here tonight. I'm pissed. Yanks should have won, but instead they lost 2 to the hand of Dellin Betances.

Anyone miss Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman right now? I do.

I leave you with this loser who clearly has no life:

@Conigman Relax champ. Clearly this is all you have

— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) September 16, 2016

Have fun with that.It's just baseball.  Everybody calm the fuck down.

Final: Red Sox 7 - Yankees 5

THAT WAS WHAT THE RIVALRY USED TO BE LIKE!

I can watch Andrew Miller strike out David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez with the bases loaded over and over and over again.  It was intense, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered for what is the most horrible start to the Yankees season in years. At least to me it is...

The game was knotted at 2 until Aaron Hicks hit a solo homer to put the Yankees ahead.  At 3-2, that's when Miller came in to try and shut down the Sox.  First he was able to strike out Ortiz with the bases loaded.

Ortiz argued balls and strikes with his strikeout and I guess he just feels like he deserves everything.  But as we all know, it's not where Brian McCann catches it... it's where it crosses the plate and it crossed the corner.




His quote was ridiculous:

"Look, have you seen Miller's numbers? He don't need no help... That's all I can tell you. Just because an umpire has a wide zone, I'm not going to get out of my game. I'm facing one of the best pitchers in the game. You either keep it fair or it's not going to happen."

It's "he doesn't need ANY help", Papi.  Relax. We got a call and you didn't. Stop crying. Tip your cap. Move on.  And here's something even more stupid, analysis after the fact:

The pitch to David Ortiz: pic.twitter.com/Q3lQFpGpaP

— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) May 7, 2016

Really Schoenfield? What you gonna do with that, protest the game? Get lost. There are good calls and bad calls in baseball. That, my friend was a CLOSE CALL.  You're not the authority Schoenfield, buh-bye.

After Miller K'd Ramirez, there was a sign of relieve, and so, the Yankees won this one.  And it was big.  Bigger because of the drama at the end of the game.

I'm happy right now.  Maybe we can win another one or 2 this weekend?

Final:  Yankees 3 - Red Sox 2 

 

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JOE GIRARDI GOT IT RIGHT!

"It's just baseball. It will change. You understand that you're going to go through it. When you're going through it, it's no fun. But every team goes through it. Tomorrow's a new day." 
 - Joe Girardi

And he is right. There has been a lot of doom and gloom this early in the season. It's okay to have high expectations but just like our guys need to have patience at the plate we also need to have patience as we watch in a very young season. The Yankees have only played 6% of their games for the season. There are struggles, but we have some reasons to celebrate too.

Recently Alex Rodriguez has taken a lot of criticism from he media and fans alike. He had a bad spring and that seems to have carried over into the start of the regular season. I read newspapers and blogs speculating that the end of ARod was coming and then magically one day later he hits a home run in his first at bat but then floundered in his next three. People can't seem to pick a side with ARod. Maybe people should let him just grind through it. Can we really write someone off two weeks into the season? If ARod hits another home run tomorrow will these same blogs and newspapers suddenly love him again? I wouldn't be surprised.

The starting rotation is underachieving right now. I don't think the rotation will continue to be this bad. After a dominant start on Sunday Masahiro Tanaka is the only starter with an ERA below 5.00 and complete seven innings. Obviously, the Yankees need more starts like this from all of their guys and they all know this. The Yankees have the talent and the rotation just needs to step up and do their job. It's early in the season, they will get past these hiccups.

On a comforting note, we are anxiously watching and waiting for more of the Yankees new Youth movement. The Yankees have struggled with their aging offense for awhile but two of the aging veterans of the game are off to a good start. As of this past weekend the Yankees had four regulars hitting below a .210 BA yet our older veterans Carlos Beltran (.351BA) and Brian McCann (.370BA) are off to hot starts. If they can continue to be consistent the Yankees are going to score a lot of runs. It's a good sign so far.

The bullpen isn't even at full strength yet, but they are showing the league why they could be the best bullpen in baseball. Andrew Miller is proving that he can still close out games and that he can play through an injury. The Yankees are managing just fine without Aroldis Chapman, but good news is that he will be back in action in three weeks. In two extended spring training appearances he has thrown over 100mph and has looked impressive. This bullpen is going to be lights out.

Above all, I think the American League East is wide open this year. The Yankees could win the division never mind another wildcard appearance. The Blue Jays have a lot of dangerous bats, but a weak pitching lineup. The Red Sox have made some improvements over last year but have some serious question marks wit Hanley Ramirez and nothing but drama with Pablo Sandoval. The Red Sox don't exactly have a reputation for handling drama well. The Rays have made minimal improvements over last season and the Baltimore Orioles may have started off hot, but we've seen this before. They also have an average pitching staff and the offense could easily fizzle over time. The AL East is up for grabs and it is anyone's game.

I love this game. Baseball is a game of chances and strategy. The Yankees will have their fair share of failures. In baseball you can make all of the right moves and spend a ton of money and still not get the right results. Or you can make a lot of mistakes and catch the right opportunity and still come out on top. That is what makes this game so amazing, and I can't wait to see all of it unfold for our team....all of the good with the bad.


   
--Jeana Bellezza, 
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 
 





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FAMILY, LIFE & YANKEE BASEBALL

It's amazing to me how much the love of sports, and particularly baseball is so much a part of the fabric of our daily living. My family and I recently enjoyed a week away from home and work, spending a short vacation at the Delaware shore. As I was able to let the mind relax and I talked with my kids and with those I ran into, it was interesting how often baseball came up.

Yup - that's me in my "right-handed Reggie" batting
stance. My little brother Steve is telling me I need to put
more weight on my back leg. :) Circa 1978

When I was a kid back in the 70s and 80s, summers were about baseball and having fun with a lot of free time. When we had daylight, someone had a Whiffle bat and some chalk to outline makeshift bases on the sidewalk. At night, we watched games, talked baseball, and compared baseball cards with friends. Good times.

The world is different today, but some things never change. During our vacation, we took the kids to the bookstore and as a treat we let them pick out three books each. Katheryn picked out her three when I noticed something.  "Hey, Katheryn. Check this out." It was Derek Jeter's children's book - The Contract. She looked at it  "Oh wow! ..... umm .... can I get four?" I let her negotiate with me before she decided that one of her prior three was not that important to her and put it back to get the Jeter book. It was something I totally would have done at her age if I had a chance to snag a Reggie Jackson book. Since then, she has shown the book off to her Auntie (the one who loves the Red Sox), taken it out to read at bedtime, and brought it to church to read while sitting waiting for service to start. It's like looking in the mirror for me.

I see so many people in beach towns wearing baseball caps and t-shirts. It's rare that you see anyone doing that doesn't have a sense of allegiance to their team. In Rehoboth Beach, there is incredible breakfast and ice cream shop called The Royal Treat. If you're ever there, you must have the French Toast. We went one night for ice cream to cap off a beautiful day. One of the co-proprietors serving ice cream was wearing a Boston Red Sox cap. "Are you a fan?" "Absolutely!" I lift up the back of my phone to show him my Bleeding Yankee Blue phone case. "I'm with the other guys," I laughed. "So what happened to you guys? You were supposed to win the division with Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval." We got to talking about how things can go so differently than planned in baseball. Two guys talking baseball that started with a cap and a phone case and a love for the game.

Baseball has this effect on us. Even when you're not watching the game, you're experiencing it. We sat down to grab a bite at a Greene Turtle and the kids had this activity sheet with a crossword puzzle.  Katheryn decided to give it a try. "Who is the Baltimore baseball team's mascot? Six letters. How am I supposed to know?" I tried to put it in perspective. "I'll bet that kids growing up around here know the answer. What if it asked for the Yankees' first baseman? You would know that."

Speaking of which, Katheryn is a Mark Teixeira fan. She has been since I got her a shirt with Tex's name and number on the back. Tex comes up to bat, Katheryn stops what she's doing to watch the at-bat. She wears Tex, Jeter, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brian McCann. Anastasia, on the other hand, wears Brett Gardner, Masahiro Tanaka, and Mickey Mantle. She used to wear Robinson Cano, but ... well ... you know what happened. It was a tearful day in our house. She's still upset about it.

Baseball is like that. You feel it, it becomes a part of your life. With the Yankees' storied history, it's a lot of fun teaching the game to the kids and some of the Yankees history that I learned from the adults in my life when I was their age. It's fun talking baseball with pretty much anyone. We talk about it at work, we gather around it with family, it just has that effect. So I got to kick back for a week and see this all happen and appreciate how life goes. I am helping write the history that my kids will look back on when they're older and have their own lives. That includes baseball and the Yankees.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row

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DEREK JETER SHOULD BUY THE NEW YORK YANKEES

Wouldn’t that make a splash? Recently rumors have made their way through the tabloids about Derek Jeter buying the Miami Marlins, though he has flatly denied such rumors. In one of his interviews at the end of his playing career, when asked what he would like to do next, he said he would like to own a baseball team. I don’t know about the Marlins, but the Yankees need some engaged ownership.

All of Yankees Universe is in an uproar over the inactivity and lack of engagement by the people running the shop. It got to the point where Brian Cashman had to make a sheepish statement that he has been “trying” to get pitchers (read HERE). There is just a palpable sense that the Steinbrenners just are not ponying up when it comes to spending and engagement. It does not help that George Steinbrenner is the point of reference, with his legendary eagerness to spend top dollar to get the players he thought were the best. Still, we all agree that George would not have stood for this.

Nobody wants to overspend, and the Yankees are feeling the pain of their poor history in this regard. They are sitting on contracts paying $20M+ per year to CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira. With all due respect to these gentlemen, they are in serious decline. We are paying premium prices for players that can no longer deliver the value that we paid for. It is not surprising that the Yankees are a little gun-shy when it comes to long-term contracts, and I personally think that those long-term contracts are not worth the risk.

Jon Lester went for $155M over 6 years, Pablo Sandoval went for $95M over 5 years, Hanley Ramirez went for $88M over 4 years, David Robertson went for $46M over 4 years, and Brandon McCarthy went for $48M over 4 years. You could make the argument that every one of those players was overpaid or gotten a contract for too long of a period. Here’s a little secret, though. EVERY TEAM OVERSPENDS ON THEIR KEY PLAYERS. Those players are the ones around which you build the team. The problem with the Yankees now is that they have not acquired ANY key acquisitions, but we get assurances that Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman are “trying”.

To have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs, the Yankees have some work to do. Time is not on their side. Everybody knows the Yankees are desperate to sign some serious talent, especially a starting pitcher. Scott Boras certainly knows, and he is shopping Max Scherzer at $216M for 8 years. Scherzer is the last major prize in the free agent market, and Detroit is just as desperate to sign him as the Yankees. If the Yankees cannot sign him, they need to find someone else who is top-shelf and can carry a team, be it through free agency or through trade. If they do not, the Yankees are looking at the possibility of a losing record for the first time since 1992. Even if they do sign Scherzer, they still have gaps to fill in the closer role, probably one more legitimate starter, third base, and an extra bat wouldn’t hurt.

Look, I do not really believe that Derek Jeter is going to buy the Yankees. I do not even believe that they are for sale. Nevertheless, what I would like to see – what Yankees Universe would like to see – is for the decision-makers to take some of Jeter’s philosophy and apply it to the Yankees. “If you’re going to play at all, you’re out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.” It represents a mindset of success and winning that is found on championship teams, trend-setting companies, and successful organizations in every walk of life. Another Jeter quote – “The last thing you want to do is finish playing or doing anything and wish you would have worked harder”. I appreciate Brian Cashman’s efforts, but the last thing the fans want is to allow all this talent to slip through our fingers and to have to endure another mediocre season.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row






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HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE DODGERS TRADE FOR ROLLINS

I'm a Dodgers fan... Now that that's established...

The Dodgers have a habit of signing players past their prime to overly-generous contracts before they are put out to baseball pasture (see: Manny Ramirez, Jason Schmidt, Nomar Garciaparra, Andruw Jones, et. al.)

So when the Dodgers made their first notable move at this week’s Winter Meetings, I wasn’t surprised that they were in contention to sign another veteran to their roster in Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins. What does surprise me though is that trade actually makes sense for the Dodger’s current lineup.

In his 15 years in the City of Brotherly Love, Rollins has established himself as one of the game’s top shortstops. Rollins, who is 36, is a two-time All-Star and 2007 NL MVP and is well regarded in the Phillies clubhouse and community. And after losing Hanley Ramirez to the BoSox, the boys in blue are in dire need of a quality middle infielder that can be an immediate impact player in the lineup.

While the Dodgers have young talent in Corey Seager, the infielder is still a year or two away from being an everyday player in the Bigs. Rollins has one year left on his contract and is expecting to be paid $11 million in the 2015 season and can act as a bridge until Seager’s major league debut. Compared to some of the horrible deals the Dodgers have made in the past few seasons, Rollins seems like a deal. The team gets a reliable hitter and a seasoned veteran in a locker room that’s been described as dysfunctional at best.

It’s not yet clear who the Dodgers will be trading in return for Rollins, but the deal seems to indicate that new GM Andrew Friedman may be a little more savvy that his predecessor Ned Colletti when it comes to using the purse. While the Dodgers have been rumored to be suitors in several blockbuster trades including Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, and Andrew Miller, Friedman has refrained from any major deals until today’s acquisition of Rollins.

--Alexis Garcia, BYB's "Eye on MLB" Columnist
Twitter:  @heylexyg






You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!