DON'T WORRY, WE GOT ISHIKAWA

Just a quick note about the Yankees claiming someone off waivers today.  You probably don't know him, but he's a first baseman.

The Baltimore Sun reports HERE that "... Travis Ishikawa, who was designated for assignment on June 29, was claimed by the New York Yankees on waivers Sunday afternoon.

Ishikawa, 29, had two hits in 17 at-bats in his brief time with the Orioles. He had batted .316 with a .413 on-base percentage in 49 games with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides.

Signed to a minor league deal, Ishikawa had an opt-out clause after June 15 if he weren’t promoted. He exercised it, and the Orioles promoted him. But within 10 days, he was off the roster to make room for Jair Jurrjens in the bullpen."

Thank goodness. (Insert sarcastic smile here.)

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MICHAEL PINEDA: THE WILD ONE?

If you thought Michael Pineda was better than AJ Burnett at this very moment...I can only imagine that some of you Yankees fans are second guessing it. Don't. Pineda's young and it will work itself out...it's spring. Michael Pineda may not have impressed a whole lot of people today, but his velocity is reportedly coming back...read HERE. More on that in a moment.

Pineda didn't make it out of the 3rd inning. Jair Jurrjens had the same problem today... he also couldn't find the plate. It was just one of those days. Things can change and things will change. Don't panic.
Pineda gave up 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks and a wild pitch. He pitched 2 2/3 innings. As far as his velocity...well he hit 93 MPH but ranged between 90 and 91 with his fastball. Andrew Marchand brings up an interested point and credits FanGraphs in reference to Pineda's velocity. He says:

"When Pineda was at his best last year, he was in the mid-90s with his heater. At times, FanGraphs has noted he would start the game, throwing softer and pick up velocity as the game went on. In the pregame, Brian Cashman said the Yankees are still collecting data on Pineda and trying to see how he gets ready for a season. "

Read the rest of Marchand HERE.
The bright spot? 2 things... the Yankees won 8-3 over the Braves and Alex Rodriguez doubled in drove in 2 runs. Good for Alex.

More tomorrow...God I love baseball.

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YANKEE RUMORS & BYB: PART 16

Yu Darvish: Hal Steinbrenner has stated that he has no problem pursuing Japanese sensation Yu Darvish, but the real question is, will he post? According to reports, Yu's father believes the chances are "50-50". No doubt he said that in Japanese...that's a joke. The point is I think it's safe to say that if Yu posts, the Yankees will do their best to get him. If not, I believe they will then go hard to sign CJ Wilson or Mark Buehrle... that is unless Wilson doesn't sign with the LA Angels and Buehrle signs with the Nationals. Read Wilson and the Angels connection HERE and Buehrle and the Nationals connection HERE.
Jair Jurrjens: Wally Matthews of ESPN says the Yankees are concerned about Jurrjens knee and believe that he may have serious knee injury. You can read about it HERE. This past weekend, we wrote WHY NUNEZ MAY BE AN ATLANTA BRAVE...MAYBE. In it, we informed you that the Braves like Eduardo Nunez and would possibly want to trade Jair Jurrjens. We will keep an eye on this one and let you know if the Yankees are seriously interested in pulling the trigger for Jurrjens or if they will hold off.
Eric Chavez: Yes, it's true, Chavez has decided to play in 2012, but will the Yankees sign him? Read it HERE. Brian Cashman has stated that he'd bring Chavez back at the right price and if you factor in that he will most likely get hurt at least once in 2012 and play a handful of games as a bench player as well as fiilling in at first and third, I'd say Chavez knows exactly what he's worth. Chavez hit .263 with 2 home runs and 26 RBIs in 58 games last season.
Joel Pineiro: I liked Pineiro when he was younger and better. I don't care for him now and the fact that Cashman is asking about Pineiro only means one thing to me, he just wants to visit all options before he makes a move. This Pineiro meeting, read HERE doesn't mean much, unless the Yankee brass believes they can get lightening in a bottle, similarly to the way they found in with Bartolo Colon and they can get him for cheap.

Anything happens, we will have it here on Bleeding Yankee Blue.

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WHY NUNEZ WILL BE AN ATLANTA BRAVE...MAYBE

Eduardo Nunez is a decent ballplayer and he's got a good bat and great speed, but he can't field to save his life. My buddy and I have talked about it and I've always hammered the guy because it never fails, every time there is a moment where he should shine, he commits an error. My pal says "Well, he's young, he has time to grow." I say "You're in the majors because you need to perform, so that growing stuff should be done by then." I know, I'm hard on Nunez, but that's because I like him and want him to do well.

John Harper of the New York Daily News has a piece (HERE) which hints that Nunez and his days in the Bronx may be over....or maybe not, but in the rumor mill... there's always a chance for anything.

The big name that the Braves could serve up would be pitcher Jair Jurrjens. Harper writes:

"The Braves think highly enough of Nunez’s potential, according to a major league source, that they might consider trading Jurrjens, their 25-year-old All-Star righthander, to the Yankees in a deal built around the 23-year-old shortstop."

He goes on:

"A Yankee source, meanwhile, says that last week the Braves let the Bombers know they’d be interested in dealing for Nunez, but didn’t discuss Jurrjens or any specific players on their side."

Look, this is a nugget and some light Sunday evening reading, who knows what this rumor will bring, but it's definitely something to think about, after all, the Yankees do need pitching.

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