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

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WHY THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR A MATTINGLY

In case you live under a rock, Don Mattingly’s son, 24 year old Preston Mattingly has signed a minor league deal with the New York Yankees. This was tweeted by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus HERE. I know, Preston’s not Donnie, but he is his son and that alone gets me very excited about him playing for the Yankees. I love minor league signings, especially if they become major league signings one day, meaning, I hope Preston has a lot to offer and the Yankees call him up to the Bigs one day. (In Photo: Preston Mattingly)
It’s highly unlikely that it will happen in 2012 though, after all, according to Marc Carig of the Star Ledger (Read HERE), Preston hasn’t played higher that Class A ball. That being said, never say never, maybe playing in the Yankees farm system lights a fire under his ass. No doubt though, it’s a treat to have another Mattingly in the Yankees system…maybe some of that fatherly talent rubs off on the kid.

Preston is a second baseman and outfielder. His minor league career has been 6 seasons playing for the Indians and the Dodgers minor league teams. He has a .232 average in that time. Carig also brings up another tid-bit you may not know… he writes:

“It is the second time one of Mattingly’s sons landed with the Yankees, who drafted his oldest son Taylor in the 42^nd round of the 2003 draft. He played just 24 games for the organization.”

(In Photo: Taylor Mattingly)

Hey, who knows, maybe Preston does well, one can only hope, I guess. We hope to bring you more on Preston Mattingly later in the week. Look for it here at Bleeding Yankee Blue.

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.