Bronx Bomber Ball

After last night’s disappointing 4-2 loss to the Red Sox, where David Ortiz drilled a tie-breaking 2-run home run off of Dellin Betances in the 8th, the Yankees will send Michael Pineda (1-2, 6.95 ERA) to face off against Boston’s Rick Porcello (4-0, 3.51 ERA). Pineda has struggled heavily all season, as his high ERA has shown. Meanwhile, Porcello hasn’t lost an outing this season. The Yankees have been struggling on offense, ranking 29th in runs and they have only score 12 runs in their last six games. Meanwhile, their crosstown rivals in Queens, scored 12 runs in one inning alone last night. Chase Headley, arguably the biggest liability on offense, has not had an extra base hit and has the lowest batting average (.140) out of all qualified batters in the majors. Pineda must right the ship and the Yankees will need to restart its offense again in order to win tonight. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Michael Dwyer

The Yankees began a weekend series with the Boston Red Sox on Friday with their ace Masahiro Tanaka on the hill against Red Sox youngster Henry Owens. Although the Yankees offense was less than stellar, Tanaka put together a very solid outing, making one pitch he wishes he could take back. David Ortiz would deliver the big blow with a 2-run home run off Dellin Betances in the 8th to give the Red Sox a 4-2 win. Photo Via Elise Amendola, AP

After dropping two of three games to the Texas Rangers in their fourth series loss of the season, the Yankees now head to Boston as they look to get back on track. The season debut of the greatest rivalry in all of baseball will feature a 3-game weekend series with Friday and Saturday’s games beginning at 7:10 PM ET and the series finale beginning at 8:05 PM ET which will be part of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” The Yankees will look for a change of fortunes for an offense that has been absolutely abysmal to this point in the season. Let’s take a look into each of the matchups.

I think it's fair to say that as of now Chase Headley has taken the crown formerly held by Stephen Drew as the most ridiculed Yankee in the world of social media. The criticism of Headley is fair and grounded in fact. He is been an unmitigated disappointment since the Yankees gave him a four-year contract worth fifty-two million dollars following a somewhat productive half of 2014 in pinstripes. It seems as if every time Headley comes to the plate with runners in scoring position a failure is imminent. Due to the years and dollars the Yankees have committed to Headley, we are stuck with him until after the 2018 season. That being said, he hasn't given us much reason to believe he will turn it around any time soon, if ever. For this reason, the Yankees may have to strongly consider making a change. Although his fielding may have improved drastically from last season, how much longer can the Yankees continue to play an offensive liability as profound as Headley on a daily basis?

After the Yankees won on Monday 3-1, thanks to Nathan Eovaldi’s dominant seven-inning outing, the Rangers retaliated last night with a 10-1 obliteration of the Yankees. Luis Severino struggled again, and this was his third out four starts where he’s run into trouble early and often. In this rubber game of a three-game series, the Rangers sent Martin Perez, while the Yankees sent CC Sabathia. Sabathia has been consistent, though not particularly dominant in any outing. Even if the Yankees can’t sweep three-game series, continuing to win every series is a step in the right direction, and a win tonight will be a big positive as they travel to Boston after tonight’s game. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Tony Gutierrez

Since Masahiro Tanaka elected to not get Tommy John surgery, the questions about his arm have swirled. He’s also changed his pitching style for the most part, electing to throw more two-seam fastballs to compensate for a drop in velocity amongst other things. However, a few starts into the 2016 season, it seems like Tanaka has elected to turn to the four-seamer more often and it’s been a huge part of his vast improvements as the velocity has definitely returned to what it was during his “rookie” campaign. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Frank Franklin II

After yesterday’s (Tuesday, 4/26) abysmal start against the Texas Rangers, Luis Severino’s record fell to 0-3 on the season with an absolutely atrocious 6.86 ERA through four starts. He’s already allowed 15 earned runs this year in just 19.2 innings, and his pitches have not been located well, especially when his fastballs and sliders end up over the middle of the plate on two-strike counts. Severino seems to be struggling from the sophomore slump and has not been able to build off his great rookie year. Outside of Tanaka and Eovaldi’s last start, there has not been much to cheer for this year as a Yankees fan. With this in mind, the Yankees have three options with Severino: keep him in the rotation, send him down to Triple-A Scranton for a month and let him work on his pitches in a low-pressure environment, or send him to long relief in the bullpen. All statistics are current as of Wednesday, April 27. Other BBB writers will also deliver their verdicts, which will be at the end of t

Backed by last night’s terrific outing by Nathan Eovaldi, the Yankees won the opening game of a 3-game series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, by a score of 3-1. After Eovaldi pitched seven strong innings, the best we’ve seen in him in a long time, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller came in for an inning each to close the game out. Betances allowed a home run to Brett Nicholas, which was his first earned run of the year, but he still has an excellent ERA of 0.90. The Yankees sent Luis Severino (0-2, 4.86 ERA) to the hill today to face AJ Griffin (2-0, 3.18 ERA). Alex Rodriguez and Aaron Hicks remained out of the lineup due to injury, but A-Rod is expected back sooner than Hicks will be. Jacoby Ellsbury’s home run last night left Chase Headley as the only Yankees starter without a home run this season. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Tony Gutierrez

At just 21 years old, Luis Severino made his highly anticipated MLB debut against the Boston Red Sox in Yankee Stadium on August 5 th . Severino went on to have a marvelous debut despite only going five innings. He struck out 7 Boston hitters allowing 2 runs, including a homer to David Ortiz. This was only the beginning to stellar first season Severino enjoyed where he would go 5-3 with an ERA of 2.89. Coming into 2016 with incredibly high expectations where some expect him to anchor the staff and become the ace, he has gotten off to a slow start. But coming off a strong start last night against Oakland with plenty of time to have a great season, here are 5 things Severino has to do to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump. Photo Via BronxBaseballDaily

Unfortunately, the Yankees have been continually hit with injuries lately, whether it is with James Kaprielian, their top pitching prospect and #4 prospect in their system, or Alex Rodriguez, a seasoned veteran whose contributions last year (33 HR, 86 RBIs) were extremely important to the team. Below are some updates on injuries to major league players and key minor league players around the Yankees organization. This is only current as of Monday, April 25. Alex Rodriguez (on the 25-man & 40-man roster) : During the Yankees 8-1 loss to the Rays, A-Rod was taking practice swings in the cages before his sixth inning at-bat but then felt stiffness on his left oblique. He was replaced by Dustin Ackley. Although Girardi did not look optimistic in his post-game presser, his MRI on the oblique was negative, and he felt much better on Monday. He did not play in today’s (Monday, 4/25) win over the Rangers, but by his reports, it sounds like he will be back in the lineup by Wednesday or

Over the weekend, the Yankees took two out of three games from the Tampa Bay Rays in Yankee Stadium. Today, the Yankees start a nine-game road trip, first with a three-game set in Arlington, Texas, against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers sent Cesar Ramos to the hill for a spot-start in replacement of Cole Hamels, who was pulled with a strained groin. Meanwhile, the Yankees sent Nathan Eovaldi to the mound for the first of these three games. The Yankees have improved with runners in scoring position, but players such as Chase Headley (although his defense has been much improved) have still struggled at the plate. Alex Rodriguez and Aaron Hicks both did not start due to an oblique and shoulder injury, respectively. However, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said there will not be a call-up as A-Rod is expected to return shortly and Hicks will return by the end of the week. Photo Credit: Associated Press/Brandon Wade

After yesterday’s dramatic walk off win, the Yankees were searching to ride the momentum for their first series sweep since August 2015. Michael Pineda took the mound for the Yankees and got off to a bad start early giving up a 5 spot in the first inning. It was a hit-or-miss afternoon for Big Mike as he surrendered 10 hits, 7 runs (4 home runs) while striking out 9 batters over his 5 innings of work. Tampa Bay countered with LHP Drew Smyly who was coming off back-to-back 11 strikeout performances still in search of his first win of the season. He overwhelmed Yankee hitters over his 7 innings of work surrendering only 1 run and striking out 6. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Adam Hunger

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, the Yankees faced the Tampa Bay Rays for the middle game of a three game set. Masahiro Tanaka toed the rubber and had another solid outing as in seven innings the righty struck out seven and allowed only two runs. 23-year-old Blake Snell made his MLB debut and was impressive, striking out seven and allowing one run.  Photo Credit: Associated Press/Frank Franklin II

While the Yankees bullpen has been lockdown so far this season, not all of its success can be attributed to the likes of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. Obviously, the Bombers have a nearly unhittable backend with Betances and Miller, plus the suspended Aroldis Chapman, but going into the season, there were a lot of questions for the pen.  Picture Credit: Getty Images/Tom Szczerbowski

Mid-Friday afternoon, just before the lineups were released for Friday’s Game 1 of a 3-game series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees, the Rays announced that they were calling up LHP Blake Snell to make his MLB debut and start against the Yankees on Saturday. Previously, that spot in the rotation belonged to Erasmo Ramirez, but he’s bounced in and out of the rotation, and Rays manager Kevin Cash has already said Snell will make one start and then return to Triple-A Durham. Many Yankee fans became worried after hearing this news, and the common sentiment was that the Yankees don’t do well facing a pitcher for the first time and that Blake Snell is filthy and could potentially dominate the Yankees. With that, here’s a preview of what the Yankees will face with Snell on the mound today (Saturday, 4/23) and his history in the minors. Picture Credit: Sun Photo/Jennifer Bruno

Dellin Betances is one of the best relief pitchers in the MLB and with his 95-99 mph fastball and filthy knuckle curve, he’s been absolutely unhittable in 2016 and he has formed the best 1-2 duo in the 8th and 9th innings with Yankees closer Andrew Miller. Once Aroldis Chapman returns, if the Yankees have the lead after six innings, Yankee fans can just turn off their televisions. He’s my favorite player on the current New York Yankees team and I hope to one day see him pitch in person. Ever since he stepped onto the rubber for his 2014 season debut on Opening Day at Houston, he’s struck out 286 batters in just 182 innings (1.57 K/IP), accumulating an 11-5 record, with 54 holds and 10 saves in 152 outings. This season, he’s already struck out 20 batters in just 8.0 innings. Here are ten of his most memorable moments in his career (these are not in order of #1 being best or anything like that) so far, and if I missed any, please tweet at the BBB here . Picture Credit: Anthony Caus

Final: Yankees 6 Rays 3 W: Nova 1-0  L: Moore 1-1  S: Miller (4) The Yankees, losers of seven of their last eight games, entered the final leg of this disappointing home stand looking to right to the ship against the Tampa Bay Rays. Having been incapable of hitting with RISP for this stretch, it was nice to see them make some incremental strides. The Rays entered the series at 7-8, tied for third place in the AL East, while the Yankees sit alone in last place at 5-9. Though Sabathia only lasted 4.2 innings, the Yankee bullpen locked down the Rays offense to help cement the win. The most exciting moment of the game came in the fifth inning when Jacoby Ellsbury stole home plate to tie the game at 3.

After getting swept by the Oakland Athletics, the Yankees (5-9) begin a 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays (7-8) in the Bronx. The Rays are coming off two straight series wins, against the Chicago White Sox at home and the Red Sox in Boston. Last night, they used 4 runs combined in the 8th and 9th to come from behind and defeat the David Price-led Red Sox. Meanwhile, the Yankees continue to struggle, having scored only 17 runs in their last eight games combined, and the starting pitching has not seen a dominant start recently. Last night, the bullpen, which had been the highlight of the season so far, took a beating, as middle relievers Chasen Shreve and Johnny Barbato, served up three home runs combined and four total runs, and that was the difference in a 7-3 loss. Last season, the Yankees went 12-7 against Tampa Bay. Picture Credit: USA Today Sports

The Yankees lost again to the Oakland Athletics last night by a score of 5-2. Though Nathan Eovaldi did not pitch badly, he had one bad inning and the Yankees offense struggled to score runs again. The Yankees now need to avoid another sweep against another AL West team. On Sunday, it was the Mariners, and now it’s the Athletics. The Yankees sent Luis Severino (0-2, 5.91 ERA) to the hill tonight to face Rich Hill (1-2, 4.15 ERA). The Yankees are in desperate need of offense and a win and avoid a 3-game series sweep by the Oakland Athletics.  Picture Credit: Associated Press/Kathy Willens

The offensive drought the team has experienced has not been kind to most hitters including my personal favorite, Mark Teixeira . Teixeira is a meager 1 for his last 15 at the plate. Upon further review, however, it's not all his fault. Pitchers have clearly been pitching around him of late as evidenced by his 12 walks so far. In a way, he's been very productive in taking those walks and getting on base. In fact, he's actually failed to get on base just twice this season. A quick solution here would be to bat Teixeira in front of the hot hitting Beltran. This way pitchers are forced to actually pitch to Tex. If he actually sees strikes, we all know he's capable of 30 HR power. If not, teams will continue to pitch around him to get to what has appeared to be a washed up Alex Rodriguez. qualitychiro.com

The Yankees lost Game 1 of this series last night by a score of 3-2 in 11 innings. Although Alex Rodriguez got the scoring started early with a RBI single in the first, he struggled the rest of the night, particularly in the later innings, and so did the Yankees offense. Although the bullpen was strong in its 5 innings of relief, one run is the difference between win and loss in extra innings, and Johnny Barbato, unfortunately, gave up his first earned run of the season and suffered his first loss of the season. Tonight, the Yankees look to rebound with Nathan Eovaldi (0-1, 6.94 ERA) on the hill, who faces Kendall Graveman (0-1, 2.38 ERA) of the Oakland Athletics. Once again, the Yankees must hit with RISP, as they went 1-for-7 on Tuesday night. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Kathy Willens

To be quite obvious, a team’s success is contingent on its ability to pitch. When the Yankees acquired Micheal Pineda for virtually nothing – yes, I’m calling Jesus Montero nothing – there was excitement brewing in the Bronx. Pineda is a very large human, standing 6’7” and big dudes like “Big Mike” have always been difficult to handle for opposing hitters. The issue has never been Pineda’s stuff, however. For a guy who’s generally been injury prone throughout his young career, staying consistent has been the hardest thing to figure out. Picture Credit: Fox Sports

The Yankees came off a 4-3 win on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners to avoid a 3-game sweep over the weekend. Masahiro Tanaka went seven innings, the first time a Yankee pitcher has done so this season, and Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller struck out all six batters that they combined to face to close out the game. Alex Rodriguez finally ended his slump and drilled a 2-run home run to left in the first inning off of Hisashi Iwakuma. Tonight, the Yankees start a 3-game series against the Oakland Athletics, their second straight AL West opponent. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, and Luis Severino out to the mound to face the Oakland A’s to try and gain a few games back on their AL East counterparts. The Yankees must hit with RISP if they wish to build a winning streak. Photo Credit: Associated Press/Bill Kostroun

The Yankees hope to build on Sunday's narrow 4-3 victory over the Mariners, as they welcome the Oakland Athletics to the Bronx for a three game series. Despite having gotten off to a hot start to begin the season, the Yankees offense has struggled tremendously when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position. The Yankees enter this series in fourth place in the AL East, three games back from the division leading Baltimore Orioles. The Athletics, at 6-7, find themselves tied for second place and a game behind the Texas Rangers.

As a result of both minor-league call-ups and trades during the offseason, the Yankees roster already looks significantly different from last year. New players from trades such as Aaron Hicks, Ronald Torreyes, and Starlin Castro started the season in the Bronx and both Torreyes and Castro have taken advantage of the new environment and have succeeded early in the season. Only one player that spent significant time in the Yankee farm system has done exceedingly well with the Yankees this year, and he’s Johnny Barbato, who has pitched 6.0 IP, allowed only 2 hits, and has struck out 9. There is definitely talent brewing in Triple-A Scranton and here are the top 5 most likely call-ups, the probable timing of the call-up, and the likelihood of a call-up on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being not likely at all and 10 being very likely. Here is the list of rankings on the Yankee farm system, developed by some of my BBB colleagues, Chad, Julian, Sammy, Phil, and James. Picture Credit: Pinstr

It’s been a strange season for Yankees baseball. Although the Yankees are currently 5-6, only 3 games back in the American League East, and they’ve only played 6.79% (11 out of 162 games) of the season, Yankee fans everywhere have been calling for change. I’m a big statistics person, and most pieces I write (not including game recaps) are usually driven by numbers. With that in mind, I dove deep into the world of Yankees statistics so far this year, and here are ten hat will definitely surprise you. Please note that these statistics are accurate as of April 17, 2016. Photo Credit: Ariball.com

The Yankees came into today’s game looking to break out of the recent offensive slump that they have been in. They sent Masahiro Tanaka to the mound against Hishashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners. Tanaka went in to the game still looking for his first win of the season. Photo Credit: Associated Press

The Yankees came off a very disappointing 7-1 loss to the Mariners last night. Luis Severino was unable to keep the Mariners offense in check, and Nathan Karns rebounded from an early home run by Brett Gardner to pitch an excellent outing. CC Sabathia took the hill today for New York, while perennial ace Felix Hernandez started for the Mariners. The Yankees have been in an offensive funk lately and haven’t hit well with runners in scoring position. It was the utmost importance they do so today against King Felix and take advantage of the few opportunities they would be given to score runs. Photo Credit: Associated Press

The Yankees dropped their third straight game tonight, losing to the Seattle Mariners 7-1. Despite having numerous opportunities to break the game open, the Yankees failed to get a single hit with runners in scoring position. Hopefully, this doesn't become a reoccurring theme, however the Yankees look strikingly similar to the team that struggled to hit in the second half of 2015. Another trend that continued tonight was the failure of Yankee starters to go deep into the game and give the bullpen some rest. Severino lasted only five and two thirds of inning, giving up eight hits and four runs. His record drops to 0-2. Tomorrow, the Yankees take on the Mariners once again, as CC Sabathia will face off against Felix Hernandez at 1:05 ET.

We’re now eight games into the season and it’s abundantly clear that the Yankees will live and die with their boom-or-bust offense, so to speak. The Yanks were only able to scrape up three hits against Blue Jays ace Marcus Stroman, while he limited New York to just two runs over eight innings. Through the first three innings of the game, both Nathan Eovaldi and Marcus Stroman we’re cruising along. Once the fourth inning came along, the wheels didn’t completely fall off, but they definitely loosened for Marcus Stroman of the Jays. Photo Credit: Associated Press

The Yankees were coming off of their first AL East win in the series opener against the Blue Jays, looking to get Michael Pineda his second win of the season. The Blue Jays sent J.A. Happ to face off against the Yankees lineup tonight. Photo Credit: Associated Press

I n the Yankees' (3-2) AL East opener this year, Masahiro Tanaka took the mound for his second start after looking decent against the Astros to open up the season. He faced off against Aaron Sanchez of the Blue Jays (3-4).

Much like the weather in Detroit, the Yankees offense went cold in game one of the first road trip of the year. C.C. Sabathia (6-10, 4.73 ERA in 2015) will toe the rubber for his first start of the year and he’ll try to be the Yankees first pitcher to last six innings in 2016.Tigers lineup. On the other side, veteran Mike Pelfrey (6-11, 4.26 ERA in 2015) will be making his Tigers debut. Photo Credit: USATSI and CBS Sports 

The Yankees kicked off the young season with their second series of the season as they traveled to Detroit for a weekend series. Game one featured young rising star Luis Severino (5-3, 2.89 ERA in 2015) against newly acquired Jordan Zimmermann (13-10, 3.66 ERA in 2015). Zimmermann received a large pay day this offseason signing a 5 year deal worth $110 million. Severino comes in 2016 with hefty expectations as many across baseball expect him to take the next step in his game and become the ace of the staff. Photo Credit: AP/Paul Sancya

Fresh off a series win against the Houston Astros, the New York Yankees will hit the road to face the retooled Detroit Tigers. The Bombers had a solid record against Detroit last season, with five wins and two losses. They’ll look to carry the momentum as they embark on the first road trip of the season. Photo Via google images

The Yankees completed their season-opening three-game series against the Houston Astros this afternoon in the Bronx. While the Astros won the season opener, the Yankees exploded Wednesday night for 16 runs to beat the Astros 16-6 with an offensive barrage. Tonight, the Yankees sent Nathan Eovaldi (14-3, 4.20 ERA in 2015) to the hill, who hopes to continue to gain the run support he did last year, with over seven runs a game. Eovaldi faced off against Mike Fiers (7-10, 3.69 ERA in 2015), who threw a no-hitter last year against the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 21. Starlin Castro and Carlos Correa both hoped to continue their hot starts tonight. Picture Credit: AP/Julie Jacobson

The Yankees lost their season opener yesterday by a score of 5-3 to the Astros. Dallas Keuchel rallied after giving up a 2-run double to Starlin Castro to shut down the Yankees. The controversial call stemming from Carlos Correa’s grounder to Dellin Betances allowed the Astros to come from behind and win. Tonight, Michael Pineda (12-10, 4.37 ERA in 2015) faces off against Houston’s Collin McHugh (19-7, 3.89 ERA). In the 2015 season, McHugh allowed only three earned runs to the Yankees in 14.1 innings, with a 2-0 record in two starts. Pineda, meanwhile, allowed seven earned runs in 12.1 innings, giving up 13 hits and striking out 11. Picture by: AP Photo/Kathy Willens

Yes, I understand the season is already underway, however I thought I'd get these predictions out sooner rather than later. I apologize in advance that I waited so long. As we know, there are a number of uncertainties surrounding the 2016 New York Yankees. Every team has their share of question marks, but in my opinion the Yankees have a relatively high amount. Is Starlin Castro enough to improve an offense that became borderline unwatchable towards the end of last season? Will the members of the rotation stay healthy, and achieve a level of consistency? Will the middle relievers be able to form an effective bridge to Betances, Miller, and Chapman (after he returns from his suspension of course)? Currently, I believe this is an 85 win team, with the potential to win 90 games if some of the question marks I described above are answered in the affirmative. Will that be enough to secure a wild card birth? Is this team drastically better than last season? Time will tell, but making pre

After being rained out yesterday, the New York Yankees (87-75 in 2015) finally started its 2016 campaign on a cold Tuesday afternoon against the Houston Astros (86-76 in 2015) in the Bronx. The Yankees sent Masahiro Tanaka (12-7, 3.51 ERA in 2015) to face Houston’s Dallas Keuchel (20-8, 2.48 ERA), in what was a rematch of last year’s Wild Card game. The Yankees lost 3-0 in the Wild Card game last year, where Keuchel threw six shutout innings, struck out seven, and allowed only three hits. The Yankees need a fantastic start to the season if the team wants to start the year off with momentum. Aaron Hicks started in left field over Brett Gardner in today’s season opener. Picture by: AP Photo/Kathy Willens

It’s finally here, baseball fans. After a long winter, baseball is back. We can once again begin to look forward to games every day and most importantly, Yankees baseball. The same foe that crushed the Yankees postseason hopes in 2015 will be in town to kick off the new year, the Houston Astros. Photo Via Sporting News

With Opening Day finally here, we will run down the Bronx Bomber Blogger predictions for Yankees team accolade winners at season's end.