Bronx Bomber Ball

Fresh off a series win against the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees took on the Baltimore Orioles in the Bronx Tuesday night but it was a much different Orioles team than they had faced so far this season. The Orioles moved several key players before Tuesday’s trade deadline, including Yankee killers Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop. Despite some struggles by the bullpen in the later innings, this depleted Orioles team was no match for the Yankees, who grabbed a 6-3 win on Tuesday. Credit: Frank Franklin II/AP Photo

Following a series win versus the Royals and a flurry of deadline deals, the Yankees will face the cellar dwellers of the AL East, the Baltimore Orioles, in a short two-game set in the Bronx. These are two games the Yankees need to win, even though the Orioles are in the midst of a three-game win streak, as they come into play six games behind their rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

In another surprising move, the Yankees have acquired RHP Lance Lynn and money to help pay for his contract in exchange for first baseman Tyler Austin and 19-year-old starting pitcher Luis Rijo. The move was confirmed by Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman and first reported by Peter Sazon.   Photo Credit: ESPN

In a surprise move, the Yankees have dealt middle reliever Adam Warren to the Seattle Mariners for international signing money. The deal was first reported by Ken Rosenthal and the return was reported by Mark Feinsand. The Mariners were busy on the relief pitching market and the Yankees likely appealed to them because of New York’s desire for international signing money over prospects. Picture Credit: Paul J. Bereswill

When the Yankees signed Neil Walker in mid-March, he was viewed as an insurance policy for three spots: first base, second base and third base. He would bring a consistent, veteran presence to a young, inexperienced infield, as evidenced by his career numbers. Walker entered the season with a career .272 batting average, at least 10 home runs in each of his eight full seasons and he never hit below .250 in any full season. He was the definition of a solid player. At best, he’d be a quality starter, and at worst, he’d be one of the league’s best utility men. The signing seemed like a perfect match…until it didn’t. Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA Today

With less than 24 hours until the trade deadline, the Yankees find themselves still in the midst of a number of high profile trade rumors, with some more enticing than others. The Yanks have been linked with two different groups at this point: pitchers and rumblings about a bat to help reduce the suffering of Gary and Judge being on the DL. However, for this article we will focus on the Yanks possible need for pitching, being in the mix for both starters and relievers. Big names such as Cole Hamels and Brad Hand are off the market, and with the Nationals and Dodgers both extremely unlikely to deal their aces, focus must be shifted elsewhere, as the clock is quickly ticking. Brian Cashman has been up to his usual chats he has with executives round the league to gauge interest in his players, and despite recently acquiring J.A Happ from Toronto, you can never put it past him to make yet another move if he hears a package to his pleasing.

Chad Green exploded onto the scene last season as he put together one of the greatest seasons by a Yankees’ reliever since Mariano Rivera donned the pinstripes. He struck out 13.43 hitters per nine innings, accumulated a 1.83 ERA and a 2.4 WAR, and was arguably the MVP of the Wild Card game for the Yankees. While it would have been surprising if he pitched better in 2018, expectations were still high coming into this season. For the most part, he has lived up to his breakout season. However, in July, he has been a lot more hittable, and he has seen his ERA skyrocket to 2.74, when it was as low as 1.91 on July 8.   Photo Credit: AP

In front of a sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium, J.A. Happ delivered an impressive performance in his Yankees debut to lead his new team to a 6-3 victory and series win over the Royals. With the win, New York is once again a season-high 30 games over .500 at 68-38, but still trail the red-hot Boston Red Sox by 5.5 games in the AL East. Photo Credit: Mike Strobe/Getty Images

Less than 24 hours after sending two relievers to the Cardinals in exchange for international spending money along with a minor league first baseman, Cashamn spun another deal to send minor league southpaw reliever Caleb Frare to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for 1.5 million dollars in international spending money.   Photo Credit: NY Post

It is often said that it is extremely difficult to win both games of a doubleheader, no matter how below average the team you are playing is. That has been the case for the Yanks, as they have split all of their doubleheaders this season including the one on Saturday against the Royals, losing the first game 10-5 while edging out the night cap 5-4. It was an eventful day in the Bronx to say the least that saw Severino continue to struggle, Zach Britton lose the strike zone, C.C take a tumble and Neil Walker having his best day as a Yankee. Photo Credit: AP Rich Schultz 

In a rather surprising and unexpected move, the Yankees announced following Saturday’s game that they had traded LHP Chasen Shreve and RHP Giovanny Gallegos to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for 27-year-old first baseman Luke Voit and international pool money. The move was done to beef up the Yankees’ position player depth after some injuries and free up more spots on the 40-man roster for the Yankees’ young players   Photo Credit: NJ.com

In a span of 48 hours earlier this week, Yankees' General Manager Brian Cashman pulled off two trades to bolster both the starting rotation and bullpen as the Yankees hit the dog days of summer, still within striking distance of Boston for the AL East crown.  New York has one of the stronger lineups in baseball and few spots for obvious upgrades, so Cashman chose to focus on the other side of the ball.   Photo Credit: Frank Franklin/AP Photo

The Yankees may have won big last night against the Kansas City Royals, but suffered one of their most significant losses of the season when they lost Aaron Judge for at least the next three to four weeks to an ulnar styloid fracture after being hit by a pitch on his right wrist. This injury sent the Bronx Faithful into a panic; they conducted a candlelight vigil at Yankee stadium for their wounded outfielder, and everyone suggesting their ideas of how Brian Cashman and company should fill the enormous hole left by their gargantuan slugger.  AP

The Yanks finally gave their fan base what they have been clamoring for all year: a convincing win against an inferior opponent. After dropping another series to the Rays in Tampa, the Bombers traveled home to open a four-game set against the dreadful Kansas City Royals. Not to get excited about beating a team forty games under .500, but the Yanks needed to go out and take care of business against one of baseball’s bottom-dwellers. Photo Courtesy: NY Daily News Sports

In what has turned out to be a busy week for the Yankees and Brian Cashman, they have acquired left-hander J.A. Happ from the Toronto Blue Jays, as confirmed by Jon Heyman. The Blue Jays will receive IF Brandon Drury and OF Billy McKinney in return. Photo Credit: AP

Following a disappointing series loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees now have a 64-36 record. It sounds unreasonable to be complaining, but the Boston Red Sox have a 5.5 game lead in the AL East, and the Bombers have been slacking as of late. The Yankees are 11-8 in July, their worst month of the season. The Kansas City Royals enter this series as one of Major League Baseball’s worst 2018 teams, sporting a dreadful 31-70 record. They are second to only the Baltimore Orioles in lowest winning percentage at .307. The Yankees must take advantage of the opportunity to sweep or win this four-game set against Kansas City in order to catch up to Boston and avoid the Wild Card playoff game. 

1.       Yanks finish with a Wild Card spot The Yankees impressed to a 62-33 record in the first half and are currently on pace for over 100 wins. Unfortunately, the Red Sox are also in the AL East and happen to be playing at a historic pace. It’s nearly impossible for Mookie Betts and JD Martinez to keep up their unbelievable seasons, but with that being said, the Red Sox have gotten a lack of production from a lot of guys including Eduardo Nuñez, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Rafael Devers, while Chris Sale picked it up at the end of the first half of the season en route to starting another ASG. On the flip side, the Yanks have had injuries to many guys, but have also led the league in homers and gotten breakout seasons from rookies Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar along with a dominant bullpen. With the way the Red Sox are playing, it’ll be hard for the Yankees to catch them for the AL East title. Photo Credit: Getty Images

Coming off a strong win last night in which they got a complete game shutout from Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees sought another series victory in this afternoon's matinee at Tropicana Field.  Gleyber Torres returned to the lineup for the first time since our nation’s birthday, going 0–for-3 with a walk and making a few great defensive plays.  Luis Cessa also returned to the team, making his first start in the rotation in place of the recently demoted Domingo German, pitching very economically with 74 pitches through 5.1 innings and only giving up 2 runs. The offense, on the other hand, gave the Yankee pitcher no help while facing the Rays’ bullpen for the third day in a row and once again, failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the ninth inning as the Rays took this one by a count of 3-2. Photo Credit: Mike Carlson/AP Photo

After a disappointing, preventable 7-6 loss last night at Tropicana Field, the Yankees rebounded and won game two against the Tampa Bay Rays. Masahiro Tanaka cruised through the lineup all night, completely shutting out Tampa. This was Tanaka’s first complete game since April 2017. Brandon Drury left the game with a left hand contusion in the fifth, but most importantly, the Yankees were able to even up the series.  Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mike Carlson

In his first move of the July trade deadline, Brian Cashman has opted to improve on the lack of left handed arms in the bullpen by acquiring Zach Britton from the Orioles, as confirmed by Jon Heyman. The Orioles will receive RHP Dillon Tate, LHP Josh Rogers, and RP Cody Carroll in exchange for Britton. Britton will be an immediate presence in the late innings for the Yankees and provide the bullpen with another weapon to dismantle opposing offenses. Photo Credit: Sportfella.com

The Yankees did not fare well as their ace struggled on Monday. He struck out eight hitters, but allowed 11 hits and seven runs. The Yankees clawed their way back, but Gary Sanchez did not run out a miscue by the Rays infield and the Yankees left the bases loaded down one run to end the game. Photo Credit: AP

On a day where the New York sports world had already endured a tragedy due to the destruction of the NYDN sports section, Gary Sanchez single handedly cost the New York Yankee the series opener versus the Rays. It wasn’t because he struck out or made an error, that’s something that could happen to anyone, because baseball is a sport centered around failures. He cost the Yankees a baseball game against a divisional opponent in the middle of a pennant race, because he mentally, free-willingly gave up on his team.   Photo Credit: AP Photo

Following their rain-shortened two-game series split against the Mets at home this past weekend, the Yankees head down South for three days to face the Rays in Tampa Bay.  Tropicana Field has, in a way, been a house of horrors for New York, having gone just 4-9 at The Trop since the beginning of 2017 including an ugly three-game sweep just a month ago. The Yankees will begin play today at 63-34, five full games behind the first place Red Sox.  Tampa Bay comes in at 50-49, 19 games out of first and 9.5 games back of Seattle for the second Wild Card position. With trade rumors swirling for both squads and the teams headed in opposite directions, this series provides a key opportunity for the Yankees to get back on track and put pressure on Boston to once again close up the AL East race.

Domingo German put the Yankees in a hole early with another rough start, and the Yankees were not able to rally off enough runs versus Noah Sydnergaard and the Mets' bullpen as they dropped game one of the Subway Series 7-5. Photo Credit: AP Photo

Per Robert Pimpsner of Pinstriped Prospects, the Yankees will call up their number seven overall prospect per MLB.com, Domingo Acevedo, to take Domingo German’s spot on the active roster. The move will be announced prior to tomorrow’s game with the Mets. Photo Credit: USA Today Sports

The Yankees enter the second half of the season with a 62-33 record, which has them slotted in second place in the AL East behind the Boston Red Sox who are currently 4.5 games ahead with a 68-30 record to this point in the season. Following last year’s close encounter with the Minnesota Twins in the AL Wild Card game, the Yankees should definitely do their best to avoid the one game nightmare in this second half. The Yankees will begin this quest with a three game set against New York’s inferior team, the New York Mets. The Mets are currently sitting at the bottom of the NL East with a 39-55 record and the Yankees won two of the three meetings between the teams this season, signs which should indicate a Yankees’ series win. However, unfavorable pitching matchups could derail the Bronx Bombers in this Subway Series.

The Yankees first-half goes a little under the radar because they are not in first place. Their 62-33 is good for the second-best record in the majors behind their division rivals, the Red Sox. On the offensive side, they are third in the American League in runs, first in home runs, first in walks, second in OPS, and second in total bases. On the pitching side of the ball, they are second in ERA, and third in strikeouts. The trends with this team, thus far, consist of an abundance of home runs and strikeouts from the starting lineup, a shaky rotation behind the team’s ace, and a lockdown bullpen. Breaking it down further, I decided to grade each player individually  based on their contributions  this season along with what was expected of them. Here is how I graded each player on the team:   Photo Credit: NY Post

With the 2018 season now officially half way over, the 2018 All-Star Game was upon us. Although four Yankees were selected, only Aaron Judge and Luis Severino made appearances; Gleyber Torres is still on the DL and Aroldis Chapman chose to refrain from pitching in order to rest his ailing knee. However, both Judge and Sevy made major contributions to this game, so let's get into it. Geoff Burke / USA Today

Despite the All-Star game shenanigans that included a selfie with Chapman, Torres, and Severino, a viral GIF of Machado looking at Gleyber Torres’ phone, and Machado’s nephew saying on live television that he’d like to see his uncle on the Yankees, Jon Heyman reported moments ago that Manny Machado is close to being traded, but not to the Bronx Bombers. The deal is supposed to occur after tomorrow’s All-Star Game, which will likely be Machado’s last game in an Orioles uniform.   Photo Credit: Sporting News

Until this afternoon, it was a near consensus that deGrom was likely staying put this season and especially not heading to his team’s crosstown rival in the Bronx. However, news broke today that deGrom’s agent has a not so subtle request for Mets’ management: Sign deGrom long-term or trade him. This is obviously paraphrased, but deGrom’s agent made his intentions pretty clear in a statement to Ken Rosenthal. “We have discussed Jacob’s future with the Mets at length. Jacob has expressed interest in exploring a long-term partnership that would keep him in a Mets uniform for years to come. If the Mets do not share the same interest, we believe their best course of action is to trade him now.” The Mets are dead last in the NL East and do not appear to be heading in a positive direction. If they do have no intentions of locking up their staff’s ace, they would be foolish on not trying to negotiate with the Yankees.   Photo Credit: Newsday

The Yankees ended the first-half in frustrating fashion on Sunday, dropping a winnable game to the Indians 5-2. With the loss, the Yankees split their four-game, weekend series with the Indians two games apiece and won the season series over Cleveland 5-2. Photo Credit: Jason Miller/Getty Images

CC Sabathia took the mound tonight to act in his stopper role after the Yankees lost a tough game yesterday. While he got run support early, Sabathia blew the lead in the sixth inning due to some miscues in the field. However, Austin Romine’s little league home run and the bullpen secured the Yankees a victory in the third game of this four-game set.   Photo Credit: AP Photo

Per Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the Yankees have been heavily scouting the Angels pitching staff and could turn to them for pitching help, if the Angels decide to sell at the trade deadline. Southpaws, Tyler Skaggs and Andrew Heaney, are the two pitchers in particular that the Yankees would inquire on. The Angels’ GM, Billy Eppler, worked together with Brian Cashman in the Yankees’ front office only three years ago. This relationship along with his knowledge on the Yankees’ farm system creates an ideal trade situation.   Photo Credit: Getty Images

Friday night’s match up at Progressive Field saw Domingo German face off against the Indians’ Shane Bieber. German started the game with zero command of the strike zone and immediately got himself into trouble. Photo courtesy of NY Daily News

Yankees fans have witnessed an incredibly fast turnaround over the last two plus years. An old, overachieving team that didn’t stand a chance against Dallas Keuchel in the 2015 Wild Card Game has been transformed into one of the most exciting young teams in baseball. The Yankees of 2018 are overflowing with good young players –– several who would be starting on many MLB teams (lol Mets) are buried in AAA with no clear fit on the 25 man roster. Going back even further, this was a lineup the Yankees trotted out exactly five years ago. A dark time between the Murderers Row Plus Cano of the last truly contending Yankees team from 2009-12 and where we are today.   Photo Credit: NJ.com