Bronx Bomber Ball

Last year Cashman acquired Sonny Gray, Jaime Garcia, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, and Todd Frazier before the July 31st deadline, which helped drive the Bombers to game seven of the ALCS, but they gave up some of their better prospect in the process. The team has its sights set on a championship, so GM Brian Cashman will undoubtedly upgrade the team's pitching at the deadline, but who and for what? AP/Gregory Bull

The two most critical non-player positions are open as the 2017 offseason begins, as GM Brian Cashman and Manager Joe Girardi contracts have expired. The GM of the New York Yankees is one of the most coveted positions in all of the sports and probably one of the most stressful as well, but Cashman has done his job incredibly well, and will likely garner a lot of interest. Let’s look at the man himself. Photo Credit: John Munson | NJ.com

The Yankees will play host to the Kansas City Royals in a 1:05 PM matinee at Yankee Stadium; a makeup of the May 25th rainout.  With the AL East all but out of reach for the Yankees and the Kansas City Royals all but eliminated from playoff contention, this game won’t have much flair, but a win would go a long way in securing home field advantage for New York in the American League Wild Card Game next week.  As of this morning, the Yankees hold just a 4.5 game lead over Minnesota for the top Wild Card spot. The Twins were able to shrink New York’s lead with a four game winning streak combined with the Yankees dropping two of three in Toronto over the weekend.

Yankees' number two prospect Clint Frazier was the prized jewel of the 2016 Andrew Miller trade, with a bodacious attitude to go along with fiery red hair, he was instantly popular among the New York faithful. Although he was unmistakably talented, with "legendary bat speed," according to GM Brian Cashman, the young outfielder was unpolished, and that mane was getting more attention in spring training than his play, and he would spend the beginning of the season in the minors. Zack Whittman of The New York Times

The Yankees parted ways with quite a few impactful players during their sell off at the trade deadline and in free agency in an attempt to decrease their payroll and get younger as they roll into the youth movement. Obviously, Brian Cashman since reacquired the traded Aroldis Chapman, but I will be providing you all with an update on the former Yankees who the team has seen depart over the last season.   Photo Via Outside Pitch

Every year at Spring Training, mixed in with the buzz about young and talented prospects and the reappearance of veterans and familiar faces, there are always a few players who fall right in the middle. One of the players to fall into that category this year is left handed pitcher Tommy Layne. Layne is entering the sixth  season of his major league career and he hasn’t quite reached journeyman status yet, but he definitely seems like that type of player. He broke in with the San Diego Padres in 2012 as a 27-year-old and made a stop in Boston before signing with the Yankees in August of 2016. For his career, Layne has pitched in 197 games, posting a 3.23 ERA in 136.2 innings while allowing just 111 hits. Layne is a reliever by trade and although the Yankees have seen the recent emergence of several highly touted relief pitching prospects, the role of lefty specialist still seems to be very much up for grabs on this year’s club. Photo Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

When the Yankees traded away star relief pitcher Andrew Miller at last season’s trade deadline, they received a return of four strong prospects. The most talked about of that group has understandably been outfielder Clint Frazier seeing as he is knocking on the door of the big leagues and could potentially make a significant impact for the big club this season. In addition to Frasier the Yankees received left handed starter Justus Sheffield, right handed reliever J.P. Feyereisen and another right handed relief pitching prospect, Ben Heller. Heller is a name we should all be looking out for heading into this season because, simply put, he has absolutely electric stuff and could make an impact in the Yankees bullpen this season. Photo Credit: Presswire

Relatively a forgotten prospect in the minors due to the Yankees’ loaded farm system, Dietrich Enns will look to make the major league roster at some point in the 2017 season. He is one of many talented pitchers that could help the Yankees bullpen and potentially starting rotation as the season goes on. Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas | USA TODAY Sports

When Brian Cashman decided to sell and trade Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, many fans were concerned with the Yankees bullpen.   What was the team's strength could have quickly become their biggest weakness.   Cashman was smart by quietly acquiring two former Yankee pitchers that ended up performing extremely well.   One of those pitchers was Tyler Clippard, who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-hander Vincent Campos.   This trade went under the radar because of the Yankees big trades, but  Clippard performed quite well for the Yankees and will be a huge part of their bullpen this season. Photo Credit: Adam Hunger | USA TODAY Sports

Acquired from the Cleveland Indians in the Andrew Miller trade last summer, right0handed pitcher Ben Heller comes in at number 23 on the BBB top prospect list. We saw a little bit of Heller last season in the Bronx when he made his Major League debut near the end of August. Heller will come to Spring Training eying a spot in the Yankees’ 2017 bullpen. Photo Credit: MLB.com

After a long, cold winter, Yankees pitchers and catchers finally report to spring training today, and the chase for 28 has officially begun. While this season’s starting rotation is in question, the Yankees remain well-stocked in the back end of their bullpen, even after the trade of Andrew Miller during the past trade deadline. Manager Joe Girardi will have the privilege of being able to use two-time All-Star Tyler Clippard in the seventh and homegrown three-time All-Star Dellin Betances in the eighth, with newly re-acquired fireballer Aroldis Chapman serving as the closer once again.   With all eyes on Chapman after recently signing a monster five-year, $86 million contract, this is a fine opportunity to look at the star setup man, Dellin Betances. Photo Credit: Fox Sports

The 2016 season was a very bipolar season for the Yankees. For the first four months, they were not good. The players were old and not producing, the pitching staff was not going deep into games, and it was rare that someone in the bullpen not named Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, or Aroldis Chapman had a scoreless outing. The team was not exciting, and the playoffs seemed like a distant dream by the time July came. It wasn’t a fun time to be a Yankees fan. Clint Frazier Photo Credit: Jeff Irizarry | The Syracuse Chiefs

When most Yankees fans envision a trade with the White Sox these days, one name comes to mind: Jose Quintana. Maybe David Robertson as well. However, Brian Cashman has stated that he is not looking to upgrade the rotation, or add payroll (unless the Yankees trade Brett Gardner). This makes trades for both Quintana and Robertson unlikely, no matter how much sense both of them make for the team. I do still feel that the Yankees will add a starter, just no one that noteworthy; someone like Jorge De la Rosa or Brett Anderson on a cheap, one-year deal. However, one area that I feel like the Yankees would definitely upgrade if they got the chance would be the bullpen, and one trade is another White Sox reliever, Nate Jones. Photo Credit: Jason Miller | Getty Images

It was certainly an up and down year for the New York Yankees. Stars left in both the form of trades and retirement, while the youth movement finally saw its beginning. I have the privilege of putting together this piece for the second year in a row, but all of the writers here at the BBB had input in this piece. Without further ado, here are the BBB's top choices for the top moments of the Yankees 2016 season.

Everyone likes to talk about reflecting on their lives this time of year so in the spirit of the holiday that a lot of us just celebrated and the holidays that some of us are already decorating for, I would like to share some thoughts on things about the Yankees that I’m thankful for. Now, as Yankee fans we have extremely high and very often unreasonable expectations for the team year after year.   This is probably even more true for people like this 26-year-old who was just old enough to watch them dominate postseason baseball at the turn of the century. Photo Credit: Adam Hunger | USA TODAY Sports

Trading Andrew Miller wasn't an easy decision. He may be the best reliever in all baseball and had a contract that's pocket change compared to what relievers are getting this offseason. As a result, the package the Yankees got in return needed to be a sizable one. And to their credit, the Yankees got just that. A few weeks ago I wrote about Clint Frazier , who highlighted the return for Miller. This week I'm going to cover Justus Sheffield, who doesn't seem to get the attention he deserves. Photo Credit: Mark LoMoglio

It's been a long, long time since the Yankees fan base has had a reason to be legitimately excited about the farm system. Though I've been critical of him in the past, it can't be argued that Brian Cashman did a terrific job reloading the Yankee minor league system at the trade deadline this year, giving Pinstripe fans real hope for the future. One of the biggest names acquired at said trade deadline was Clint Frazier, who came to the Yankees amongst others in exchange for the ever dominant Andrew Miller. Frazier has been ranked at #1 and #2 respectively in MLB.com and Baseball America's top Yankee prospects. Additionally, the former fifth overall pick has been ranked at #15 and #21 in each of the aforementioned sites' most recent league-wide top prospects list. Via MiLB.com

A night after the Yankee offense exploded for 13 runs, the Indians hit three solo home runs, and got a dominating performance by 2014 Cy Young winner Corey Kluber on their way to a 5-2 win on Saturday afternoon,  Kluber, who’s had a great year overall, pitched eight strong innings, giving up just two runs and five hits, his fifth straight quality start in what has been another strong season. Old friend Andrew Miller [worked around a single by Brett Gardner], for the save in the ninth inning. Photo Credit: Kathy Kmonicek | AP

The Yankees came out of the trade deadline fresh off becoming sellers for the first time in years. In spite of unofficially waiving the white flag, the Yankees showed some fight in them in game one of the Subway series rallying back from a 5-3 deficit to tie the game up in the eighth, then win it in extra innings. However, the Yankees were unable to build any momentum off that come-from-behind victory and wound up splitting the Subway Series. The Yankees are now slated to go up against one of the top teams in the American League, and their recent trade partner, the Cleveland Indians, in a three-game weekend series.

After trading Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians for four prospects early Sunday morning, the Yankees took the field trying to salvage the last game of their series against the Tampa Bay Rays. As has been the case all series long, the Rays got the timely hits that the Yankees didn’t and completed the sweep with a 5-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field. Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara | AP