Bronx Bomber Ball

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

In a series that has featured mostly nail biting, closely contested games, the Yankees took the field at Minute Maid Park for Game 7 of the ALCS facing a tall task. Coming off a tough defeat in Game 6 that saw the Astros offense wake up, it was clear Minute Maid would provide a hostile environment from the first pitch on. The home team had won every game in this series up to this point and the Yankees would have to break the trend if they were going to advance to their first World Series since 2009. The matchup saw Astros right hander Charlie Morton facing off against veteran lefty CC Sabathia. While CC has been the Yankees stopper all season, it would come down to whether the Yankees offense would finally be able to break through on the road. Although this Yankee team has risen to the occasion many times this season, they would come up short this time and falter just a game shy of the World Series. Credit: Eric Christian Smith/AP Photo

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

When you think about the Yankees youth movement, there’s no doubt that Gary Sanchez is one of the first names that comes to mind. While fans should be excited to see players like Aaron Judge, Tyler Austin, Clint Frazier, and even Jorge Mateo at the big leagues this year, everyone is looking forward to seeing what Sanchez can do in his first season as the Yankee catcher. After the Yankees traded Brian McCann to the Astros this winter making Sanchez the full time starting catcher, there is no doubt that the 24-year-old will look to build on his historic rookie season. Photo Credit: Steve Nesius | AP

The 2017 MLB season will be the sixth in the career of Austin Romine. The Yankee backup catcher from last season entered spring training this season with an inside track on the job that he filled adequately last year but with some young guns performing well within the Yankees’ minor league system, it may not be long before we question how secure his spot on this team is. Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac 

At just 21-years young, Albert Abreu has a lot of baseball ahead of him. Abreu was one of the primary pieces the Yankees acquired from the Astros in the Brian McCann deal, and for good reason. Abreu is a four-pitch thrower, which is what we should classify him as more than a pitcher at this stage in his career.   Photo Credit: Jayne Hansen

Kyle Higashioka is a 26-year-old right-handed catcher from Huntington Beach California. The Yankees drafted Higashioka way back in 2008, in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft. Higashioka was highly touted for his superior defensive game behind the plate. His size, 6"1" 205 pounds, combined with his defensive ability convinced the Yankees to select him in the seventh round, where they viewed him as a high value prospect. The Yankees were one of few teams who thought he had offensive potential that could develop over time. Photo Credit: Mike Janes

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

After a paradigm shift in 2016 the likes that most of us have never seen in our lifetimes, the New York Yankees enter the 2017 MLB season with a brand new look, a brand new philosophy, and a significant buzz that fans like myself haven't felt in years. Photo via Getty Images

In today’s game of baseball, overpaying for free agents is inevitable. If you want to sign your guy, you are going to make sure nobody outbids you in the process. Nowadays, it seems like every free agent is getting overpaid. Seven years and $161 million for Chris Davis? Eight years at $184 million for Jason Heyward? Seven years for $153 million for Jacoby Ellsbury? Sure, the Yankees overpaid Aroldis Chapman signing him to a five year deal worth $86 million, a deal that shattered the previous record for any relief pitcher. But the point is, they intended to overpay him. Resigning Chapman after dealing him to the World Series champion Chicago Cubs was a priority for Brian Cashman, and after getting it done, this is a signing that should be celebrated. Photo Credit: Jerry Lai | USA TODAY Sports

As the Yankees head closer to the 2016 Winter Meetings, it is crucial that they lock up a reliable designated hitter to pad the middle of the lineup. With a lot of different options out there, the one that makes the most sense to me is Mike Napoli. In 2016, Napoli (35) had one of the best years of his career belting 34 home runs while driving in 101 runs and playing in 150 games. Not only did Napoli put up big time numbers, he did it in one of the least hitter-friendly ballparks in all of baseball. I can only imagine what kind of power numbers Napoli could put up in Yankee stadium. Photo via Fansided

The Yankees made their first significant move of the offseason this Thursday as they traded catcher Brian McCann to the Houston Astros for pitching prospects Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman. Ever since the emergence of Gary Sanchez in the second half of last season, the writing has been on the wall for McCann. Few expected him to be on the Yankees roster come 2017. While McCann became a respected clubhouse leader, there was simply no room for him on this team moving forward. It's great to see the Yankees have confidence in Sanchez moving forward. This trade also signifies a continuance of stockpiling young talent for the Bombers. The Yankees are still looking to compete come 2017, but they're doing so while keep their eyes on the brighter pastures ahead. Photo Credit: N.Y. Post/ Charles Wenzelberg

Likely the Yankees biggest storyline to monitor early in the offseason is what they are going to do with Brian McCann. With Gary Sanchez bursting onto the scene in 2016, Brian Cashman has already dubbed Sanchez as the Yankees’ starting catcher on opening day in 2017. He did say that McCann would see one or two starts behind the dish, as well as being the primary designated hitter, barring any free agent signings. Although the Yankees are probably best-suited in trading McCann, the team should be reassured that they cannot go wrong with whether they trade him or not. Photo via Getty Images

It may seem like Brian McCann is the odd man out in the Bronx. He has failed to bat .250 in each of his three seasons in pinstripes. He is now 32 years old and has lost the starting catcher job to Gary Sanchez.   Given the fact that he is a proven veteran who still has value as a starting catcher for many other teams, you would figure the Yankees should trade him. Photo Credit: Steven Ryan | Getty Images

The Yankees won a thriller this Thursday night in the Bronx, pulling to within two games of the second wild card! Fresh off an invigorating sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Bombers proceeded to welcome the last place Rays to the Bronx for four games. Despite a rocky pitching performance from CC Sabathia, the bullpen of misfits somehow pulled through, buying enough time before Tyler Austin's dramatic walk off home run. AP Photo/Adam Hunger

Making his season debut, Bryan Mitchell was called on for one of the biggest games of the season for the New York Yankees. Mitchell answered the bell throwing five plus scoreless innings allowing just four hits against a potent Toronto offense that Yankee pitchers managed to shut down for the most part over the course of this series. Luis Severino then came on in relief of Mitchell and he would toss three scoreless innings before handing the ball off to Tyler Clippard for the save. Photo Credit: Adam Hunger | AP

The Blue Jays got on the board quickly in the first inning when Edwin Encarnacion deposited a Luis Cessa pitch into the left field seats for a solo home run to put the Jays up 1-0. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Brian McCann launched a solo shot of his own into the right field stands, his first since August 19 th , to tie the game up at one a piece. The tie didn’t last long as Kevin Pillar scored on a broken bat single by Jose Bautista in the top of the fifth to retake the lead, 2-1. Things were looking bleak for Yankees fans before Tyler Austin hit a two-run moonshot into the right field bleachers, making it 3-2, Bombers. The lead didn’t last long, however as the Yankees bullpen did what they did best and gave the lead back on a two run double by Kevin Pillar in the top of the eighth to give the Jays the lead once again at 4-3. But again, the lead changed in the bottom of the eighth when Didi Gregorius laced a RBI triple just out of the reach of Pillar and later scored on a sa...

Chad Green, who has dominated opposing batters the last two times on the mound, was looking for another quality start this afternoon against the Baltimore Orioles. He did not pitch well, but the Yankees did plenty with their bats to pull out the 13-5 victory on Saturday, taking the first two games in this huge weekend series with the O’s. They have now won four in a row, and are a season-high six games over .500 at 67-61. (Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

It's becoming painfully clear that the Yankees lineup is filled with a number of deadweights. As exciting as the youth movement has been, such good vibes have been bogged down by the presence of Brett Gardner, Chase Headley, Mark Teixeira, and Brian McCann. None of these players deserves to be on the roster next season. While Teixeira is retiring at year's end, Headley, Gardner, and McCann have time left on their contracts. The Yankees must deal all of them this offseason to complete the rebuild, and allow more Baby Bombers to make their way to the majors. For this reason, I'm calling on the Yankees to relegate these veterans to bench roles moving forward. Realistically, the Yankees are not good enough to be a wild card team. Their pitching simply is not up to par. The duration of the 2016 season should be dedicated towards building for 2017 and beyond. Below I will outline my recommended approach for handling the aforementioned veterans. Photo Credit: Elsa | Getty Ima...

As we head down the stretch towards the playoffs, these two teams are right in the playoff hunt, each vying for a wild card spot. Seattle heads in with a 66-57 record, just a game behind the Orioles in the Wild Card race. New York’s 63-60 puts them four games back. This is the second series of the season between these two, as Seattle took two out of three in the Bronx back in April. The Mariners have been hot as of late, owning a 14-6 record in August. The Yankees “youth movement” has pushed them three games over .500.