Bronx Bomber Ball

Earlier today, the Yankees PR department announced on Twitter that the Yankees had acquired minor league 1B Ryan McBroom in exchange for INF/OF Rob Refsnyder. Once ranked has high as the fourth best prospect in the Yankee farm system by MLB.com, Refsnyder’s tenure with the Bombers failed to live up to high expectations, and ultimately ended with his DFA last week. Photo via Adam Hunger of USA Today Sports

Unless you have been living under a rock or have had no social media access over the past 12 hours, odds are you are well aware of the unexpected blockbuster that seemed to be going Boston’s way took a turn south and found its home in the Bronx. The Yankees were able to acquire TWO late-inning impact bullpen arms and a former Home Run Derby Champion and All-Star for Blake Rutherford, Ian Clarkin, Tyler Clippard, and Tito Polo. Photo Credit: Chat Sports

Grade: F Rob Refsnyder has been up and down between the Yankees and Scranton/Wilke-Barre RailRiders multiple times throughout the season. He was mainly called up as a replacement for injured players because he can play multiple positions. He’s played 1B, 2B, LF, and RF in the majors but primarily played second base in the minors. He became a mainstay in late May and most of June because of the slew of injuries that impacted the Yankees’ starters. He will probably be sent back down soon as the Yankees’ starting players get healthy.   Nam Y. Huh | AP Photo

After a promising win last night in which included an incredible MLB debut from phenom Miguel Andujar, the Yankees reversed back to their losing ways in a 4-3 loss Thursday night.   Photo Credit: Nam Y. Huh | AP

As a Yankee fan, the Scranton-Shuttle is a familiar term for what seems like a never-ending cycle of relief pitchers and, to a smaller extent, position players constantly coming up to the Major League Club, spending minimal time with the Yankees, and then packing their bags to go back to the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate in Scranton. Photo Credit: NJ.com

The Yankees have optioned Rob Refsnyder to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and selected the contract of left-handed relief pitcher Tyler Webb to take his place. Webb was not previously on the 40-man roster, but the Yankees never made a corresponding move after Tommy Layne was DFA'd, so they had been carrying 39 players. Refsnyder has a poor slash line of .172/.226/.276 on the season in 29 at-bats, with no homers or RBIs. Webb, meanwhile, has a 3.24 ERA in 21 relief appearances with Scranton, and has struck out 47 batters in just 33.1 innings. Photo via Icon Sportswire

Along with Gary Sanchez, Aaron Hicks was hurt in the Yankees’ extra innings loss on Thursday night against the A’s. Believed to have happened in his at-bat in the eighth inning in which he grounded out, Hicks stayed in the game before voicing his discomfort to Joe Girardi. It was later diagnosed as an Achilles injury by the Yankees medical staff, but it isn't believed to be too serious. Photo Credit: Kathy Willens/AP

It’s almost hard to imagine how dominant this Yankees team would be if there was production out of the first base and third base positions. When Greg Bird went on the 10-day DL on May 2, nobody expected that he would be out this long. Since then, with Chris Carter as the everyday first baseman and Chase Headley as the everyday third baseman, the production hasn’t been very good. After Chase Headley cooled off from his mostly red-hot April (which we all saw coming, let's be honest) the two have combined for a .230 average with just 10 home runs and 47 runs batted in. Those are certainly not stats that you want out of your corner infielders, who traditionally are the players in the middle of a big league line up. Photo Credit: Seth Wanig | AP

The New York Yankees blew an early 4-0 first inning lead and Michael Pineda showed his bad side once again as the Bombers dropped the rubber game of the three game series with the Los Angeles Angels 7-5. Andrelton Simmons gave the Angels the lead for good in the seventh with a two-run home run off Ronald Herrera and Parker Bridwell pitched 3 ⅔ innings of relief for Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Jae C. Hong | AP

On Monday, June 5th, the Yankees announced the reinstatement of Tyler Austin from the 60-day DL . Austin was subsequently optioned to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. In the days leading up to spring training, Austin suffered a broken left foot. Coming into the 2017 season, Austin was a favorite to land a roster spot for the Yankees, as he was expected to provide the Bombers with some pop off the bench, and the versatility to back up first baseman Greg Bird, third baseman Chase Headley, and occasionally play both corner outfield positions. With Bird's early struggles and stint on the disabled list, a healthy Austin would have been a much more compelling option to get at bats than the ever slumping Chris Carter. Now, with Austin potentially slated to return to the Bronx any day now, the Yankees must map out a role for this Baby Bomber. Photo Credit: Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire 

Coming off a frustrating 7-5 loss at the hands of Francisco Liriano, Josh Donaldson, Justin Smoak and the entire Toronto Blue Jays squad last night, the Yankees turned to rookie left-hander Jordan Montgomery this afternoon to right the ship and get the Yankees back on the winning track.  Montgomery struggled in his last time out in Baltimore, laboring through 4.1 innings of three run (one ER) ball, allowing eight hits, walking one, and ultimately taking the loss in a 3-2 Orioles win.  For the Blue Jays, Joe Biagini, who started the season in the bullpen, made his sixth start of the season.  Biagini most recently took the loss in a home start against Texas, but allowed just two earned runs over six  innings of work.   Photo credit: Getty Images / Tom Szczerbowski

Heading into the 2017 season, the Yankees were counting on Greg Bird to be an integral part of the upcoming youth movement. To the team's dismay, Bird was horrendous prior to landing on the disabled list with an ankle injury that dated back to spring training. Ever since Bird's DL stint began, Chris Carter has been filling in at first for the Bombers. To put things nicely, Carter has been less than ideal. In 106 at bats, as of Friday, Carter is hitting .179 with only 4 home runs, 14 RBIs, and an alarmingly high 46 strikeouts. With Bird, and Tyler Austin, working their way back from injuries, Yankees fans can only hope that Carter's time in the Bronx is nearing an end. Below, I provide injury updates on Bird and Austin, along with predictions on what will happen when both Baby Bombers are healthy enough to return to the Bronx. Photo Credit: Mark LoMoglio/Yankees

After another series loss against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore, the Yankees will travel north of the border to face the Toronto Blue Jays in the Rogers Centre. The Yankees come into the series still in first place at 30-20 and the Blue Jays are 26-27, which seems bad, but they had a very good May and have won eight of their last ten games. The American League East is becoming a closer division, and the Yankees need to come out of this series with at least a split, if they want to keep pace in their surprise season. The Blue Jays have a ton of momentum, and if the Yankees don’t approach this series with caution and high intensity, they could be in trouble. Here are the matchups and game times:

Coming off a solid 8-3 win and tying up the series in game two against the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees looked to take game three of a three game set tonight at Camden Yards. Unfortunately, Masahiro Tanaka struggled once again in a 10-4 loss. Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky | AP

It’ll be a three-game series in the Bronx this weekend, as the Yankees welcome the Oakland Athletics to town. Despite some recent bumps in the road, including going just 6-7 in their last 13 games, the Yankees have actually built on their AL East lead, as it is now up to 2.5 games. Oakland comes in with a 21-25 record, sitting in fourth place in the AL West and 9.5 games behind the 31-16 Houston Astros, who currently own the best record in baseball.

The Yankees suffered an injury on the first pitch of tonight’s game against the Kansas City Royals. Alcides Escobar crushed a ball to deep center off of Luis Severino that Jacoby Ellsbury caught behind his back, and then collided with the wall and fell awkwardly. He was very slow to get up, and Joe Girardi and Steve Donahue rushed out to the warning track in center field to check up on Ellsbury. They appeared to give him the concussion protocol, and he convinced them to allow him to remain in the game. Kathy Willens | AP Photo

At this point in the season, it’s obvious that Greg Bird’s struggles are no secret. He’s currently batting .100/.250/.200 with one home run and three RBIs, and is just 6-60 on the season. That’s…. bad. Especially since three of those hits, including the home run, all came in the same game on April 16th against the Cardinals. Take that game away and Bird is just 3-57, or .053, on the year. Yikes. However, the Yankees recently placed him on the 10-day disabled list with a bone bruise in his right ankle. What will happen to him once his ankle is fully healed? Photo via Brian Blanco of Getty Images

Ronald Alcides Torreyes Solorsano, better known to baseball fans simply as Ronald Torreyes, has been one of the many key players for the Yankees’ early season success. He was named the opening day shortstop when Didi Gregorius was injured during the World Baseball Classic.   He is tied with slugger Aaron Judge and the red-hot Starlin Castro for the team lead in RBIs and is fresh off a four-hit performance in Saturday’s game against the Pirates, which included a go ahead two-run double. His grit and grind style of play and powerful presence, despite his small stature, has made him a fun player to watch and a pivotal member of the Bombers. While Joe Girardi has already confirmed that Didi is their starting shortstop when he returns, Torreyes’ accomplishments did not go unnoticed and he will continue to see at-bats and field time at second, third, and short. So, how did Torreyes get to where he is today? Photo Credit: Brad Mills | USA Today

Photo Credit: USATSI With Didi Gregorius set to miss the first month of the Yankees season with a shoulder injury, the Yankees starting shortstop on Opening Day is suddenly open for competition. While it has been reported that the Yankees are going consider internal options first, it also makes sense that Brian Cashman would look at the availability of shortstops on the trade market. As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports, the Yankees have recently shown interest in defensive stud Nick Ahmed.

Once viewed as one of the organization's top prospects, Yankees 1B/2B/OF   Rob Refsnyder has seemingly become a forgotten man over the last year.   After being drafted in the 5th round of the amateur player draft in 2012 out of Arizona, Refsnyder quickly rose through the ranks of the then-depleted Yankees farm system.   His best tool has always been his hitting ability, however, he missed out on a golden opportunity to carve out his role on the 2015 team because of his lackluster fielding.   That Yankees squad was running out Stephen Drew every day and was begging for an upgrade – one that Refsnyder could not follow through on. Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac