Bronx Bomber Ball

Even after two marquee midseason trades in which the New York Yankees shipped elite relievers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman to the two eventual teams to compete in the World Series, the pinstripers' bullpen still ranked among the best in baseball in several pitching statistics come seasons end. After the aforementioned player’s departure from the Bronx, the ‘pen was led by the likes of Dellin Betances and Adam Warren, and finished the season with an American League-best .224 BAA (batting average against,) and second in strikeouts (578) and wins (36.) Unfortunately for Yankees fans, despite these impressive statistics, its bullpen was only able to muster a 3.67 ERA — the 16th best in the MLB (7th in the AL.) While the Yankees’ bullpen was perhaps its greatest strength through August, the bullpen imploded in several important September games — most noticeably by overworked closer Dellin Betances — which ultimately kept the Yankees out of the playoffs.  While Dellin Bet...

The “Baby Bombers” generation welcomed a new member to the family in their 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. In his first MLB start, RHP Luis Cessa dazzled the Angels line-up through six innings. Cessa notably became the fourth Mexican-native to make a start for the Pinstripers, as he joined countrymen Esteban Loaiza, Alfonso Pulido and Alfredo Aceves. His fastball consistently sat around 95 MPH and heavy-breaking 12-6 curveball devastated the Halo’s hitters. Cessa quickly worked through the Angels offense as he allowed just three singles and one walk. After Tyler Clippard replaced Cessa and inherited a runner at first, it looked as through Angeles slugger C.J. Cron wasn’t going to let Cessa end his first start with a shutout.  Cron belted a shot to left, but Brett Gardner miraculously tracked it perfectly and leapt into the stands to pull a home run back onto the field in what will surely be looked back at as one of the best plays in the 2016 MLB s...

Clint Frazier Photo Credit: Cheryl Pursell | Pinstriped Prospects Trade deadline sellers for the first time in over 25 years, the New York Yankees made an abundance of trades in an attempt for a rebuild of some sort. Although the Yankees will remain competitive, the moves made were clearly in the interest of the team in the long term as opposed to this year's team. First, they went out and dealt Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for four players including Gleyber Torres and Adam Warren. The Yankees next move was trading Andrew Miller to the Indians for four prospects including Clint Frazier. Then, the team acquired Tyler Clippard from the Diamondbacks to fortify the bullpen for the time being. But the Yankees weren't done there. On the day of the trade deadline, the Yankees traded Carlos Beltran to the Rangers for three prospects, and they got rid of Ivan Nova for two players to be named later from the Pirates. Now, hear from our very own writer's with their thoughts on the ...

As the late-great Robert Frost once said: “two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” Perplexingly for the 2016 Yankees, it seems as though they could take both roads at the trade deadline, as GM Brian Cashman has stated that the team plans to be both buyers and sellers. The Yankees organization has already struck gold by dealing away closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs earlier this week, as the Bombers received a major league arm in former Yankee Adam Warren and two elite prospects, headlined by the Cubs top prospect SS Gleyber Torres, as well as a solid throw-in to the deal in Rashad Crawford. However, according to Cashman, this move does not mean a fire sale is imminent. Photo Credit: Julie Jacobson | AP

This season, our prospect team consisting of five people ranked the top 40 prospects in the organization based on tools (skill set), player performance, and individual research. The five of us then collaborated, and the rankings were averaged out to form a consensus top 30 prospect list in the Yankees organization. We did the list during the preseason and wrote features on each of the top 30 prospects , as well as paragraphs about the 10 honorable mentions . Although we will not be doing midseason features on these players, the comprehensive list is below. We look forward to re-ranking the top 30 after the season, and again in February of 2017 which will include the player features and breakdowns. Photo Via CBS Sports

After Sunday's abysmal hitting which led to a miserable loss against the Orioles, the Yankees desperately needed to get back into the win column — and did. After six innings of impressive pitching by Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka and Angels starter Matt Shoemaker, the Yankees erased a two run deficit in the seventh thanks to back-to-back jacks by Brian McCann and Starlin Castro. Carlos Beltran followed suit and belted a game winning home run to right, propelling the Yankees two a 5-2 victory.   Picture Credit: Kathy Willens | AP

After being the victims of a three-game sweep by the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees responded with a dramatic 5-4 win in a make-up game against the Detroit Tigers Thursday night. The Yankees urgently need a series win in Baltimore against the scuffling Orioles this weekend to stay with the pack. The Bombers are currently 6.5 games behind the AL East leading Boston Red Sox, and are 5.5 games behind the Orioles in the wild card — who have won just four of their last 11 games. While the Yankees rotation continued to impress throughout the month of May, the Yankees hitting has been abysmal as of late. Before plating five runs in Thursday’s contest, the Yankees mustered just five runs over their previous four games. Yankees hitters have their work cut out for them, as they will face three above-average starters in Chris Tillman, Tyler Wilson, and Kevin Gausman. Fortunately, New York will send Nathan Eovaldi, Ivan Nova, and CC Sabathia to the mound against the Birds, who have all exceeded ...

After a 3-2 win on Friday and an 8-2 win on Saturday, the Yankees came into Mother’s Day on Sunday looking for a sweep of the Boston Red Sox at home. Just a week earlier, they were swept at Fenway Park, also on Sunday Night Baseball. Nathan Eovaldi threw eight brilliant innings to lead the Yankees to win on Saturday, and was backed by a resurgent offense, led by Carlos Beltran, Didi Gregorius, and Austin Romine. Today, the Yankees sent their young star, Luis Severino (0-4, 6.31 ERA) to the hill to face Boston’s Steven Wright (2-3, 1.67 ERA), who is one of the only two active knuckleball pitchers in Major League Baseball (R.A. Dickey being the other).  Aroldis Chapman's suspension ends tomorrow and he will rejoin the team as the closer.  Picture Credit: Associated Press/Kathy Willens

The Yankees lost a heartbreaker last night, 1-0, in ten innings at Camden Yards against Baltimore. Masahiro Tanaka was brilliant, but the Yankees offense failed to crack the scoreboard against Kevin Gausman of the Orioles. Today, the Yankees returned to The Bronx to start a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox, after getting swept by the Red Sox earlier this season. The Yankees sent Michael Pineda to the mound to face Boston’s Rick Porcello. Earlier today, the Yankees got unfortunate news as CC Sabathia went on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain, and the Yankees called up Phil Coke as the roster replacement. This will be the last series the Yankees play before Aroldis Chapman returns from his suspension.  Picture Credit: Associated Press/Kathy Kmonicek

Below is the fantasy draft results from the BBB's fantasy draft for those interested. We have a 12 team league which is comprised of all of the writers here at the BBB . We held the draft Sunday, March 20th. The link to the fantasy league if you would like to view it is at the bottom of this page.

Now that our prospect list is officially finished, I decided to release the official breakdown of our prospect rankings by our writers. Here, you can see the exact breakdown and discrepancies between writers. Which writer do you think has the best prospect list? Leave us your feedback, and enjoy!

Since 1996, Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes are the only two pitchers drafted by Yankees to win at least ten games in a single season. With the 16 th overall pick in the 1 st round of last year’s amateur draft — the Yankees highest draft pick in 22 years — the Bronx Bombers coincidentally selected a pitcher from Hughes hometown of Tustin, CA, who will soon look to join this list. Photo Via RiverAveBlues

Yankees farmhand Jorge Mateo has received plenty of hype from scouts and Yankees fans alike, as many believe he is the team’s top prospect and shortstop of the future. Unfortunately for Mateo, he may have some tough competition in his road to playing up the middle in the Bronx. At just 17-years old, switch-hitting shortstop Wilkerman Garcia is not as far in his development as the 20-year old Mateo, but some people around the game believe that Garcia has a higher upside. In fact, John Sickels of minorleagueball.com opines that Garcia could plausibly jump up as the Yankees top prospect within the next 12 months. Photo Via Pinstriped Prospects

Many Yankees fans have said that the team desperately needs a solid left-handed starter to mix up the rotation that currently boasts four righties and the inconsistent C.C. Sabathia. Although the Yankees have no major league-ready southpaws on the farm, a young lefty hurler could join the team’s rotation as early as 2017. Coming in at #9 on the Bronx Bomber Blogger’s top Yankees prospects countdown sits their highest ranked LHP — Ian Clarkin. Photo Via MILB.com

Speedy outfielder Mason Williams grabbed the attention of Yankees fans last June when he robbed Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Weiters of extra bases — making an outstanding sliding catch into the right-center field fence at Camden Yards. Unfortunately for Williams, his season came to an end later that week as he injured his shoulder diving back into 1 st base in a game against the Tigers. Williams will look to have a rebound season in 2016. Photo Via Getty Images

The forecast in New York City may call for cold rain and snow today, but baseball in the Bronx is heating up. This Friday, February 19 th , Yankees pitchers and catchers will report to Tampa Bay, FL to begin spring training. With the 2016 season just around the corner, let’s countdown the top 10 things (in no particular order) Yankees fans have to look forward to this season. Picture from: 15 Minute News

The Yankees face an interesting dilemma when it comes to their 5 th round pick from the 2015 draft. RHP Chance Adams was drafted out Dallas Baptist University, and many scouts believe he has the potential to be an elite reliever in the majors. But do the Yankees have other plans for the 6’0” righty? Picture source: Pinstriped Prospects

After acquiring Aroldis Chapman from the Reds earlier this offseason, many people around the game of baseball have begun to speculate that the Yankees may have the most lethal bullpen in baseball. Now that the Yankees feature a late inning triple-threat of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and now Chapman, teams trailing after six innings will have their backs against the wall. But who will help bridge the gap from the starters to the back-end of the bullpen? Fortunately, the Bombers have a plentiful crop of young arms who will try to crack the roster. Among this group is Nick Rumbelow. The righty had a cup of coffee in the Bronx last summer, and will look to solidify his spot with the Yankees during spring training. Photo Via USA Today Sports

With the Baseball Writers Association of America set to reveal the 2016 Hall of Fame ballot on January 6 th , Yankees fans anxiously await the possibility of seeing former pinstriper Mike Mussina achieve baseball immortality. Unfortunately for “The Moose” many writers have been reluctant to place him on their ballot because he never won a Cy Young Award or led the American League in ERA. In the righty’s first two years of HOF eligibility, Mussina was overlooked due in part to comparisons with inductees Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Randy Johnson, who are some of the best pitchers of all time. Because of those factors, Mussina garnered just 20.3% and 24.6% of the vote in 2014 and 2015 respectively. However, with Ken Griffey Jr. being the only shoe-in for the 2016 ballot, this could be the year Mussina receives the needed 75% of the BBWAA’s votes and his long overdue welcome to Cooperstown.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman arrived at the winter meetings with a solid bullpen and a second base situation filled with question marks. Although Cashman’s decisions were considered a success by many Yankees fans, the Yankees left Nashville with this situation reversed. To mitigate this problem, the Yankees should look to the help of some former pinstripers – who could help bolster the pen.   The hole in the Yankees bullpen began when the Yankees acquired 3x all-star Starlin Castro from the Cubs. After moving from SS to 2B in August, Castro hit .339 in 38 games, finishing the season with a respectable .265/11 HR/69 RBI line. Although this deal solves the Yankees pressing need of 2B help, the bombers unfortunately had to part ways with RHP Adam Warren, whose versatility and effectiveness will certainly be missed, as he pitched to a 3.29 ERA in 43 appearances (17 starts). Instead of following up this deal by acquiring an arm as many expected, Cashman left Yankee...