Bronx Bomber Ball

After designating Tommy Layne for assignment on Saturday night, he has officially cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. Domingo German, who replaced Layne on the 40-man roster, was sent down to AAA on Sunday, after a solid Major League debut. Photo Credit: AP Layne has been terrible this season at the Major League level posting a 7.62 ERA across 19 appearances and 13 innings. He will look to fix his mechanics and become more effective in the minors, but will not likely be called back up anytime soon. Article by: Ryan Thoms Follow @_TheRealRT_ Follow @BronxBomberBall  

After all of the Yankee universe was convinced that Domingo German was going to be called up to start tomorrow’s game vs. the O’s, the Yankees officially announced that right-hander Chad Green will get the ball Sunday, and he will try to lead the Yankees to a series sweep. Photo Credit: AP

The Rangers have announced that they are designated their former closer Sam Dyson for assignment today, after his early season struggles have escalated into constant booing and even locker room unrest. Sam Dyson already has six losses on the season and has only one more strikeout than losses in seventeen appearances. He was phenomenal in the World Baseball Classic, and he mechanically does not appear to be doing much different than past years, when he was a very successful pitcher. Photo Credit: Brad Penner | USA Today Sports

After dropping the first game of a three game weekend set in Tampa against the Rays, the Yankees looked to get back on track sending their number one starter Masahiro Tanaka to the mound. Tanaka struggled mightily on Derek Jeter night in his last start, failing to get through the second inning and he didn't have good stuff once again digging the Yankees a big hole that they could not recover from. Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara | AP

The New York Yankees are guaranteed a series win following an 11-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. A strong performance by Michael Pineda, combined with a multi-hit performance by nearly every start, led the Yankees to a dominating performance. It is Pineda’s fourth win of the season improving his record to 4-2 and it moved his ERA to 3.42. Photo Credit: Charlie Riedel | AP

Photo Credit: Getty Images Following the historical Derek Jeter retirement of no. 2 into Monument Park and coming off an exciting win of game one of this doubleheader, the Yankees came into game two looking to even the series at two game apiece. Masahiro Tanaka took the mound tonight with a 4.36 ERA on the season to tackle the strong Astros lineup. Charlie Morton had the ball for Houston tonight to face the Yankees and came into the Bronx with a 3.63 ERA. Tanaka would struggle mightily allowing eight earned runs spotting the Yankees a deficit that they could not recover from. Photo Credit: Elsa | Getty Images

The Yankees arrived in Cincinnati in the wee hours of Monday morning following a grueling 18 inning contest that secured them a series sweep of the defending champion Chicago Cubs. Even with the short turnover the Yankees had to be feeling good about themselves following the series victory and with this Yankee team featuring more youth than it has for many years, perhaps they were more well equipped to handle this situation. Credit: John Minchillo AP Photo

Coming off an impressive 5-0 win on Tuesday night, the Bombers were looking to start a winning streak at the expense of Alex Cobb and the Rays. For the second time in three games, however, a combination of suspect starting pitching and lackluster offense doomed the Yankees, as they dropped their opening series with a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay.   Photo Credit: Brian Blanco | Getty Images

After finishing 84-78 in 2016, and fourth in the AL East, the new look Yankees will look to return to being perennial contenders. With loads of talent waiting in the minors and proven players on the major league squad, don’t be surprised if the Yankees sneak into the playoffs, like they did in 2015. If they want another playoff berth though, here are three keys to earning it.

Photo Credit: Getty Images Yankees fans rejoice: We are now just 10 days away from Opening Day!  Part two of our Yankees Opening Day Roster Preview takes a look at the Yankees projected pitching staff they will carry out of Spring Training.  As mentioned in  yesterday's post , the Yankees are expected to stock a pitching staff of 12 men; comprised of five starting pitchers and seven relievers. With only a few spots currently locked up, much is still to be determined. Let's take a look at who you can expect to see with the Yankees in Tampa Bay on April 2nd. 

The second round of the World Baseball Classic got underway this past weekend with teams from the Netherlands and Japan already securing spots in the championship round. The other two remaining spots will be decided by the end of this week, with teams from the United States, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico vying for those two spots. The Yankees have been well represented in this tournament, with six players and two coaches representing their respective countries. With this edition of the WBC just over half over, I’m here with an update on how the Yankees throughout the tournament are doing. Photo Credit: Koji Sasahara/Associated Press

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

Drafted out of Mississippi State University in the sixth round of the 2014 draft, Jonathan Holder ranks in at number 28 on the BBB prospect list. Holder has been impressive throughout his minor league tenure with the Bombers, earning a brief call up last season. Though he struggled a bit during his few games in the majors, Holder has a bright future. With the "Scranton Shuttle" strategy the Yankees have employed for the bullpen over the last couple of seasons expected to be in full swing once again come 2017, it's fair to predict Holder will find himself in the majors sooner rather than later. Photo Credit: L.E. Miller/ New York Daily News

With most of the Yankees offseason wrapped up, a few loose ends remained.   The team is not expected to make any more moves via free agency or add anyone via trades, however, business was still to be done with the seven Yankees who were up for arbitration. Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

The Yankees will enter the 2017 season with many question marks surrounding their starting rotation and offense. At this point in time, the relief core should be the least of the team's concerns. After announcing the return of closer Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees appear to be set in the bullpen. Chapman, along with setup man Dellin Betances, Tyler Clippard, and most likely Adam Warren will comprise a formidable group to pitch pivotal innings. The 2017 unit may not be as aesthetically pleasing, or exciting as last year's no run DMC-- Betances, Andrew Miller, and Chapman-- but it may actually be better in the aggregate. While these four spots are settled, spring training will determine the rest of the bullpen's composition. This piece will not only assess the four players who will definitely help form the team's biggest strength heading into the 2017 season, but also look at other potential members of the unit. The Yankees are more than likely headed for another slightly a...

With the season winding down and the Yankees playoff hope slimming by the day, some 40-man roster spot decisions will have to be made in the near future. While some roster spots will open up because of impending free agents and retirements (Mark Teixeira, Billy Butler, etc.), some roster spots will be needed to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft (Tyler Webb, Kyle Hishioga, etc.). Because of these moves some roster spots may be up in the air this offseason, let’s take a look at some players whose 40-man roster spots may be in limbo. Photo Credit: Kim Klement

Why not the New York Yankees? Who is to say the youthful Yankees can’t make a run towards the postseason? Riding a four game winning streak against the two teams above them in the AL East (one win against Baltimore followed by a three-game sweep against Toronto), the Yankees now sit 4.5 games out of the top spot in the AL East behind Boston, and just 2.5 games out of the second wild card spot behind Baltimore. Unfortunately for the New York Yankees, they are going to need some help in order to get to the postseason, but they’re hanging in there by taking care of business against division opponents. Trailing by 2.5 games is not an insurmountable deficit with 24 games left and if the Bombers can stay hot, the Yankee team that had previously been playing for 2017 and beyond may become a contender in 2016. AP Photo

Despite dropping two of three games to the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees still sit just 3.5 games out of the second wild card spot going into a pivotal three game set with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees will kick off the series in the Bronx with their ace Masahiro Tanaka on the hill and he will look to get the Yankees on the right track in getting a much needed series victory. The pressure is mounting in New York as every series is a must win if they want to gain ground.

Coming into Sunday afternoon’s contest with the Baltimore Orioles in a game that Joe Girardi dubbed as “the most important game of the season,” the Yankees were looking to avoid the sweep. The Yankees sent Michael Pineda to the mound in search of his seventh win of the season as he was opposed by Wade Miley who entered play with a 1-3 record with a 7.14 ERA in six starts with the Orioles. Pineda would throw just 87 pitches across four plus innings before his ineffectiveness led to him being lifted in favor of Luis Severino. Severino was first in line in the Yankee bullpen that would shut down the Orioles on Sunday afternoon in a 5-2 win. Photo Credit: Nick Wass | AP

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)