Bronx Bomber Ball

On the day where the Cubs made a blockbuster deal to acquire Jose Quintana from the White Sox, The Yankees have officially made their first splash in the 2017 Trade Deadline by acquiring minor league first baseman Garrett Cooper in exchange for LHP Tyler Webb. The initial report on Webb's departure came courtesy of Ken Rosenthal, while who would come back in the trade came from Jeff Passan. Photo Credit: Cliff Welch | AP

Rain proved to be an enormous factor Friday night in the Bronx. The reason why; it forced an early and unwelcomed appearance once again by the Yankees bullpen. The lengthy delay effectively chased starter Jordan Montgomery from the game after 4 ⅓ innings of solid work. In the sixth inning, a combination of Tyler Webb and Tyler Clippard allowed the Brewers to quickly tie the game at four runs. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of the terror to come once again in the late innings. Photo Credit: Kathy Willens | AP Clippard’s 7th inning was the stuff of nightmares for Yankees fans everywhere. He walked the bases loaded before allowing Jesus Aguilar to wallop a long two-out grand slam. It was a slow, grueling experience to watch this inning unfold in the worst possible way once again for the Yankees. In an instant, the Yankees had lost another chance to win a close ballgame and instead faced a 4 run deficit. The 2017 edition of the Yankees bullpen has become so bad that ...

Following a hard loss which saw the Yankees hardly fall to the Astros, the Yankees looked to secure a huge series win over a formidable AL opponent. However, despite the recent success of Luis Severino in his last start against the White Sox, Severino fell victim to the explosive offense of the MLB leading Astros and the bats provided no support either, as hitter after hitter was unable to produce in the 8-1 loss. Photo Credit: David J. Phillips | AP

After losing Tuesday night’s loss in heartbreaking walk-off fashion, the Yankees looked to bounce back with Masahiro Tanaka on the mound. Coming into the game, all eyes were on Miguel Andujar and Tyler Wade, who both made their first career starts. Both players made immediate impacts, recording their first big league hits, and Andujar had a huge 3-for-4 night with four RBIs. That was just the beginning as the Yankee bats came alive to score eight runs, and Tanaka showed more promise, firing a quality start en route to a commanding 12-3 victory. 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 were unable to get a winning streak going against the Rangers in an 8-1 loss on Saturday. The bats were quiet all game long, and the Bomber's bullpen continued to struggle. Tyler Clippard stunk up the place, and the sole RBI of the game was a homerun by, you guessed it, Aaron Judge. Photo Credit: Frank Gunn | AP Luis Cessa got the ball as the Yankees looked to build on a walk-off win last night in the Bronx. Cessa’s last start wasn’t very good, so the pressure was definitely on him to perform. He got into a little bit of trouble in the top of the first, as Elvis Andrus singled to plate a run for the Rangers. Cessa would get out of a first and third, two out jam, though, striking out Rougned Odor and Carlos Gomez. The Yankees offense was silent from the start, but the lineup looked a little different than usual. Gardner and Sanchez were given days off, while Headley remained out with back spasms. Mason Williams played centerfield, moving Hicks to left. Rom...

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

With the upcoming Rule 5 draft just a few weeks away the Yankees had to make some decisions on which Rule 5 eligible players should be protected. The Yankees eventually decided to protect shortstop Jorge Mateo, third baseman Miguel Andujar, and pitchers Dietrich Enns, Giovanny Gallegos, Ronald Herrera and Yefrey Ramirez. Because of their healthy minor league system, the Yankees were going to have to leave some of their prospects unprotected and exposed to the Rule 5 draft, thus the penalty for having a good farm system. Photo Credit:  AP Photo/Chris O’Meara

It is now May 17, 2016 and the BBB is bringing you a long overdue minor league update. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for a few weeks now, but I anticipate it being a weekly update, probably to be released every Sunday afternoon going forward, so be sure to check in for the latest on the Yankees farm system. Here, we’ll be updating you on the team’s top prospects, standout players who are enjoying strong seasons so far, as well as those with high expectations that they are not fulfilling. Since it has been just over a month and this is our first update, this will be a 4-part series with updates on each individual team, starting in Triple-A. But following this week's update, I will be able to put them all into one article.