Read it here.

CC is the key. If he’s not 10 to 13 games over .500 this year, and good for 200+ IP, the Yankees are toast.

Via the AP –

The mother of a woman accused of stalking New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has abruptly dropped her lawsuit against him.

The New York Post reports that Caroline Meanwell filed documents in court Tuesday to drop the lawsuit.

The suit had alleged that Cashman conspired with her daughter’s former therapist and his legal team to trick Meanwell into calling 911 to discredit her daughter, who had claimed to have a nine-month affair with Cashman.

The suit claimed Meanwell was coerced into telling authorities her daughter, Louise Neathway, was going to kill herself so Neathway would be institutionalized.

Prosecutors say Neathway stalked Cashman and got him to pay her $6,000 by threatening to damage his reputation.

Neathway has pleaded not guilty.

Gotta think Cash settled with her, no?

Man, this is going to be fun.  There’s a lot of decisions to be made between today and Monday on both the Yankees 25 and 40-man rosters.

Do you have any predictions on who may be added or cut from both?

What happens with NRI’s Jayson Nix,  Ben Francisco, Thomas Neal, Juan Rivera, Dan Johnson and Lyle Overbay?  Has someone like Preston Claiborne or Josh Spence pitched their way on to the team? Someone else in the picture that we should be talking about in terms of coming or going? Has Ronnier Mustelier hit his way on to the team? Does Travis Hafner get a buddy pass on his rough spring? Is Brennan Boesch heading to the minors? Goodbye to Cody Eppley?

So, so, many questions…

Says Brian Cashman.

Only 4 times in the last 17 seasons has Jeter played in less than 150 games (in a year).  And, one of those was a year where he played in 149 games – and another was when he played in 148 games.

Something tells me we’re going to be hard pressed to see Jeter play in 130 games (or more) for the Yankees this year.

Non-pitchers with at least 50 PA in a season where their batting average was greater than their on-base average:

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And, yes, this is a very hard “feat” to pull off.

Brandon Laird is a Non-Roster Invitee for the Houston Astros this spring. And, he was issued uniform # 4.

While we’re at it, Trevor Crowe is also an Astro Non-Roster Invitee and he was issued # 8.

I think most of the Yankees NRI players this spring are wearing numbers in the 80′s and 90′s.

Do these numbers mean anything?

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Hope springs eternal.

Clay Davenport's Projections for 2013

Generated on 3-26-2013
	
        East 	Won 	Lost 	Runs 	Runs A
	TBY 	87 	75 	666 	619
	TOR 	86 	76 	768 	722
	NYY 	84 	78 	732 	699
	BOS 	82 	80 	776 	760
	BAL 	78 	84 	703 	733

        Cent 	Won 	Lost 	Runs 	Runs A
	DET 	93 	69 	799 	680
	CLE 	79 	83 	690 	706
	KCR 	79 	83 	699 	719
	CWS 	77 	85 	702 	741
	MIN 	73 	89 	672 	748

        West 	Won 	Lost 	Runs 	Runs A
	LAA 	91 	71 	716 	629
	OAK 	85 	77 	692 	652
	TEX 	85 	77 	762 	727
	SEA 	75 	87 	604 	655
	HOU 	73 	89 	690 	768

So, what do you think?

On March 13th, I listed two tickets for sale on the Yankees Ticket Exchange – hosted by Ticketmaster. These were for the game of April 16th against the D’backs. In order to try and sell them, I set the price as declining each day. Yet, in the two weeks they have been listed, no one has bought them.

I should add that these are great seats – in the Main Level, by first base, with one seat being an aisle seat and the other being the one next to it. In addition, they are undercover – which is great in case of rain.

Today, just for the fun of it, I looked at the interactive map on the Yankees Ticket Exchange to see how many other seats were for sale in my section. And, to my shock, I did not see my seats listed as an option. So, I quickly checked my account and confirmed that I still have them posted as being for sale. So, why are they not on the seating chart as being available? Who can possible find them as being for sale if they are not on the seating chart as marked for sale?

Of course, the Yankees Ticket Exchange is located at 7060 Hollywood Blvd in Los Angeles – and they are not available until 9 AM on the east coast. So, I have to wait to call them today. But, in the meantime, boy, am I pissed.

At this point, I can only assume they are hidden from the public, as being available, because the Yankees don’t want someone to see tickets as being available at less than face value because they were prefer to sell tickets directly as walk-ups.

Update, 9:15 AM: I spoke to Ticketmaster, who runs the Yankees Ticket Exchange site. They said that they cannot explain why my tickets have not been listed for sale over the last two weeks. They assume that maybe there was a pending sale of the tickets – although they cannot prove it – where someone’s credit card was being approved. And, during this process, the “bar codes were locked.” And, that’s why they are not showing. They’re going to look into it and get back to me.

Update, 9:30 AM: This was interesting. Seems I was looking at the Yankees interactive seating map for tickets for sale – and not the one for the Yankees Ticket Exchange. Ticketmaster called me back and gave me the URL for the Ticket Exchange. It’s www.ticketsnow.com/Yankees. But, when you go to the Yankees site, and look for tickets, you get this URL: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/ticketing/singlegame.jsp?c_id=nyy&y=2013 – and, there’s no obvious link or mention of the Yankees Ticket Exchange. To find it, when you are on that page, you have to find the sidebar at the bottom right of the page with the header “Also In Tickets” and there, 13 links listed from the top, is a small link to the Yankees Ticket Exchange.

How someone would ever find that, is beyond me. Also, when you GOOGLE “Yankees Ticket Exchange” the first link to come up is yankees.mlb.com/TicketExchange which brings you back to the Yankees site where they are selling single game tickets at full price. So, in the end, instead of saying “Yankees Ticket Exchange Hiding Tickets For Sale?” the proper question to ask is “Yankees Hiding Yankees Ticket Exchange Site?”

I have to say, there’s a part of me that wants to see A-Rod, and maybe Teixeira, sit out the whole season this year – and Granderson can take his time coming back as well (and maybe be a platoon player when he returns). Why?

I want to see what Joe Girardi can do with a bunch of cast-off players and old-timers – along with some younger players like Phelps – over a course of a 162 game season.

How wonderful would it be to see Joe lead a squad like that to a 95-win season and a playoff spot? It would be especially sweet to see Girardi do it in his “lame duck” contract year. If he pulled this off, he could write his own ticket on his next contract.

The story. (Lisa Swan also rings in on this one.)

So, is this now the death knell for the Yankees Ticket Exchange?

Via Ken Rosenthal –

The Yankees correctly view their acquisition of outfielder Vernon Wells as one with little financial downside. But the move still raises the question of why the team wasn’t more aggressive on other players during the offseason, notably free-agent catcher Russell Martin.

Insurance from the World Baseball Classic on first baseman Mark Teixeira — money that wasn’t available to the Yankees in November — will help defray most or perhaps even all of the cost of Wells in 2013.

Martin, though, told the Yankees he was willing to accept a one-year contract in the $9 million to $10 million range, according to two major-league sources. When the Yankees balked, he agreed to a two-year, $17 million deal with the Pirates.

A one-year deal for Martin would not have affected the Yankees’ desire to get under the $189 luxury-tax threshold in ’14. Instead, the Yankees will enter the season with two less proven catchers, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart.

Perhaps, one source suggested, the Yankees did not expect the market for Martin to develop as quickly as it did. At the time Martin signed, the Yankees had just committed $37 million over a 10-day period to one-year deals for pitchers Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, in that order.

Club officials were proceeding at a deliberate pace, checking off one need at a time. Martin might have been ahead of the Yankees’ timetable. His deal became official on Nov. 30, the same day as Rivera.

Then again, we have to remember, over the last four seasons, and 1,936 PA over that span, Martin has an OPS+ of 90. So, let’s not make it as if the Yankees let Buster Posey walk away here. (Further, Martin’s WAR for 2012 was 1.5 in 133 games.)

At this moment, there are 6,119 tickets for sale for the Yankees home opener this year on StubHub. And, there are a few listed on the Yankees Ticket Exchange site as well.

So, what’s going to be the attendance for the Yankees on April 1st? Will it be less than 44,000?

When was the last time the Yankees had less than 44,000 for their season home opener? That would probably be 2003 – when the real home opener was snowed out.

Source.

He is excited about the team even though they are facing some adversity due to injuries. He said there are no plans or thoughts or discussion about selling the Yankees. He said the deal with FOX on YES is going to bring good things to YES – and that Goldman wanted to get out. So, it made sense. They still have control on the broadcast.

Hal said that they are committed as a family to own the Yankees for a the long-term.

He said the A-Rod investigation is not theirs, it’s MLB, and he’s wait and see like everyone else.

Regarding Cano, he said the weeks ahead will determine how the talks go with Boras.

About getting under the luxury tax bar, Hal said that there are several reasons to get under it for 2014 – most importantly that you don’t need a $200 million payroll to win a championship. The goal is to be under $189 million – but, it doesn’t trump the goal to be a championship caliber goal. Yet, he noted that every other team can win a ring and be under $200 million.

Back to this season, he said the free agent market was not great this year. So, they focused on pitching and getting Pettitte, Kuroda and Rivera back.

Hal said that they expect Vernon Wells to have a bounce back year and be a good player for the Yankees.

On tickets, Steinbrenner said that ticket sales are coming around. And, they are trying to keep their season ticket holders happy. He said they have given the secondary ticket market a lot of thought and that’s why they created the Ticket Exchange – to help fans sell their tickets safely and for less, if they want.

Talking about the Yankees farm system, he said that the pitching pipeline has been good. And, the next couple of years for position players will be tricky…but they will have to deal with it.

Via (no pun intended) the Morning Call –

Coca-Cola Park in Allentown is introducing a”Urinal Gaming System” that will allow men to operate a hands-free game controller while standing before urinals during Lehigh Valley IronPigs games.

The p-controlled video game systems will be featured in all men’s restrooms at Coca-Cola Park.

“These games are sure to make a huge splash,” IronPigs General Manager Kurt Landes said in a press release. “Our fans are always looking for the next big thing and these ‘X-Stream games’ are another example of our commitment to providing an unparalleled entertainment experience in all aspects of Coca-Cola Park, including our restrooms.”

When a user approaches the urinal, the video console flips into gaming mode, using technology that detects both his presence and stream. Algorithms then allow the user to engage with the screen by aiming in different directions to test their agility and knowledge.

The games are 100 percent intuitive and custom-built to provide a unique user interface along with an easy and seamless experience.

It’s the only game in town where a UTI could impact your WAR.

How soon until he’s a Yankee?

Via ESPN -

The Vernon Wells contract will actually help the Yankees’ goal of being below $189 million in payroll for 2014, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com on Monday.

The Daily News first reported the finances.

All the particulars of the money for the deal with the Angels have not yet been finalized, but the Yankees will end up paying somewhere between $12 million and $14 million of the $42 million owed to Wells in the final two years of his contract.

The Yankees will likely end up doling out $10 million or $11 million for 2013 and $2 million or $3 million for 2014.

It is a complicated formula, but, in the end, Wells’ money will either have no impact on the $189 million goal for 2014 or the Yankees will receive a credit. Since Wells’ contract has been traded once before, the Yankees may receive as much as a $2 million savings toward their ’14 luxury tax figure.

O.K., so, Wells will cost the Yankees about eleven mill this year. And, if Mark Teixeira is out for 12 weeks, that means that Vernon Wells is basically playing this season for free, right?  (The logic here is that the Yankees will get about $11 million from the WBC to cover Tex’s salary if he is out for 12 weeks.)

Yet, it still doesn’t mean that Wells will help the Yankees on the field this year. It just means that the Yankees got lucky that Tex blew out his wrist while wearing the USA jersey and not when he was down in Tampa.

Thank @toppscards for using a close up of me right after my elbow blew out! Card will be around forever as areminder! twitter.com/DHuddy41/statu…

— Daniel Hudson (@DHuddy41) March 24, 2013

Ouch.

Here they are:

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Should 2013 be added to the list?

Anyone else wondering if the Yankees are considering the notion of asking Derek Jeter to play third base this season?

Classic.

Is it just me, or, is it odd that it’s near impossible to find a website for them?

We know that Phil Hughes will be a free agent after this season. But, the question is: Should the Yankees make him a qualifying offer when he opts out? If they do, then, most likely, they will get a draft pick in compensation for him going to another team. But, with that, you run the risk of him taking the offer – and maybe that doesn’t work with the Yankees plan to get payroll down? It’s going to be interesting to see how they handle this – especially if Hughes has an “average” season in 2013.

Here he is:

New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, bottom right, and golfer Greg Norman, top left, of Australia, watch the match between Maria Sharapova, of Russia, and Elena Vesnina, of Russia, during the Sony Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., Sunday March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

That’s funny…A-Rod in Florida? Just three days ago, we were told that he was in New York:

Rodriguez will head to Tampa once he’s ready for on-field activities, according to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

He’ll continue his program in New York until then…

So, A-Rod can get to FLA to watch tennis. But, he cannot get down there to visit Yankees camp? Typical.

Sources say the Yankees’ share of the Vernon Wells contract will be about $13 million over the last two years of his deal.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 24, 2013

Hearing #Yankees will pay almost all of $13M they r responsible to Wells in ’13 so as not to put toward $189M payroll goal in ’14

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) March 25, 2013

That’s “Today’s Yankees” for you: Really shitty talent evaluators, but, really good bookkeepers!

I heard that Brian Cashman is special ordering a FlairHair Green Eyeshade for 2014.

I recently had a chance to check “Closer: Major League Players Reveal the Inside Pitch on Saving the Game” by Kevin Neary with Leigh A. Tobin.

Here’s a description of it from the publisher:

The closer is the ace reliever who specializes in closing out the game without surrendering the lead. Facing a power hitter in the ninth inning with a man on base and no outs takes nerves of steel. The pressure on the mound is intense. It takes a special breed to hold it together in these situations. Legendary manager Tony LaRusso said “Sure, games can get away from you in the seventh and eighth, but those last three outs in the ninth are the toughest.” It wasn’t until the creation of “the save,” the successful maintenance of a lead by a relief pitcher, in 1960 that the position of closer began to rise in prominence. Today, closers are seen as some of the most intense athletes in all of sports. Neary and Tobin explore the unique personalities of major leagues’ most prominent relief pitchers from Bruce Sutter (Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves) to Mariano Rivera (Yankees). Closer is an insider’s look into the role of the closing pitcher, how the position has evolved, and how legends—Trevor Hoffman, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, John Smoltz, Rich “Goose” Gossage, Mariano Rivera, Brian Fuentes, and many more—coped with the stress on the mound such as when facing the .340 batter in the bottom of the ninth with only a one run lead.

Reading through the book, it brought be back to when I was much, much, younger – reading about players in Baseball Digest, during the 1970′s. I could easily see each “capsule” on a particular closer from the book appearing as a feature in Baseball Digest. They were really on par with that style and reading level. (Related, if you have a pre- or early teen that you know who loves baseball, this could be a book that’s great for them.)

Related, for a review that SB Nation did on the book, click here. And, click here to read what BenchTrading.com “said” about the book.

Lastly, Neary and Tobin also gave us “Major League Dads” – which I found to be very good.

Sources: Yankees in talks with Angels for outfielder Vernon Wells. Lots of money would go back to New York. Deal could be done today.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 24, 2013

I guess Ben Francisco was not the answer? And, all the calls to Raul Mondesi to see if he could come out of retirement were probably not returned…