Fan Confidence Poll: March 2nd, 2015

by 245 Comments

Spring Training Opponents This Week: @ Phillies (Tues. on MLB.tv), vs. Phillies (Weds. on YES, MLBN, MLB.tv), @ Pirates (Thurs.), @ Phillies (Fri. split squad on MLBN, MLB.tv), vs. Pirates (Fri. split squad on MLBN), @ Astros (Sat.), vs. Nationals (Sun. on YES, MLB.tv)

Top stories from last week:

Please take a second to answer the poll below and give us an idea of how confident you are in the team. You can view the interactive Fan Confidence Graph anytime via the “Features” tab in nav bar above, or by clicking here. Thanks in advance for voting.

Given the team's current roster construction, farm system, management, etc., how confident are you in the Yankees' overall future?

Open Thread: 3/1 Camp Notes

by 259 Comments

(Presswire)
(Presswire)

Only one more day of workouts until actual Spring Training games start. Here are the day’s notes from Tampa:

Here is your open thread for the evening. None of the local hockey or basketball teams are in action and there’s no college hoops either. Slow night. Talk about whatever you want here.

Open Thread: 2/28 Camp Notes

by 512 Comments

(Presswire)
(Presswire)

Mother Nature got in the way of Spring Training today. Rain across Florida forced many teams to either cancel or move their workouts indoors, including the Yankees. Here’s what happened down in Tampa:

  • Michael Pineda and Chasen Shreve were among the notables scheduled to throw live batting practice, but the rain canceled it. Adam Warren, Justin Wilson, and Jose Ramirez were among those to throw bullpen sessions inside. [Chad Jennings, Brendan Kuty]
  • Because of the rain, Joe Girardi did not announce his early Grapefruit League rotation as expected. He and pitching coach Larry Rothschild need to sit down and map things out again. Warren is still likely to start Tuesday’s opener though. [Jennings]
  • As expected, Girardi said he will get Stephen Drew some work at shortstop this spring. He still hasn’t decided when Alex Rodriguez will play first base in an actual game. Girardi said he needs to talk to A-Rod to see if he’s ready first. [Kuty]
  • And finally, the Yankees had a special guest motivational speaker in camp today: Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. [Erik Boland]

This is your open thread for the night. The Islanders and Devils are in action right now and the Rangers are playing later tonight. Both the Knicks and Nets are playing tonight too, and there’s a ton of college hoops on as well. Talk about those games or anything else right here.

Update: Yankees have $7.885M bonus pool for 2015 draft

by 146 Comments

This year it’ll be Rob Manfred at the podium. (Getty)

February 28th: The Yankees will have a $7,885,000 spending pool for the 2015 draft, according to John Manuel. That’s slowly lower than the estimations Mayo dug up earlier this month. The team still has the sixth largest bonus pool for this year’s draft thanks to their extra pick for Robertson. We still don’t know the individual slot values for the top ten rounds and those are pretty important.

February 11th: Now that James Shields has signed, the 2015 draft order is more or less finalized. The 12 competitive balance lottery picks can still be traded before the draft, but unless the Yankees somehow acquire one of those picks, it won’t change their draft situation at all. New York has two first rounders this year: 16th overall and 30th overall. The 30th pick is compensation for losing David Robertson. The entire draft order is right here.

On Tuesday, Jonathan Mayo got his hands on estimated bonus pool numbers for the 2015 draft. The Astros, by virtue of having two of the top five picks (they failed to sign first overall pick Brady Aiken last year and get the second overall pick as compensation this year), have the largest bonus pool at $17.37M. The Rockies are a distant second at $14.06M. The Mets are dead last $3.6M after forfeiting their first rounder to sign Michael Cuddyer.

The Yankees have the sixth largest bonus pool for the 2015 draft thanks to the extra pick for Robertson. The Astros, Rockies, and Braves are the only teams that will pick twice before New York, which is a nice change of pace from previous years. Here is the club’s draft pool situation according to Mayo:

16th overall: $2,555,200
30th overall: $1,923,900
Total Bonus Pool: $7,922,200

As a reminder, the bonus pool covers the top ten rounds only. If a team pays one of those picks a below-slot bonus, they can use the savings elsewhere. Anything over $100,000 paid to a player drafted after the tenth round counts against the pool, but teams can’t save pool space with picks after the tenth round. Got it? Good.

The Yankees had a measly $3.2M bonus pool last year after forfeiting their top three picks to sign free agents. A nearly $8M bonus pool is a ton of money, especially since the Yankees tend to take cheap college seniors in the eighth, ninth, and tenth rounds as a way to save pool space for other picks. They have enough pool space to land big bonus guys not only at 16 and 30, but also at 57 (second rounder) and maybe even 92 (third rounder) as well.

Here are MLB.com’s top 50 draft prospects. I’m telling you though, it is way too early to get an idea of who will be available or who the Yankees might target with those 16th and 30th picks. The college and high school seasons are just now getting underway. The draft runs from June 8-10 this year.

Open Thread: 2/27 Camp Notes

by 542 Comments

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
(AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Happy Friday, everyone. This is the last Friday without some sort of baseball game — Spring Training, regular season, or postseason — until November. Isn’t that grand? Here is the latest from camp:

  • We have our first Spring Training injury: Brendan Ryan suffered a mid-back strain lifting weights and will miss five days or so, the Yankees announced. He went for an MRI and everything. Ryan missed most of camp and the first few weeks of the regular season last year with back issues.
  • CC Sabathia threw a 41-pitch bullpen session and will wear a brace on his knee going forward. “There is a maintenance program that I am going through. I put the brace on and there is nothing out of the ordinary … I definitely like where I am at. I am not feeling pain and moving forward. I feel great,” he said. [George King]
  • In addition to Sabathia, Andrew Bailey, Esmil Rogers, and Ivan Nova all threw bullpens. Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Severino, Jacob Lindgren, Chris Capuano, David Carpenter, and Dellin Betances were among those to throw live batting practice. There was the usual full slate of batting practice, infield practice, and outfield practice for the position players as well. [Chad Jennings]
  • Alex Rodriguez worked out at first base for the first time, though he didn’t do a whole lot. Fielded some grounders, took some throws, and covered the bag a few times. He has to learn positioning more than anything. Alex knows how to field a grounder and catch the ball. [Jennings]
  • It’s not official yet, but Adam Warren is likely to start the team’s Grapefruit League opener against the Phillies on Tuesday. Joe Girardi will announce his early spring rotation tomorrow. [Marly Rivera, Jennings]
  • And finally, today was photo day. You can look through all the team photos right here. They didn’t take them in the restroom this year. Not sure why they did that a few years ago. Weird.

Here is your open thread for the evening. All the local basketball and hockey clubs are in action except the Rangers, and there’s some college hoops on as well. You folks know how these things work by now, so go nuts.

Badler: Yankees have $2.26M spending pool for 2015-16 international signing period

by 65 Comments

Top 2014 IFA Juan DeLeon. (Photo via @BenBadler)
Top 2014 international signee Juan DeLeon. (Photo via @BenBadler)

According to Ben Badler, the Yankees will have a $2,262,800 spending pool for the 2015-16 international free agency period, which opens on July 2nd. The Diamondbacks ($5.39M) have the largest pool because they had baseball’s worst record last year and the Angels ($1.97M) have the smallest pool because they had the best record.

The Yankees far exceeded their spending pool during the 2014-15 signing period, and, as a result, they will be unable to sign a player to a bonus larger than $300,000 during the 2015-16 signing period (and 2016-17 as well). So they still have a full spending pool but the individual bonuses are capped. Got it? Good. (The $2.62M pool works out to 7.5 individual $300,000 bonuses.)

Teams are allowed to trade up to half their pool space — the pool is actually broken into unequal slots and the individual slots are traded, it’s not a lump sum of any amount — and since their bonuses are capped this year, it could make sense for New York to trade some international cash. Then again, it doesn’t have much trade value. The Marlins acquired a good Double-A bullpen prospect (Matt Ramsey) for a little over $1M in pool space last year, for example.

The $300,000 bonus limit isn’t much on the international market but the Yankees have shown they are very good at finding prospects on the cheap. Top prospects RHP Luis Severino ($225,000) and SS Jorge Mateo ($250,000) signed for small bonuses, as did fellow Top 30 Prospects SS Abi Avelino ($300,000), SS Angel Aguilar ($60,000), and SS Thairo Estrada ($49,000). The Yankees should still be able to find quality prospects, but they won’t be able to make competitive offers for the top talents.

RAB Live Chat

by 4 Comments