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DotF: Severino strong again in Scranton’s win

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Got some notes to pass along:

  • RHP Chance Adams and RHP Domingo Acevedo has both been promoted, according to Matt Kardos. Adams goes from High-A to Double-A while Acevedo goes from Low-A to High-A. A well-deserved promotion for both.
  • LHP Neat Cotts has been released, so says Shane Hennigan. The Yankees must not have liked what they saw out of the veteran southpaw. The move clears a roster spot for RHP Chad Green, who was sent back down to clear a big league roster spot for Ike Davis.
  • Bunch of award winners this week: C Kyle Higashioka was named the Triple-A International League Offensive Player of the Week while RHP Chance Adams and RHP Christian Morris were named the Pitcher of the Week in the High-A Florida State League and the Low-A South Atlanta League, respectively. Congrats to all.

Triple-A Scranton (8-4 win over Toledo)

  • RF Ben Gamel: 3-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 CS — 19-for-44 (.432) in his last eleven games
  • 1B Nick Swisher: 3-5, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — 12-for-28 (.429) in his last seven games
  • DH Gary Sanchez: 1-5, 1 K
  • C Kyle Higashioka: 1-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K — still in the lineup even with Sanchez back
  • LF Cesar Puello: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HBP — a total of 5,646 players have at least one plate plate appearances in the minors this year, and he ranks eighth with nine hit-by-pitches
  • CF Jake Cave: 1-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
  • RHP Luis Severino: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 WP, 11/3 GB/FB — 60 of 88 pitches were strikes (68%) … too bad the box score can’t tell us how well he located his slider and changeup
  • RHP Conor Mullee: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 28 of 45 pitches were strikes (62%)
  • RHP Johnny Barbato: 0.1 IP, zeroes, 0/1 GB/FB — three pitches, two strikes

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Yankees sign Neal Cotts to minor league deal

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(Presswire)
(Presswire)

The Yankees have signed veteran left-hander Neal Cotts to a minor league contract, the team announced. He’s heading to Triple-A Scranton. Cotts opted out of his minor league deal with the Angels a few days ago. Seems like he’s taking Phil Coke’s spot in the organization after Coke was designated for assignment earlier this week.

Cotts, 36, had a 3.29 ERA (3.39 FIP) in 13.2 Triple-A innings with the Angels before opting out. Last season he had a 3.41 ERA (5.00 FIP) in 63.1 innings with the Brewers and Twins, and he held lefties to .178/.243/.330 (.251 wOBA) batting line with a 23.9% strikeout rate and a 5.5% walk rate. Not too bad, huh?

A few weeks back the Yankees signed Coke out of an independent league, where he was working as a starter. Cotts is a pure left-on-left matchup reliever, so he’s not someone who can come up to be a long man. I assume his current deal with the Yankees includes an opt-out date. Probably sometime next month. That’s pretty standard.

Injuries have hit the Yankees pretty hard this season. Already they’ve lost Bryan Mitchell (toe) Nick Rumbelow (Tommy John surgery), Branden Pinder (Tommy John surgery), and Jacob Lindgren (elbow) to injuries, among others. Cotts helps replenish that bullpen depth.

The Yankees signed Cotts to a minor league contract way back in 2011, but he failed his physical and the team walked away. He had Tommy John surgery back in 2009 and has undergone four different hip surgeries over the last few seasons.

Neal’s been Cott

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Via Marc Carig, the Yankees have cut lefty reliever Neal Cotts. He just wasn’t healthy enough after having Tommy John and hip surgeries in the last two years. The Yanks signed him to a minor league deal back in November, before they inked Andy Sisco and Pedro Feliciano and selected Robert Fish in the Rule 5 Draft. No big loss, obviously.

(Am I on a roll with the cheesy headlines or what?)

Yankees sign Neal Cotts (UPDATE: Daniel Martinez too)

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Via Matt Eddy, the Yankees have signed lefty reliever Neal Cotts to a minor league contract. Cotts, 31 in March, has not pitched since June 2009 due to Tommy John and hip surgery. He’s spent the last four seasons with the Cubs, so new pitching coach Larry Rothschild knows him well, and believe it or not he actually has a reverse split (.336 wOBA against vs. RHB career, .351 vs. LHB). I suspect Cotts is the 2011 version of Royce Ring and not the second lefty the Yanks are said to be seeking for their bullpen.

Update: Eddy says they also signed 20-year-old lefty Daniel Martinez. He’s spend the last four seasons walking everyone (88 BB in 138.2 IP) down in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.