Inbox: Who is the favorite to close for the Yankees?

As of now, the Yankees are still talking about that as a "TBA" situation, as they don't feel that they have to announce a choice at this point. I suppose that's not out of character; after all, it wasn't until last January that Hal Steinbrenner spilled the beans and confirmed that David Robertson would be their 2014 closer, even though most people had already assumed that would be the case.

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Recently, Joe Girardi said that he'll bring the group into Spring Training and let the situation work itself out. The Yankees believe that Betances and Miller can both have their stuff translate to getting three outs in the ninth inning, and they've both said that they'd be game for the challenge. Of course, neither one has proved it on any kind of regular basis yet -- they have one career save apiece.

Outlook: Miller, RP, NYY

Outlook: Miller could factor into saves mix in 2015

Andrew Miller notched career bests in ERA and WHIP in 2014 and should be a strikeout machine and get some saves chances in 2015

One thing the Yanks do like is that Betances and Miller have shown the ability to get both lefties and righties out, as can guys such as David Carpenter and Adam Warren, so you don't necessarily have to mix and match. I'd guess that Betances will eventually be named the closer and Miller would slot in the eighth inning, but there's not really a wrong decision either way. Girardi said that his preference would be to have a closer named by the end of the spring.

"I think guys like to know their roles, so I think if we can iron it out, I think it would be a good thing to do," Girardi said. "But I think you can also create an atmosphere where you say, 'You know what, guys? I'll prepare you every day in a sense of what I think is going to happen, and here are your matchups, the guys that I'm probably going to bring you in against.'"

It seems to me that signing a starting pitcher with James Shields' mental makeup and leadership would make sense to the Yankees. Your thoughts?
-- Jim, Advance, Mo.

I try never to say never, especially when we're talking about the Yankees and free agents, but they weren't bluffing about sitting out the bidding for Jon Lester and Max Scherzer. That seems to be the case with Shields as well. The Yanks have been serious about not extending another nine-figure starting pitching contract while they wait to see how the CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka commitments work out.

Leading the League with Heyman

Heyman talks Shields, reliever market on Hot Stove

Jon Heyman joins the Hot Stove show to discuss the latest on James Shields, possible landing spots for the pitcher and the reliever market

Steinbrenner has said that the payroll is going to be close to where it was in 2014, and New York is bumping up against the $210 million mark already, so this seems like it is most of the roster that will be going to Spring Training. Ivan Nova could wind up being a real key to the season if he's able to come back from Tommy John surgery in the middle of the summer and pitch like he did in previous years.

I've heard the Yankees invested quite a bit on international prospects over the last year. Who are they and how they might help the club? Is Yoan Moncada a strong possibility for the Yanks to sign?
-- Steve M., New Haven, Conn.

Let's start with Moncada, who we've been talking about for a few months now and seems to be moving closer to being cleared to sign. The 19-year-old Cuban infielder is clearly on New York's radar, and he has worked out privately for the club. As we saw last year with Tanaka, this team can still wield a checkbook as a weapon if there's a player they covet.

Jim Callis on Moncada, prospects

Jim Callis talks international prospects on MLB Now

Jim Callis joins MLB Now to discuss MLB teams scouting Yoan Moncada, the future of international prospects and more

The Yanks already exceeded their international pool base, and so they'll be in the penalty box for the next two years with bonuses capped at $300,000. That could tempt them to push hard for Moncada, since there's no limitation on what they can offer him. He has also worked out for other clubs, including the Red Sox, Dodgers and Giants, so the bidding could go into the tens of millions no matter which uniform he winds up wearing.

As for players already under contract, they spent approximately $14 million in July; according to MLB.com's rankings, that brought them nine of the top 25 available players. It's a group highlighted by 17-year-old Dominican shortstop Dermis Garcia (for a $3.2 million signing bonus) and Dominican third baseman Nelson Gomez ($2.25 million), who were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on MLB.com's list, respectively.

Some other names to know: Dominican outfielder Juan DeLeon ($2 million), Venezuelan outfielder Jonathan Amundaray ($1.5 million), Venezuelan shortstop Wilkerman Garcia ($1.35 million) and Korean shortstop Hyo-Jun Park ($1.16 million). They got their feet wet in the instructional league, but with all of these birthdays in the late 1990s, it'll take a few years for these promising position players to climb toward Yankee Stadium.

Will Alex Rodriguez be playing first base this year?
-- Mel F., New York

It's possible. Girardi has been exchanging phone calls and text messages with Rodriguez this offseason, and strapping on a first baseman's glove is something they've bounced around.

The plan is to look at Rodriguez more as a designated hitter while giving him reps at third base, but it couldn't hurt to have Rodriguez see some innings at first. You'd think he would be able to take to it easily, but you never know -- they briefly tried Alfonso Soriano there last spring and it didn't work. Garrett Jones would probably be the first choice for backup duty.

Has Michael Pineda learned how to not use foreign substances while pitching or could we see him fined again this year?
-- Paul M., Dover, N.H.

The funny thing about all of that is that, if you talk to people in the game, the complaint really wasn't that Pineda used the pine tar -- it was that he was so careless about it, forcing John Farrell to say something. Before that game, Farrell said his only hope was that Pineda would be "discreet," and slathering a huge glob on his neck was anything but.

Technically, it's against the rules, but managers don't want to complain, because their guys may be wearing gunk on their forearms, caps or jerseys, too. And it's a trade-off with which hitters are OK; whether it's pine tar or sunscreen, most would prefer that the pitcher have a good idea where that 95 mph fastball is going rather than be surprised up and in.

Pineda was embarrassed by the incident, then he came back and pitched in colder weather toward the end of the season. No one said a word then, and so whether he has stopped using the sticky stuff (as he says) or is just hiding it better, it probably won't be an issue going forward.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yanks duo Severino, Judge among Top 100 Prospects

The annual ranking of baseball's Top 100 Prospects is assembled by MLBPipeline.com Draft and prospect experts Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis, who compile input from industry sources, including scouts and scouting directors. It is based on analysis of players' skill sets, upsides, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams. The list, which is one of several prospect rankings on MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch, only includes players with rookie status in 2015. Team-by-team Top 30 Prospects lists for 2015 will be unveiled in March.

Mayo: Breaking down the Top 100 | Callis: Best tools in the Top 100

Severino, who turns 21 in February, signed for $225,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2011 and shot toward the top of the rankings with a pair of strong seasons that included a scoreless inning in the 2014 SiriusXM All-Star Futures game at Target Field. A 6-foot tall, 195-pound hurler with an easy delivery, Severino features a fastball that usually sits between 94-95 mph with sink and can run as high as 98 mph. His changeup is developing into a plus pitch and his slider shows potential.

"Coming into this season, he was probably our big secret," Yankees Minor League pitching coordinator Danny Borrell recently told MiLB.com. "I don't think we'll be keeping a secret in him anymore. Anytime you're 93-99 [mph] and you have a breaking ball that he changes speeds on, he can make it a breaking ball/curve, and then he'll throw 89-90 [mph] as a true slider. Both of those can be plus pitches, and then his changeup just drops off the table, and he can throw it to righties and lefties. I don't think there's anyone in baseball who hasn't heard about him now."

Severino reached Double-A Trenton as a 20-year-old in 2014, going 2-2 with a 2.52 ERA in six starts there, and was 6-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 24 combined outings with Class A Charleston, Class A Advanced Tampa and in the Eastern League, leading the system with 127 strikeouts against 27 walks in 113 1/3 innings. He projects to begin the year in Trenton and could reach the Majors by 2016.

"He has that uncanny ability to slow the game down," Borrell said. "When runners get on base, he can just eliminate a running game just because of how quick he is to the plate. And he knows what pitches to throw in what counts. He's a lot of fun to watch."

Judge, who turns 23 in April, was a supplemental round pick by the Yanks out of Fresno State in 2013. The 6-foot-7, 230-pounder has drawn physical comparisons to Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and split last season between Charleston and Tampa, batting a combined .308 with 17 home runs and a system-leading 78 RBIs in 131 games.

Top Prospects: Judge, NYY

Top Prospects: Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees

2015 MLB.com Top Prospects: Aaron Judge has prodigious raw power and a strong arm in the outfield

"Everyone is enamored with his size," Yankees Minor League hitting coordinator James Rowson told MiLB.com. "A guy with that size and that type of plate discipline, I think is very hard to come by. He doesn't chase many pitches out of the strike zone, he's a patient hitter and that's going to go a long way."

The Yanks were pleased to see Judge's production continue in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .278/.377/.467 with four home runs in 24 games and showed a strong arm from the outfield. Judge projects to see time at Double-A in 2015 and could advance to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, putting him on track to get to the big leagues in '16.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yanks reportedly add veteran arm Baker on Minors deal

The Yankees signed right-hander Scott Baker to a one-year, Minor League contract on Friday, according to multiple media reports.

Baker has appeared in just 28 games in the Majors during the past three seasons, making just 11 starts, but could get a chance to prove himself as a starter in 2015. The club has not confirmed the deal.

If Baker, 33, makes the Major League roster, his contract will be worth $1.5 million, according to CBS Sports.

The move gives the Yankees potential depth at the back end of their starting rotation if Baker can pitch closer to his performance before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012. At the very least, it is a low-risk deal that provides New York with another pitching option.

The Yankees enter the season counting on the health of three starters -- Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda -- who all missed significant time in 2014 with injury along with right-hander Ivan Nova, who is expected to miss at least the first month of the season to recover from his own Tommy John surgery.

The Yankees have yet to announce their non-roster invites for Spring Training, but Baker figures to be a candidate. He collected a 5.47 ERA in 25 games for the Rangers last season, and allowed 15 home runs in 80 2/3 innings.

Baker, a second-round pick by the Twins out of Oklahoma State in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, was a solid starter for Minnesota prior to the surgery, accumulating a record of 63-48 and a 4.15 ERA during a span of seven seasons.

Jamal Collier is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jamalcollier. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yanks duo Severino, Judge among Top 100 Prospects

The annual ranking of baseball's Top 100 Prospects is assembled by MLBPipeline.com Draft and prospect experts Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis, who compile input from industry sources, including scouts and scouting directors. It is based on analysis of players' skill sets, upsides, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams. The list, which is one of several prospect rankings on MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch, only includes players with rookie status in 2015. Team-by-team Top 30 Prospects lists for 2015 will be unveiled in March.

Mayo: Breaking down the Top 100 | Callis: Best tools in the Top 100

Severino, who turns 21 in February, signed for $225,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2011 and shot toward the top of the rankings with a pair of strong seasons that included a scoreless inning in the 2014 SiriusXM All-Star Futures game at Target Field. A 6-foot tall, 195-pound hurler with an easy delivery, Severino features a fastball that usually sits between 94-95 mph with sink and can run as high as 98 mph. His changeup is developing into a plus pitch and his slider shows potential.

"Coming into this season, he was probably our big secret," Yankees Minor League pitching coordinator Danny Borrell recently told MiLB.com. "I don't think we'll be keeping a secret in him anymore. Anytime you're 93-99 [mph] and you have a breaking ball that he changes speeds on, he can make it a breaking ball/curve, and then he'll throw 89-90 [mph] as a true slider. Both of those can be plus pitches, and then his changeup just drops off the table, and he can throw it to righties and lefties. I don't think there's anyone in baseball who hasn't heard about him now."

Severino reached Double-A Trenton as a 20-year-old in 2014, going 2-2 with a 2.52 ERA in six starts there, and was 6-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 24 combined outings with Class A Charleston, Class A Advanced Tampa and in the Eastern League, leading the system with 127 strikeouts against 27 walks in 113 1/3 innings. He projects to begin the year in Trenton and could reach the Majors by 2016.

"He has that uncanny ability to slow the game down," Borrell said. "When runners get on base, he can just eliminate a running game just because of how quick he is to the plate. And he knows what pitches to throw in what counts. He's a lot of fun to watch."

Judge, who turns 23 in April, was a supplemental round pick by the Yanks out of Fresno State in 2013. The 6-foot-7, 230-pounder has drawn physical comparisons to Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and split last season between Charleston and Tampa, batting a combined .308 with 17 home runs and a system-leading 78 RBIs in 131 games.

Top Prospects: Judge, NYY

Top Prospects: Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees

2015 MLB.com Top Prospects: Aaron Judge has prodigious raw power and a strong arm in the outfield

"Everyone is enamored with his size," Yankees Minor League hitting coordinator James Rowson told MiLB.com. "A guy with that size and that type of plate discipline, I think is very hard to come by. He doesn't chase many pitches out of the strike zone, he's a patient hitter and that's going to go a long way."

The Yanks were pleased to see Judge's production continue in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .278/.377/.467 with four home runs in 24 games and showed a strong arm from the outfield. Judge projects to see time at Double-A in 2015 and could advance to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, putting him on track to get to the big leagues in '16.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Broadcasters Sterling, Grant strong after trying incidents

"I lost everything," Sterling said. "But thank God, if it had been 2 in the morning I'd be dead."

The next day, on the other side of the country, Grant learned that the Fiat carrying his wife, daughter and her boyfriend had been rear-ended on a San Diego freeway. The car rolled twice and wound up resting on its crushed roof. All three survived. The kids were in the back seat and walked away unscathed.

His wife, Mary, was driving, and she suffered a concussion and slash to the head that needed 12 staples to close. A CT scan of her brain revealed no further damage. Grant, a fun-loving former big league pitcher and TV analyst on Padres broadcasts, posted the picture of the wrecked vehicle on his Facebook page.

"It's been a very emotional week going through all that stuff, and you saw the pictures," Grant said. "She's recovering from the concussion, has some dizziness. Who knows what the effects later on are going to be, but she's lucky to be alive."

This was the week of Jan. 18-24 that was: Late in the afternoon that Wednesday, Sterling arrived home to find smoke billowing from the Avalon at Edgewater apartment building in Edgewater, N.J. When the flames began leaping from the structure, the spectacular fire could be seen across the Hudson River in Manhattan. The building burned to the ground. That same day in San Diego, pioneer sportscaster Jerry Gross, 81, succumbed to prostate cancer. How far does Gross go back? When the Major League Padres made their debut on April 8 1969, Gross was in the broadcast booth with Duke Snider and Frank Sims.

That Thursday, Grant was at the dentist's office when he began receiving frantic emergency calls from the police and his daughter, Alexis, notifying him about the horrific accident.

The old adage is that bad things usually come in threes. Not this time. Not that week. The game of baseball suddenly took a backseat to life's grim realities. It could have been much worse.

"Life goes on and I didn't get hurt," said Sterling. "Nobody got hurt. Isn't it amazing? I mean, that was some fire. That was 'The Towering Inferno,' that I'm sure you've seen. But this was real, this was reality."

Despite smelling smoke, Sterling took the back elevator up to his top-floor apartment. When the door opened, the smoke was so dense he couldn't see.

"So, I thought, 'Hey, John, you better get out of here.' I did and that was that," he said, departing to the ground floor in the same elevator. "I just had the clothes on my back."

Sterling calls Jeter's walk-off

BAL@NYY: Sterling calls Jeter's memorable walk-off

9/25/14: WFAN's John Sterling calls Derek Jeter's memorable walk-off single in Jeter's last game ever at Yankee Stadium

Sterling lost the rest of his clothes, all of his pictures, all of his phone numbers, and the remainder of his possessions, including four of the five rings commemorating the World Series won by the Yankees during his 25-year New York radio tenure. He just happened to be wearing the 2009 ring on his left hand. Sterling has spent the past week in a nearby hotel, but thanks to the largess of a Yankees fan who's in Florida for the winter, he's moved into a home in Upper Saddle River, N.J., and will stay there until time comes in early March to join the club for Spring Training.

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," Blanche Dubois famously says in the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire."

And so it has been for Sterling, who since the fire has replaced some of his wardrobe and received hundreds of messages from friends, colleagues, fans and listeners. Possessions certainly can be replaced. A life cannot.

For Grant, the initial picture of the accident he posted received 1,228 likes and 648 comments. The next day he showed three more pictures of the demolished white car, sitting back on its tires, the roof folded like an accordion, the front windshield smashed and the front side windows blown out. Moments after the collision, the three squeezed out of the prone vehicle through what had become narrow window spaces.

"Went to the yard today to get 'personals' from the car," Grant said in the second-day post. "Couldn't believe the damage after seeing it upright. How Mary survived this is beyond me."

When Grant's daughter first called, her voice didn't come through. Finally an unidentified female told him that his wife and daughter had been in a car accident.

"That's the worst phone call you ever want to get," he said.

They were taken to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., with Grant in hot pursuit. Understandably, he freaked out. Since last January, the Padres have lost two significant members of their broadcast crew: Jerry Coleman and Tony Gwynn.

"It's a situation you never want to experience," said the 51-year-old Grant, who pitched in parts of four seasons for the Padres, from 1987-90, and has worked on their broadcasts for the past 19 seasons. "I didn't know what to think. I was hanging on edge. Finally seeing them at the hospital and realizing they were OK. ... They were beaten up a little bit, but everybody was alive."

These are certainly the moments that try a person's soul. It's impossible for the mind not to spin forward and contemplate how bad things might have really been. Then, as Sterling so aptly put it, life goes on. There are baseball games to be played, broadcasts to be relayed, Spring Training is just around the corner.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Boomskie on Baseball. Follow @boomskie on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yanks reportedly add veteran arm Baker on Minors deal

The Yankees signed right-hander Scott Baker to a one-year, Minor League contract on Friday, according to multiple media reports.

Baker has appeared in just 28 games in the Majors during the past three seasons, making just 11 starts, but could get a chance to prove himself as a starter in 2015. The club has not confirmed the deal.

If Baker, 33, makes the Major League roster, his contract will be worth $1.5 million, according to CBS Sports.

The move gives the Yankees potential depth at the back end of their starting rotation if Baker can pitch closer to his performance before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012. At the very least, it is a low-risk deal that provides New York with another pitching option.

The Yankees enter the season counting on the health of three starters -- Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda -- who all missed significant time in 2014 with injury along with right-hander Ivan Nova, who is expected to miss at least the first month of the season to recover from his own Tommy John surgery.

The Yankees have yet to announce their non-roster invites for Spring Training, but Baker figures to be a candidate. He collected a 5.47 ERA in 25 games for the Rangers last season, and allowed 15 home runs in 80 2/3 innings.

Baker, a second-round pick by the Twins out of Oklahoma State in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, was a solid starter for Minnesota prior to the surgery, accumulating a record of 63-48 and a 4.15 ERA during a span of seven seasons.

Jamal Collier is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jamalcollier. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Broadcasters Sterling, Grant strong after trying incidents

"I lost everything," Sterling said. "But thank God, if it had been 2 in the morning I'd be dead."

The next day, on the other side of the country, Grant learned that the Fiat carrying his wife, daughter and her boyfriend had been rear-ended on a San Diego freeway. The car rolled twice and wound up resting on its crushed roof. All three survived. The kids were in the back seat and walked away unscathed.

His wife, Mary, was driving, and she suffered a concussion and slash to the head that needed 12 staples to close. A CT scan of her brain revealed no further damage. Grant, a fun-loving former big league pitcher and TV analyst on Padres broadcasts, posted the picture of the wrecked vehicle on his Facebook page.

"It's been a very emotional week going through all that stuff, and you saw the pictures," Grant said. "She's recovering from the concussion, has some dizziness. Who knows what the effects later on are going to be, but she's lucky to be alive."

This was the week of Jan. 18-24 that was: Late in the afternoon that Wednesday, Sterling arrived home to find smoke billowing from the Avalon at Edgewater apartment building in Edgewater, N.J. When the flames began leaping from the structure, the spectacular fire could be seen across the Hudson River in Manhattan. The building burned to the ground. That same day in San Diego, pioneer sportscaster Jerry Gross, 81, succumbed to prostate cancer. How far does Gross go back? When the Major League Padres made their debut on April 8 1969, Gross was in the broadcast booth with Duke Snider and Frank Sims.

That Thursday, Grant was at the dentist's office when he began receiving frantic emergency calls from the police and his daughter, Alexis, notifying him about the horrific accident.

The old adage is that bad things usually come in threes. Not this time. Not that week. The game of baseball suddenly took a backseat to life's grim realities. It could have been much worse.

"Life goes on and I didn't get hurt," said Sterling. "Nobody got hurt. Isn't it amazing? I mean, that was some fire. That was 'The Towering Inferno,' that I'm sure you've seen. But this was real, this was reality."

Despite smelling smoke, Sterling took the back elevator up to his top-floor apartment. When the door opened, the smoke was so dense he couldn't see.

"So, I thought, 'Hey, John, you better get out of here.' I did and that was that," he said, departing to the ground floor in the same elevator. "I just had the clothes on my back."

Sterling calls Jeter's walk-off

BAL@NYY: Sterling calls Jeter's memorable walk-off

9/25/14: WFAN's John Sterling calls Derek Jeter's memorable walk-off single in Jeter's last game ever at Yankee Stadium

Sterling lost the rest of his clothes, all of his pictures, all of his phone numbers, and the remainder of his possessions, including four of the five rings commemorating the World Series won by the Yankees during his 25-year New York radio tenure. He just happened to be wearing the 2009 ring on his left hand. Sterling has spent the past week in a nearby hotel, but thanks to the largess of a Yankees fan who's in Florida for the winter, he's moved into a home in Upper Saddle River, N.J., and will stay there until time comes in early March to join the club for Spring Training.

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," Blanche Dubois famously says in the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire."

And so it has been for Sterling, who since the fire has replaced some of his wardrobe and received hundreds of messages from friends, colleagues, fans and listeners. Possessions certainly can be replaced. A life cannot.

For Grant, the initial picture of the accident he posted received 1,228 likes and 648 comments. The next day he showed three more pictures of the demolished white car, sitting back on its tires, the roof folded like an accordion, the front windshield smashed and the front side windows blown out. Moments after the collision, the three squeezed out of the prone vehicle through what had become narrow window spaces.

"Went to the yard today to get 'personals' from the car," Grant said in the second-day post. "Couldn't believe the damage after seeing it upright. How Mary survived this is beyond me."

When Grant's daughter first called, her voice didn't come through. Finally an unidentified female told him that his wife and daughter had been in a car accident.

"That's the worst phone call you ever want to get," he said.

They were taken to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., with Grant in hot pursuit. Understandably, he freaked out. Since last January, the Padres have lost two significant members of their broadcast crew: Jerry Coleman and Tony Gwynn.

"It's a situation you never want to experience," said the 51-year-old Grant, who pitched in parts of four seasons for the Padres, from 1987-90, and has worked on their broadcasts for the past 19 seasons. "I didn't know what to think. I was hanging on edge. Finally seeing them at the hospital and realizing they were OK. ... They were beaten up a little bit, but everybody was alive."

These are certainly the moments that try a person's soul. It's impossible for the mind not to spin forward and contemplate how bad things might have really been. Then, as Sterling so aptly put it, life goes on. There are baseball games to be played, broadcasts to be relayed, Spring Training is just around the corner.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Boomskie on Baseball. Follow @boomskie on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yanks duo Severino, Judge among Top 100 Prospects

The annual ranking of baseball's Top 100 Prospects is assembled by MLBPipeline.com Draft and prospect experts Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis, who compile input from industry sources, including scouts and scouting directors. It is based on analysis of players' skill sets, upsides, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams. The list, which is one of several prospect rankings on MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch, only includes players with rookie status in 2015. Team-by-team Top 30 Prospects lists for 2015 will be unveiled in March.

Mayo: Breaking down the Top 100 | Callis: Best tools in the Top 100

Severino, who turns 21 in February, signed for $225,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2011 and shot toward the top of the rankings with a pair of strong seasons that included a scoreless inning in the 2014 SiriusXM All-Star Futures game at Target Field. A 6-foot tall, 195-pound hurler with an easy delivery, Severino features a fastball that usually sits between 94-95 mph with sink and can run as high as 98 mph. His changeup is developing into a plus pitch and his slider shows potential.

"Coming into this season, he was probably our big secret," Yankees Minor League pitching coordinator Danny Borrell recently told MiLB.com. "I don't think we'll be keeping a secret in him anymore. Anytime you're 93-99 [mph] and you have a breaking ball that he changes speeds on, he can make it a breaking ball/curve, and then he'll throw 89-90 [mph] as a true slider. Both of those can be plus pitches, and then his changeup just drops off the table, and he can throw it to righties and lefties. I don't think there's anyone in baseball who hasn't heard about him now."

Severino reached Double-A Trenton as a 20-year-old in 2014, going 2-2 with a 2.52 ERA in six starts there, and was 6-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 24 combined outings with Class A Charleston, Class A Advanced Tampa and in the Eastern League, leading the system with 127 strikeouts against 27 walks in 113 1/3 innings. He projects to begin the year in Trenton and could reach the Majors by 2016.

"He has that uncanny ability to slow the game down," Borrell said. "When runners get on base, he can just eliminate a running game just because of how quick he is to the plate. And he knows what pitches to throw in what counts. He's a lot of fun to watch."

Judge, who turns 23 in April, was a supplemental round pick by the Yanks out of Fresno State in 2013. The 6-foot-7, 230-pounder has drawn physical comparisons to Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and split last season between Charleston and Tampa, batting a combined .308 with 17 home runs and a system-leading 78 RBIs in 131 games.

Top Prospects: Judge, NYY

Top Prospects: Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees

2015 MLB.com Top Prospects: Aaron Judge has prodigious raw power and a strong arm in the outfield

"Everyone is enamored with his size," Yankees Minor League hitting coordinator James Rowson told MiLB.com. "A guy with that size and that type of plate discipline, I think is very hard to come by. He doesn't chase many pitches out of the strike zone, he's a patient hitter and that's going to go a long way."

The Yanks were pleased to see Judge's production continue in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .278/.377/.467 with four home runs in 24 games and showed a strong arm from the outfield. Judge projects to see time at Double-A in 2015 and could advance to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, putting him on track to get to the big leagues in '16.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

14.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yanks reportedly add veteran arm Baker on Minors deal

The Yankees signed right-hander Scott Baker to a one-year, Minor League contract on Friday, according to multiple media reports.

Baker has appeared in just 28 games in the Majors during the past three seasons, making just 11 starts, but could get a chance to prove himself as a starter in 2015. The club has not confirmed the deal.

If Baker, 33, makes the Major League roster, his contract will be worth $1.5 million, according to CBS Sports.

The move gives the Yankees potential depth at the back end of their starting rotation if Baker can pitch closer to his performance before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012. At the very least, it is a low-risk deal that provides New York with another pitching option.

The Yankees enter the season counting on the health of three starters -- Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda -- who all missed significant time in 2014 with injury along with right-hander Ivan Nova, who is expected to miss at least the first month of the season to recover from his own Tommy John surgery.

The Yankees have yet to announce their non-roster invites for Spring Training, but Baker figures to be a candidate. He collected a 5.47 ERA in 25 games for the Rangers last season, and allowed 15 home runs in 80 2/3 innings.

Baker, a second-round pick by the Twins out of Oklahoma State in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, was a solid starter for Minnesota prior to the surgery, accumulating a record of 63-48 and a 4.15 ERA during a span of seven seasons.

Jamal Collier is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jamalcollier. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Broadcasters Sterling, Grant strong after trying incidents

"I lost everything," Sterling said. "But thank God, if it had been 2 in the morning I'd be dead."

The next day, on the other side of the country, Grant learned that the Fiat carrying his wife, daughter and her boyfriend had been rear-ended on a San Diego freeway. The car rolled twice and wound up resting on its crushed roof. All three survived. The kids were in the back seat and walked away unscathed.

His wife, Mary, was driving, and she suffered a concussion and slash to the head that needed 12 staples to close. A CT scan of her brain revealed no further damage. Grant, a fun-loving former big league pitcher and TV analyst on Padres broadcasts, posted the picture of the wrecked vehicle on his Facebook page.

"It's been a very emotional week going through all that stuff, and you saw the pictures," Grant said. "She's recovering from the concussion, has some dizziness. Who knows what the effects later on are going to be, but she's lucky to be alive."

This was the week of Jan. 18-24 that was: Late in the afternoon that Wednesday, Sterling arrived home to find smoke billowing from the Avalon at Edgewater apartment building in Edgewater, N.J. When the flames began leaping from the structure, the spectacular fire could be seen across the Hudson River in Manhattan. The building burned to the ground. That same day in San Diego, pioneer sportscaster Jerry Gross, 81, succumbed to prostate cancer. How far does Gross go back? When the Major League Padres made their debut on April 8 1969, Gross was in the broadcast booth with Duke Snider and Frank Sims.

That Thursday, Grant was at the dentist's office when he began receiving frantic emergency calls from the police and his daughter, Alexis, notifying him about the horrific accident.

The old adage is that bad things usually come in threes. Not this time. Not that week. The game of baseball suddenly took a backseat to life's grim realities. It could have been much worse.

"Life goes on and I didn't get hurt," said Sterling. "Nobody got hurt. Isn't it amazing? I mean, that was some fire. That was 'The Towering Inferno,' that I'm sure you've seen. But this was real, this was reality."

Despite smelling smoke, Sterling took the back elevator up to his top-floor apartment. When the door opened, the smoke was so dense he couldn't see.

"So, I thought, 'Hey, John, you better get out of here.' I did and that was that," he said, departing to the ground floor in the same elevator. "I just had the clothes on my back."

Sterling calls Jeter's walk-off

BAL@NYY: Sterling calls Jeter's memorable walk-off

9/25/14: WFAN's John Sterling calls Derek Jeter's memorable walk-off single in Jeter's last game ever at Yankee Stadium

Sterling lost the rest of his clothes, all of his pictures, all of his phone numbers, and the remainder of his possessions, including four of the five rings commemorating the World Series won by the Yankees during his 25-year New York radio tenure. He just happened to be wearing the 2009 ring on his left hand. Sterling has spent the past week in a nearby hotel, but thanks to the largess of a Yankees fan who's in Florida for the winter, he's moved into a home in Upper Saddle River, N.J., and will stay there until time comes in early March to join the club for Spring Training.

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," Blanche Dubois famously says in the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire."

And so it has been for Sterling, who since the fire has replaced some of his wardrobe and received hundreds of messages from friends, colleagues, fans and listeners. Possessions certainly can be replaced. A life cannot.

For Grant, the initial picture of the accident he posted received 1,228 likes and 648 comments. The next day he showed three more pictures of the demolished white car, sitting back on its tires, the roof folded like an accordion, the front windshield smashed and the front side windows blown out. Moments after the collision, the three squeezed out of the prone vehicle through what had become narrow window spaces.

"Went to the yard today to get 'personals' from the car," Grant said in the second-day post. "Couldn't believe the damage after seeing it upright. How Mary survived this is beyond me."

When Grant's daughter first called, her voice didn't come through. Finally an unidentified female told him that his wife and daughter had been in a car accident.

"That's the worst phone call you ever want to get," he said.

They were taken to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., with Grant in hot pursuit. Understandably, he freaked out. Since last January, the Padres have lost two significant members of their broadcast crew: Jerry Coleman and Tony Gwynn.

"It's a situation you never want to experience," said the 51-year-old Grant, who pitched in parts of four seasons for the Padres, from 1987-90, and has worked on their broadcasts for the past 19 seasons. "I didn't know what to think. I was hanging on edge. Finally seeing them at the hospital and realizing they were OK. ... They were beaten up a little bit, but everybody was alive."

These are certainly the moments that try a person's soul. It's impossible for the mind not to spin forward and contemplate how bad things might have really been. Then, as Sterling so aptly put it, life goes on. There are baseball games to be played, broadcasts to be relayed, Spring Training is just around the corner.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Boomskie on Baseball. Follow @boomskie on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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