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New York Yankees: As usual there is a ton of news this past week regarding the New York Yankees. The biggest news was that they sent Melky Cabrera down to Triple-A. Melky has been horrible at the plate this season and has certainly not shown the growth in his offensive game that you would expect for someone who is playing in his third full season. Cabrera was hitting .242 with 8 HR and just 36 RBI this season before being demoted. He also had just a .296 OBP, .337 SLG, and 69 OPS+, which is well below average and what you would expect from someone who not only wasn't hitting for power but wasn't getting on base either. The Yankees also cut Richie Sexson the same day they demoted Cabrera.
In other Yankees news, it looks like Hideki Matsui will return on Tuesday and the Yankees are also keeping a close eye on Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano, who both might be needed in the rotation soon. The return of Matsui will almost certainly force Jason Giambi to play first base and move Johnny Damon to CF full time. At least you would think that is what would happen, but right now you really don't know what Joe Girardi will do and it wouldn't surprise me if he sat Xavier Nady at times in favor of Damon in LF and Gardner in CF with Matsui as the DH. I think that would be a bad move though and I would take my chances with Damon in CF most of the time and then splitting at-bats with Matsui at DH when he's not in CF.
As of yesterday, the Yankees sit 5 games back in the Wild Card behind the Boston Red Sox. I honestly don't think they have much chance to make the playoffs because I can't see Boston playing that poorly the rest of the season. The Yankees do have 6 more games against the Red Sox though, so if they can win 4 or more of those games then they might still have a chance to catch them.
New York Mets: The Mets have been hot lately, winning 6 in a row, all of which were on the road. However, those 6 games were against Washington and Pittsburgh, so I think it says more about those teams then how good this Mets team is. Their upcoming schedule gets a little tougher as they face an 18 game stretch where they play Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Florida, and Milwaukee. The Mets currently sit in first ahead of the Phillies by 2 games, but we should know for sure how good this Mets team really is after their upcoming 18 game stretch is over. The Mets also just acquired reliever Luis Ayala from the Nationals. Ayala has been awful this year with a 1-8 record and 5.77 ERA, so I'm not sure how this move helps the Mets bullpen.
Other MLB News:
- The Red Sox acquired pitcher Paul Byrd from the Cleveland Indians to help with the back end of their rotation. They just recently lost Tim Wakefield to the 15-day DL and Clay Buchholz has been mostly ineffective for a while now. I'm not sure how much Byrd will help the Red Sox but at best he would probably put up numbers similar to Tim Wakefield. He did lose his first start with the Red Sox but he pitched well giving up just 4 runs in 7 1/3 innings.
- Freddy Garcia signed a minor league deal with the Detroit Tigers. This is more of a move for next season because the Tigers really don't have any chance of making the playoffs this season and it doesn't look like Garcia would be able to help them much right now even if they did.
- Tom Glavine may retire if he needs Tommy John surgery. Glavine is a sure fire Hall of Famer who has 305 career wins, 2,607 K's, and a 3.54 ERA.
- Despite injuries to Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford, the Rays are still not interested in Barry Bonds.
In other Yankees news, it looks like Hideki Matsui will return on Tuesday and the Yankees are also keeping a close eye on Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano, who both might be needed in the rotation soon. The return of Matsui will almost certainly force Jason Giambi to play first base and move Johnny Damon to CF full time. At least you would think that is what would happen, but right now you really don't know what Joe Girardi will do and it wouldn't surprise me if he sat Xavier Nady at times in favor of Damon in LF and Gardner in CF with Matsui as the DH. I think that would be a bad move though and I would take my chances with Damon in CF most of the time and then splitting at-bats with Matsui at DH when he's not in CF.
As of yesterday, the Yankees sit 5 games back in the Wild Card behind the Boston Red Sox. I honestly don't think they have much chance to make the playoffs because I can't see Boston playing that poorly the rest of the season. The Yankees do have 6 more games against the Red Sox though, so if they can win 4 or more of those games then they might still have a chance to catch them.
New York Mets: The Mets have been hot lately, winning 6 in a row, all of which were on the road. However, those 6 games were against Washington and Pittsburgh, so I think it says more about those teams then how good this Mets team is. Their upcoming schedule gets a little tougher as they face an 18 game stretch where they play Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Florida, and Milwaukee. The Mets currently sit in first ahead of the Phillies by 2 games, but we should know for sure how good this Mets team really is after their upcoming 18 game stretch is over. The Mets also just acquired reliever Luis Ayala from the Nationals. Ayala has been awful this year with a 1-8 record and 5.77 ERA, so I'm not sure how this move helps the Mets bullpen.
Other MLB News:
- The Red Sox acquired pitcher Paul Byrd from the Cleveland Indians to help with the back end of their rotation. They just recently lost Tim Wakefield to the 15-day DL and Clay Buchholz has been mostly ineffective for a while now. I'm not sure how much Byrd will help the Red Sox but at best he would probably put up numbers similar to Tim Wakefield. He did lose his first start with the Red Sox but he pitched well giving up just 4 runs in 7 1/3 innings.
- Freddy Garcia signed a minor league deal with the Detroit Tigers. This is more of a move for next season because the Tigers really don't have any chance of making the playoffs this season and it doesn't look like Garcia would be able to help them much right now even if they did.
- Tom Glavine may retire if he needs Tommy John surgery. Glavine is a sure fire Hall of Famer who has 305 career wins, 2,607 K's, and a 3.54 ERA.
- Despite injuries to Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford, the Rays are still not interested in Barry Bonds.
More: MLB & MLB Weekly
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