Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/9/14

So here's the deal for this weekend.  The family is in town, we're going to all 3 Yanks-Brewers games at Miller Park, and in between the games I'll be spending the bulk of my time entertaining them.  As a result, the content on the site will be pretty light this weekend, possibly nothing more than game recaps.  If I have time to post anything more than that, I will, but expect it to be a slow weekend at AB4AR and things to get back to normal on Monday.  As for tonight, I couldn't be more excited to see Tanaka pitch live.  Tonight's tickets are the best ones I got, so hopefully he gives me my money's worth.  I'm setting the over/under for strikeouts at 12.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog put the Yankees' early negative run differential through the historical ringer to see what it can tell us about their chances for success going forward this season.

- On Tuesday, Vizzini of NoMaas discussed the team-wide decrease in walks as a possible contributing factor to the uninspiring early offensive production.

- Mike Axisa of RAB mused on how Joe will fit Brendan Ryan into the infield rotation and whether or not he'll utilize Ryan as a late-game defensive caddy for The Captain.

- On Wednesday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes commented on a recent victorious Yankee trade that doesn't get the ink it probably should.

- Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley broke down the SSS numbers to show how the Yankee infield  has been limited by the hot-and-cold production of Brian Roberts and Yangervis Solarte.

- El duque of It Is High... pondered the possible outcomes for Derek Jeter's final season based on how he looked in the first month.

- On Thursday, Chad Jennings of LoHud got the scoop on the organizational plan for Manny Banuelos' comeback season from TJS.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA proposed a rotation switch with Vidal Nuno and Alfredo Aceves and explained why it could give Joe a greater bullpen advantage.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits explained why the Yankees should move Derek Jeter off of shortstop and suggested an outfield platoon option that could make it possible.  It will never happen, but I would support the move if Joe made it.

I'm going back to the QOTSA well for this Friday's jam and with good reason.  Went to see them at the Riverside Theater on Wednesday night with the girlfriend and they absolutely brought the house down.  Only thing that would have made it better would have been them playing "In The Fade", which was originally on the setlist.  Here's a taste of the show with the opener, "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire".



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  I know I will.

Report: A Handful Of Injured Prospects Close To Returning

Chad Jennings of LoHud put together one of his classic prospect update posts yesterday, and you didn't have to sift through it very long to find the best bits of news.  According to Mark Newman, DL-stricken prospects Slade Heathcott, Tyler Austin, Bryan Mitchell, and Dan Burawa are all "about a week away" from being activated and returning to game action.

You'll remember that Heathcott has yet to play at all this season as he's been rehabbing from offseason knee surgery.  Austin has been out with a groin strain for a few weeks, Mitchell with a sore elbow, and Burawa with an oblique strain.  Greg Bird was activated earlier this week and assigned to High-A Tampa, so the rest of this crew following him back into action would be a nice boost to a prospect crop that's had another uneven start to the year.

Newman also told Jennings that 2012 1st rounder Ty Hensley has been throwing bullpen sessions at the Tampa complex and should start facing hitters next week.  Getting him ready in time for the start of the short season leagues would be great.  Dude has missed a lot of time.

Yanks Announce Plans To Honor A Bunch Of Guys

I was running around for most of the day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to cover this.  The Yankees announced plans to honor multiple former team members yesterday, most notably former manager Joe Torre.  Torre will have his number 6 retired in a pregame ceremony on August 23rd.  The manager for the most recent Yankee dynasty of the late 90s-early 2000s, Torre and the team have had to work to repair their relationship over the last few years.  It's good to see that that work has been completed.

The team also announced that there will be ceremonies to honor former players Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, and Goose Gossage with plaques in Monument Park.  Those ceremonies will be held on June 21st (Martinez), 22nd (Gossage), and August 9th (O'Neill).  To be honest, I'm a little surprised that all 3 of these guys are receiving plaques out there.  They were good Yankees but not great Yankees, and I don't think they deserve to be honored before better, homegrown players like Bernie Williams.

Speaking of Bernie, the team did say there are plans to honor him next year, although they did not announce what the plans are or when that will happen.  Hopefully Bernie gets his number 51 retired because he deserves it.  Between him, Paulie, Tino, Torre, and whatever's planned for Derek Jeter at the end of this season, the Yankees are going heavy on honoring that late 90s dynasty.  When Jeter has his number retired, that will be the end of single digit numbers in Yankeeland.  Pretty cool.