The Yankees designated infielder Alberto Gonzalez for assignment this afternoon in order to make room for the newly-acquired Reid Brignac. Some thought that Ben Francisco‘s roster spot could be in jeopardy, as he’s hitting just .114 (5-for-44) in 21 games, but Yankees general manager Brian Cashman joked to reporters today that he’s keeping him around for a very important reason.

Andy McCullough @McCulloughSL

Cashman on Ben Francisco’s roster spot: “Just in terms of your fan comments ...

The Yankees are only a month and a half into Ichiro’s new contract, and it already looks like they will rue the day the two sides reached a deal. Well, perhaps the business side of the organization is pleased, but I digress. Ichiro is hitting .239/.280/.328 through 145 plate appearances, and finally broke a 22 at-bat hitless skid last night. At this point, it is hard to be optimistic about him going forward.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Ichiro is scuffling. From 2011 through 2012, Ichiro ...

“Things stay fresh in my mind,” Girardi said. “I’ve seen Hafner hit home runs to left-center in big parks; I’ve seen him pull balls; I’ve seen him work counts. I’ve seen Lyle be a double monster his whole career and play great defense at first base. I remember saying, ‘Oh, my goodness, can you believe how close he’s playing to second base?’ I remember seeing Vernon hit balls out on us. I remember Youk taking Mo deep.

“So I believe in these guys. I believe they can still ...

Has the BBC decided to pick up the filler-filled “Mariano Rivera’s Grand Tour” yet?

Even as the career saves leader, and a five-time World Series champion, Rivera catches shade from critics who point out that he benefitted from longevity because of this era’s relief pitching specialization. Pitching prejudice is always swimming beneath the surface.

Rivera has no Cy Young Awards in his war chest, but this is a life lesson. Play your position. Rivera was built for the bright lights of the ...

When welterweight Floyd Mayweather was No. 1 on Sports Illustrated’s Fortunate 50 last year—knocking out Tiger Woods, who had been No. 1 every year since SI started producing the list in 2004—it looked like a fluke, the result of the $85 million he received for his fights with Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto. Now Mayweather is proving that he belongs at the top. From just two bouts this year, one earlier this month and the other scheduled for September, he will earn at least $90 million, ...

The Yankees couldn’t solve Seattle’s ace—a common cause celebre among American League teams—but they took advantage of his early exit. Hernandez left with a two-run lead after six innings, and the Yankees used a key seventh-inning rally to earn a 4-3 victory over the Mariners.

Granderson went hitless in the victory, his first game after starting the season on the disabled list.

The Yanks looked like they were destined to lose until Felix went out with back tightness. Wedge said after the ...

If this suffocating Mariano Rivera Grand Farewell Tour® gets any bigger…Brucebase will be adding a detailed gig page.

Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera exchanged tense words in the dugout before Saturday night’s game, as Chamberlain took exception to Rivera instructing him to quiet down while the closer chatted with reporters about an emotional event he had held earlier in the day with several local families.

“Don’t ever shush me again,” Chamberlain told Rivera in full view of ...

And I was the shortstop for the New York Yankees! But like the rest of you I’ve outlived my usefulness! No one wants me around any more!

Father Time is finally throwing Jeter some serious chin music, snapping his ankle in October, and then taunting him back to practice before chipping it again. But Jeter is the Bernard Hopkins of baseball, swinging until he’s literally carted off. The Yankees surely hope he makes that decision before they have to.

“Jeter’s not a quitter!” you bark. ...Read More...

Not to dump water on this…but he’s tied with Tim McCarver.

Jeter has long been known for his ability to rack up 200-hit seasons, the hallmark of any 3,000-hit campaign. Cano, with only two 200-hit seasons, and perhaps because of his status as an elite power hitter, has often been left out of the discussion of players who could reach 3,000.

But Cano isn’t far off Jeter’s pace. Jeter notched his 1,500th hit at age 29, in his ninth season. Cano hit the mark at age 30, also in his ninth year. It ...

Hell, if A-Rod can do it…

Joe Girardi insists he’s not trying to reinvent the game with his off-beat lineup Wednesday night. He’s just trying to get the most out of what he has.

Girardi batted starting pitcher David Phelps eighth in the batting order against the Rockies, dropping catcher Austin Romine into the No. 9 slot.

The manager pointed to the fact that Colorado has a pair of lefties in its bullpen as one of the primary reasons for the decision, as his two biggest threats off the ...

I’ll get to this fun…as soon as I’m done playing this round of Pin the Duragesic Time-Release Patch on an Unsuspecting Ass!

That intangibles notion is murky, of course, and complicated. Jeter played in an era when everyone was suspected of PED use. For those choosing to believe the shortstop that he was, is and always has been a clean ballplayer, the monument to his fidelity and greatness lies in his old-school bona fides. Jeter, along with possibly Ken Griffey Jr., is the only player in the ...

You Think You Know About A-Rod’s Dreams… You Know Nothing!

In fact, there are people who think A-Rod has been breaking the rules since his rookie year – even as far back as high school – and has never stopped. That’s why Rodriguez’s detractors in the game think he’s doomed: not because his hips may or may not function efficiently any more, but because of his psychological dependence on PEDs.

If Rodriguez returns to 24-7 scrutiny, and if he knows can’t use PEDs any longer, what ...

I thought only industry insiders voted for The Reuben Sturman Award.

Hideki Matsui, Most Valuable Player in the 2009 World Series, and his former manager Shigeo Nagashima received Japan’s People’s Honor awards at a ceremony today in Tokyo, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Matsui set a record for Japanese players with 175 home runs in 10 Major League Baseball seasons, seven with the New York Yankees, after smashing 332 homers in 10 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. Nagashima, who ...

Legendary Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle likely used a corked bat in games later in his career, according to a game-used merchandise auctioneer that will sell one of Mantle’s apparently adjusted Louisville Sluggers. From Grey Flannel Auctions:

  As noticed and documented by John Taube of PSA/DNA, “during our examination of the bat, we noticed a circular area .75 inches wide in the center of the top barrel. The finish in the area has also been touched up to mask the circular area. ...

It’s one thing for Michael the Kay and Sen. Al Leiter to screw this up last night…but the BBWAA high muckety-muck? “Rookie shortstop Adam Rosales smoked a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his first career home run.”

Sabathia was taken deep on the first pitch of the game. Rookie shortstop Adam Rosales smoked a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his first career home run. Sabathis settled down nicely but needed major help from second baseman Robinson Cano to get out of a fifth-inning ...

There was a time when a younger CC Sabathia was a frequent visitor to the Indians manager’s office where he was told he couldn’t win the fight with umpires and to stop showing his displeasure with them while on the mound.

Those days have been gone for a while, but last night at Yankee Stadium a fill-in umpire mistook the Yankees’ ace yelling at himself for Sabathia screaming at him and let Sabathia know about it.

“I can’t be yelled at, I am a grown man,’’ Sabathia said after ...

Blatta-up! Good stuff from Steve Goldman.

When I was a kid, Barry Bonds’ dad Bobby was still playing. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Giants, but after that he was traded roughly every two minutes. The answer usually had something to do with how his team couldn’t abide all his strikeouts. He averaged 154 per 162 games played and set the single-season record of 189, since obliterated by Mark Reynolds, Adam Dunn, and five others. He also had tremendous power and speed and ...

A-Rod is an 0 for 27 streak away from falling below .300 for his career.

A-Rod has been cleared to begin baseball activities, making the announcement himself on his Facebook page Wednesday night.

“Just met with my surgeon Dr. Kelly in South Florida and got cleared to move to baseball activities in Tampa,” A-Rod wrote beneath a photo of him training in a gym. “Really excited to be getting closer to being back on the field.”

General manager Brian Cashman said A-Rod would report to Tampa on ...

The New York Yankees have acquired third baseman Chris Nelson, the club announced Wednesday night in a press release.

Nelson was designated for assignment Sunday to make room for Rockies top prospect Nolan Arenado. In return for Nelson, the Rockies will get either cash considerations or a player to be named later. No matter which it is, the return will be relatively small, as it always is in cases like these. The reason is that once a player is designated for assignment, his club has 10 days ...

That would be…Michael Burke: “That Irish Son of a #####” *

Barely four months after heading the syndicate that bought the Yankees, chairman George Steinbrenner got what he wanted. On this day in 1973, Michael Burke, team president since 1966, resigned in disgust. Steinbrenner’s choice, Gabe Paul, took over the role. Burke’s abrupt departure marked the first domino in a line that would see GM Lee MacPhail, manager Ralph Houk, and PR head Bob Fishel all quit by year’s end. The old days in ...

90 CC’s sure as shiit ain’t pure thrust like 100 CC’s.

Something is different about Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia. To open the year, Sabathia’s fastball velocity has been down significantly. After averaging 93.04 mph with the pitch last year, Sabathia’s velocity has dropped to just 90.59 mph this April. The 32-year-old has already done a tremendous job making due with a diminished fastball, and will look to continue the trend against the Blue Jays Saturday. Through five starts, he has a 3.34 ...

In a span of less than three innings, the Yankees lost their starting catcher for for more than a month and their fifth starter for an unknown amount of time.

Francisco Cervelli fractured his right hand in the first at-bat of the game, when a pitch from Ivan Nova struck him. He will require surgery and miss at least six weeks.

In the third, Nova departed due to pain in his right elbow. He will undergo an MRI later tonight.

Thanks to Barnald O’Hangnail.

Fave YankFan chant: “I’d like see Eduardo Nunez get 500 AB’s and see what he can do!!!” ~Nunez now has exactly 500 career AB’s.~

Eduardo Nunez is just not good. Among shortstops, with at least 60 plate appearances, he is currently tied for last place in WAR (-0.4) with the likes of Asdrubal Cabrera and Brendan Ryan. The latter is the only shortstop to have a worse wRC+ (6) than Nunez (37). Basically, the Yankees have needed him to step up for the injured Derek Jeter and he has done absolutely ...

Outfielder Mason Williams, who’s generally regarded as the top prospect in the Yankees’ farm system, was arrested in Florida early Thursday morning on charges of DUI. Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweets further details:

Mason Williams arrested in Tampa early Thursday for DUI. Breath tests were under legal limit of .08, but he failed field sobriety tests.

Thanks to Lager Barnald.

Back in the 70’s a drunko friend of mine sent a perfume-soused love letter to Ava Gardner…and asked her why her face went crooked.

In many ways, Gardner doesn’t fit in with the New Yankees. I had to seek out video of him speaking to hear his voice. He has a gentle, South Carolinian drawl. There really isn’t much else to say about him as a person, because I don’t know much else and because no one has cared to ask him any such questions, or at least to write about the answers. If ...