Yankees claim David Huff

(Jason Miller/Getty)

 The Yankees claimed David Huff off waiver from the Indians and designated Francisco Rondon for assignment. Huff has only pitched three poor innings with the Indians this year and has traditionally been a starter for the Indians in his five major league season, he has an career ERA of 5.40, but he 28 and left handed so teams are going to have an interest in him. He is out of minor league options so the Yankees will need to send somebody down to make room for him or they could try to outright him to the minors and considering this is his second time being DFA and he reached the Yankees so it is possible they could outright him.
People may remember Huff for getting it in the head by an Alex Rodriguez Line drive in 2010 and apparently the Yankees were considering Huff in the 2006 draft but he was taken by the Indians at 39th overall, the Yankees instead took Joba Chamberlain at 41st overall.

Curtis Granderson injured in hit by pitch......again

In yesterdays game against the Rays Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch from Cesar Ramos and suffered a broken knuckle on the pinky finger of his left hand. The Yankees placed him on the 15 day DL and recalled Brennan Boesch from Triple A. The timetable is at least four weeks and Granderson will see a hand specialist on Monday in New York. Obviously this hurts the Yankees, but its especially annoying considering that Granderson has only played 11 games since coming back from his broken forearm suffered in the spring. Granderson had this to say following the game (via Mark Feinsand):

“I bounced back from [the forearm injury], I’ll bounce back from this.The hand is still on, it didn’t fall off. You can take a look at all the positives from everything. It’s a better break than the previous one, that’s a good thing, it should be back sooner than the last time so that’s a good thing. The team is playing well. Hopefully we come back and the team is right where we need it to be and continue to help this team move forward until the end.”

The Yankees really needed Grandersons bat, but Youkilis and Teixeira are starting rehab assignments soon so they can hopefully survive the loss. One idea pitched by River Ave Blues is that the Yankees should see if Overbay can handle playing the outfield, its not ideal but if he can be passable then the Yankees could keep his bat in the lineup. Overbay did play some outfield in the minors but that was ten years ago at this point, so the Yankees would definitely want to see how he handles it before they put him there in a game. Either way hopefully Granderson can return soon.

Jesus Montero demoted to Triple A

The Seattle Mariners demoted Catcher Jesus Montero to Triple A today as he had only hit .208/.264/.327 with Three home runs on the year after a disappointing, but not awful, season last year in Seattle. More with that the Mariners are not calling up top catching prospect Mike Zunino, who is currently in AAA, so it looks like they will be moving Jesus from catcher to another position, most likely DH. Montero is only 23 so its not as if the Mariners or anyone else should give up on his bat, but his glove was always poor and this season he has only 8 walks in 110 Plate appearances. What obviously makes this story intriging for us Yankees fans is that Montero was the top Yankee prospect who, along with pitcher Hector Noesi,  was traded to Seattle for the 23 year old Fire baller Michael Pineda, who promptly got hurt and has not actually pitched for the Yankees yet this season and pitching prospect Jose Campos who also was injured during the year. The Mariners had been declared the winner of the trade last year but this latest turn throws everything into the air as none of the pieces in the trade have been very good for either side and so we are still likely years away from learning just who has won this trade. We still have to see exactly what Pineda will do as he has reportedly been throwing around 95 in his rehab work.

Yankees acquire Reid Brignac

The Yankees have acquired Reid Brignac for $75,000 after Brignac was designated for assignment by the Rockies. Its assumed that Brignac will replace Alberto Gonzalez, but the team has not officially announced anything.
Brignac, can't really hit or walk with a career line of .228/.270/.321 (60 wRC+) in 769 plate appearances. You might remember him from his time with the Rays from 2008-2012. What Brignac does bring is above average fielding at all three non first base infield spots and so is a marginal upgrade over Gonzalez. I expect that Brignac will play short against right handers and obviously provides the versititlity that the Yankees did not have with Gonzalez. Its a small upgrade, but still an upgrade.

David Adams & Dellin Betances called up

David Adams has been called up to the New York Yankees and Chris Nelson has been designated for assignment. This was first reported by Josh Norris and I am a little bit late because they did not officially make the move until after I had left to go to the game last night. Adams went 1-4 with a solid single for his first Major league hit and had some good plays at the hot corner and all on his 26th birthday too.  Dellin Betances was called up today and Brett Marshall was optioned after Marshall threw 108 pitches going 5.2 ugly mop up innings after Hughes gave up 7 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Marshall did not look very good, giving up 5 runs, walking 5 and striking out 1 but he did soak up a lot of innings for the Yankees and left the bullpen rested. Betances was part of the Killer B's just three years ago and then Brackman was terrible, Banuelos got hurt and Betances was wild, but Betances was moved to the bullpen recently and is getting the call up until Joba Chamberlain is back from his Oblique injury. This is Betances second stint with the big league club after making two appearances in September 2011, including starting the last game of the year. This is really Betances last chance to carve out a role in the majors with the Yankees as he is out of minor league option years after this year and could very well find himself in jeopardy of being DFA if he cannot pitch well out of the pen.

Granderson activated from DL

The Yankees activated Curtis Granderson from the disabled list and optioned Vidal Nuno to AAA Scranton. Curtis will start tonight in Left Field and batting 4th hopefully with his much needed power on display against the Mariners Ace, Felix Hernandez. In case you don't remember Granderson was hit by a pitch two pitches into spring training by Blue Jays pitcher J.A Happ. Granderson had a mixed season last year, his Batting average and Slugging percentage were suprisingly low considering his 43 Home runs, but he still walked a lot and I would hope that he will improve on his contact rate. Some people think that Granderson is absolutely worthless because he struck out 195 times last year, but honestly I subscribe to the idea that most players make 300-450 outs a year, so does it really matter how they are made? Some people have actually suggested that the Yankees are better off without Granderson, which is completely absurd; Ichiro has a sub .300 OBP and an OPS of .650 and if you ask some people that's apparently better because Granderson strikes out a lot.

Nunez to the DL

The Yankees list of wounded has increased again as they have placed Eduardo Nunez on the DL today due to his left ribcage issue, the team announced. Infielder Alberto Gonzalez will be recalled from Triple-A to take his roster spot. Mark Teixeira has been transferred to the 60-day DL to clear a 40-man roster spot.
The problem was thought to be minor but it ha lingered and the Yankees would like to have a backup infielder, the good news though is that its retroactive to last Sunday so hopefully he only has to spend a little more than a week on the DL. The Yankees acquired Gonzalez a few days ago in a trade with the Cubs for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The Tex thing isn't a huge deal as at this point he wasn't likely to come back until June anyway and just started swinging a bat.