Yankees: Playing Catch Up And Some Weekend Bits And Pieces

The Yankees organization has had an eventful first week of the new season. Here are some highlights and tidbits you may have missed.

Yankees Brass Shoot Down A Tanaka Report

The Yankees needed to deal with a report that surfaced in the New York Daily News that the team will not pursue Masahiro Tanaka if he exercises the opt-out clause in his contract following the 2017 season. Both Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman, in separate comments, were quick to respond to what may have been a pre-negotiations strategy by Tanaka’s agent, Casey Close, to lock up a deal now.

Cashman reportedly told SNY-TV:

"“There is nothing to hold over our heads because we haven’t negotiated it,” Cashman told The Post. “I have the utmost respect for Casey Close and his office. I don’t know where this came from. We haven’t had any discussions of an opt-out.”"

It’s early guys. Let’s all just calm down. Everyone knows the Yankees do not talk contracts in the middle of a season and hardly ever discuss anything business related at any time.

Baby Bombers Open With A Thud

Gary Sanchez (1-14), Greg Bird and Aaron Judge, who are a combined 3-24 with seven K’s continue to struggle in the middle of the Yankees lineup, and that’s obviously jettisoned the team’s offense.

The good news, though, is that they’ll be playing in the friendly confines of Camden Yards for the three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.

No worries here. These guys will all hit.

Down On The Farm, The News Is Mixed

More from Yanks Go Yard

Jordan Montgomery and Chad Green were given a warm-up start to begin the season, and the two combined to register 14 strikeouts over nine innings facing a high Class-A Lakeland Tigers team.

But James Kaprielian, who figured high in the Yankees plans for mid and late summer, suffered a setback with a reoccurrence balky elbow and will be out of action until the Yankees can determine the extent of the injury.

Chance Adams, who has a chance to pass everyone on his way to the Bronx is determined to work on his change-up in the early part of his season with the Double-A Trenton Thunder. Earlier in the week, he told NJ.com

"“I’ll focus on my changeup,” Adams said last week at the team’s minor-league training facility. “Locating it, being able to throw it where I need it and not worry about it. I understand I’m not going to be able to throw it 100 percent every single time, but at least somewhere near the zone where I might get a swing and miss rather than bury it. That and my fastball command is very important. I’d say probably those two things.”"

Jeter’s Interest In Buying A Team Is Not New

Reports indicating that Derek Jeter may have an interest in buying the Miami Marlins contain no surprise, except that he picked a team believed to be worth one billion dollars and Jeter himself is thought to worth about $400 million.

Don Mattingly, the current Marlins manager and former teammate of Jeter, told ESPN:

"Mattingly said he is “sure” Jeter would be a good owner, because he “pretty much seems to be good at everything that he tries to do. “He’s always talked about it, I asked if he wanted to coach, and he’s like, ‘Never.”"

ESPN discusses a Jeter purchase in more depth in this video:

Yankees Tradition: The Weight Of This Thing Is Becoming Too Much

Yankees "Tradition" is getting in the way of things. And nothing illustrates this more than Clint Frazier's "request" for the #7 jersey of Mickey Mantle.

Yankees Weekend TV Schedule

Friday Night 7:05 P.M. EST YES, MLBN

Saturday Afternoon 4:05 P.M. EST YES, FS1

Sunday Afternoon: 1:35 P.M. EST YES