TORONTO (AP) -- Carl Pavano, written off by New York Yankees' fans, will return and start for the team on Saturday at Baltimore.
TORONTO (AP) -- The New York Yankees activated outfielder Hideki Matsui off the 15-day disabled list and optioned outfielder Justin Christian to Triple-A on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Belittled by New York tabloids that call him "American Idle," disparaged by some teammates for his lack of durability, Carl Pavano could return to the Yankees this weekend.
Slumping center fielder Melky Cabrera was demoted to the minors Friday, the biggest move in a mini shake-up by the struggling New York Yankees as they tried to regroup for a playoff push.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees have fired two scouts under investigation in a probe of possible skimming from contracts with Latin American players, The Associated Press has learned.
As the schedule shrinks, the wild card dangles tantalizingly just beyond their fingertips, and Hank Steinbrenner utters the dreaded words "next year," one gets the sense that the fork is poised above the New York Yankees. Of course, a sudden unexpected surge a la Eli Manning's Giants or a collapse by the suddenly injury-prone Rays and Red Sox (remember the '07 Mets), could extend the Yankees' streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances. But with a full M.A.S.H. tent and decimated pitching staff in the Bronx, it sure smells like an early offseason for these two-steps-forward, two-steps-back Bombers.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Hank Steinbrenner blames injuries for the New York Yankees' slide from contention.
Injuries in spring training are bad, injuries in June are worse, and injuries at this time of the year -- especially to teams that fancy themselves playoff contenders -- can be absolute season killers.
Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday by the New York Yankees due to rotator cuff tendinitis in his pitching shoulder.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Boston Red Sox fan sued the New York Yankees and two of its fans Tuesday, alleging he was attacked at Yankee Stadium last summer.
TORONTO (AP) -- Carl Pavano, written off by New York Yankees' fans, will return and start for the team on Saturday at Baltimore.
TORONTO (AP) -- The New York Yankees activated outfielder Hideki Matsui off the 15-day disabled list and optioned outfielder Justin Christian to Triple-A on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Belittled by New York tabloids that call him "American Idle," disparaged by some teammates for his lack of durability, Carl Pavano could return to the Yankees this weekend.
Slumping center fielder Melky Cabrera was demoted to the minors Friday, the biggest move in a mini shake-up by the struggling New York Yankees as they tried to regroup for a playoff push.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees have fired two scouts under investigation in a probe of possible skimming from contracts with Latin American players, The Associated Press has learned.
As the schedule shrinks, the wild card dangles tantalizingly just beyond their fingertips, and Hank Steinbrenner utters the dreaded words "next year," one gets the sense that the fork is poised above the New York Yankees. Of course, a sudden unexpected surge a la Eli Manning's Giants or a collapse by the suddenly injury-prone Rays and Red Sox (remember the '07 Mets), could extend the Yankees' streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances. But with a full M.A.S.H. tent and decimated pitching staff in the Bronx, it sure smells like an early offseason for these two-steps-forward, two-steps-back Bombers.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Hank Steinbrenner blames injuries for the New York Yankees' slide from contention.
Injuries in spring training are bad, injuries in June are worse, and injuries at this time of the year -- especially to teams that fancy themselves playoff contenders -- can be absolute season killers.
Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday by the New York Yankees due to rotator cuff tendinitis in his pitching shoulder.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Boston Red Sox fan sued the New York Yankees and two of its fans Tuesday, alleging he was attacked at Yankee Stadium last summer.
Latest in a series of scouting reports provided to SI.com by the network of former scouts, players, coaches and executives at the Baseline Group. See below for past reports.
It got very quiet for a couple of days, at least on the transaction wire. The rumor mill went nuts, but there were just three trades, two of which involved the Yankees, and just one of those affecting a contender.
The busy New York Yankees traded reliever LaTroy Hawkins to the Houston Astros on Wednesday for minor league infielder Matt Cusick.
Ivan Rodriguez was the steady hand for the Florida Marlins when they won the 2003 World Series. A year later, he was the spark that helped turn around the Detroit franchise when nobody wanted to be a Tiger.
If the New York Yankees are going to earn a 14th consecutive playoff berth, they'll have to do it without Jorge Posada.
Barry Bonds in pinstripes? If nothing else, the New York Yankees talked about it.
Richie Sexson and his .218 batting average are on the way to the Bronx as a part-time player. But the New York Yankees are also canvassing the majors for an everyday player now that Hideki Matsui is all but assured of missing the rest of the year.
The dog days of summer are scratching at the door, that special time of year when games pile up and major league teams start scouring for bandages to apply to gaping wounds to their pitching staffs. Case in point: the New York Yankees, who reached for the immortal Sidney Ponson in order to have a warm body to start the second game of a Friday doubleheader with their crosstown rival Mets.
He's just one man, one man with just one pitch. The ball comes at hitters on a flat plane, thigh-high, at somewhere between 90 and 95 mph, then it takes a sudden plunge, some seven to eight inches toward the dirt.
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees may be baseball's Donald Trump, but there's a lot of Tony Robbins to them as well.
Seeking relief, the New York Yankees have reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year, $3.75 million contract with right-hander LaTroy Hawkins, SI.com has confirmed.
The Giants, who are desperately seeking offense, have inquired about Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui's availability. Matsui has a no-trade clause, so if there's a match there, the Yankees first would have to get his approval.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With the Yankees and Twins making limited progress as the Yanks' self-imposed midnight deadline came and went, the Twins rekindled talks with the Red Sox early Tuesday and asked Boston to present a deal including top young lefthander Jon Lester.
The New York Yankees may now be the frontrunners in the Johan Santana sweepstakes.
Alex Rodriguez, who is apparently a much better businessman than I would have guessed, is closing on his deal for $275 million guaranteed plus $30 million in just-about-guaranteed marketing monies to return to his first and only choice, the New York Yankees. But even with the Great A-Rod off the board, there's still going to be plenty of interest and intrigue at the winter meetings, which begin a week from today and could see multiple superstars change teams via trade.
In a stunning twist, Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees are discussing a deal that seems very likely to put the superstar third baseman back in pinstripes only two weeks after team officials had said "good-bye'' to baseball's best everyday player.
With his silver Ferrari beside him, engine running, Johnny Damon said he's not going anywhere. The New York Yankees left fielder emerged from morning meetings Wednesday with general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi convinced he will begin 2008 as the Yankees' leadoff hitter and left fielder, all but ending speculation that New York would try to trade him and get out from under the final two seasons of his contract.
Never has a man been so fortunate to lose his job. Joe Torre is everybody's hero now, laughing it up with David Letterman, getting pats on the back from the public and press for turning down the New York Yankees' so-called insulting one-year offer of $5 million plus incentives and now, apparently, on his way to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who dumped a good man and a perfectly good manager, Grady Little, in order give him the job. (Little may have officially resigned, but there's no doubt he could read the handwriting on the wall.) George Steinbrenner's son Hank says Torre ought to thank The Boss for hiring him 12 years ago. He ought to be even more grateful that the Steinbrenners essentially fired him now.
With a second World Series win in four seasons, the Boston Red Sox may be morphing into their mortal enemies
Mel Stottlemyre, a fixture on the New York Yankees' coaching staff for a decade, came out of retirement on Monday to join the Seattle Mariners as their pitching coach.
Alex Rodriguez is about to do in November what he hasn't been able to do in October: Produce some real eye-popping numbers.
Scott Boras, the agent for star New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, told CNNMoney.com Saturday that the current uncertainty surrounding the team, including its managerial opening, will make it difficult for his client to sign with the Yankees by the deadline given by team management.
When he was robust and running the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner never minded a little blood on his hands. He swung his firing axe decisively and often. I was there in Chicago at old Comiskey Park when Dale Berra cried into his dirty sanitary sock when Steinbrenner fired his father, Yogi, only 16 games into the 1985 season. Steinbrenner was rash, but he took the heat for it.
Joe Torre turned down a deal to return as Yankees manager for a 13th season on Thursday.
Last weekend's saber-rattling from New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is once again raising questions about whether age and illness have caught up to the 77-year-old Boss -- and not just because many fans think Steinbrenner would be foolish to let manager Joe Torre go.
If this was the last time Alex Rodriguez wore the uniform of the New York Yankees, and he did his flat best to leave open that possibility when he spoke to the media on Monday night, then his final 59 postseason at-bats as a Yankee will be one of the more confounding, odds-defying trends in the history of great players. In those 59 at-bats, Rodriguez:
NEW YORK -- In his first 20 years as principal owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner hired and fired 21 managers, including Billy Martin five times. That Joe Torre has remained skipper for 12 full seasons under The Boss is an anomaly, a feat almost as remarkable as Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.
Also in this column: • How many chances for Torre? • Mattingly vs. Girardi debate • Wedge makes a bad call • More news and notes
1. Plenty of major league games with far less on the line have been stopped due to bug infestations. I can't believe both the Yankees and Indians didn't argue for a stoppage of play Friday night, but especially New York, when it was obvious that reliever Joba Chamberlain was severely compromised by those conditions. It was no different than playing a game in a deluge. Cleveland's pitching was fabulous, but the Yankees must live with knowing that insects helped cause their defeat. No way that should happen in postseason baseball.
Nobody wants to go down 0-2 in a best-of-five series. Nobody wants to be in the situation the Cubs and Phillies find themselves in today.
It's still a little early to get into postseason trends. I mean one day -- all of three games -- is a pretty small sample size of an already tiny sample.
First the Red Sox broke an 86-year drought in 2004. Then the White Sox (88 years) finally earned a championship. And then the Cardinals (24 years) won their first title in almost a quarter of a century. Who's next? The possibilities are numerous. Half the teams in this baseball postseason have an entire generation -- or two, or three -- of fans who have been waiting to see their team win a World Series: the Rockies (their entire 14-year history), Phillies (27 years), Indians (59 years) and, most infamously of all, the Cubs (99 years).
Champagne flowed. Joe Torre cried. The New York Yankees whooped it up.
Andy Pettitte got a milestone ball from Mariano Rivera and the lineup card from manager Joe Torre.
Since we introduced the Playoff Odds Report last week, there's been volcanic movement in the National League's playoff picture. The Cubs and Brewers may still be tied in the loss column -- a distinction that sounds impressive but really isn't -- but they've gone from a fairly even heat in the Playoff Odds (50 percent-43 percent, favoring the Cubs) to a fairly commanding lead for the Chicagoans, 71 percent-29 percent.
Curt Schilling against Derek Jeter. Mariano Rivera facing David Ortiz.
Josh Beckett and Eric Hinske pushed back at the surging New York Yankees and tightened Boston's grip on the AL East.
Perhaps the AL East title is not out of reach for the New York Yankees.
A former pro baseball player was indicted on charges that he sexually assaulted two girls who played on elite basketball teams he coached in the 1990s.
Alex Rodriguez believes his third 50-homer season is a lot more meaningful than the first two. This time around, he's playing for a team in a pennant race.
Which team in the AL do you think has the most promising rotation for the near future? Call me biased being a Blue Jays fan, but with the way Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and ballboy Jesse Litsch have stepped up their games this year, this rotation has to be right up there. Add ace Roy Halladay and an injury-free season from A.J. Burnett and the other AL teams should look out next year. If only the offense was clicking this year then we'd be on the Yankees' heels. -- Tim McDonald, Marysville, Wa.
NEW YORK (AP) -- More than a decade after bolting from Boston, Roger Clemens left the Red Sox scratching their heads.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Andy Pettitte proved reliable again for the New York Yankees, right after they lost faith in Mike Mussina.
DETROIT (AP) -- Justin Verlander found his groove on the mound, and the Detroit Tigers rediscovered their stroke at the plate.
A lineup of team logo baseball caps denounced as tailor-made for gang members was ordered removed from store shelves by its manufacturer Friday after complaints from baseball officials.
I'd love to sit here and tell you, with the certainty of some of those screaming heads you see on ESPN, that the Yankees will make the postseason. Or, if you're a Yankees hater, I'd love to tell you that they won't. I aim to please.
Talk about the rich getting richer. Already the most valuable team in baseball, the New York Yankees will tap a whole new revenue gold mine when the team's new stadium opens in 2009.
Seven games separate the Red Sox from the Yankees in the American League East, which might seem like a pretty good cushion. But you could argue that those seven games mean nothing. Not with the Yanks playing like they are. Not with two months to go.
Sunday, May 6, 2007. Seventh-inning-stretch time at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The Yankees boasted a 3-0 lead, but to many New York fans the entire season was already in peril. The team's high-priced pitching staff had been decimated by injuries and ineffectiveness, and the Yanks had fallen 5 1D 2 games behind their resurgent rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
The New York Yankees' cable network, the YES Network, is for sale, Fortune has learned. And some baseball insiders and Yankees limited partners are wondering whether the team itself might be next.
The Yankees and Dodgers are engaged in talks that may send reliever Scott Proctor back to the Dodgers for utility infielder Wilson Betemit.
Also in this column: • A good week for baseball -- by comparison • More news and notes
With 10 weeks left in the season, it's way too early to start planning for 2008. Still, it would be fun to put together a short cheat sheet of top picks for 2008 and get a head start on next season.
The New York Yankees on Monday became the first Major League Baseball club to sign a sponsorship deal with a Chinese company through an agreement with the country's largest dairy company, Yili.
If you thought this train wreck of a season for the Yankees was bad before this week, you'd better look away. The wreckage is so bad that there aren't enough medics in the Big Apple to save this baby.
In March of 1898 a group of old-time Willy Lomans met at a New York City hotel and agreed to hire David B. Hill, the former senator, New York governor and renowned constitutional lawyer, to fight legislation banning the resale of rail tickets.
Hindsight being as eagle-eyed as it is, it's easy to see just where the present-day Yankees went wrong. They tried to restock their farm system and compete at the big league level at the same time. They pulled away from what they do best -- nobody bullies people in baseball with a checkbook quite like the guys in the pinstriped front office, whether it's in the free-agent market or at the trade table -- and that's costing them now.
Are John Maine (5-2, 2.77 ERA) and Oliver Perez (6-3, 2.54) for real? Do the Mets have enough pitching to win the National League pennant? -- Matt Langdon, Birmingham, Ala.
The Braves have been trying for years to pound a little common-sense plate discipline into Andruw Jones. It's never been easy. In fact, there are times like these, right now, when Jones shows so little discipline in his at-bats -- or, worse yet, so little desire to alter his hitting approach at all -- that many around the organization want to take their hard-headed superstar and just strangle him.
It's now part of my morning ritual. I get my coffee, return a few phone calls, answer some email, and then type in my new favorite letters: R-S-H.
The postgame press conference is a necessary evil -- like scrubbing the bathroom or rotating your tires -- a less-than-thrilling time when standard obvious questions are exchanged for boilerplate replies and hoary clichés so that your friendly media outlet has at least a little something from the horse's maw. On most days, the exchanges are about as interesting as watching your friendly neighborhood accountant sharpen his pencils.
Almost every night the father watches the boy on television, cheering every home run, cursing every strikeout. He studies the boy -- the massive, tattooed arms, the prodigious midsection, the mighty swing -- and it's as if he's seeing a younger version of himself. He hears the broadcasters hail the boy as one of the game's next great sluggers, and the father roars back at the TV, "He's got 40 career homers! Take it easy!" The father watches the boy wave at a fastball on the outside corner, and he's ready to pick up the phone and scream, "Now, what the hell were you doing so far off the plate?"
Also in this column: • Mariners lead in failed drug tests • Rangers not happy with new skipper • Ozzie Guillen's latest controversy • More news and notes
Yankees slugger Jason Giambi's steroid admission to USA Today has possibly opened him up for questioning by Major League Baseball, additional scrutiny from both baseball and his team and perhaps even a suspension if it can be determined when he took the steroids, baseball officials told SI.com.
For the first time in the 11 years since interleague play began, the New York Mets head into the first of two annual Subway Series meetings as clearly the better team. Both teams are old -- the average age for the Mets is 31.3 to the Yankees 30.2, but the Mets have pitched better, fielded better and shown more life and cohesiveness than their counterparts in the Bronx, who bring a losing record into the series for the first time.
We have, this weekend, an interleague sighting. It's going to be a brief one -- we're back to your regularly scheduled intraleague games on Monday -- mostly harmless and, in some rare cases, maybe even a tad entertaining. Definitely worth tuning into a game or two.
I. The Nats: You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension -- a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into ... the Twilight Zone.
Also in this column: • New Braves owners won't spend • Ozzie awaits A-Rod in Chicago • An omission from my over-40 list • More news and notes
Not a question, but I have to vent about MLB pushing back the start of the World Series to even-later October. I mean, after the freezing weather in Detroit last year, it is the exact opposite of what makes sense. Playoff baseball is the best, but the game wasn't meant to be played in adverse weather conditions. How can we as fans provide input that is in the best interests of the game? Shorter season (start in mid-late April, end early-mid Oct.), fair scheduling, player transactions based on actual baseball needs rather than financial considerations ... I could go on and on. -- Craig, Seattle
First, the Blue Jays are stiff-armed by every semi-decent free-agent pitcher on the market. Then, before the baseball season is even 40 games old, they get run over by injuries.
Also in this column: • Carlos Zambrano update • Orioles' skipper on hot seat? • Brad Lidge's turnaround • More news and notes
When injuries and ineffectiveness disintegrated their starting rotation, the Yankees implemented the mother of all Plan B's by allowing Roger Clemens to resume his summer job as major-league ace.
When the Cleveland Indians signed Dominican prospect Angel Franco, he knew he'd been given the opportunity of a lifetime. He just didn't know that that opportunity would have nothing to do with baseball.
Also in this column: • Weaver returning to Cardinals? • Mets call up hotshot prospect • More news and notes
Ah, glorious spring. Everything is in bloom, from flowers and trees to faces. The NHL remains the home of the traditional playoff beard, but some NBA players, such as Baron Davis and Rasheed Wallace, have thickened their mug rug for the postseason push. Die-hard fans, mostly of the male variety I assume, are also in on the fun, in solidarity with their teams.
I. '03 World Series heroes: During the Marlins stunning World Series upset of the Yankees back in 2003, a pair of youthful hurlers -- Brad Penny and Josh Beckett -- led the way for the Fish. At the tender age of 25, Penny prevailed in Games 1 and 5, posting a 2.19 ERA. And a 23-year-old Beckett earned series MVP honors after tossing a complete-game shutout in definitive Game 6 (pitching on just three days rest).
Six months ago nearly everyone was lambasting Barry Bonds. The Mark McGwire Hall of Fame vote was the high water mark for the media taking a stand against steroids. Alas, that solidarity is gone. For whatever reason, writers such as yourself are now beginning the campaign to rehabilitate Bonds' image. Why? Is it to build hype for the chase, to give you something to talk about? Is it in response to the supposed racial undertones to Bonds' records? For whatever reason, you should be ashamed. Baseball has been degraded enough, both by its own inaction and the implicit complicity of the media during the '90s. MLB seems unwilling to stand up to its steroids-laced record holders, but the media at least should try to stand for something. I'm very disappointed in you and many of your colleagues, both at SI and elsewhere. --Jeremy S., Arlington, Va.
Bud Black has a very good bullpen to work with -- you could argue that it's the best in the business -- and you'd better believe that San Diego's first-year manager works it a lot. So, when August and September roll around, if the Padres' bullpen happens to start showing a few signs of wear and tear ... well, what's Black supposed to do? Not use his bullpen now?
Finance legend Warren Buffett had lunch in a New York steak house Wednesday with a businessman from China who paid more than $600,000 to dine with the Oracle of Omaha.
The realm of baseball economics and the ways in which teams ascribe value to individual players has always been polarizing territory, dividing those who approach it with gut instinct and those who prefer to crunch numbers.
Are you ready to admit your preseason hype fest of Daisuke Matsuzaka was a mistake? -- Eric Skelly, Boston
Also in this column: • Schilling mouths off again • Ortiz respects Barry Bonds • Pavano finally pays his agent • More news and notes
I got a kick out of Peyton Manning's Mastercard commerical where the guy serving coffee gets knocked over by a blast of steam in the face and Manning urges him to "rub some dirt on it." In this age of pitch counts and other bubblewrap training techniques and long preventative shut-downs, it can be hard to believe that the athlete's credo once resembled the black knight who loses assorted limbs in Monty Python & The Holy Grail and keeps fighting while insisting, "Come on, it's only a flesh wound!"
Also in this column: • Analyzing the Clemens derby • Pavano's All-Star team • More news and notes
The Tigers and the Yankees jumped in the Power Rankings, the Blue Jays are tumbling out of control, the Cubs are back over .500 and the World Series champion Cardinals look painfully, hopelessly lost. It was another up-and-down week in baseball, in which the biggest news came off the field -- something about Roger Clemens agreeing to play for the Yankees again, part-time, for $19 gazillion or something.
With a dramatic seventh-inning announcement, Roger Clemens made himself a returning hero, a difference-maker, and a whole big pile of cash.
If you've ever listened to Roger Clemens, or if you've listened to him lately, you know that winning the World Series always has been his goal. It's why he plays. It's why he's still playing. The man, clearly, has a thing for rings.
NFL thoughts of the weekend, from the home office in Montclair, N.J.
With one quick record-setting stroke of the pen, and one big announcement on the big screen above Yankee Stadium by Roger Clemens, the Yankees moved back into the ballgame Sunday. This is the best $28 million they ever spent (and actually since the salary's pro-rated over the entire season, it'll only cost them between $18-19 million).
I. Geezer ballplayers: Pouring over the statistical league leaders Thursday, I found myself continually asking one question: Man, how old is that dude? After a series of birth date checks, I confirmed a budding suspicion: America's pastime is being shaped by a number of players who are far past their time. Currently many of the games top players boast birth dates in the decade of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll -- the 1960s.
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