It sure was a busy trade deadline for the Yankees, with the biggest pick up being the man you see above. Lance Berkman steps right in as the Yanks’ new designated hitter, and his impact is immediately noticeable. He’s batting second in tonight’s lineup, pushing both Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher down towards the bottom third of the order. On days Jorge Posada catches, you’re looking at a lineup that could hurt you one through nine with zero breaks for opposing pitchers. Heck, Derek Jeter is the team’s worst offensive regular right now.

In other news, the Yanks are playing a pretty big game tonight. They dropped the opener last night on one bad Phil Hughes pitch, but lost among the bad pitch and the trade deadline was that the Yankees had just one hit after the 1st inning. That simply can not happen again, and I’m sure Fat Elvis will do a long way towards making sure it doesn’t. A win restores the Yanks’ two game lead in the division, a loss puts them in a tie with Tampa.

Here’s tonight’s starting nine…

Jeter, SS
Berkman, DH
Teixeira, 1B
A-Rod, 3B
Cano, 2B
Swisher, RF
Granderson, CF
Cervelli, C
Gardner, LF

And on the mound, it’s Javy “score me some damn runs” Vazquez.

First pitch is scheduled for a little after 7pm ET, and can be seen locally on YES and nationally on MLB Network. Enjoy the game, folks.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Game 103: Fat Elvis is in the building

Got a text alert while at my company's annual summer picnic advising me that the Yankees acquired RP Kerry Wood from the Indians in exchange for a PTBNL. Just found out that to make room for Wood they DFA'd Chan Ho Park. Like the other two deadline deals the Yankees have made, it works for me.

Park was a disaster for the Yankees. It should come as no surprise that they let him go. Now Kerry Wood hasn't exactly been rock solid in recent years. In fact he's been far from it. It's such a low-risk high-reward move that you have to be a fan of it. In the end this is basically going to cost the Yankees very little. Wood is definitely an upgrade to Park. Winner winner chicken dinner.

I'd have to say that the Yankees were definitely one of the trade deadline winners. They grabbed an everyday impact bat, a veteran bat off the bench, and slightly upgrade the bullpen. Not bad for 2 minor leaguers and 2 PTBNLs. Nice job Cashman. The moves make the best team in baseball a little better. Yankee fans should be very pleased. If you're not, I'd love to hear why.

Girardi has Berkman hitting 2nd tonight. I probably would have hit him 6th behind Cano but that's just me. The 2-hole, while not the ideal spot for him in my opinion, works. Let's hope he delivers.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks saddled up with some beef for the home stretch: Kerry, Austin and Lance. Sounds like the Chelsea All Boys Glee Club.

Still, the Bombers can use all the muscle they can get against these tough Rays.

Go git ‘em, boys.

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Yankees vs Rays preview

Via the AP -

The New York Yankees acquired pitcher Kerry Wood from the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, the third deal in less than 24 hours for the World Series champions as they beefed up for the stretch run.

Wood, a hard-throwing, 33-year-old righty, gives the Yankees another setup option alongside Joba Chamberlain for closer Mariano Rivera.

The Yankees sent Cleveland a player to be named or $500,000, and the Indians gave New York $2,172,131. New York will pay $1.5 million of the $3,672,131 remaining on Wood’s $10.5 million salary this year. His contract includes an $11 million team option for 2011.

Oh, this has got Jay Witasick, Gabe White, Felix Heredia and Mark Wohlers written all over it…

On the bright side, as a result of this pick-up, the Yankees have designated Chan Ho Park for assignment.

In a pair of unsurprising moves, Juan Miranda and Colin Curtis were sent back to Triple-A Scranton this afternoon to make room on the roster for Lance Berkman and Austin Kearns. They both did an admirable job plugging holes during the summer, particularly Curtis, who never seemed to have a bad at-bat, but the Yanks simply needed to get better players and more production out of the designated hitter and fourth outfielder spots. They’ll be back in September; don’t worry.

For the number junkies among us, Lance Berkman will don 17, and Austin Kearns will carry 26 on his back. I guess John Flaherty and El Duque won’t live to see their pinstriped numbers retired.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Miranda, Curtis sent to Triple-A

Via Marc Carig, Chan Ho Park has been designated for assignment to clear room on the roster for Kerry Wood. Al Aceves was moved to the 60-day DL to free up a 40-man roster spot for Austin Kearns.

I was definitely a fan of the CHoP pick up at the time, but it obviously didn’t work out. Despite peripherals similar to last year, he became incredibly homer prone and just generally unreliable. He did give us this, however, and for that we will be eternally grateful.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Chan Ho Park designated for assignment

The latest buzz has the Yankees acquiring Kerry Wood from the Indians for a player to be named later. The Yankees needed a relief pitcher, but Wood, who was just activated from the disabled list where he had landed due to a blister on his right index finger, is an underwhelming solution. Not only is he seemingly always hurt, but in two seasons with the Indians, he has posted a 4.80 ERA and 4.7 BB/9, the worst of that work coming this year (6.30 ERA, 5.0 BB/9), while his typically stellar strikeout rate has been a bit more ordinary at 8.1 K/9 (down from 10.3 K/9 both last year and career). Wood has also given up 1.4 home runs per nine innings this year, all of which combines to make him look a lot like Kyle Farnsworth with a sketchier injury history. Given that Joe Girardi used to catch both pitchers with the Cubs and was likely a driving force behind the Wood acquisition, the comparison seems apt.

As Tyler Kepner has been pointing out on twitter, Wood has been better since a disaster outing on May 19, posting a 3.78 ERA since, but even that figure isn’t overwhelming, and he’s still blown two games and lost a third over the course of just 18 games before landing on the DL with that blister. All of which is to say, I’m not optimistic, and part of me would have rather taken a chance on Chad Qualls (who went to the Rays early this morning) and his outlandish .427 BABIP. Qualls has had better peripherals than Wood this year and, from what I can tell, has never been on the DL. Anyone want to place bets on who pitches better over the next two months?

Update: The Wood deal is official, with Joel Sherman tweeting that the compensation could be money or two “middling” minor leaguers. Indians’ choice if Wood says healthy, price drops after the fact if Wood gets hurt.

Shave off that beard Kerry Wood, you're going to New York. Well Tampa Bay for now.