Jared Burton Archives - River Avenue Blues

DotF: Judge homers but Trenton loses again

May 5, 2015 by Mike 122 Comments

RHP Jared Burton (lat) was activated off the minor league disabled list and sent to High-A Tampa, reports Brendan Kuty. I’m sure the big league vet will only make a few tune-up appearances with Tampa before joining the Triple-A Scranton bullpen.

Triple-A Scranton (3-1 loss to Gwinnett)

CF Slade Heathcott: 3-4, 1 R — 21-for-51 (.412) in his last 13 games
LF Ramon Flores & 2B Rob Refsnyder: both 1-4, 1 K — Flores threw a runner out at the plate
RF Tyler Austin: 0-4, 2 K — threw a runner out at second … he’s really been struggling at the plate for a few weeks now
C Austin Romine: 0-4, 2 K
RHP Kyle Davies: 7 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 Balk, 7/7 GB/FB, 1 E (throwing) — 69 of 103 pitches were strikes (70%)
LHP Jacob Lindgren: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1/0 GB/FB — ten of 15 pitches were strikes (67%) … ho hum
RHP Nick Rumbelow: 1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 0/1 GB/FB — seven of ten pitches were strikes

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Open Thread: March 27th Camp Notes

March 27, 2015 by Mike 277 Comments

The Yankees walloped the Phillies 10-0 in five innings and change this afternoon. The game was called early due to rain. Stephen Drew (3-for-3 with a double) and Brendan Ryan (2-for-3 with two doubles) led the offensive attack. Yup. Brett Gardner, Mark Teixeira, and Brian McCann all went 1-for-3 while both Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez each went 1-for-2 with a walk. Chase Headley went 1-for-4 and Tyler Austin ended the day with a bases-clearing double.

Michael Pineda started and was pretty sharp, scattering five singles in five innings. Two of the singles were ground balls with eyes and two others were bloops. Only one was hit moderately hard. Big Mike struck out five and didn’t walk anyone. He was the team’s only pitcher of the afternoon thanks to the rain. Here’s the box score, here are the video highlights, and here’s the rest of the day’s notes from Spring Training:

In case you missed it earlier, Masahiro Tanaka was officially named the Opening Day starter. The rest of the rotation order was also announced, though the team still hasn’t named Adam Warren the fifth starter. That should happen soon. Ivan Nova, Andrew Miller, Chase Whitley, and Vicente Campos all threw bullpen sessions while Tanaka did some flat ground work. [Chad Jennings]
A-Rod is scheduled to play five innings at first base Sunday, his first game action at the position. Jacoby Ellsbury (oblique) did more tee and soft toss hitting today. Garrett Jones went over to minor league camp this morning for some extra hitting work. He’s had a crummy spring. [Bryan Hoch, Donnie Collins, Jennings]
Jared Burton, who was released yesterday, still has a locker in the clubhouse and has agreed to a deal to remain with the team. My guess is he will sign a new minor league contract soon after Opening Day so the Yankees don’t have to pay him the $100,000 retention bonus. Burton is sidelined with a lat strain. [Brendan Kuty]
And finally, CC Sabathia will not be starting tomorrow as scheduled. He’s instead going to pitch in a minor league game while Scott Baker starts against the Orioles. The Yankees don’t want Sabathia facing a division rival so close to the regular season. [Hoch]

This is your open thread for the evening. This afternoon’s game against the Phillies will be replayed on MLB Network, but not until 6am ET tomorrow. MLB Network is showing the Mariners and Royals live tonight, both the Knicks and Nets are playing, and there’s lots of college basketball on too. Talk about anything and everything right here.

Open Thread: March 26th Camp Notes

March 26, 2015 by Mike 204 Comments

The Yankees lost 6-5 to the Rays this afternoon. Adam Warren started and was good but inefficient — he needed 74 pitches to allow one run on four hits and a walk in only 3.2 innings. He struck out five. Despite the high pitch count, Warren all but locked up the fifth starter’s job with his start. Jose Ramirez (1.1 innings) and Chris Martin (one inning) both allowed two runs in the middle innings and Danny Burawa (one inning) allowed one run of his own.

Didi Gregorius went 2-for-4 with a double and John Ryan Murphy with 1-for-2. Brendan Ryan (three at-bats), Chris Young (four at-bats), and Garrett Jones (three at-bats) all went hitless. Rob Refsnyder, Slade Heathcott, and Ramon Flores all doubled. Flores also had a single, and Refsnyder committed his fifth error in 73 defensive Grapefruit League innings. Here’s the box score, here are the video highlights, and here’s the rest of the day’s notes from Spring Training:

Jacoby Ellsbury (oblique) hit off a tee and soft toss and said everything “went great.” He plans to get back into games by Tuesday. Chris Capuano (quad) hopes to throw off a mound next week. He said he’ll need four weeks of “Spring Training” to get ready once healthy. Jose Pirela (concussion) feels better but is still experiencing dizziness. He’s scheduled for more tests tomorrow. Austin Romine was scratched from today’s trip with some kind of stomach bug. [Pete Caldera, Bryan Hoch, Marly Rivera, Brendan Kuty]
David Carpenter threw an inning in a minor league game after pitching yesterday, so this was his first set of back-to-back games. Nathan Eovaldi and Esmil Rogers both threw bullpen sessions. [Donnie Collins, Kuty]
Transaction! The Yankees announced they have released Jared Burton. He was on a minor league contract and suffered a lat strain a week or two ago. The Yankees released him rather than pay the $100,000 retention bonus before Opening Day.
And finally, Joe Girardi said he does plan to get Alex Rodriguez into a game at first base this spring. “It’s coming up. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him, but I have it on the board,” he said. [Chad Jennings]

Here is your open thread for the night. This afternoon’s game against the Rays will be replayed on MLB Network, but not until 9am ET tomorrow morning. MLB Network is showing the Athletics and Giants live later tonight. All three local hockey teams are in action and March Madness resumes tonight as well. Talk about those games or anything else right here.

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Sunday Links: Captain’s Camp, Baker, Burton, Posada, NYCFC

March 15, 2015 by Mike 247 Comments

The Captain's Campers. (Tyler Wade on Twitter) — The Captain’s Campers. (Tyler Wade on Twitter)

The Yankees are playing the Phillies this afternoon but there is no video broadcast of the game. Hard to believe not being able to watch a Spring Training game is the exception these days, not the rule. It wasn’t all that long ago when watching a spring game was a pipe dream. Anyway, I have some miscellaneous links and notes to pass along.

Denbo Creates “Captain’s Camp” For Top Prospects

Here’s a great story from Brendan Kuty. New player development head Gary Denbo created a six-week program this offseason called Captain’s Camp, which is designed to promote “quality character, accountability and respect for the game” in the team’s top prospects. The Yankees invited 15 of their top prospects to the first annual Captain’s Camp in Tampa back in January, and they took part in all sorts of team-building exercises, including visiting a children’s hospital.

“It kind of gave me an idea of what they want. How I should eat in the off-season to get ready for a long season. We got to talk to some big league guys who have done it before. They told us their personal experiences with it. You try to take a little bit from each person,” said Jacob Lindgren. Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez, and Scott Rolen were among those who voluntarily came to the camp to meet and speak with the prospects. (Rolen and Denbo know each other from their time with the Blue Jays.) This is really great. Between this and some coaching/development personnel moves, Denbo’s done nice work since replacing Mark Newman in October.

Based on the photo and the article, the 15 prospects include Lindgren, Jake Cave, Ian Clarkin, Greg Bird, Eric Jagielo, Aaron Judge, Gosuke Katoh, Leonardo Molina, Alex Palma, Nick Rumbelow, Luis Torrens, Matt Tracy, and Tyler Wade. ~~So two are still unknown.~~ The other two are Luis Severino and Jorge Mateo.

Baker, Burton Among Article XX(B) Free Agents

According to MLBTR, righties Scott Baker and Jared Burton are among this year’s Article XX(B) free agents as players signed to minor league contracts despite having more than six years of service time. The Yankees must pay Baker and Burton a $100,000 bonus at the end of Spring Training if they aren’t added to the 25-man active roster (or MLB disabled list). This isn’t a surprise, the Yankees knew both players would be Article XX(B) free agents when they signed them.

Burton’s minor league contract includes four opt-out dates throughout the season, which indicates the Yankees are prepared to pay him the $100,000 to send him to the minors. Chris Capuano’s injury means Baker just might make the Opening Day roster as the long man and seventh reliever. The guy the Yankees can send out there and run into the ground for as many innings as necessary to spare the rest of the bullpen, then designate for assignment when Capuano is healthy a few weeks into the season. We’ll see how that last bullpen spot shakes out as the spring progresses.

Posada Memoir Coming In May

Jorge Posada has a memoir coming out! Keith Kelly says the memoir, which is titled “The Journey Home,” will hit bookstores on May 12. There will be both an English and Spanish version. It is described as a “father-son book” based Posada’s relationship with his father, Jorge Sr., and Joe Torre, who he “always regarded as a second father,” as well as his two children, Jorge and Paulina. It doesn’t sound like this will be sort of juicy behind-the-scenes tell-all story, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be worth reading.

The Yankees Stadium field earlier this week. (NY Daily News)

Teixeira, Others Not Happy With Soccer Games At Yankee Stadium

As you know, the Yankees will share Yankee Stadium with the expansion New York City Football Club of Major League Soccer this summer. In fact, NYCFC is playing their first game at Yankee Stadium this afternoon. The MLS season runs through October and NYCFC will play a total of 17 games in the Bronx. More than one Yankees player is less than thrilled about the wear and tear on the field.

“It’ll definitely cause an issue, but it’s nothing that we can control, so we can’t worry about it … It’s terrible for a field. Grass, dirt, everything gets messed up,” said Mark Teixeira to Dan Barbarisi. Brendan Ryan told Barbarisi he’s going to change the way he approaches ground balls because of potential bad soccer-related hops. “I’m going to be selling out to go get that ball (and limit the bounces), and I’m going to err on that side much more.”

The Yankees have insisted they have a world class grounds crew and therefore have no concern about the condition of the field since it was first announced NYCFC would call Yankee Stadium home. Team president Randy Levine doubled down after Teixeira’s comments, telling Ken Davidoff the team is “very confident that both playing surfaces, through all of our planning, will be perfectly playable throughout the year.” Well, we’re going to find out one way or the other very soon.

Yankees sign righty Jared Burton to minor league contract

February 22, 2015 by Mike 79 Comments

Sunday: According to Mike Berna rdino, Burton has four opt-out dates in his contract: March 30th, June 1st, August 1st, and August 31st. He can elect free agency if he’s not in the big leagues on those dates. Burton gets a $30,000 bonus for his 20th appearance, $40,000 for his 25th appearance, $50,000 for his 30th appearance, $60,000 for his 35th appearance, and so on until maxing out at $120,000 for his 65th appearance.

Tuesday: Burton will earn a $2M base salary with $750,000 in incentives at the Major League level, reports Jon Heyman.

Monday: The Yankees have signed right-handed reliever Jared Burton to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, the team announced. He will be the 28th non-roster invitee in camp, joining the original 26 and the recently signed Kyle Davies.

Burton, 33, had a 4.36 ERA (4.23 FIP) with 16.9 K% and 9.2 BB% in 64 innings for the Twins last year. He had a 3.02 ERA (3.50 FIP) with 22.1 K% and 7.2 BB% in 128 innings as Minnesota’s primary setup man from 2012-13. Burton has always been a bit of a fly ball pitcher and his signature pitcher is a splitter-changeup hybrid he calls a splangeup:

Major shoulder surgery caused Burton to miss most of the 2011 season and his fastball has nevertheless managed to hover in the 91-92 mph range the last three years. His numbers are all — and I mean all: strikeouts, walks, grounders, homers — trending in the wrong direction, which is sorta scary, but it is a minor league deal, so it’s not like there’s any serious risk.

The Yankees have a ton of bullpen depth. Righties, lefties, 40-man guys, non-40-man guys, you name it and they have it. Burton is just another arm for depth and unless he comes to camp throwing the ball like he did from 2012-13, I think he’ll start the season with Triple-A Scranton. Chances are his contract includes some kind of opt-out clause if he isn’t on a MLB roster on a specific date. That’s pretty standard for big league vets.