Scranton lost 3-6 to Rochester:
The Yankees started strong, with Kevin Russo getting the game going with a double to left.  Greg Golson followed with a single and stole second.  Jorge Vazquez lined a single to left and the Yankees had two runs on the board.  Rochester came roaring back in the bottom of the inning, however.  Mike Hollimon singled to right and Brian Dinkelman singled to center.  Jeff Bailey followed with a three run homer and the Red Wings took the lead.  Chase Lambin hit a three-run shot in the bottom of the third to put Rochester down 6-2.  A sac fly from Greg Golson gave the Yankees another run, but that was all they could muster as Scranton lost 6-3.  Russo went 2-4 with a run scored and a double.  Golson went 2-3 with a run scored and a RBI. D.J. Mitchell struggled, going just five innings and giving up six runs on ten hits.

Trenton was blanked by Richmond 5-0:
Francisco Peguero started the game with a triple to left and scored on a sac fly, giving the Flying Squirrels a 1-0 lead in the first.  Richmond scored a run in each of the next three innings and added another in the ninth to give them a 5-0 win.  The Thunder managed just four hits the whole day, none of which were for extra bases.  They also failed to draw a walk.  Robert Lyerly struck out in each of his at bats.  Steve Garrison last three innings in his first start since returning from the Majors, allowing three runs on five hits.

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According to Jack Curry, Manny Banuelos has been promoted to Triple-A. He’s having a very good year other than his elevated walk rate, and – total, total speculation here – this may be a precursor to a September call-up.

With the Ubaldo Jimenez trade a done deal, post-mortem reports are beginning to come out from all quarters, and as is almost always the case with these, there’s a lot of seemingly conflicting reports and information that wasn’t known beforehand. This seems to be extra true this time. Consider, for example, that though Tim Kurkjian reported the Yankees were “all over” Ubaldo, both Joel Sherman and Marc Carig reported that the Yankees had been out for days, after the Rockies supposedly refused to make a trade contingent on Ubaldo taking a physical.

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Scranton lost to Rochester 6-2:
A RBI single by Jesus Montero put the Yankees on the board in the first, but Rochester answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.  They added another run in the second and had a 6-1 lead with Scranton headed into the ninth.  Mike Lamb managed a one out homer, but the Yankees didn’t have a rally in them, as Rochester took a 6-2 win.  The Yankees had plenty of opportunities, but didn’t capitalize as they hit 5-16 with runners in scoring position.  Brandon Laird went 2-4 with a double.  Adam Warren had a bit of an off night, going just five innings and giving up five runs on eight hits and two walks, raising his ERA to 3.39.

Trenton beat up on Richmond, winning 17-5:
The Thunder leapt out to a 4-0 lead in the first, as Raymond Kruml worked a walk and scored on a double from Corban Joseph.  Austin Romine and Zoilo Almonte walked, loading the bases.  Jose Gil drew a walk, pushing another run across the plate.  A single from Yadil Mujica scored two more for Trenton.  Richmond tied the game with a four run third inning, but the Thunder answered in the bottom of the inning.  Almonte led off with a double.  Melky Mesa worked a walk and Damon Sublett laid down a sac bunt.  Gil walked and Mujica singled.  Addison Maruszak followed with a homer and Trenton was up 9-4, a lead they wouldn’t give up as they went on to pound the Flying Squirrels 17-5.  Almonte ended the night 4-5 with five runs scored, a double, a RBI and a walk.  Maruszak went 3-5 with a run scored, a homer and four RBIs.  Corban Joseph went 3-5 with three runs scored, two doubles and a RBI.

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What follows is not Yankee-centric.  With Ubaldo Jimenez and Hiroki Kuroda apparently off the table, I wouldn’t fault the Yankees for standing pat.

Here are some other trades I’d like to see, as I think they represent win-win situations for both teams and players:

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From Jon Morosi of Fox:

#RedSox, #Reds, #Indians are still on Jimenez, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal. #Yankees aren’t having active talks with #Rockies at this time.

And Jon Heyman elaborates a bit on what the most recent talks looked like:

price on ubaldo down a tad. #rockies not asking for banuelos now. betances, montero, nova would work. nyy still says no. #tradedeadline

I try not to put too much stock in the various reports that come out this time of year, because you don’t know who’s leaking the information and what their motives are, nor do you know how much of a position is real and how much is just negotiating posture, but I will say this: If the Yankees don’t acquire Ubaldo Jimenez this weekend because Brian Cashman wouldn’t part with a more than reasonable package of Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances, and Ivan Nova, it might be time for the Yankees to seriously consider getting a fresh perspective in the general manager’s office.

Update: Somehow I missed this one, but Morosi also tweeted the following:

Also: Sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal that #Yankees aren’t willing to put Nova, Betances, Banuelos, OR Montero in Jimenez deal. #Rockies

That might be the single most insane trade deadline report I’ve ever seen, and makes me think there’s a lot of misinformation and such being thrown around by someone. After all, the Yankees couldn’t seriously refuse to trade Ivan Nova for Ubaldo Jimenez, could they?

Update II: Troy Renck of the Denver Post is reporting on Twitter that he hears a deal to send Ubaldo to Cleveland is done. Needless to say, I’m not very happy right now.

It sure sounds like it to me, based on this report from Joel Sherman, which seems to indicate the Rockies asking price has come down to merely a big haul rather than a king’s ransom:

Colorado has wanted two of the Yankees’ top three prospects (Manuel Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Jesus Montero) plus Nova, a key for the Rockies because he could go into the rotation instantly to replace Jimenez. The Yankees, at best, would build a trade around Montero or, maybe, Betances, but vow not both.

Okay, I believe that. Wait, no I don’t. Let’s break this swap down from the Yankees perspective.

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Scranton lost to Buffalo 8-5:
The Yankees took an early lead on RBI singles by Mike Lamb and Brandon Laird in the first inning.  Jesus Montero led off the third with a single to right and Jorge Vazquez drove out a homer, giving Scranton a 4-0 lead.  Unfortunately, Andrew Brackman got wild in the fourth.  With one out he issued back-to-back walks to Ruben Tejada and Dusty Ryan.  A wild pitch allowed them to move over, but Brackman walked the bases loaded, leading to him getting pulled for Eric Wordekemper.  Luis Figueroa singled to left, plating Buffalo’s first run.  A couple more singles and a bases loaded walk put the Bison out in front 5-4.  Buffalo kept it up in the fifth, plating three more runs, while the Yankees only managed one more run for the rest of the evening.

Jorge Vazquez went 2-4 with a run scored and two RBIs.  Brandon Laird went 2-3 with a double, a run scored and a RBI.  Andrew Brackman’s struggles continued as he managed just 3.1 innings in his start.  He did not give up a single hit, but allowed three runs on nine walks.

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On the whole, I’ve pretty much written tonight’s loss off even before the game ends. Jeremy Guthrie pitched very well and held the Yankees at bay. It happens. But dear sweet Mo is A.J. Burnett frustrating.

On the one hand, his final line is kind of pretty: 8 IP, 4 runs, 10 K, 3 BB. On the other hand, he made a handful of awful pitches, flat fastballs up and in the middle of the plate, that Orioles’ hitters crushed. Mark Reynolds and Derrick Lee put balls in the stands, and Lee added a double for good measure (though Granderson probably should have been playing deeper and made the catch).

It’s in many ways a microcosm of everything that makes A.J. so frustrating to watch.

The most common meme surrounding this year’s trade deadline is that the Yankees absolutely have to make a move, because they certainly can’t expect to succeed in the postseason with the roster they currently have. It’s a superficially compelling case, because it plays to our inner sense of wanting to win in the postseason and fears of the high stakes games within. And when you don’t have a tight playoff race to deal with, it’s easy to let your mind wander a bit.

But is there any validity to it? Let’s stack the Yankees up against the other teams with the best chance of making it to the playoffs. For this exercise, we’ll look at just the starting rotations and offenses of each team, and we’ll use FIP, xFIP, and wRC+ as our metrics of choice. Each team’s rank in the respective category in the American League is listed in parentheses.

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Earlier today over at Fire Brand, I pointed out a report by the Boston Herald‘s Scott Lauber stating the Red Sox had cooled on Ubaldo Jimenez. My, what a few hours can do. SI’s Jon Heyman reports just the opposite:

“It now seems more likely that Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez could be traded. The Red Sox are the most aggressive puruser so far, but the Reds, Indians and Blue Jays are interested. The Yankees are on the outside for now but have some interest in acquiring Jimenez.

(snip)

Boston, which has some nice prospects including infielder Anthony Ranaudo and some others, is trying hard.

(snip)

The Rockies had sought a package of prospects, including catcher Jesus Montero and pitchers Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos and Ivan Nova from the Yankees. New York would probably do Montero and other prospects but not Banuelos.”

Word around town is the Rockies are looking for a “Herschel Walker” type deal, which makes sense considering they reportedly requested the king’s ransom of Jesus Montero, Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and Ivan Nova from the Yankees. Montero, Baneulos, and Betances were in the top 50 of several pre-season prospect lists, so that’d be a major haul for Dan O’Dowd and the Rockies if they pulled it off. They won’t though; mostly because Brian Cashman’s not an idiot. He might be willing to part with Montero and Nova for Jimenez, but there’s no way he’s giving up either Baneulos or Betances as well. The cost is way too high. If Cashman were so inclined (and I doubt he is), he could spin one or both prospects in a separate deal(s) to bring in additional pieces to the puzzle either now or after the season.

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Former Yankee pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead in Los Angeles yesterday, apparently deciding to have taken his own life. No such story is ever not tragic, but my heart goes out to Irabu and his family in particular. Irabu appears to have been suffering from depression for some time, and becoming a Yankee might have been the worst thing that ever happened to him.

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By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the tragic news regarding former Yankee pitcher Hideki Irabu. If you haven’t, I’ll just assume that you live either in a cave, or a home where you’re TV gets three channels and your PC is connected to the internet via CompuServe. Six in one hand, half a dozen in another–but that’s besides the point.

Either way, Irabu’s untimely and particularly sad death has shaken the sports world. Even though he hasn’t been at the forefront of our conscience since he was unceremoniously released by the Texas Rangers in 2002, his death has still created a groundswell of emotions among fans, analysts, and journalists that have been both (mostly) positive and (rarely) negative. In the case of Joel Sherman of the New York Post, his reaction was mostly negative.

“Sad news on Irabu who I will remember as a guy who could not integrate into a veteran #Yankees clubhouse, nor deftly handle hitters here #RIP.”

Classy. While this may not have been how he meant it to come out, he comes off as saying, “I guess I should say something about Irabu dying. It’s sad, but he sucked and was kind of a jerk. Oh, rest in peace.” Again, I’m not saying this was intent, but this is how it comes off. A man took his own life, and yet Sherman feels it’s appropriate to discuss Irabu’s perceived faults? Really? I’m not saying that his death forever inhibits Sherman from takling about Irabu’s legacy, but there’s a time and a place for everything. That time is not now. It’s not tomorrow. And it’s not next week. Sherman should, quite frankly be ashamed of himself. What he said was in poor taste.

To Hideki: where ever you are, I hope you found your peace. We may never understand your motives for doing what you did, but rest assured your demons can’t hurt you anymore.