Yankees Call Up Six

With the rosters expanding today, the Yankees have called up six minor leaguers. Francisco Cervelli, Eduardo Nunez, Chris Dickerson, Adam Warren, Cory Wade, and Justin Thomas are all with the team today. To make room for Dickerson on the 40-man, Ramiro Pena was designated for assignment.

I assume there will be more moves as the minor league season comes to a close.

Cory Wade Optioned To Triple-A

According to various reports, the Yankees have optioned Cory Wade to Triple-A to make room for Chad Qualls. Wade has struggled lately allowing 10 earned runs on 11 hits over his last two outings (3 innings pitched)and has seen his ERA climb from 2.63 on 6/11 to 4.45. Overall he's pitched to a very ugly 9.68 ERA over his last 20 outings, so maybe a few weeks in the minors will do him some good.

MLBTR's Top Ten Minor League Deals of the Year

MLB Trade Rumors came out with their list of the top ten minor league deals of the season. Between the top ten and honorable mentions, five Yankees signings made the list.

1. Bartolo Colon, Yankees. He didn't pitch at all in the Majors in 2010, but this year Colon has a 3.33 SIERA in 152 innings. He's been a major cog in the Yankees' rotation. Some of his success may be owed to offseason stem cell treatments, which Yankees GM Brian Cashman was not aware of at the time of the signing.

...

4. Freddy Garcia, Yankees. Colon and Garcia have provided the Yankees 280 innings of 3.63 ball. Baseball's biggest spenders got a ton of bang for their buck on minor league deals this year.

Eric Chavez, Cory Wade and Luis Ayala made the honorable mention list. I've written about this before, but it's worth mentioning again that Cashman has always been great at landing some major impact players on small and/or minor league deals. This year, maybe more than any in the past, these small moves are one of the main reasons why the Yankees are 4 games up right now.

Yanks Add Cory Wade To The Roster

From MLB.com:

Before Wednesday's game, the Yankees announced the signing of Cory Wade to a Major League contract Wednesday, two days after signing the right-hander to a Minor League deal.

Wade ended up pitching in the eighth inning Wednesday, a 1-2-3 frame that ended with Yorvit Torrealba striking out swinging.

Reliever Kevin Whelan was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Wade on the Major League roster, and Rafael Soriano was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.

Wade was the winning pitcher Monday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in its 8-3 victory over Syracuse, pitching 1 2/3 shutout innings and giving up just two hits in a relief appearance.

Before being released by the Tampa Bay organization, Wade had gone 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA in 21 games for Triple-A Durham.