Joba Will Be Activated Tonight

Yankees Trade For Casey McGehee

From Joel Sherman:

The Yankees didn’t get Ryan Dempster at the trade deadline, but they did make a deal.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman obtained versatile infielder Casey McGehee from the Pirates for reliever Chad Qualls, sources told The Post. In the short term with Mark Teixeira out (wrist), McGehee can play some first base and he can also fill the third-base void left by Alex Rodriguez (broken hand) with a power bat.

The Yankees are getting $225,000 as part of the trade to cover some of about $1 million left on McGehee's deal.

McGehee hit .230/.297/.377 with 8 HR and 35 RBI in 92 games with the Pirates.

No Structural Damage For Teixeira

Yankees Turn Their Attention To Dempster

From David Kaplan:

Baseball sources have confirmed to me that three teams are in play for Ryan Dempster and he will approve a deal to any of the three teams if the Cubs can agree on a suitable return in exchange for the veteran right-hander who is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have long been Dempster's preferred destination will have to increase their offer as the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees have stepped up their pursuit over the last 48 hours. With Roy Oswalt having another poor performance on Monday evening, the Rangers have decided to upgrade their rotation and are looking at all available options including Dempster and Matt Garza.

"Texas is serious about adding a starter and Dempster isn't as expensive to trade for as Garza would be, but after finishing as runners-up in the last two World Series and seeing the Angels add Zach Greinke, Texas management has decided to make a run at adding pitching, a baseball source told me. "However, with three teams seriously involved, it won't be cheap to acquire him even though it is potentially a three-month rental."

"Dempster has made it clear to Cubs management that he would like to play in Los Angeles but he also understands that Epstein and Hoyer have a job to do and he will not stand in their way if it means that the best deal is somewhere else," a source with knowledge of the discussions told me this morning. "He never told them he would only go to LA, he only said that he wanted time to make the best decision for him and his family and that is his right as a 10/5 [10 years in the majors, the last five with your current team] man. Ryan is serious about wanting to win a World Series and he will approve a deal if it gives him that chance. People who have been critical of him about the Atlanta deal don't have all of the facts."

While he wants to go to LA, the one thing the Yankees have going for them is that he's familiar with pitching coach Larry Rothschild and Jim Hendry from their days in with the Cubs. Dempster is 5-5 with a 2.25 ERA this season for the Cubs, easily his best season so far.

Girardi on Teixeira's Wrist Injury: "It's a Big Concern"

From Chad Jennings:

Turns out, Mark Teixeira actually hurt himself last night. He was trying to play through it tonight, and landing awkwardly on his glove wasn’t part of the plan.

“Yesterday, third at-bat against Doubront, swung through a pitch and it just didn’t feel right,” Teixeira explained. “Played through it yesterday. Got a lot of treatment last night. I had treatment today. It just didn’t feel good again today. And then when I dove, I landed right on my glove and I just tweaked it even more. I went back in the dugout, in the clubhouse, tried to swing the bat and just couldn’t do it.”

Teixeira will go for an MRI tomorrow. He said he’ll almost certainly miss tomorrow night’s game, but his concern is “low” that this is a significant injury.

“Not crazy concerned because like I said, I tried to play through it,” he said. “It’s one of those things if you really hurt yourself bad, you’re out and you can’t do much. I was kind of nursing it today when I was swinging so hopefully it’s just a couple of days and I can get back out there. … More achy and sore than major pain. That’s why I feel okay about it. Hopefully it’s not too bad.”

...

“It’s a big concern,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s a huge part of our lineup and hopefully it’s only a couple of days, but we’ll find out more tomorrow.”

Let's just hope that MRI comes back clean because this team cannot afford another key injury.

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Yankees Insist There Was No Setback For Pettitte

From WFAN:

The 40-year-old, who threw off flat ground in Oakland during the Yankees’ West Coast swing, said he’s “laying low” after doing “a little too much in Seattle.”

“In Seattle it swelled up,” he said.

But Yankees general manager Brian Cashman insisted there are “no issues with Pettitte.”

“With rehab, you have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks,” Cashman told the New York Daily News. “He’s coming back in September, which is what we’ve said all along.”

Cashman doesn’t have much time to go shopping for rotation help with Tuesday’s trade deadline fast approaching. He sounded confident that the veteran would be able to return for the Yankees’ stretch run.

“He’ll be back; that’s the bottom line,” Cashman said. “It’s no different than it was before.”

There are two possible things going on here:

1) Pettitte didn't suffer a setback and he should return without a problem.

2) The Yankees are in damage control mode and don't want potential trade partners to realize how desperate they may in fact be.

I'm hoping it's the former, but I believe it's the latter. But hey, I'm a natural pessimist so of course that's what I believe.

Pettitte Suffers a Setback

If this is anything serious, and it probably is, it will likely put the rest of his season, in jeopardy. If that is the case, the Yankees should probably spend the next 40+ hours trying to find another starting pitcher.