The Staten Island Yankees announced their 2012 coaching staff on Thursday, naming Justin Pope as the manager for the upcoming season.

Pope made his coaching debut in 2010, serving as pitching coach for the Staten Island Yankees, where he guided a staff that issued the fewest walks in the New York-Penn League (204).

“I’m very excited for the opportunity to manage in such a beautiful ballpark in front of the great fans of Staten Island,” Pope said. “I’m very happy to be back and I look forward to putting a team of very good players on the field.”

Carlos Chantres, who hasn’t been seen in a Staten Island Yankees uniform since 2006, returns to the Island as pitching coach in 2012. In the summer of ’06, Chantres’ staff led the Baby Bombers to a league best 45 wins, and the fourth New York-Penn League Championship in team history.

Ty Hawkins returns for his seventh consecutive season as the hitting coach in Staten Island. Hawkins has led the Staten Island Yankees to the second best batting average in the NYPL in four of the last five seasons, and a NYPL-most 52HR in 2009. He guided the 2006 Staten Island offense to a league-best .267 average and 365R en route to the club’s second consecutive New York-Penn League Championship.

Also joining the staff will be coach Danilo Valiente, who returns for his second consecutive season with the Baby Bombers. Last season, he helped lead Staten Island to their sixth NYPL Championship.

Dellin Betances is one of baseball’s top pitching prospects in a New York Yankees organization that has more than a few blue-chip status hurlers. The man with the responsibility of keeping all of them him on pace to reach the major leagues is Trenton Thunder pitching coach Tommy Phelps. But, he says, as important as Bentances is to the organization, it’s his job to worry about every pitcher on his staff.

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STATEN ISLAND, NY – In front of a crowd of just under 2,000 people on a humid night at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George the Staten Island Yankees defeated their rival Brooklyn Cyclones to advance to the NY-Penn League Championship Finals.

After the first game of the series was postponed twice due to inclement weather the Baby Bombers beat the Baby Bums 2-0 at MCU Park in Coney Island then were blown out by an offense outburst by the Cyclones the next day, 12-5 in Staten Island and finally another pitching gem lead the Yankees to the championship series once again.

William Oliver got the start for Staten Island, the workhorse of the 2011 rotation impressed when he recorded a career high of 10 strikes outs over 6 innings walking 3 and allowing just 2 hits.  He was followed by Phillip Wetherell who allowed 2 hits over 2 innings and earned the win before Brandon Pinder pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save.

Offensively it was a light day as the Yankees only managed four hits, two of them belonging to Tyler Austin who also had the only run of the game.  The only RBI belonged to first baseman Reymond Nunez.

Now with the semi-finals over the Staten Island Yankees will be traveling up to Auburn, NY for the first game of the Championship series on Monday before returning to Staten Island Tuesday night to end out the series and the season.  The Baby Bombers are going for their sixth NY-Penn League Championship in their twelve year history.

For the second time in their time here on Staten Island, the Staten Island Yankees look like they will be on the market.  This time it is the New York Yankees who want out.  For the past week the Baby Bombers have been on market to potential buyers, but as of right now no deal has been agreed upon.  At present time the team is owned by the New York Yankees and Mandalay Sports Entertainment.

The Staten Island Yankees success with the All-You-Can-Eat Pinstripe Plan has not translated into success at the bank as financial reasons were noted as the reason for the sale.  While the team does have the third largest attendance in the league, the average attendance has been dropping the past few of seasons.  There was a rumor earlier on in the year that an ownership group from New Jersey wanted to purchase the team but it is not known if they are ones who are in talks with to buy the team.  No further details have been revealed about the potential sale.

Update: Some more information has come to light, another group is looking to purchase the team.  They have no experience running a team but wants to keep the team a Yankees affiliate and in Staten Island.

Update #2: The team will be sold to a New York City hedge-fund manager not currently involved in professional baseball for approximately $8.3 Million.  It is not known if Mandalay will be retained.  Look for an announcement of the sale soon.

By now you might have heard that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees will not be playing their 2012 season at PNC Field in Pennsylvania due to the much needed $40 million renovation.  Now the only question is where will they play.

Right now there are several sites being considered for the Triple-A Yanks, one of them being Staten Island.  The Forgotten Borough as it was once nicknamed is home to the New York Yankees Short Season-A team and would provide the Triple-A team with a first-class facility in New York City and a place to call home instead of traveling around and use other ballparks as “home” stadiums.

What makes Staten Island an excellent choice is that the stadium is ran by the Staten Island Yankees who are jointly owned by Mandalay Baseball Properties and the New York Yankees.  Those two companies also own SWB Yankees, LLC the company that is finalizing the purchase of the Triple-A team from the Lackawanna Stadium Authority.

Now in order for the Yankees to call the Richmond County Bank Ballpark home for a season they need to get the approval of the New York Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones who have the territory rights for the area.  If a deal could be worked out between those two then the real winners of this would be New York City as a whole.

Why do I say that?  Well it is simple, the revenue that will come in from the team playing here.  It is 72 more games a year that people will be manning concessions, buying tickets and also another 72 more games of attendance figures that will be tacked onto the reporting for rent on the stadium.

At present time the rent on the Richmond County Bank Ballpark is tied to actual attendance, this is the amount of people that actually show up to a game.  If the minimum of 250,000 people show up in a year then the team will pay the minimum payment of $100,000 and the more people that come more money that is paid up to the maximum payment of $250,000.  At present time the team has never reached the 250,000 mark in actual attendance and thus never paid rent.  That also includes the amount of people who show up to the college and high school games played at the stadium, the Triple-A team will more than likely draw a lot more people especially since you have top prospects, former major leaguers and the possibility for more rehabbing players.

Let’s not rule out the tax collected on salaries and wages.  Since these boys could be playing half of their games in NYC then half of their annual salary is taxed here.  If you do not know how complicated taxes are for professional athletes here is a taste.  The players are taxed depending on where the games are played, so if they play 72 games in a city, 10 in another, 10 in another, etc. their salary is divided up as such.  Add in the taxes collected on ushers, concession and maintenance workers etc.

Other benefits include: the money spent on housing, food, nights out.  These guys will spend a good amount of money on those things so it would not be surprising to see a small boast to local shops.

There you have it, the very basics on how the Triple-A Yanks playing in Staten Island would be beneficial to New York City.

This is the final edition of this feature before the minor league playoffs begin. By then, teams will have been crowned champions and many players will be looking ahead to the Arizona Fall League or going home.

The five chosen this time managed to play solidly through the July heat and into the final couple of weeks of their season.

Matt Moore, LHP, Durham Bulls, International League, Tampa Rays – For starters there’s that 0.88 ERA. Add to that his 8-1 record and that between July 22nd and August 12th he mowed hitters down in each of his five starts. Moore posted a 0.69 ERA for July,  striking out 49 batters in 30.2 innings. Highlight: His July 27th gem. Over 8 scoreless innings he allowed just 3 hits and struck out 13.

Gary Sanchez, C, Charleston Riverdogs, South Atlantic League, New York Yankees – Before going on the DL, Sanchez was putting together a productive season. In August he got 13 hits in 9 games, hitting.433 with 5 multi-hit games. Highlight: On August 3rd he hit two home runs and then did it again on August 10th.

Mike Trout, CF, Texas Travelers, Texas League, Anaheim Angels – Trout’s consistency through July and August was just more of the same. He hit .300 in July and is hitting .358 through the first two weeks of this month. He has a 9-game hitting streak going, with 13 hits accumulated. Highlight: On August 6th Trout went 3-3 with an RBI and a walk.

Greg Billo, RHP, Kane County Tigers, Midwest League, Kansas City Royals – While a pitcher’s record doesn’t always reflect his performances, in this case it does. Billo is 9-2 with a 0.75 ERA through the first two weeks of August. He finished July with a 1.19 ERA. In five starts he’s allowed just six earned runs. Billo has pitched deep into games, logging 55 innings in ten starts. Highlight: On August 10th he picked up the win against Peoria after pitching a seven-inning one-hitter.

Mason Williams, OF, Staten Island Yankees, New York Penn League – Through 10 games in August he has 18 hits, putting his average at .500. He finished July hitting .357, improving his average steadily throughout the season. Williams has struck out just once in his last five games. Highlight: On August 6th he got 3 hits, a walk, and stole two bases.

My eye on… Erik Arnesen, RHP, Harrisburg Senators, Eastern League, Washington Nationals: On August 14th against the Trenton Thunder, the big righty came back from a shaky first inning to pitch six scoreless innings . He struck out ten Thunder hitters by mixing speeds and attacking the strike zone. It was Arnesen’s 8th win of 2011.

In front of a crowd of over 6,000 people on a cool, foggy and wet night at MCU Park in Coney Island the Staten Island Yankees continued their hot streak as they tied a franchise record 13^th consecutive win thanks to the one-two punch of Mason Williams and Cito Culver who were both 3-for-4 on the night.

Bryan Mitchell started the game for the Baby Bombers, throwing four innings allowing two runs early on in the first inning.  The Cyclones managed to get three hits and worked three walks off of him but also struck out three times.  He was followed by Matt Tracy who impressed the crowd once more tossing three innings of one-hit ball and striking out three.  Tracy still has yet to allow a run this year.

 
After being down 2-0 in the first inning the Staten Island Yankees plated one-run in the third, fifth and ninth innings to edge out a victory with two of those RBIs belonging to 2010 first-round draft pick Cito Culver and the last one belonging to Mason Williams.  Reymond Nunez had two hits for Staten Island and Bobby Rinard had one while scoring two of the runs.
 

Staten Island plated their first run in the top of the third after Bobby Rinard doubled and then scored on a line drive single to right by Mason Williams.  The Yankees went on to tie the game up at two in the top of the fifth.  Mason Williams and Cito Culver lined back-to-back doubles to left field with one out.  They went on to threaten in the inning after a pitching change with the bases loaded but a force out at third ended the inning.
 

In the top of the ninth the Baby Bombers would take the lead for good.  Bobby Rinard started it off reaching first on a fielding error by the shortstop before going first-to-third on a bunt to the third baseman by Mason Williams.  Next up was shortstop Cito Culver who hit a pop up single to third base that brought in Rinard.  Culver was out at second trying to stretch it into a double.

 
Zach Arneson earned the win for Staten Island, his first of the season after pitching a perfect eighth inning.  Branden Pinder earned the save, his league leading fifth after throwing 8 pitches, all strikes, in the ninth striking out two of the Cyclone batters.

 
Tomorrow night the two teams will meet up again for the third game of the series and conclude the series on Tuesday, both of those games will be at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark in St. George.

In the ninth inning, with two outs on the board a runner at second big third baseman Zach Wilson stepped up to the plate for the Staten Island Yankees. With his team down by a run and the tying run 180-feet away, Wilson lined the ball to right field solidifying the Baby Bomber comeback and forcing extra innings.

Late inning heroics have come to be the norm for the 2011 Staten Island Yankees as they are riding a twelve game winning streak, one shy of a franchise record. At present time the Baby Bombers are undefeated against the rest of the NY-Penn League, with only the Brooklyn Cyclones handing them two losses in the opening series of the season.

The Yankees were playing catch up to their cross-town rival Brooklyn Cyclones for the majority of the game after two homeruns were given up by starter Richard Martinez. With the team down 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning Staten Island would plate their first runs of the ball game.

Casey Stevenson started it off with an infield single to the third baseman; he then went to second when Wes Wilson was hit by the pitch. Bobby Rinard grounded into a force out at second that erased Wilson but moved Stevenson over to third. Mason Williams then hit a sacrifice fly to right field. With Cito Culver at the place Bobby Rinard stole second and then went to third on a bad throw by the catcher before scoring on a single by Culver. With that the Yankees cut the lead down to two runs.

After the Cyclones plated another run in the top of the sixth it looked like the Baby Bombers win streak was about to end. However in the bottom of the ninth the offense had another idea. After two strike-outs to start the inning Mason Williams earned a walk and came home to score on a Cito Culver double. Ali Castillo then came into the game as a pinch-hitter replacing Gumbs and singled on a line drive to left, bringing in Culver. With big third baseman Zach Wilson at the plate a passed ball would bring Castillo to second base. Then a line drive to right field by Wilson ties the game up as the stadium erupted in cheers. A strikeout by Reymond Nunez ended the inning and forced the game into the tenth.

In the bottom of the tenth inning Shane Brown started it off with a single to left before moving to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout another wild pitch moved Brown over to third for Wes Wilson. Wes then sent the ball into shallow centerfield for a game-winning sacrifice fly.

With the win the Staten Island Yankees continue their dominance this season. Leading the league with 13 wins and a .867 winning percentage.

Aside from the late-inning heroics the hero of the game was 2010 Yankees first round draft pick Cito Culver who made many outstanding defensive plays, including one that was completely Jeter-esque. Culver had two great diving stops and showed off his great throwing arm on a close double-play late in the game.

Tomorrow night these two teams will square off again, this time at MCU Park in Brooklyn with a game time of 6:00pm.

While the majority of the attention was on the rehabbing Phil Hughes, it was the young centerfielder Mason Williams who shined once more. Williams who has been one of the best hitters so far in this early season went 3 for 5 for the Staten Island Yankees. The younger prospect’s average is currently at .385 for the year and has been at home in the leadoff spot in the lineup.

The Baby Bombers were the first to score, plating two runs in the top of the third. Casey Stevenson started it off with a leadoff walk then went to second on a one-out single by Shane Brown and scored on a ground ball single to right field by Mason Williams. Williams then went to second on the throw just barely making it. Cito Culver then sharply grounded out to second to bring in Brown and give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Phil Hughes went four and a third innings for Staten Island, being lifted after 61 pitches and a monster homerun by Cyclone batter Nelfi Zapata. The pitch that was sent into the scoreboard was a changeup that stayed over the plate.

Wilton Rodriguez replaced Phil Hughes and was the losing pitcher. Rodriguez went two and two third innings allowing four runs on five hits and two walks.

Staten Island plated their third run in the top of the seventh inning. With one-out Mason Williams singled to left and then stole second and went to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Cito Culver then grounded out to bring in Mason Williams and give the Yankees their third run.

Mat t Tracy was the final pitcher for the Yankees throwing an inning and striking out two.

Tomorrow night the Yankees will travel to Hudson Valley to open a series with the Hudson Valley Renegades. They will return home on Tuesday.

As the Brooklyn Cyclones were just starting to put together a two-out rally against Yankees right-hander Branden Pinder, Cyclones right-fielder Javier Rodriguez sent a fly ball into right field that looked like it would fall in for a base hit but Staten Island right-fielder Ben Gamel had ideas of his own. Gamel flew thru the air and made an incredible diving catch to end the game and give the Staten Island Yankees their first win of the 2011 season.

Right-handed pitcher William Oliver, a 35th Round pick from last year’s draft, made the start for the Baby Bombers. Oliver struck out eight Cyclone batters but also allowed four hits and two walks in his four innings of work. He was relieved by Dustin Hobbs who earned the win throwing two innings allowing a run on a walk and two hits.

Staten Island was the first to put runs on the board in the contest. In the top of the fifth inning Ben Gamel started it off with a fly ball double to right and ten moved to third when Reymond Nunez singled to center. After a walk to Casey Stevenson loaded the bases, Shane Brown flew out to short-right field before Jhorge Liccien sent a sacrifice fly to deep right-field to bring in Gamel. Robert Rinard then lined a single to center to bring in Nunez, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

The Yankees went to add an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning after Angelo Gumbs drew a one-out walk, stole second and moved to third on a ground out before scoring on a line drive single to center by Reymond Nunez. But in the bottom of the inning the Cyclones plated their first run after Richard Lucas singled and then scored on a Travis Taijeron double.

Phillip Wetherell came into the game to make his professional debut in the seventh inning. Wetherel allowed a hit and struck out two on 25 pitches, 14 for strikes. He was followed by Zach Arneson who also made his professional debut and struck out one in his inning on 11 pitches, 8 for strikes.

Brandon Pinder then came into the game for the ninth inning. After two quick outs Daniel Muno doubled to right then went to third on a wild pitch. He then came home on a single to center by Brandon Brown. Next up at the plate was Javier Rodriguez who was not an easy out for the Yankee pitcher. After seeing many pictures he sent the ball flying into right field where Ben Gamel made his incredible catch.

Tomorrow night these two teams will meet up again with New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes making his rehab start for the Staten Island Yankees. That game will start at 5:00.