Yankees killer dumped by sox
The Red Sox just got rid of their biggest Yankees killer. Hanley Ramirez was designated for assignment on Friday, the team announced, confirming a Boston Globe report, in order to make room for second baseman Dustin Pedroia returning from offseason knee surgery.
Count Aaron Boone as one of many in baseball who was surprised by the move, but the Yankee manager is also counting his blessings.
“Glad we don’t have to see him,” Boone quipped.
Ramirez is a notorious Yankee killer. He’s a career .273 hitter against the Bombers with 15 homers and 40 RBI. This season, in 18 at-bats against the Yankees, Ramirez is hitting .389 with three homers and nine RBI.
The Red Sox have seven days to trade or release Ramirez, who still had $15 million remaining on his contract this season. The decision to DFA Ramirez also frees the Red Sox from the 34-year-old exercising his $22 million vesting option for next season.
The first baseman/DH was still productive for the Red Sox, hitting .254 with six home runs and 29 RBI mostly out of the No. 3 or two-hole in the Boston lineup.
TOMMY TIME
The Yankees reinstated reliever Tommy Kahnle from the 10-day disabled list Friday ahead of their 2-1 win over the Angels.
Kahnle had been on the DL since April 17 because of shoulder and biceps tendinitis. He took the roster spot opened up when the Yankees optioned lefthander Ryan Bollinger to Double-A Trenton after their loss to the Rangers in Arlington on Wednesday.
“Another dynamic arm,” Boone said of Kahnle. “Reports are, from his rehab games, he’s throwing the ball well. So another, what we think is, a really good option down there, and ... the more of our impact guys that are healthy down there, I think they end up protecting each other because it’s another good option. So when you want to have a guy down for a day or try to stay away from someone, the deeper we are down there, with really strong options, the better our bullpen is going to be. And we feel like Tommy, when he’s right, is one of those really impact options for us.”
Kahnle gave up two earned runs on five hits over three innings in two rehab appearances — one for Single-A Charleston on Monday and one for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday. He did not pitch Friday.
fOur-OuT chappY
Aroldis Chapman earned his first four-out save of the season Friday night. The Yankees had targeted Friday’s game as a good opportunity to bring Champan into the eighth inning. Chapman, who had one strikeout and didn’t allow a baserunner, faced twoway player Shohei Ohtani in the eighth, forcing him into a ground out. Ohtani, a lefty, did hit a long fly ball down the left field line that tailed foul but had the distance for a homer.
“It’s not something I think we’ll do a lot, necessarily, over the course of the regular season,” Boone said. “But it is something that we want to do from time to time so it’s not foreign.”
MONEY carD
Derek Jeter records.
The former Yankees shortstop’s rookie card recently sold for $99,100 — the highest price ever paid for a modern-day baseball card, per ESPN’s Darren Rovell.
The card was sold on an eBay auction via PWCC, which charged a premium for the card, and managed to score the record-setting sum by card collector Adam Proietti.
Proietti said he had a chance to buy the card, rated a 10 by the Professional Sports Authenticator, in 2008.
“I passed on it,” he told ESPN. “I think $99,100 is still a very good deal.”
The previous highest-paid price for a Jeter card was $54,746 — which was sold one week before Proietti’s deal.
Only three modern-day cards have sold for more — a LeBron James rookie card was sold for $312,000 in 2016 and two Tom Brady rookie cards sold for $250,000 and $100,000 this year. is still setting
hErE’s gIaNNY!
Giancarlo Stanton appeared on Friday’s edition of the The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, taping the segment earlier in the day before heading to the Bronx for the Yankees’ showdown with the Angels.
“It was great,” Stanton said. “It was a fun time.”