Briefly a Yankee, Bob Oliver passes away at age 77.

Bob Oliver, who ended his career with a brief stint with the Yankees in 1975, passed away April 19 at the age of 77.

Oliver played for the Pirates (1965), Royals (1969-1972), Angels (1972-1974), Orioles (1974) and Yankees (1975).

He finished 27th in MVP voting in 1970 when he had 27 HR and 99 RBI.

He had 20 HR in 1972 and had 18 HR and 89 RBI in 1973.

He mostly played 1B, 3B and RF. As a Yankee he was 5 for 38 in 18 games.

He hit .256 with 94 career HR. His 162 game average was .256-18-80, OPS+ 100.

Could the Yanks see a 0, 00, or an O or OO on a uniform?

As the Yanks pursue Adam Ottavino as a bullpen option, it remains to be seen. Could the Yanks see a zero or the letter O on a uniform?

No Yankee has ever worn the number zero or the letter O in the history of the Yankees.

Ottavino has worn the letter O for Colorado.

As we know, every number from 1 to 10 is retired by the Yankees.

1 Billy Martin (although I make the case for HOF Earle Combs. Other players to wear #1 were Bobby Richardson and from 1969-1974, Bobby Murcer).

2 Derek Jeter
3 Babe Ruth
4 Lou Gehrig
5 Joe DiMaggio
6 Joe Torre
7 Mickey Mantle
8 Bill Dickey & Yogi Berra
9 Roger Maris (and I advocate for something to be done for Graig Nettles)
10 Phil Rizzuto.

If the Yanks sign Adam Ottavino, he could be wearing either number Zero, or, if you prefer, the letter O.

There aren’t too many people as I recall, that wore 0 or 00. I know that the Boston Celtics have 00 retired in honor of the Chief, Robert Parish. In football, the great Raiders center, Jim Otto, wore 00.

Al Oliver wore 0, as, I believe, Oddibe McDowell.

Any others?

The Minors.

AAA: SWB (49-32) won 8-1. Ike Davis grand slam. Aaron Judge double, 3 rbi. Phil Coke six scoreless IP. Railriders’ pitchers combined for 10 K.

AA: Trenton (51-29) won 6-5.  Solo HR Jose Rosario. 2 hits, 3 RBI Dustin Fowler.

High A: Tampa (48-29) won 5-1. James Kaprielian still has some elbow issues, but fortunately, none affect the UCL which would require TJ surgery. But it’s a wasted year for him. Yefrey Ramirez 7 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 11 K. Tampa pitchers combined for 13 K. Connor Oliver 2 RBI. Jake Skole 2 h, rbi. 2 hits Austin Aune.

Low A: Charleston (44-32) lost 7-2. Jeff Hendrix 3 hits.

The minors today.

I don’t know if he will accept going back to SWB (DeWayne didn’t and was released) but the Yanks DFA’d Ramiro Pena. The move was necessary after the Yanks traded for Casey McGehee.

AAA: SWB got clobbered, 13-1. Adam Warren 5 R in 5 IP. (6-7, 3.91). Juan Cedeno gave up 6 R in 1 IP (3.49). SWB only got four hits, 2 H, solo HR SS Eduardo Nunez. CF Melky Mesa now at AAA after a promotion.

AA: 9-6 win for Trenton. Dellin Betances 3 R in 5 IP (4.31 since being demoted to AA). CF Zoilo Almonte 2 h, double, HR, 4 RBI (.272-14-52). DH David Adams (.311-5-34) 2 hits, double, solo HR. 2B Walt Ibarra 2 h, 2 RBI. 1B Luke Murton (.263) 3 h, rbi. 3 H, RBI for SS Yadil Mujica (.230).

High A: 4-3 loss for Tampa. 4 R in 7 IP for Matt Tracy (5-4, 3.18). 1B Kyle Roller 2 h, rbi (.262. 66 rbi).

Low A: 4-3 loss for Charleston. Bill Oliver 2 r in 6 ip (4.67). 2 h each for CF Ben Gamel (.311) and 3B Dante Bichette, Jr. (.241), 2 RBI for C Francisco Arcia. (.286, 39 rbi).

The minors tonight. Romine back.

AAA: SWB game PPD.

AA: 9-2 loss for Trenton. Decent outing for Vidal Nuno (4-2, 1.57), 3 R in 5 2/3, but Graham Stoneburner was lousy, 5 R, 3 ER in 1/3 IP. (3.55). DH Rob Segedin 3 H, RBI.

High A: 8-2 win for Tampa. Shane Greene (3-2, 4.32) 2 R, 5 2/3 IP. LF Ramon Flores 3 h, 3 RBI (.305). 1B Kyle Roller 3 h, solo HR.

Low A: Charleston shut out 2-0. Bill Oliver (3-4, 4.69) 2 R in 5 IP.

Austin Romine finally got into his first rehab game. He went 0 for 2 with an RBI for the Gulf Coast Rookie League Yankees. He only played three innings. Hopefully that was the plan and there was not another setback.

The Minors Today.

AAA: SWB (Empire State) lost 5-3. Chris Schwinden, who the Yanks just claimed off waivers, went 4 innings, 4 R, 3 ER. LF Ronnier Mustelier (.306) with a 2-run HR.

AA: Trenton was supposed to have a DH. Game 2 was ppd.

In the game that was played, Trenton won 6-3 in 11 innings. Vidal Nuno 2 R in 5 1/3 IP (ERA 1.18). Ryan Flannery 2 1/3 scoreless for the win (3-2, 3.49). CF Melky Mesa 3 run HR in the top of the 11th. 3 hits (.264-11-38).  2B David Adams with 3 h, 2 RBI (.281, 24 RBI).

High A: Tampa won 2-1 in 10. 3B Zach Wilson the GW single, 3 hits, .231.

Low A: 5-1 win for Charleston. William Oliver 1 R in 6 IP (3-3, 4.43). LF Ben Gamel 2 rbi (.295). DH Kelvin De Leon 3 h, 2 doubles, rbi (.270). 2B Ali Castillo 2 h, double, rbi (.361).

An aside: Cincinnati has a SS in High A. Billy Hamilton is hitting in the .330s, is not 22 yet but get this. Sometime THIS WEEK he’ll get his 100th SB of the year. THIS WEEK! He had 103 SB in Low A last year. What a greyhound.

The minors tonight

AAA: 4-3 loss. Betances with control woes again. 6 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 6 hits, 6 walks, 2 K. ERA 6.35. The walks are killing him. Adam Miller 1 R in 3 IP, the loss. Brandon Laird 2 h, HR, 3 RBI.

AA: 9-7 win. Shaeffer Hall 4 R, in 5 IP. Ronnier Mustelier (promote him? .337) HR, 3 RBI. Cody Johnson solo HR. Gus Molina 3 hits.

High A: 12-6 loss. Rob Segedin 3 h, .302.

Low A:   Charleston gave up 1 in the top of the 10th, came back with 2. 5-4 win. Bill Oliver 5 scoreless IP. The bottom of the lineup came up huge.

The minors today

AAA: Rained out.

AA: Trenton lost 4-1. Shaeffer Hall 7 IP, 3 R, 8 H, 1 walk & 5 K. Luke Murton 3 H, rbi.

High A: Tampa got pounded, 13-2. Mike O’Brien 8 R in 3 1/3. Branden Pinder 4 R in 2 IP. Rob Segedin 3 hits.

Low A: 4-1 win for Charleston. William Oliver 1 R in 5 IP, Zach Varce and Phil Wetherell 2 scoreless each. Mason Williams 2 hits, Cito Culver 2 hits, RBI. Rey Nunez 2 hits, RBI.

The minors today. Pettitte great again

AAA: 7-2 loss for Empire State (SWB). Ramon Ortiz 5IP, 3 R, 5 h, 1 walk, 1 K. Jason Bulger 1 ip, 4 runs. Pat (ambidextrous) Venditte 2 scoreless IP. Mike O’Connor 1 scoreless.

AA: Trenton won 2-1. Craig Heyer 6 IP, 1 R, 5 h, 0 walks, 7K. Kelvin Perez 1 2/3, 0 R, 1 H, 1 walk, 2 K. Lee Hyde 1/3, zeros across, Ryan Flannery 1 IP, 1 h, 1 K. 2 H, solo HR by Cody Johnson.

High A: Tampa won 6-1. Andy Pettitte 4 Ip, 0 R, 2 H, 0 walks and 3 K. AA next for Andy in his return? Should be.  Mike O’Brien 5 IP, 1 R (unearned), 7 H, 0 walks and 3 K. Neil Medchill 3 for 3, HR, 3 RBI. Jose Mojica 2 for 4, 3 RBI.

Low A: Charleston a 7-5 winner.  William Oliver 6 ip, 1 r, 3 h, 3 walks and 5 K. Mason Williams 2 h, double, triple, rbi. Gary Sanchez and Tyler Austin 2 hits each. Austin HR, 3 RBI.

Update: From Meredith Marakovits, YES: Girardi said Pettitte needs about 4 more minor league starts until he’s ready. (That puts him approx. around May 10th for a return (home vs. TB) or May 11th (home vs. Seattle).

Yanks bring back Andruw Jones

The Yankees today signed Andruw Jones to a one year deal, worth $2 MM, plus another $1.4 MM in incentives. He’ll do the same job as he did in 2011, that is, backup OF, start vs. lefties, defensive replacement, PH. Jones will be 35 in 2012, and has 420 career HR. He hit .247-13-33 in 2011, OPS+ 122.

The Mariners signed George Sherrill. Toronto signs 41 year old Darren Oliver.

Saw a nice NFL stat today from ESPN. Drew Brees has thrown a TD pass in 42 consecutive games—just 5 short of Johnny Unitas’ record.

Lastly, that Baylor/WA game last night was ridiculous. 67-56 Baylor. Nope, not college basketball. Football. No D whatsoever.