Yankees Acquire First Outman In Team History

In a groundbreaking move, the Yankees have acquired lefty specialist Josh Outman from the Indians for a player to be named later or cash. (For Alphonso's sake and for everyone's, I hope we send them Cash.)

The Yankees have never had an Outman on the major league roster before. In fact, Josh Outman is the only player with the moniker to ever appear on any major league roster in history. New York thereby becomes the fourth MLB team to sport an Outman, following Oakland, Colorado and Cleveland into the history books.

In two cases of "close but no cigar", Brooklyn had a player named "Chink" Outen in 1933 and Jimmy Outlaw had a career with the Reds and Tigers during the 1930s and 40s.

"This is the kind of innovative thinking we've come to expect from the front office," said Manager Joe Girardi. "The idea of getting a guy named Outman -- much less a bullpen lefty named Outman -- would never have occurred to me. We've just never had anyone with his particular name in the mix. It's a great move."

Girardi plans to use Outman to face left-handed and only left-handed batters, no matter how well a particular batter hits left-handed pitching or how fantastically good or bad Outman is pitching. "We have plenty of right-handed guys who can pitch to right-handed batters," said Girardi.

To prove a similar point, the manager has been known to sit lefty outfielder Ichiro Suzuki against lefties, even though Suzuki hit .331 against lefties in 2013 and is hitting .367 against southpaws in 2014, better than anyone else on the team.

Welcome, Josh! Glad to have you specializing with us!