All signs seem to be pointing to Francisco Cervelli being the personal catcher for Masahiro Tanaka. Cervelli is catching his bullpens and spending a ton of time with him, most recently at the Yankees bonding trip.Nothing is official obviously, especially this early in spring, but it seems to be looking that way.
Alfonso Soriano and Mark Teixeira are both on track to make their spring training debuts on Thursday. Matt Thornton is expected to make his spring debut tonight against the Baltimore Orioles.
Speaking of spring debuts Scott Sizemore will make his tonight donning Robinson Cano's #24 jersey. He will come off the bench to finish out the game, not start. Brian McCann is also penciled in to replace Derek Jeter as the DH tonight when he night is complete.
Pat Venditte is up for the day for some reason. No word on if he is available or if it is just an emergency situation. Also no word on whether he would throw with his left hand or right hand tonight if needed. Jeremy Bleich and Graham Stoneburner are also up for the day.
Chad Jennings has the assignments from today:
Today’s bullpen sessions:
Vidal Nuno (to Pete O’Brien)
Shane Greene (to John Ryan Murphy)
Bryan Mitchell (to Roman Rodriguez)
Michael Pineda (to Francisco Arcia)
Hiroki Kuroda (to Jose Gil)
· Today’s second string: C Gary Sanchez, 1B Francisco Arcia, 2B Scott Sizemore, SS Dean Anna, 3B Zelous Wheeler, LF Ramon Flores, CF Mason Williams, RF Antoan Richardson, DH Brian McCann
· Today’s scheduled relievers: Matt Thornton, Brian Gordon, Cesar Cabral, Chris Leroux, Chase Whitley and Preston Claiborne (Bruce Billings, Graham Stoneburner, Jeremy Bleich and Pat Venditte listed as available if necessary).
· Tomorrow’s travel squad to Port Charlotte:
Pitchers: Dellin Betances, Dan Burawa, Robert Coello, Matt Daley, Jim Miller, Mark Montgomery, Yoshinori Tateyama
Catchers: Francisco Arcia, Jose Gil, John Ryan Murphy, Pete O’Brien, Austin Romine, Gary Sanchez
Infielders: Dean Anna, Russ Canzler, Kelly Johnson, Corban Joseph, Addison Maruszak, Eduardo Nunez, Jose Pirela, Yangervis Solarte, Zelous Wheeler
Outfielers: Zoilo Almonte, Ramon Flores, Adonis Garcia, Brett Gardner, Antoan Richardson, Ichiro Suzuki, Mason Williams