Wednesday, March 30, 2016

New York Yankees Spring Training Open Thread 3/30

EDIT:

Chip fracture in Miller's wrist. First Julio Teheran hits Jacoby Ellsbury in the wrist and now this. Damn the Atlanta Braves.

So what happened down at Yankees spring training camp today? Let's get caught back up!

Bryan Van Dusen was Johnny on the spot this afternoon with the spring updates but just in case you missed it Ronald Torreyes will be on the Yankees bench and the final spots in the Yankees bullpen come down to Luis Cessa, Kirby Yates, Johnny Barbato and Anthony Swarzak. Only two will make the team.

Bryan Mitchell hurt his toe covering first base and will undergo some tests while Andrew Miller's X-ray on his wrist came back negative. He still needs to pass a CT scan to make the Opening Day roster.

The Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves 2-0

Bryan Mitchell & Andrew Miller Injured

Phew!

During the Yankees Spring Training game today Andrew Miller took a line drive to his right wrist. His reaction, which included spiking his hat or glove into the ground before going straight to the clubhouse, did not fill Yankees fans with hope.

In fact, the one thing that made Yanks fans happy was that he didn't take the liner to his throwing hand. Not that he wouldn't still miss a couple months, but his effectiveness may have taken a hit if he gripped the ball differently.

Anyway, thankfully, his x-rays came back negative. He will be going for a CT Scan, so he's not totally in the clear, but avoiding a broken bone is a very good thing.

Bryan Mitchell injured his toe today as well, although we don't have any information on how bad it may be. Our only explanation is that his toe "locked up" while covering first base. While it shouldn't keep him out long at all, there is a chance that his mechanics change slightly to compensate for his toe, which is normally not a good thing.

We'll keep you updated.

Looking at the 2016 Schedule: Skipping CC Sabathia


No matter what the New York Yankees say they let the contract and the number of years on the back of the baseball card dictate the playing time. If they didn't Robert Refsnyder would still be in major league spring training camp about to break camp with the team and CC Sabathia wouldn't even be in a 5th starter competition with Ivan Nova and Bryan Mitchell. Mitchell has actually earned the spot while Nova has pitched better than Sabathia although all signs point to Sabathia winning the 5th spot in the Yankees rotation anyway. Let's just assume that Sabathia wins the last rotation spot, can the Yankees skip his starts with all the extra days off at the beginning of the season?

4/4 - Masahiro Tanaka (5+)
-off-
4/6 - Michael Pineda (5+)
4/7 - Nathan Eovaldi (5+)
4/8 - Luis Severino (5+)
4/9 - CC Sabathia (5+) or Tanaka on 4 days rest
4/10 - Masahiro Tanaka (5)
-off-
4/12 - Michael Pineda (5)
4/13 - Nathan Eovaldi (5)
4/14 - Luis Severino (5)
4/15 - CC Sabathia (5) or Tanaka on 4 days rest
4/16 - Masahiro Tanaka (5)
4/17 - Michael Pineda (4)
-off-
4/19 - Nathan Eovaldi (5)
4/20 - Luis Severino (5)
4/21 - CC Sabathia (5) or Tanaka on 4 days rest
4/22 - Masahiro Tanaka (5)
4/23 - Michael Pineda (5)
4/24 - Nathan Eovaldi (4)
4/25 - Luis Severino (4)
4/26 - CC Sabathia (4)
4/27 - Masahiro Tanaka (4)
-off-
4/29 - Michael Pineda (5)
4/30 - Nathan Eovaldi (5)

The number in the parenthesis shows how many days of rest these pitchers would have. Is it possible to skip a couple CC or 5th starter starts in the early days of the season? Unfortunately it doesn't look like it. In plenty of situations Tanaka could be used on normal rest but the rest of the rotation would not fall in line behind him. Unfortunately it looks like New York will not be able to take advantage of the extra days off during the first month of the season and that means we should see plenty of Sabathia, Mitchell, Nova or whoever wins that final slot. I hope they are up to the task.

With Refsnyder/Sanchez Gone What Does the Opening Day Roster Look Like Now?


I have done many of these prediction posts this winter and spring as I looked to guess the Opening Day roster for the New York Yankees. You know what? As usual, I suck. Illuminati not confirmed. I had both Gary Sanchez and Robert Refsnyder on my rosters throughout the spring  and both have been sent down to minor league camps ending their chances at making the Opening Day rosters barring an injury. What does my prediction look like now that these two big names are gone from the pool of candidates?

We'll skip the starting lineup and rotation as we can all pretty much guess who is going to be there. Let's focus instead on the bench and bullpen specifically.

Bench: 
C: Austin Romine
3B: Ronald Torreyes
OF: Aaron Hicks
UTIL: Dustin Ackley

Bullpen:
Aroldis Chapman
Dellin Betances
Andrew Miller
Chasen Shreve
Ivan Nova
Bryan Mitchell
Johnny Barbato

I can see the Yankees pulling the whole "send Luis Cessa down to work as a starting pitcher and stretch him out" excuse giving the last bullpen slot to a guy who has impressed for much of the spring in Barbato. Meanwhile I can see New York giving the backup catcher position to Austin Romine, if anyone has earned it with this organization it's Romine, while Torreyes is listed as a backup third baseman that can play almost literally all over the field for New York.

The Final Offensive Bench Spot Goes To...

After Rob Refsnyder was sent to the minors, the final bench spot on the Yankees came down to either Ronald Torreyes or Pete Kozma. And we learned this morning, via Joe Girardi, that the team would be taking Torreyes.


The path to the Yankees Opening Day roster wasn't a simple one for Ronald.

Torreyes started the 2015 season in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, joining their AA affiliate in Tulsa. That was followed by a 16-game stint with the Toronto Blue Jays AA affiliate in New Hampshire. Ronnie then played in 19 games in AAA for Fresno, in the Houston Astros organization. Finally, he finished the season back with the Dodgers, and after spending some time at AAA Oklahoma City, Torreyes made his MLB debut and appeared in 8 games.

The silliness doesn't end there, though.

The Yankees acquired Torreyes in a trade with the Dodgers over the winter. Three days after trading for him, the Yankees DFA'd Ronald, where he was claimed by the Los Angeles Angels In The Outfield (or whatever). Three days after that, Torreyes was again DFA'd, this time by the Angels. And who was there to claim him? Why, of course... The New York Yankees.

Phew!

And now Mr. Ronald Torreyes has learned he'll be on the Opening Day roster for the Yankees.

Congratulations, and good luck!

The Final Four Bullpen Spots, That Should Be Final Three

He's a starter until proven otherwise.

I've always been a firm believer in that statement, and I thought about it yet again when reading about the final two bullpen spots available on the team.

Two of Johnny Barbato, Anthony Swarzak, Kirby Yates, and Luis Cessa, will join the Yankees on Opening Day.

In his five minor league seasons, Johnny Barbato has appeared in 179 games, however he's only started 20 of them. And more than half of those starts (13 to be exact) happened back in 2011, his first professional season after being drafted by the San Diego Padres the year before. Johnny actually hasn't started a game since 2013, and he wasn't too successful at it.

Anthony Swarzak started four games for the Minnesota Twins in 2014, however he came into 46 other games that season as a reliever. In 2015, Anthony gave it a shot in the Korean Baseball Organization, starting in 17 out of 20 games appeared in, however a 5.26 ERA in the KBO didn't "wow" anyone. Swarzak returned to the States last season, and appeared in ten games of relief for the Cleveland Indians

Kirby Yates has been a professional baseball player for seven years. In those seven years he's appeared in 285 games, and started just 18 of them (only one of them coming after 20111).

It's safe to say that these three men are relief pitchers. They were given a shot as starters, but those experiments didn't pan out.

Then we come to Luis Cessa. Luis has appeared in 95 professional baseball games, and started 86 of those. And the nine games he appeared as a reliever all came back in 2011.

I think it's safe to say that Luis Cessa's career as a starting pitcher are not over with yet.

Therefore I believe it would be best for the Yankees to send Mr. Cessa to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to continue work as a starter.

Last season ten different pitchers started at least two games for the Yanks, and seven of those started in 11 or more. The point being that the five pitchers to be awarded spots in the starting rotation on Opening Day, along with the next guy in line... Ivan Nova, will not be enough to get the team through the season.

Yankees ST: New York Yankees @ Atlanta Braves 3/30


The month of March is almost coming to a close as we turn the page to April and the regular season for 2016. With just a handful of games left in this Grapefruit League schedule the vast majority of the spring competitions in Yankees camp are over. Now it's get the work in, get out and stay healthy. That's the plan today against Julio Teheran and the Atlanta Braves. Get your nine innings in and get out alive and in one piece. The eye is on the prize that is Game One against the Houston Astros.

Today's game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and will not be televised anywhere locally or nationally.

Old Faces in New York Spring Training Places


The New York Yankees have seen a lot of turnover over the past few seasons and especially during the 2016 offseason so I thought now would be a good time to see how those former Yankees faces are doing in different spring places. Not that spring stats mean much of anything at all but it can still be fun to look at to see if the team “won” a specific transaction or not.

Adam Warren:
Tm GS W L ERA G GS GF IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
CHC 1 0 0 5.14 4 1 2 7.0 7 6 4 1 0 5 1.000 9.0 1.3 0.0 6.4
Stephen Drew:
Tm G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
WSH 16 37 4 9 3 1 8 0 4 8 .273 .351 .455 .806
Brendan Ryan:
Tm Age G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
WSH 34 17 30 5 11 2 0 3 0 1 5 .379 .400 .517 .917
Rookie Davis:
GSERAGGSIPHRERHRBBSOWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
04.50102.02110111.5009.00.04.54.5
Chris Capuano
Tm GS W L ERA G GS GF IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
MIL 0 0 0 1.69 7 0 1 10.2 9 2 2 0 3 8 1.125 7.6 0.0 2.5 6.8
Chris Young:
Tm Age G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
BOS 32 14 37 4 7 3 2 6 1 3 6 .206 .270 .471 .741
Jake Cave: 
TmAgeGPARH2BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
CIN2322545111131511.229.302.313.614
Jose Pirela:
Tm Age G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
SD 26 21 52 5 18 5 1 4 0 1 8 .353 .365 .510 .875

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This Day In New York Yankees History 3/30: Dwight Gooden's Final Walk


On this day in 2001 former Yankee Dwight Gooden announced his retirement from baseball. Doc finished with a 194-112 record playing for the Mets, Yankees, Indians, Astros, and Devil Rays and won a World Series and pitched a no hitter with the Yankees.

On this day in 1991 the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles played an exhibition game at Joe Robbie Stadium which drew 67,654 fans, a new spring training attendance record. The two day series between the two teams was a part pf South Florida's efforts to get a National League expansion team, soon to be named the Florida Marlins.

On this day in 1984 the San Diego Padres obtained Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles for pitcher Dennis Rasmussen and prospect Darin Cloniger.