I
am ready for the weekend! I hope Masahiro Tanaka is too…
Stand
before the Judge.
I
was starting to get worried that Manager Joe Girardi was going to say that he
had decided to go with Aaron Hicks for right field, but fortunately, he made
the right decision in announcing that Aaron Judge had won the
competition. Aaron Hicks returns to his role as the team’s fourth
outfielder.
How
about a starting win this year?
As
expected, Luis Severino has been named as the fourth starter in the
rotation. I am really hoping that he puts up a “W” in his first
appearance so that we don’t go into Year 2 as a starter trying to chase
wins. I am cautiously optimistic or pessimistically hopeful but I’d like
to see Severino prove that he is the right choice.
The
Eight Man Bullpen.
Congratulations
to both Jonathan Holder and Chasen Shreve for making the Opening Day Pen.
As expected, Bryan Mitchell will join Adam Warren, Tommy Layne, Tyler Clippard,
Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman to round out the crew. Unfortunately,
this means that Ben Heller did not make it and will head to
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to await his call. But like death and taxes, it’s
inevitable that Heller will be part of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre-New York
shuttle.
The
Starting Shortstop for the New York Yankees.
Sadly
for me, it is “Mighty Mouse” (Ronald Torreyes). Pete Kozma will be added
to the 40-man and 25-man rosters to serve as the backup shortstop while Didi
Gregorius is out. Either way, there’s not going to be much offensive
production from the position until Didi returns. So hopefully Starlin
Castro and Greg Bird are able to get out of the starting blocks very quickly
this year.
No word what move will occur to open the 40-man roster for
Kozma but the most logical answer is the placement of Tyler Austin on the
60-day DL (foot).
At
least he wasn't traded.
Rob Refsnyder didn't make the final cut and will be on his
way to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to start the season. He left recognizing
that his bat is his ticket back.
Can we keep this
winning going into next month?...
The Yankees keep steamrolling through the exhibition
schedule.
In the latest Grapefruit League action yesterday, they
crushed the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-1. The game was over after the
first 1/2 inning when the Yankees put 9 runs on the scoreboard in the top half
of the 1st frame.
Newly named 4th starter Luis Severino cruised through five
innings, allowing 5 hits, one run and one walk. He struck out 4 Philly
batters. On the other side, Jerad Eickhoff, one of the Phillies' better
young pitchers, only lasted two-thirds of an inning while giving up 6 runs to
inflate his Spring ERA to 81.00. Yikes!
I should probably quit ragging on Mighty Mouse. He
homered and had 4 RBI's in the victory. Gary Sanchez and Rashad Crawford
also homered in the game for the Yankees, who are now 24-8-1 for the Spring
with one game to go (opening the new stadium in Atlanta with the Braves later
this evening).
Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!
I don't understand why the starting right fielder was even a question. It's not like Judge had a bad spring... he hit .344/.403/.557! At that point it doesn't matter what Aaron Hicks did. Sure, you want the team to win this season, but at this point setting things straight for the future trumps all. At least it should.
ReplyDeleteAMEN TO THAT!
Delete