S.T. Game 32. Severino solid, but Yanks end S.T. with a loss. 2-1.

My personal feeling is that the ace of this team is Luis Severino, even though the kid has just eleven MLB starts under his belt.

Severino reinforced my feeling with a solid perfomance today, but he took the loss as the Yanks lost to the Marlins 2-1. It was the last spring training game of the year. The Yanks open the season on Monday at Yankee Stadium vs. the Astros. It’ll be a rematch of the wild card game which the Yanks lost 3-0 last year. Keuchel vs. Tanaka.

One run that Severino gave up was unearned. The bullpen was solid, and that included Miller, who pitched for the first time since getting that chip fracture in his right (non-throwing) wrist a few days ago.

Kirby Yates got the final spot on the roster, replacing the injured Bryan Mitchell.

The Yanks’ offense has to pick it up, however. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a HR, but the Yanks did nothing after that. Ellsbury had two of the Yanks’ four hits.

Yankee pitchers held the Marlins to three hits, but an error by Didi Gregorius cost the Yanks the game.

Severino (L) 5 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 walk and 6 K.
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 walks, 1 K.   1 HBP
Miller 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 walk, 1 K.
Yates 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 h, 0 walks, 1 K.
Barbato 2/3 IP, 0 r, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K.

The Yanks ended spring training at 14-16-2. Now we start the season, and everyone is 0-0.

Of course, we won’t see Chapman until May.

Go Yankees!

The 25 men going north:
C: McCann, Romine;
DH: A-Rod
INF: Teixeira, Castro, Ackley, Gregorius, Headley, Torreyes
OF: Ellsbury, Gardner, Beltran, Hicks

SP: Severino, Tanaka, Pineda, Eovaldi, CC
RP: Nova, Cessa, Yates, Barbato, Shreve, Betances, Miller

The bullpen will be interesting with Cessa, Yates and Barbato. How will they do?

S.T. Game 31. Miller cleared, CC #5 starter, and Yanks win 3-2.

I don’t know how he is going to do it, but Andrew Miller has been cleared to pitch despite a chip fracture in his right (non-pitching) wrist. You wonder how it may affect his fielding. To me, not so much balls hit up the middle or bunts, but how about the 3-6-1 DP??

As expected, CC Sabathia was named the #5 starter over Ivan Nova. I think the salary issue had a lot to do with it. How many teams have a middle reliever/spot starter earning $25MM? (But then, look at Boston. They gave a big contract to 3B Pedro Sandoval, and in year 2 of that huge deal, Kung Fu Panda is on the bench).

The Yankees only got three hits in their exhibition game in Miami against Don Mattingly’s Marlins tonight, but two of them were HRs, and it was enough for a 3-2 win.

Brett Gardner homered in the fourth to put the Yanks up 1-0. The Marlins got one in the sixth and another in the eighth, but Lane Adams 2-run HR in the top of the ninth made the Yanks winners.

Eovaldi 5 1/3 IP, 1 R, 7 H, 4 walks and 3 K. Battled. Got 16 outs, but 11 baserunners.
Betances 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K.
Shreve 1 IP, 0 r, 1 H, 1 walk and 0 K.
Cessa 1 Ip, 1 R, 2 H, 1 walk and 1 K.
Goody. (S) 1 IP,  0 r, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K.

So now that Miller is cleared, let’s look at the 25 man roster for Opening Day.

C McCann and Romine
Infield Teixeira, Castro, Gregorius, Headley, Ackley, Torreyes
DH A-Rod
OF Gardner, Ellsbury, Beltran, Hicks

 

Rotation: Tanaka, Pineda, Eovaldi, Severino, CC

Bullpen: Nova, Cessa, Barbato, Shreve, Betances, Miller.

 

One more BP spot needs to be filled. Who gets the final spot? Yates? Chapman gets that spot once the suspension is over.

 

 

S.T. Games 29/30. Yanks lose 2. Mitchell out 3 months.

On a day when the Yanks found out Bryan Mitchell has a broken toe with Grade 3 turf toe, may need surgery and be out three months, they lost both exhibition games as the squad was split.

In one game, Michael Pineda gave up 4 HR (albeit, a strong wind was blowing out) as the Yanks lost 9-1 to St. Louis.

Pineda (L) 5  IP, 6 R, 7 H, 0 walks and 4 K. Gave up 4 HR
Chapman 1 Ip, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 2 K.
Swarzak 2/3 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 1 walk, 0 K. Gave up HR
Pinder 1 1/3 0 R, 0 H, 1 walk, 0 K.
Tracy 1 IP, 0 R 0 H, 0 walks, 2 K.

They lost the other game 10-6 to Detroit. They are 13-15-2 for the spring.

Castro 2 hits. Romine 3 for 3, HR, 2 RBI. Mateo 2 RBI. Parmalee 2 hits, rbi.

Green (L) 4 1/3, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 walks, 4 K. Gave up 4 HR
Webb 2 1/3, 3 R, 3 H, 1 walk, 0 K.
Mullee 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 walks, 3 K. Gave up HR.

Rough day for the pitchers.

Johnny Barbato and Luis Cessa made the bullpen. They were to make it before Miller and Mitchell got hurt. Miller wants to pitch through the injury to his non-throwing hand. We’ll see. But a sub must be found for Mitchell….and maybe Miller, too.

Romine is the backup catcher, Torreyes the backup IF.

The fifth starter hasn’t been named yet between CC and Nova.

Barbato won the J.P. Dawson award as best rookie in camp.

S.T. Game 28. Painful 2-0 win for Yanks. Bullpen takes a hit.

Ivan Nova pitched great in his last bid to try and make the rotation, but it is the bullpen that is a concern for the Yanks after a 2-0 win over the Braves today.

The Yanks may have not one, but two key bullpen members going on the DL to begin the season. Add that to the 30-day suspension of Aroldis Chapman and today’s win could be a very painful one.

From MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch:

The Yankees have been blessed with good health for most of the spring, but those fortunes took a turn on Wednesday afternoon when lefty reliever Andrew Miller was hit on the right wrist by a line drive. X-rays were negative, but the Yanks announced that a CT scan revealed a chip fracture in the wrist. He will visit a hand specialist to determine the next step.

…

One inning later, Bryan Mitchell limped off the mound after sustaining a sprained left big toe while covering first base. Mitchell — who learned on Tuesday that he will make the Opening Day roster — will have an MRI performed. The Yanks open the season Monday against the Astros.

Ouch.

Earlier in the day, it was announced that Austin Romine has made the team as the backup catcher, and Ron Torreyes as backup infielder.

Now if Miller and Mitchell are out for the bullpen, that really throws a monkey wrench into things.

Nova 6 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 walk and 2 K.
Miller 0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 1 K. The liner happened on his first pitch.
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 3 K.
Mitchell. 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 walks and 1 K.
Yates 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 2 K.

 

 

S.T. Game 27. Rain wins out.

The rain won out yesterday, as the Yanks had one spring training game shortened because of the rain and the other (there were two split-squad games scheduled) rained out.

In the game that went into the books (as if a spring training game ever does), the Yanks beat the Pirates 5-4 in five innings. Carlos Beltran homered and drive in three runs.

Sabathia 4 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 2 walks and 2 K.
Goody 1/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 walks, 0 K, gave up HR.
Barbato 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K.

In the other game that was washed out, the Yanks had a 7-1 lead over the Phils when the rains came. Dustin Ackley had hit a 3-run HR and Miguel Andujar also homered. Masahiro Tanaka gave up 1 R on 7 H in 4 IP when the rains washed everything down the drain.

It was announced Bryan Mitchell made the team—most likely as long reliever/spot starter.

The Yanks are 12-13-2 for the spring.

S.T. Game 26. Teix HRs in Yanks’ 3-2 win.

Mark Teixeira is known for slow starts. The other day he mentioned that he and the batting coaches saw something on a video which is why he was hitting a lot of balls on the ground and had a low batting average so far this spring. So he was working on correcting that flaw, so he would be ready when the season starts next week.

That work paid off tonight when Teix hit a solo HR in the seventh in the Yanks’ 3-2 win over the Tigers. The win puts the Yanks’ S.T. record at 11-13-2.

Dustin Ackley’s 2-run double in the eighth was the game-winner.

The pitching line:

Cessa 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 walk and 4 K. Probably going to AAA for their rotation, but nice job.
Barbato 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 1 K. Still in the mix for a bullpen job.
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 2 K. Suspended until May 9.
Goody 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 walks and 3 K. Stuck out the side, but gave up 2 HR.
Shreve 1 IP, 0 R, 0H, walks and 0 K. Has had an excellent camp.
Moreno 2 Ip, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 1 K.

S.T. Game 25. Yanks lose 5-2, demote Refsnyder, release Denorfia.

Pitchers need to be stretched out, and such was the case yesterday when Nathan Eovaldi pitched five solid innings but faded in the sixth, giving up four runs, and the Yanks lost to the Twins 5-2 in their spring training game.

Brett Gardner homered.

The Yanks sent Rob Refsnyder down to AAA to work more on his defense at 2B and 3B, and also released OF Chris Denorfia, who refused a minor league deal.

The pitching line:

Eovaldi (L) 5 1/3 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 walks and 5 K.
Betances 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 1 K.
Miller 1 1/3, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K.
Shreve 2/3 Ip, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K.
Yates 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K.