Dean Anna claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed infielder Dean Anna off waivers today, the former Yankees infielder announced on Twitter. Anna was designated for assignment this past week while in Triple-A Scranton. He'll join the Pirates' Triple-A squad in Indy.

Anna made his big league debut this season after working hard enough to make the Yankees' Opening Day roster. He was acquired by the Yanks during the offseason in a trade with the San Diego Padres.

Anna, 27, was known mainly for his bat after hitting over .300 in the Padres' minor league system last season, but only collected three hits in 22 major league at-bats for the Yankees this season, including a go-ahead homerun in a game against the Boston Red Sox in April.

A versatile infielder that can anywhere around the infield, Anna was sent down to Triple-A near the end of April, where he struggled to get going, hitting .192 in 36 games.

See ya, Dean. We'll always have that time you pitched against the Rays in Tampa.

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Spring Training Game 21: Yankees at Pirates

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

Assuming the rain doesn't ruin the field of play, the Yankees will travel to Bradenton today to face the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 1:05pm ET matchup at McKechnie Field.

Hiroki Kuroda will be on the mound for the Yankees making his fourth start of the spring. After two very good showings in his first couple of starts, Kuroda was far from impressive, getting hit hard by the Detroit Tigers. He gave up four runs in the first inning of the game.

His control was one of the biggest problems. He was leaving a lot of pitches up in the zone during the first inning, giving up a lot of hard hits. He gave up a total of six runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings.

As you would expect, the terrible outing caused many to worry that Kuroda might be doomed for a bad year after the way he finished last season, but realistically, it's spring training, and the only pitching performances that should matter are the ones in the regular season.

As long as Kuroda can stick to having better control today, and keep the ball down, he should have a lot more success against today's Pirates squad.

Today's lineup vs Pittsburgh:

Today's lineup vs PIT: Nunez 5, Roberts 4, Teixeira 3, McCann 2, Almonte 7, Romine DH, Solarte 6, Garcia 9, Richardson 8, Kuroda RHP.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 17, 2014

Jacoby Ellsbury was scratched from yesterday's lineup with some tightness in his right calf, though no one believes it to be serious. Ellsbury was hoping to be back in the lineup tomorrow when the Yankees host the Boston Red Sox in Tampa, but it looks like Joe Girardi doesn't expect him to play tomorrow, either.

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David Phelps strikes out four, Derek Jeter goes hitless, Yankees lose 8-2

Derek Jeter made his spring debut for the Yankees Thursday, playing in his first major league gamer since September 7th of 2013, and even though he didn't get any hits, Jeter left the game healthy, and that's all you can ask for.

The Yankees' bullpen is where you can point the fingers once again, a day after giving up four runs in the 7th inning to lose the game. A three-run homerun by Mel Rojas Jr. was just part of the  five-run 8th inning that helped lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to victory over the Yankees for the second day in-a-row, winning 8-2 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Jeter was the story of the game for obvious reasons. He played five innings at shortstop and went 0-for-2 at the plate.

He grounded into a double play in his first at-bat following a walk by Brett Gardner to lead off the bottom of the first, then groundout out to the third baseman.

It was a very good sign that Jeter ran hard down to first base on both of his groundouts, and did not come up limping or favoring his right ankle. He's said often that he feels great, and it looked like he wasn't lying after seeing him play today.

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Spring Training Game 3: Pirates at Yankees

For the first time since September 7th of last season, Derek Jeter will return to the Yankees lineup, making his spring debut for the Yankees today in Tampa.

It's sure to be a crazy day at George M. Steinbrenner Field, as Jeter will be playing the first game, albeit not a real game, since announcing that he'll be retiring after this upcoming season.

"I'm looking forward to getting out there," Jeter said. "I think everyone, when Spring Training starts, looks forward to getting the games underway so they can get into a routine.

"The first few days of Spring Training, it's just going through a lot of drills, trying to get in baseball shape. Once the games start, you can get into a daily routine, so I'm looking forward to that."

After playing in just 17 games last season, Jeter worked extremely hard during the offseason, and has gone through fielding and running drills without any problems this spring, and is not worried about how his body will hold up during games.

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Four-run 7th leads Pirates past the Yanks in Grapefruit league opener

Three of the Yankees' four big offseason acquisitions made their spring training debuts Wednesday, and two of the three made great impression in a game that the Yankees would end up losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5, because of a bullpen implosion, Tuesday in Bradenton, Florida.

Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran were all in the lineup for the Bombers in their first Grapefruit league game of the spring, and they got to work quickly.

McCann drove in the first run of the game after Ellsbury drew a walk to lead off the top of the 1st inning, moving over to 2nd base on a line drive up the middle by Yangervis Solarte. Solarte got to third base in the single by McCann and then scored on a base hit by Ramon Flores, who now has 2 RBIs in two games this spring.

With two outs in the 2nd inning, Ellsbury drew his second walk of the game that led to Solarte blasting a two-run homerun off of Edinson Volquez, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead.

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Spring Training Game 2: Yankees at Pirates

Today the fake games get a little less fake.

The Yankees opened their spring schedule yesterday against Florida State University, and today they play an actual major league club in their Grapefruit League opener.

Ivan Nova will be on the bump for the Yankees in this one. He's already got a spot in the Yankees rotation this season as the likely 4th starter -- unless something very unexpected happens during the spring.

Preston Claiborne and Dellin Betances will be among the pitchers coming out of the bullpen behind Nova.

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Yanks on the verge of trading Chris Stewart to the Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the verge of acquiring catcher Chris Stewart from the Yankees, reports ESPN's Buster Olney. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports that the Pirates will be sending the Yankees either cash or a player to be named later.

Stewart was one of a few players up for non-tenders today by the Yankees, and he, along with Jayson Nix, were expected to be non-tendered before tonight's 11:59pm ETS deadline. After signing Brian McCann last weekend, there is no more need for Stewart on the Yankees with Francisco Cervelli and Austin Romine likely to battle for the backup job next season.

Stewart provided solid defense for the Yankees and was considered one of the best pitch-framers in the league. His offense, however, was not so good, and his .211 average with one homerun in 2013 was one of the reasons why the Yanks have no place for him.

The Pirates already have Russell Martin locked up for next season, meaning that Stewart would likely serve as his backup, just he did for the Yanks in 2012.

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