David Phelps pitches well, but the Yankees lose to the Twins

By: Adam Israel | Staff Writer

David Phelps took the mound today against the Minnesota Twins at George M. Steinbrenner Field to continue his fight for the number five spot in the rotation. The Twins defeated the Yankees 7-3 on a battle of the bullpens.

Despite the final score, Phelps pitched well, striking out four batters, while allowing two runs, including a home run, over four innings. Phelps curveball was on today as he said in an interview with Jack Curry of YES Network. Two of Phelps four strikeouts came on nasty curveballs. Besides a few blunders in the early innings, Phelps had good command and never lost control of the game.

Phelps gave up a leadoff double to Aaron Hicks in the first inning who later went on to score on a RBI single three batters later. After escaping the first inning only giving up one run, Phelps got throught the second inning fairly easily. Brian Dozier led off the third inning with a home run to left field. 

Manny Banuelos took over in the sixth inning and only lasted one out. Banuelos loaded the bases with no outs. After retiring Hicks, Bauelos gave up a two run double and was immediatey pulled from the game. Fred Lewis came on and allowed two more runs to score. After the four run sixth, the Twins did not score again in the game.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian Roberts led off the bottom of the first inning with back to back doubles off of Twins starting pitcher Kyle Gibson. Mark Teixeira drove in Roberts on a hard single to left field. The Yankees scored their third and final run on an Eduardo Nunez RBI groundout in the first inning that scored Teixeira.

After Gibson left the game after four innings, the Twins bullpen held the Yankees hitters hitless. The Yankees lack of production from their bench proved to contribute to the Yankees loss to the Twins.

Although it was a slow day for the Yankees, there were a few bright spots for the squad.

Teixeira hit the ball hard and reached base two of three times. In addition, he fielded and moved around well, which is a good sign for him.

Also, Dellin Betances continued his stellar spring, taking over for Lewis with the bases loaded and only one out. Betances did not allow a hit and struck out two batters setting down all five Twins he faced.

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Spring Training Game 18: Twins at Yankees

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

Joe Girardi won't have an easy decision to make at the end of the spring when he tries to name his fifth start for the beginning of the season.

Michael Pineda has looked good in his spring two outings of the spring, striking out five in his start against the Baltimore Orioles yesterday in Tampa. Pineda wasn't as good as he was in his first appearance, but you have to think that if he continues to pitch well, the job is his.

At the same time, David Phelps was been pitching well enough this spring to win the job. Phelps pitched five shutout innings in his last start, giving up just three hits.

He won a job in the rotation last spring, and is certainly making a case to do the same this year, but it won't be easy with Pineda performing the way he has.

Phelps gets the ball today in Tampa as the Yankees host the Minnesota Twins at The Boss. This is an important start for Phelps, for the reasons I just mentioned. It was actually mentioned yesterday by Joe Girardi that Pineda will be on a innings-limit this season, and Phelps could put him self into the position of taking over if needed at anytime.

Today's lineup vs Minnesota:

Today's lineup vs MIN: Ellsbury CF, Roberts 2B, Teixeira 1B, McCann C, Nunez SS, Canzler 3B, Flores LF, O’Brien DH, Williams RF, Phelps P
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 14, 2014

Most of the team flew out to Panama last night to prepare for their two-gam series against the Miami Marlins this weekend. The Yankees had to bring up some kids from the minor league camp across the street to help fill roster spots, so if you're looking for a star-studded Yankees lineup, today's game is not for you.

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YBB American League preview: Seattle Mariners

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

You probably started to really hate the Seattle Mariners over the offseason, and for good reason. Back in December, they went where no other team would.

The Mariners, in a state of desperation, gave a Robinson Cano a 10-year, $240 million contract.

The Yankees were only willing to offer a Cano worth seven-years, $175 million-ish. They were smart in not giving Cano the type of money that he ended up getting for, but while the money will be a total loss for the M's, his presence in the lineup will be a massive gain.

The only real start on this team before Cano's arrival was Felix Hernandez. For years, Seattle had been without a true star in their lineup, because there was nothing that could convince players of coming there.

They found that with Cano and the large sum of cash they offered him.

Realistically, Cano does not make the Mariners a much better team because you still need to put other pieces around him, and that didn't happen.

Seattle added a couple of bats besides Cano in Corey Hart and Logan Morrison. Hart is more of a gamble because he is still working back from knee surgery, but if he can stay healthy and round back into form, he can actually be a decent piece in the Mariners' lineup.

Other than that, there isn't much to drool over in Seattle. Cano made some comments to the media a couple of weeks ago that he wanted the Mariners to add another bat to help him out, they didn't, and they're going to regret it.

Offense was a major concern for the Mariners last season, as they only hit .237, the worst average in the American League. Their 624 runs scored ranked them 12th in the AL. I really don;t see those numbers improving very much this season, even with Cano in the lineup.

On the other side of the ball, the Mariners could not pitch last season. With an ERA of 4.31, they were one of three teams to give up more than 700 runs (703).

The Mariners didn't add an starting pitchers over the offseason because they thought that they would be set with a starting rotation of King Felix, Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker, but injuries to both Iwakuma and Walker that could keep them out until early in the season will be a big blow to their pitching staff.

Yes, the Mariners added Robinson, the best second baseman in the league. But no, the Mariners will not be a better team than the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels in 2014. Those teams are far more complete than Seattle.

The early focus will be on you-know-who, when once things start to play out, we'll all be looking at the AL West standings and see who the Seattle Marines really are.

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Yankee Notes: Cervelli talks, Campos optioned, Panama roster

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

During the Yankees' 6-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles Thursday afternoon, the YES Network's Jack Curry noted that while a handful of teams have been scouting likely backup catcher Francisco Cervelli this spring, not a single team has made a trade call to Brian Cashman.

Curry added that it could change overnight and the Yankees could have three callers on the phone tomorrow morning in any scenario.

We've know for about the past week that teams have been watching the team's excess catching depth, including the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox. The Arizona Diamondbacks are said to be looking for a big league ready backup, and could be interested, too.

After winning the backup job last spring only to get hurt in late-April, missing the rest of the season, Cervelli has essentially picked up right where he left off, hitting very well and playing good defense so far this spring.

We're about halfway through the exhibition schedule and I find it hard to believe that there is even a competition for the backup catcher role anymore, given how well Cervy has played.

At this point, even though the Yankees have holes they could help fill with a trade, keeping Cervy for the big league club and sending Austin Romine and John Ryan Murphy would be best for the club.

Besides, Cervelli is out of options, which takes away from his value, and any trade would likely be for another player out of options, so you're not getting much from trading away a player that can really help the ballclub this year.

Another sent down: The Yankees announced during today's games that RHP Jose Campos was optioned to High-A Tampa, and RHP Bryan Mitchell was sent to Triple-A Scranton.

Campos made his spring debut for the Bombers yesterday in Tampa and threw a scoreless inning against the Detroit Tigers, giving up a hit.

Mitchell only appeared in one game for the Yankees this spring, pitching two scoreless innings, giving up three hits. As Chad Jennings of Lohud noted, he's been sent to Triple-A, but that doesn't mean it's where he'll start the season.

Panama rosters: The Yankees have announced the full travel squad for the two-game series in Panama this weekend against the Miami Marlins, put together to honor Mariano Rivera. This roster stands as follows.

Pitchers: Bruce Billings, Cesar Cabral, Robert Coello, Preston Claiborne, Matt Daley, Chris Leroux, Jim Miller, David Robertson, CC Sabathia, Yoshinori Tateyama, Adam Warren, Chase Whitley.

Catchers: Francisco Cervelli, John Ryan Murphy, Jose Gil.

Infielders: Dean Anna, Derek Jeter, Corban Joseph, Jose Pirela, Yangervis Solarte, Zelous Wheeler.

Outfielders: Zoilo Almonte, Carlos Beltran, Adonis Garcia, Brett Gardner, Antoan Richardson, Alfonso Soriano.

The list of players I have also includes Gary Sanchez as a backup catcher, but he was optioned to Double-A Trenton a couple days ago. So that might just be on there by mistake.

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Nova falls victim to bad luck, Yanks fall to Phils in Clearwater

By: Josh Sabo | Minor League Writer

Ivan Nova suffered a tough loss today, as the Yankees lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2, in a split-squad matchup in Clearwater, Florida.

Despite allowing three runs, Nova looked pretty good. He began the game with 4 strikeouts in the first two innings, but things began to unravel in the third, where he gave up all three of his runs in that inning. But even then he didn't look bad, rather the Yankees defense and poor luck was the reason that Nova struggled. The Yankees are probably one of the worst teams in baseball at employing the shift and this game showed how much it could cost them.

Nova began the third by allowing four straight singles. These singles were either bloops or ground balls that found a hole. These singles were hit by major league players: Ben Revere, Chase Utley, Marlon Bryd and Ryan Howard. Bryd's single scored Revere, and Howard's led to a bases loaded situation. The second run scored on a double-play ball hit by Carlos Ruiz.

Though all these hits and runs were the result of bad luck the third run was by far the luckiest, as it was set up by an infield pop-up single by Dominic Brown. Nova failed to get catch the ball, and that allowed the inning to continue, Darrin Ruf was the next batter and he made Nova pay by hitting a double to score the third run. On the play Brown got thrown out at home for the third out.

Nova rebounded in the next inning and even with his unlucky inning would have probably had a quality start. He gave up 3 runs in 5 innings with 6 strikeouts, and no walks. Yankee fans should be slightly worried about the defensive shifts this team employs, but it's not a big concern when you consider that this wasn't even their usual infield. Honeslty his zero walks are probably my main takeaway from this game, if he can keep his control in check he can be very good.

Shane Greene and Bryan Mitchell came out to pitch the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings and they both did very well.Neither pitcher  allowed a hit and they both struckout two batters. Greene was able to strikeout two major leaguers in Ruiz and Ruf, and looked pretty good doing so.

(The following link comes from Mike Axia and shows just how good his 2-seam fastball can be: http://i.minus.com/ibDBEIncf4faS.gif)

Greene is currently slated to begin the season in AA, but should be able to move pretty quickly and may be an option for a swing-man type role late in the season.

The same can be said of Mitchell, who struckout Freddy Galvis, and Cody Asche. Mitchell, like Greene, was added onto the 40-man roster this past offseason, and is looking like he may finally become the prospect that so many know he can be. He really has great stuff, and though it's a small sample size it's nice to see him throw strikes. If he keeps that up all year, he should be able to become a fairly good starting pitcher. He has a lot of upside.

Mitchell and Greene kept the Yankees in the game, and in the top of the 7th inning it really looked they might make a comeback. The inning started with a homerun by Jacoby Ellsbury to make the lead 3-1. After an out by Ichiro Suzuki, Mark Teixeira drew a walk and was pinch ran for by catcher Francisco Arcia.

The next batter was Kelly Johnson, who came through with a big double. Unfortunately Arcia was thrown out at home on the play. Johnson, however, advanced to third on the throw home, and was later pitch-ran for by Rob Segedin. Segedin scored on the very next play as  Francisco Cervelli continued his hot spring, with a single. Unfortunately the Phillies were able to end the rally by miraculously getting Yangervis Solarte to strikeout.

The two runs scored in the 7th would be the only runs the Yankees scored, but the Phillies had another 3 run inning in the 8th. Their runs all came versus Preston Claiborne who had his first bad outing of the spring. This is somewhat significant as he was considered a lock to be a part of the Yankees bullpen before the spring began. Now it seems that other players, like Matt Daley, and Dellin Betances, deserve it more. Claiborne couldn't even get out of the inning and needed Mark Montgomery to clean up his mess.

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Pitching powers Yankees past the Orioles in shutout win

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

Michael Pineda wasn't as good as he was in his first outing against the Detroit Tigers, but he was still pretty solid.

Making his first start of the spring, the young right-hander rebounded from a shaky first innings to give up just one hit over his final 1 2/3 innings as part of the Yankees' 6-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles Thursday afternoon in Tampa.

The Yankees' pitching staff was very dominant in this one, piling up 12 strikeouts on the day while giving up just five hits in the shutout effort.

Only half of the Yankees' squad was on hand for this game, with the other half not far away in Clearwater for a match against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Pineda gave up back-to-back singles after striking out Quintin Berry to start the game, but he was able to get out of the jam after Steve Pearce flew out to deep left field, chasing Alfonso Soriano, but the runners thought the ball would land so they took off and Henry Urrutia missed second on his way back to first, so the Yankees doubled him up.

The Orioles couldn't do much against him after the first inning, just the one other hit in his third inning of work.

Pineda struck out five of the 11 hitters he faced, and was throwing strike throughout -- 27 of 48 pitches. His offspeed pitches looked sharp, especially his slider. His velocity, however, was not quite there. He was in the 89-90 range, and hit 92 twice, as he continues to build up arm strength.

David Robertson took over for Pineda with two outs in the 3rd inning. He struck out Urrutia on three pitches, and that's where his day ended.

It was the same case for Matt Thornton, who retired the first batter he faced to open the 4th inning, then gave up a single that ended his day. Joe Girardi said during the game on YES that he was only getting in Robertson and Thornton so they could stay loose for the day.

The Yankees' offense was on the money today, picking up 10 hits, double what the Orioles were able to collect.

They started the scoring early when Carlos Beltran ripped a single into right field that scored Brett Gardner from second base, who singled to open the inning. The very next inning, it was Gardner doing the work at the plate following a double from Zoilo Almonte, he sent his own double into left field to double the Yanks' lead to 2-0.

Derek Jeter was the next batter and he tapped a comebacker to the mound and Bud Norris, trying to get Gardner out at third, threw to ball into left field, letting Gardner score.

Gardner was 2-for-4 on the day with a pair of runs scored, and Almonte also collected two hits in three at-bats.

Adding each run one at a time, Alfonso Soriano singled home Brian McCann in the 5th inning on a soft floater into center field, making it a 4-0 game.

The Yankees would stay up by four runs until the 8th when they tacked on two more thanks to a single by Adonis Garcia, and a double-play groundout Jose Gil, letting Corban Joseph score from third.

The Yankees' bullpen was impressive once again. After Robertson and Thornton, Bruce Billings tossed 2.2 innings of one-hit ball, striking out three. Chris Leroux has been very impressive as a non-roster invitee this spring, and he continued that Thursday with two perfect innings. And Cesar Cabral closed out the game with a scoreless 9th.

While most of the team will fly out to Panama tomorrow, the other half will stay in Tampa to host the Minnesota Twins at 1:05pm ET. David Phelps will be on the mound for the Yankees.

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Spring Training Games 16 and 17: Orioles at Yankees, Yankees at Phillies

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

Half of the Yankees' squad is in Tampa today to host the Baltimore Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field. First pitch is set for 1:05 pm ET, and the game will be televised on YES.

The other half will be in Clearwater for a matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies, which will also start at 1:05 pm ET but can only be seen on MLB.TV.

Michael Pineda will make his first start of the spring, and his first appearance in front of TV cameras for the first time in two years.

Pineda made his spring debut last week against the Detroit Tigers and it was a very encouraging debut. He struck out four, including Miguel Cabrera, in two scoreless innings. His slider looked very sharp, and he was sitting in the low 90's, which was a good thing to see from a guy that Yankees would love to get a lot out of this season.

This will be my first time watching Pineda pitch, so I'm pretty excited to see how he throws, especially after the great reviews he got after his last game, which was not televised.

Getting the ball for Team-B today will be Ivan Nova, who the Yankees are also counting on as their No. 4 starter this season.

Nova has been a little up an down so far this spring. His first start was not great, while his second was very impressive, striking out four in three hitless innings against the Washington Nationals. But he take another step back in his last outing, giving up three runs on eight hits to the Houston Astros.

Today's split-squad lineups vs Baltimore and Philadelphia:

Today's lineup vs BAL in Tampa: Gardner 8, Jeter 6, Beltran DH, McCann 2, Soriano 7, Nuñez 5, Anna 4, Almonte 9, Canzler 3, Pineda 1.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 13, 2014

Lineup vs PHI in Clearwater: Ellsbury 8, Suzuki 9, Teixeira 3, Johnson 5, Cervelli 2, Solarte 6, Sizemore 4, Flores 7, Romine DH, Nova 1.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 13, 2014

Pretty much everyone will be in action today. Derek Jeter will be in Tampa, playing shortstop today, and Mark Teixeira is on the road and playing first base today. Francisco Cervelli, who hit two homeruns yesterday, will be playing in Clearwater with Asutin Romine as the DH, while Brian McCann is in Tampa to catch Pineda.

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YBB American League preview: Minnesota Twins

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

It seems like the Minnesota Twins have not been good since moving to their new, big ballpark, moving from the indoor Metrodome, to the beautiful work of outside baseball.

After making the playoffs in both 2009 and 2010, the Twins have lost at least 96 games three consecutive years in-a-row.

With a record of 66-96, the Twins were not very good this year, so they set out to improve on that during the offseason.

Several key pitching additions should help this pitching challenged team very much. Ricky Nolasco was their biggest signing of the winter, and Phil Hughes could also turn out to be a big signing if he's able to turn things around after ending his Yankee career in a very low note.

The Twins reportedly made string runs after Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo, too, but came up short on both pitchers.

Offensively, Joe Mauer has been left as the only real start in the lineup, and will probably be the only position to represent his hometown team during the All-Star Game this summer at Target Field.

The Twins moved Mauer over to first bas from behind the plate during the offseason, and that should prove to be a very smart move that not only benefits Mauer, but also the Twins, who gave him a big long-term contract a few years ago.

Justin Morneau's tenure in Minnesota came to an end over the winter when he signed as a free-agent with the Colorado Rockies.

With Mauer moving over to first base, this move won't be too bad for the Twins, especially since Morneau has not been an all-star first baseman since suffering a concussion a few years ago.

Top prospect Byron Buxton will start the year in the minors. He's the top ranked prospect in baseball by a lot of top sites, and his future arrival to the big league club will be a good addition if he pans out.

The Yankees and Twins will only have a pair of meeting this season; the first coming in late-May when Minnesota comes to the Bronx for a three-game set, and they won't meet against until July when the Yankees stop at Target Field for four games on July 3-6.

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Zoilo Almonte's 9th inning homer helps Yankees tie the Tigers

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

With a runner on first base in the bottom of the 9th, Zoilo Almonte clubbed a long two-run homerun to right field off of Jose Ortega to the game at 7-7, completing the Yankees comeback in a game they would tie with the Detroit Tiger, 7-7, Wednesday afternoon at The Boss in Tampa.

Hiroki Kuroda got the call of the Yankees, and was hit hard right from the start. He gave up back-to-back singles to start the game; Ian Kinsler scored on the second single by Don Kelly when Carlos Beltran's throw from right field short-hopped past Kelly Johnson at third base.

That wasn't the end, because Kuroda would end up allowing three more runs in the innings.

A sac-fly by Victor Martinez brought home Kelly from third, then a few batters later with a pair of runners on base, Nick Castellanos hit a flyball to right-center field that dropped between Beltran and center fielder Mason Williams, making it a 4-0 game.

Heis control was one of his 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.

The Tigers added two more runs off of Kuroda in the 3rd inning on a one-out double by Trevor Crowe.

If there was one high note on the day it was Francisco Cervelli, who really helped his trade value a little bit by hitting a pair of homeruns, both solo shots, for his 2nd and 3rd homeruns of the spring.

Cervelli, who has been drawing quite a bit of interest from teams this spring, has been playing very well over the plat couple of weeks, and it would take a lot at this point for him to not be the Yankees' backup catcher on Opening Day.

The Yankees began their late comeback in the 8th inning, scoring three runs to bring them within one run.

Almonte, Yangervis Solarte and Adonis Garcia all collected one-out hits to load the bases, then John Ryan Murphy groundout to score Almonte while making the second out of the inning ahead of Zelous Wheeler, who would hit a ground-rule double down the left field line to bring in two more runs.

Kuroda was not very good today, but the Yankees' bullpen was, combining for 4.1 scoreless innings from Shawn Kelley, Jose Campos, Fred Lewis, Danny Burawa and Chase Whitley before Robert Coello gave up a run in the 9th inning.

The Yankees will have their first split-squad games of the spring tomorrow, with Michael Pineda in Tampa to face the Baltimore Orioles as he makes his first start of the spring, and Ivan Nova will go on the road to Clearwater to face the Philadelphia Phillies.

Both games will start at 1:05pm ET and the game against the Orioles can be seen on YES, and the Phillies matchup will be on MLB.TV.

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Yankees make three more spring cuts

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

Prior to Wednesday's game against the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees made a trio of roster cuts that included a pair of players that have been dealing with injuries throughout spring training.

LHP Nik Turley and outfielder Slade Heathcott were optioned to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Berre, and top prospect Gary Sanchez was sent down to Double-A Trenton.

Turley has been shut down completely by the Yankees for the past could of weeks because of tightness in his pitching arm, and Heathcott has been working back from a knee surgery that he had late last season.

Sanchez was hitting .333 with one homerun in five games for the Yankees this spring.

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Could the Yankees get Tommy Kahnle back from the Rockies?

By: Josh Sabo | Minor League Writer

Prior to the 2012 Rule 5 draft, many pundits felt that the Yankees would protect a couple relief prospects. Chase Whitley, Fred Lewis, Danny Burawa and Tommy Kahnle were all hyped up as potential Rule 5 picks. The Yankees took a gamble and didn't protect any of the previously mentioned pitchers. This was somewhat of a surprise as those players have some talent, but the Yankees really didn't  have a lot of room on their roster.

The team must have felt that the risk of not protecting these players was smaller than the risk of designating another prospect for assignment. This makes sense because once a player gets claimed on waivers he essentially gone for good, but if a player is taken in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft he can be returned to his original team. Most Rule 5 selections actually end up back on their orginal team, as it is hard for most prospects to stick on the 25-man roster all season.

This fact may benefit the Yankees as the one reliever they lost in the draft has a bit of upside. Tommy Kahnle, was the lucky Yankee prospect who got an opportunity to play in the big leagues; he was taken in the draft by the Colorado Rockies. There are two main factors in determining whether or not the Yankees will lose him for good: the first factor is his own performance, and the second factor is whether or not the team has room for him.

So far his performance has been pretty good. He has pitched 3.1 innings without allowing a hit and only walking two batters. This is of course a tiny sample size but it certainly improves his chances of  making the team. Despite his good results he hasn't gotten the type of press one would expect. There is very little being written about his chances of making the Rockies. This could be a very good sign for the Yankees.

The lack of attention may be because the Rockies have a lot of other relief options, and those options wouldn't come with the same restrictions that Kahnle does. By looking at the Rockies roster we can see that they have several intriguing options for their pen. Players like: Rex Brothers, Boone Logan, Latroy Hawkins, Matt Belisle, are virtual locks to make the team. Chances are the Rockies only want to carry 12 pitchers so he will have to win one of the three final slots.

Assuming the team wants a long reliever or a second lefty, we would have to give one of those spots to Franklin Morales. The fact that the Rockies traded for him may suggest that they like him and I think he will get a spot on the team.

That leaves just two spots. One of those spots may go to Wilton Lopez, who has had a  pretty good career up until last season. The former Yankee farmhand seemed to lose his strikeout ability last season (his SO/9 fell by about 2 batters), but he has a lot of potential. So far he has shown the ability to strike batters during spring training. Someone with Lopez's track record should probably be able to win a roster spot.

Now there is only one real spot for Kahnle to win and that spot can go to a few different players. Adam Ottavino, is one such player  and he did well last season. He had an ERA of 2.64 and had 78 strikeouts in 78.1 innings. His WHIP was rather high but players with that kind of strikeout ability tend to get a lot of chances.

Lastly players like: Tyler Matzek, Chad Bettis, Rob Scahill, and several other prospects might make have a case for that final spot in the pen.

All these players affect Kahnle chances of making the opening day roster, but it's important to remember that even if he makes that roster he still has to stick on the team for the entire season. Because of all these factors I think the Yankees have a legit chance of getting him back.

For those unfamiliar with Kahnle the Yankees would be getting a intriguing later inning reliever, who has a similar ceiling to Burawa. Like Burawa, Kahnle throws a fastball in the upper 90s and has two secondary pitches: a slider and a changeup. Kahnle's changeup is thought to better than Burawa and that might be the reason the Rockies took him over Burawa. Kahnle, and Burawa for that matter, needs better command, but his overall package would make him a major league reliever.

Hopefully the Yankees will get him back because the team needs all the relief depth they can get. As of now David Robertson is the only sure thing in their pen and they can't just wait for Andrew Bailey to come back. 

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Spring Training Game 15: Tigers at Yankees

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

We've seen a lot of impressive outings from Yankees starters this spring, but if had to pitch one, I'd say that Hiroki Kuroda has been the most impressive. He takes the mound in Tampa today as the Yankees host the Detroit Tigers at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Kuroda is making his third start of the spring after a pair of solid outings to start his exhibition season.

His last start was Friday, also against the Tigers; he started the game in front of Michael Pineda, who was making his spring debut that night. Kuroda only gave up one hit, while striking out five and walking one.

Kuroda being Kuroda has said after both starts that he's not where he wants to be, which is understandable. He's pitching well, but if your pitching well in spring training that just means it can get better.

The Yankees will need Kuroda, 39, to be good this year -- for the entire season. As you probably know, he was their best pitcher until the final six weeks of the season when he broke down and could help give the Yankees the final push they needed to get into the playoffs.

Today's lineup vs Detroit:

Today's lineup vs DET: Ichiro 7, Jeter 6, Beltran 9, Soriano DH, Johnson 5, Roberts 4, Cervelli 2, Canzler 3, Williams 8, Kuroda 1.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 12, 2014

Ichiro Suzuki will lead it off for the Yankees today. If I had to bet on it, I'd say that the Yankees might be trying to showcase Ichiro for a trade, because we all know that there is no room for him on the roster, and I'm sure they would rather carry an extra infield with the concerns in that area.

Since the Yankees are at home, Derek Jeter is back in the lineup playing shortstop today. He looked really good in the field, mobility-wise, in his last game on Sunday.

Today’s second string: C Austin Romine, 1B Jose Gil, 2B Zelous Wheeler, SS Dean Anna, 3B Jose Pirela, LF Yangervis Solarte, CF Antoan Richardson, RF Adonis Garcia, DH John Ryan Murphy.

Today’s scheduled relievers: Shawn Kelley, Jose Campos, Robert Coello, Yoshinori Tateyama, Fred Lewis.

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YBB American League preview: Chicago White Sox

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

A year after just barely missing out on the playoffs, the Chicago White Sox were not very good in 2013, finishing with the second worst record in the American League, just in front of the Houston Astros.

It took a lot for Chicago to fall as far as they did last season. Everyone had a down year, and there were very few positives to take away.

Paul Konerko had a very rough year, hitting .244 with just 12 homeruns. His days as one of the league's top first baseman are far from over, and he's now enter what could be his final season.

Adam Dunn struck out a lot, as did Alejandro De Aza. But on the bright side, both provided the power to make up for it. De Aza has been drawing some interest from teams and the White Sox could decide to move him if the price is right.

Looking at Chicago's depth chart, I can't call this a team that is better than the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals, but it's hard to say that there isn't talent.

The White Sox signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu during the winter and that kid is going to be very good.

Alexi Ramirez and Gordon Beckham are a decent double play combo up the middle, and both could find themselves in a different infield if traded. I know that the White Sox have been watching Francisco Cervelli, and they have infield depth they could send to the Yankees.

Bringing in Adam Eaton from the Arizona Diamondbacks was a nice addition to their outfield. He's not an all-star outfielder, but can bring some useful skills to that lineup.

Their starting rotation is probably the weakest part of their roster. Chris Sale is the leader of that pitching staff, but since trading away Jake Peavy at the deadline last summer, he is essentially the only big arm they have in the rotation.

Ronald Belisario could be a good add to the bullpen, but he is pretty unpredictable, so it's hard to guess how his signing will workout.

Yankees fans won't get a chance to watch the White Sox play until the Bombers head to Chicago for a four-game series in late-May. By then, they might already be eliminated from playoff contention.

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Should we be concerned with CC Sabathia's velocity loss?

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

CC Sabathia made his second start of the spring yesterday in Viera against the Washington Nationals, and the results looked a lot like the kind of outing we would have seen from Sabathia last season, his worst year in professional baseball.

Sabathia looked very hittable, and velocity was an issue once agains with him topping out at 88 mph on his fastball.

After the game, Sabathia said that he "sucked," and it would be great if we don't have to hear him say that very often after game this season.

"I was kind of erratic, like all over the place," Sabathia said. "I couldn't get my delivery down, and try to push off, try to get some leverage throwing downhill, it was just hard for me. I don’t know if I was just jumping off the mound, leaving too early. From my point of view, I just felt like I was rushing."

While we might have reason to, I'm not concerning over anything yet. It's spring training. This is the time when pitchers continue to build up their arm strength and iron out the wrinkles before the regular season starts.

As I mentioned before, this was only CC's start start of the spring, and he'll have a few more before facing the Houston Astros on the opening series of the season.

I'm going to give him until the end of the spring before starting to concern myself over thing like velocity. Even though it is important, we're not at that point yet. While I'm at it, I asked Yankees fans on Twitter what they have to say about CC's velocity and pitching concerns:

@YanksBeatBlog 91 was an issue, but hes having trouble cracking 90..hes looking like a number 4 out there
— Vince (@vinny__m) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog stick w/ the cutter and hit your spots @CC_Sabathia . We r not worried. Vets adjust. Moose did it, Andy did it. You can do if
— Dan McKillen (@DanMcK3) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog he will find it difficult to pitch without power stuff but have the confidence he will figure it out
— Steve Carosella (@Carosella22) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog happens to all pitchers but was hoping CC would have stayed in low to mid 90's a little longer
— Aaron Koepping (@AKoepping7) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog Hoping he is pitching pain free.. #Yankees
— Bill Francis (@BillWillisf3) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog more concerned about the control over velo... can get away with a lot if you can touch edges of the zone
— Draft 2 Dynasty (@Draft2Dynasty) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog If he throws a Pettitte cutter with good breaking stuff, he can still dominate. It's just on him to evolve as a pitcher now
— Mr. Entertainment (@newkingofmedia) March 11, 2014

@YanksBeatBlog not happy would be different if fastball had movement but it's flat, which effects his other pitches average pitcher at best
— Gary novakowski (@Gnovs30) March 11, 2014

Thanks to everyone that shared their thoughts with us, and we hope to continue this discussion on Twitter, so go hit us up @GavinEwbank or @YanksBeatBlog. Or even use the comment section below!

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Sabathia tops out at 88 as the Yankees lose 3-2 to the Nationals

By: Josh Sabo | Minor League Writer

Today was the first day this spring that an important part of 2014 Yankees rotation struggled.  CC Sabathia allowed 3 runs in 3 innings. Even more concerning than the runs he allowed was the fact that he wasn't able to reach 90 MPH, with any of his fastballs.

Sabathia's struggles put the Yankees in an early three to nothing hole. A hole the Yankees could not get out of, as the Nationals pitchers performed really well in their 3-2 win over the Bombers Tuesday in Viera, Florida.

The player of the game for the Nationals should be Anthony Rendon. Rendon played a role in all three of the Nationals runs. He led off the game with a walk and ended up scoring on a fielder's choice by Wilson Ramos. Ramos's ground ball was almost turned into a really nice double play, but he was able to beat out the throw to first. On the play second baseman--Scott Sizemore-- showed tremendous range and athleticism by fielding a ball up the middle and flipping the ball behind his back to Eduardo Nunez. Nunez made a good throw but Ramos was still able to beat it out.

One inning later Rendon hit a double to left field and brought home two more National runs. This made the game 3-0, and forced the Yankees to play catchup all afternoon. Fortunately the Yankees pitching settled down after that inning, as CC and the Yankees relievers did their job. 

However this early lead was able to stand, as the Yankees offense couldn't do much versus Washington. The Yankees first hit came in the 5th inning versus Drew Storen. Eduardo Nunez  hit a two triple to right field, and later scored on a line drive single to right by Dean Anna.

The Yankees were able to able to score one more run in the 6th inning, but that was it for them. The run in the sixth came courtesy or a Brett Gardner sac fly, which scored Zoilo Almonte from third. Almonte had doubled earlier in the inning and moved to third after Jacoby Ellsbury flew out to center. As of now it really looks like Almonte should win a roster spot over Ichiro Suzuki, though I doubt that actually happens.

After the sixth inning the Yankees offense didn't do anything noteworthy, though Yangervis Solarte did have a hit, and a few players had nice looking at-bats.

The relievers that the Yankees used today were: Matt Daley, Jim Miller, David Herndon, Cesar Cabral, and Brian Gordon. Jim Miller and Daley looked very good versus regular National's starters. Miller was able to strike Jayson Werth and Daley struck out Tyler Moore. So far both pitchers look like they have an outside chance of making the club. Herndon, Cabral, and Gordon also looked good but pitched versus lesser batters.

Overall the main takeaway from this game is that CC couldn't reach 90 MPH. That isn't that concerning, but since he lost velocity last season it will scare a lot of fans. CC threw a few fastballs at around 85-87 MPH.Usually cutters are slower than regular fastballs so it's possible that a lot of the fastballs he threw were simply cutters. Either way it's too early to be worried about CC.

The Yankees will be playing the Tigers tomorrow at 1:05 PM.

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Masahiro Tanaka strikes out 9 of 18 in simulated game

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

While the Yankees were getting ready to play the Washington Nationals in Viera today, Masahiro Tanaka was back in Tampa pitching in a simulated game, which you could count as his third start of the spring.

Tanaka struck out nine of 18 batters he faced in four innings, according to the Associated Press, giving up three hits, including a solo homerun. He threw 49 strikes during the 63-pitch outing, his longest of the spring so far.

Jake Cave hit the homer off Tanaka, while Cito Culver had two singles.

“I felt that I was able to do what I wanted to do today,” Tanaka told the AP through an interpreter. “Given that my split-finger wasn’t that good my last outing, I worked a lot on that today.”

Tanaka has made a pair of starts against actual Major League clubs this spring -- both against Phillies -- and he has been very impressive. He's given up one run on four hits in five innings overall. His splitter has been everything people say it is, and catcher Brian McCann has said that Tanaka is as good as advertised.

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Spring Training Game 14: Yankees at Nationals

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

CC Sabathia is back on the mound for his second start of the spring today when he faces the Washington Nationals today in Viera, Florida.

Sabathia threw a simulated game for the Yankees on Thursday -- the day that Masahiro Tanaka faced the Phillies -- and everything went fine there, as you would have hoped for.

It's been the same old story surrounding Sabathia this spring: his lost velocity, which he has been dealign with for the past year now since undergoing elbow surgery last offseason. Sabathia says that it is what is it is, and that he's not worried about it, but it's going to be very difficult for him to be an ace without his high-90's velocity.

CC made his spring debit against the Phillies a couple of weeks ago and looked good in the outing. Of course everyone was watching his velo, but he did throw two scoreless innings to start the game.

Normally, facing the Nationals would be a game that you could take more seriously when judging his outing, but the Nats decided to keep out most of the regulars for this game, making it an easier lineup for Sabathia to maneuver through this afternoon.

Today's lineup vs Washington:

Today's lineup vs WAS: Ellsbury CF, Gardner LF, Teixeira 1B, McCann C, Sizemore 2B, Nunez SS, Anna 3B, Romine DH, Almonte RF. Sabathia LHP.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 11, 2014

I might be wrong in saying this, but I'm pretty sure that today will be the first time this spring that Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury will be playing side-by-side in the outfield together. Joe Girardi slotted them next to each other in the lineup, so the Yankees will have a lot of speed on display today.

As the continue to, what I can only assume, show off their catching depth for a possible trade, the Yankees have Austin Romine as the DH today with Brian McCann behind the plate.

Today’s second string: C Gary Sanchez, 1B Francisco Arcia, 2B Corban Joseph, SS Yangervis Solarte, 3B Zelous Wheeler, LF Antoan Richardson, CF Mason Williams, RF Ramon Flores, DH Pete O’Brien.

Today’s scheduled relievers: Cesar Cabral, Fred Lewis, Matt Daley, Brian Gordon, Jim Miller and David Herndon (Dellin Betances, Chase Whitley, Mark Montgomery and Danny Burawa are also making the trip).

This game won't be on YES today, but you can catch it on MLB Network.

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