The LoHud Yankees Blog

Nine players were cut from big league camp this afternoon.

RHP Andrew Brackman
RHP D.J. Mitchell
RHP Christian Garcia
RHP Kevin Whelan
LHP Wilkins Arias
LHP Kei Igawa
LHP Wilkin De La Rosa
LHP Jeremy Bleich
C Kyle Higashioka

The three players on the 40-man were optioned to specific teams. Brackman was optioned to Tampa, Garcia to Trenton and De La Rosa to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Previous indications were that De La Rosa would open in the Trenton rotation, so his assignment might change between now and opening day. For now, he’s with the Triple-A group.

Two other players have been cut, but those moves aren’t being announced because those players are on the road in Lakeland. They will either be announced later tonight or in the morning.

YANKEES
Brett Gardner CF
Nick Johnson DH
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Curtis Granderson LF
Randy Winn RF
Juan Miranda 1B
Brandon Laird 3B
Ramiro Pena SS

RHP Javy Vazquez (15-10, 2.87 ERA in 2009)

ORIOLES
Adam Jones CF
Cesar Izturis SS
Nick Markakis RF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Matt Wieters C
Garrett Atkins 1B
Ty Winninton 2B
Lou Montanez LF
Michael Aubrey DH

RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-17, 5.04 ERA in 2009)

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m./MY9

WEATHER: Perfect. The anti-yesterday. Sun shining. Breeze blowing. Temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s.

UMPIRES: HP Marty Foster, 1B Jeff Kellogg, 2B Mark Carlson, 3B Sam Holbrook

ON THE LINE: This is the first start in left field for Curtis Granderson, who could be asked to open the season there if the Yankees decide they prefer Brett Gardner in center… Also another chance for Alfredo Aceves to continue his strong start this spring.

UPDATE, 12:55 p.m.: When I went home this week, I found four issues of Sports Illustrated had arrived since I left. One of them had Orioles catcher Matt Wieters on the cover, and the story is worth reading for Yankees fans. Not only is Wieters one of those names you simply have to know in baseball right now, but the story also deals with catching prospects in general — Jesus Montero’s name is mentioned — and the difficulty of finding one who can handle both sides of the position. There’s a reason the Yankees keep adding catchers to their already catching deep farm system.

UPDATE, 1:15 p.m.: The Yankees just announced that this game will go a full nine innings. No matter the score, there will be a bottom of the ninth. The Orioles must have a pitcher who needs to get in the game late.

UPDATE, 1:21 p.m.: Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the first with a walk, then scored without a play on Nick Johnson’s double to left. Yankees up 1-0 before making an out.

UPDATE, 1:23 p.m.: Make that 2-0 before making an out. Back-to-back singles by Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano have scored Johnson put runners at first and second for Curtis Granderson… And now Granderson has singled to load the bases for Randy Winn.

UPDATE, 1:27 p.m.: Good news out of Lakeland. Francisco Cervelli singled in his first at-bat. Meanwhile, in Tampa, it’s now 3-0 after a sacrifice fly by Juan Miranda (Winn popped out).

UPDATE, 1:41 p.m.: Make that 3-2 Yankees. Ty Wigginton just took Vazquez deep for a two-run home run, his second home run of the spring.

UPDATE, 1:46 p.m.: Mark Feinsand was the only beat writer to go with the on-the-road half of the Yankees. He’s updating his Twitter with some game details.

UPDATE, 1:57 p.m.: The top of the Yankees lineup came to play. Three straight hits from Gardner, Johnson and Posada have led to another run and a 4-2 lead. The hits stopped when Ty Wigginton made a nifty play — backhand, flip with the glove — to start a 4-6-3 double play on Cano’s grounder up the middle.

UPDATE, 2:01 p.m.: First challenging ball hit to left field. Granderson made a nice running catch in foul territory. Second sort-of challenging ball hit to left, Granderson had to go back on the ball and made a fairly routine catch near the track.

UPDATE, 2:12 p.m.: So much for the perfect spring. Alfredo Aceves just allowed a lead-off home run to Garrett Atkins. Aceves hadn’t allowed a hit or a walk in his first six innings this spring. It’s now 4-3 Yankees.

UPDATE, 2:16 p.m.: Ramiro Pena. That dude can play some defense.

UPDATE, 2:38 p.m.: Just talked to Vazquez, who really didn’t have much to say. He made some good pitches. Missed with some changeups. Wigginton homered on a fastball after a couple of sliders. “My arm strength is good, my body feels good,” Vazquez said.

UPDATE, 2:53 p.m.: Over in Lakeland, Johnny Damon has homered off Sergio Mitre, who has allowed three runs through two innings. Damon’s homer was a solo shot.

UPDATE, 3:11 p.m.: The changes have been made for the Yankees. Ring is pitching, Pilittere is at first, Montero is catching, Corona is at second, Golson is in center, Curtis is in left and Weber is in right.

UPDATE, 3:18 p.m.: I’ll say it again, Ramiro Pena can play some defense.

Because of there are two games happening at once, the Yankees brought some extra players up from minor league camp this morning. Only one of them — outfielder Edwar Gonzalez — is scheduled to play, but the rest will be on the bench just in case. There’s an extra catcher, outfielder and infielder for both the home game and the road game.

Home vs. Baltimore

Scheduled to play off the bench: C Jesus Montero, 1B P.J. Pilittere, 2B Reegie Corona, LF Colin Curtis, RF Jon Weber, DH Kyle Higashioka
Extra players: C Mitch Abeita, INF Justin Snyder, OF Austin Krum
Available out of the bullpen: Royce Ring, Kei Igawa, Alfredo Aceves, Dave Robertson, Wilkins Arias, Jeremy Bleich

Road vs. Detroit

Scheduled to play off the bench: C Austin Romine, 1B Mike Rivera, SS Kevin Russo, 3B Jorge Vazquez, LF Edwar Gonzalez, RF Reid Gorecki, DH Jose Gil
Extra players: C Ryan Baker, INF Luis Nunez, OF Dan Brewer
Available out of the bullpen: Sergio Mitre, Boone Logan, Grant Duff, Amaury Sanit, Zach Segovia

• Kevin Russo is getting some time at shortstop today. If he can prove himself at that position — he played it in college, in the Arizona Fall League and a few times last year — he could make a strong push for the big league utility job.

• A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes and Mark Melancon are each scheduled for side sessions today.

• Back-to-back road trips for Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher, all of whom will go to Lakeland today and Bradenton tomorrow.

UPDATE, 9:55 a.m.: Just got the Orioles game notes. Still no lineup for them, but their scheduled pitchers are: Jeremy Guthrie, Alfredo Simon, Jason Berken, Cla Meredith, Matt Albers and Alberto Castillo.

UPDATE, 10:34 a.m.: The Orioles lineup.

Adam Jones CF
Cesar Izturis SS
Nick Markakis RF
Miguel Tejeda 3B
Matt Weiters C
Garrett Atkins 1B
Ty Wigginton 2B
Lou Montanez LF
Michael Aubrey DH

The Orioles are actually sort of a split-squad as well. They’re playing a B game in Sarasota. My question is, who in the world is playing in that game? Is Nolan Reimold handling every position?

Home vs. Baltimore
Gardner CF
Johnson DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Granderson LF
Winn RF
Miranda 1B
Laird 3B
Pena SS

RHP Javier Vazquez

Road vs. Detroit
Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Thames LF
Cervelli C
Hoffmann CF
Winfree DH
Nunez 2B

RHP Chad Gaudin

Before Sam came down here for a few days, he and I talked about breaking up the game posts a little bit so that information doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. That’s why we’ve been going with an early lineup post. Is this working for everyone?

A spring training tradition like no other: The simulated game. A.J. Burnett threw one on Thursday, and Andy Pettitte threw one on Friday. Simulated innings are occasionally strange to watch, but Pettitte seemed to get his work in and was sweating when the three “innings” were over. That’s the best the Yankees could do in the rain.

Next week, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain will finally split up in their chase for the fifth spot in the rotation. The notebook also has items on Derek Jeter’s health, Francisco Cervelli’s head, Mariano Rivera’s schedule and a few plans for today’s split squad games.

A nice idea from a reader named Mike, who earlier this spring donated his extra Yankees spring training tickets to the Big Brothers and Sisters of Tampa Bay. After the game, he got an email that read, in part…

Scott and I really appreciate the generosity of the individual donating those tickets. Scott loves sports but I don’t think he knew how packed that game was going to be until we got there. I think that was the spring training game of the year.

Mike would like to suggest similar donations from other Yankees fans who have extra spring tickets. He asked that anyone interested email him — mike@classiccards.com — and he’ll put you in touch with his contact with Big Brothers and Sisters.

If you have tickets and can make it to the stadium, terrific. But if you have tickets and can’t use them all, there are certainly worse ideas than sending a kid to a game.

It’s time to split up Phil Hughes and Joba Chamblerlain. Their fifth day should be Monday, but the Yankees are committed to giving everyone that day off — an extra day of rest near the mid-point of spring training — which leaves Tuesday, scheduled to be A.J. Burnett’s next start.

“Only one of them can throw with A.J., unless we were to schedule an 11-inning game,” Joe Girardi said. “And I’m not sure anyone would necessarily want to do that.”

So it is that Hughes will pitch in relief of Burnett on Tuesday and Chamberlain will pitch in relief of Andy Pettitte on Wednesday.

“We’re looking for certain things regardless of what day they pitch, whether they pitch the same day or not,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “… It’s not just numbers. It’s the quality of each pitch. Working ahead in the count. First pitch strikes. Stuff. Command. How economical are they? Are there long at-bats? Are the outs hard hit? You could go out and pitch a few innings and give up lasers all across the field and walk away with no hits and no runs, but that doesn’t mean you made good pitches.”

• After today’s rainout, the Yankees split-squad games tomorrow. Javier Vazquez will start the home game against Baltimore. Alfredo Aceves, Dave Robertson and Royce Ring are scheduled to pitch in relief. Chad Gaudin will start on the road against the Pirates. Sergio Mitre and Boone Logan are scheduled pitch in that game, with Grant Duff, Zach Segovia and Amaury Sanit also making the trip.

• Position players going on the road tomorrow: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Russo, Eduardo Nunez, Jorge Vazquez, Nick Swisher, Marcus Thames, Reid Gorecki, Jamie Hoffmann, David Winfree, Francisco Cervelli, Jose Gil, Mike Rivera and Austin Romine.

• Curtis Granderson was scheduled to make his first start in left field this afternoon. Girardi said he couldn’t remember whether Granderson is in left field tomorrow, but he’ll certainly be sharing an outfield with Brett Gardner.

• Cervelli said he felt “nothing” wrong with his head while taking batting practice today. “We’ll see tomorrow,” he said.

• Derek Jeter believes he had food poisoning instead of the flu. He felt better today and is scheduled to play tomorrow.

• CC Sabathia is still scheduled to start Sunday.

• Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte will make their spring debuts on Tuesday. Chan Ho Park is scheduled to throw batting practice tomorrow and make his spring debut next week.

• Minor league games start on March 18, and Girardi said it’s likely the team will send some of the rotation candidates to minor league camp to get some innings

• Speaking of minor league games, my good friend Donnie Collins has the early minor league group assignments. Remember, these will change drastically before the start of the season.

• Good news for those of you who are statistically inclined, Girardi said he really likes advanced statistics, including some of the newer defensive stats. “I look at it all the time,” he said. “I’m a numbers guy so I look at numbers all the time.”

Andy Pettitte wasn’t going through the motions this afternoon. He was going through the Philadelphia Phillies. During his three-inning simulated game in the indoor cage at Steinbrenner Field, pitching coach Dave Eiland called balls and strikes while Pettitte acted as if he were facing the Phillies lineup.

“I didn’t give up a hit in three innings,” Pettitte said. “Unfortunately, this is what we had to do. I got my normal warm-up in, and then I got all of my throws in. And I’m tired. That was the biggest thing, I just wanted to make sure I’m good and fatigued. Obviously I would have loved to have faced hitters, but the way the weather’s been, I just had to get my work in here today.”

Eiland forced Pettitte into various game situations, occasionally calling a foul ball instead of a strike three. When Pettitte finished with his 50 pitches, he was sweating. Maybe he wasn’t exhausted, but he’d certainly been working.

“You’re trying to challenge him,” Eiland said. “You’re also trying to get his pitch count up. You don’t want to just call balls and strikes, you want to make it kind of game-like. He may throw a pitch in a certain count that might get a swing, but I’m not going to give it to him. You have to make it a challenge. It can’t be a go-through-the-motions thing.”

Pettitte chose the Phillies because that’s who he’ll face on Wednesday in his spring training debut. Twelve years ago, such a late spring training debut might have worried him, but not today.

“I’m just at a stage where, emotionally, I’m not going to get overwhelmed when I’m in a regular game,” Pettitte said. “It’s not going to change that much.”

Here’s Pettitte speaking roughly 60 seconds after his final pitch.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Because of the rain, Andy Pettitte is throwing a bullpen session today. It’s too wet in Tampa for anything other than indoor work. Pettitte will not pitch in a game until Wednesday the 17th.

“He’s got four more starts,” Joe Girardi said. “We’ll make sure that he sees live people.”

Joba Chamberlain will pitch out of the bullpen behind Pettitte on Wednesday. Phil Hughes will pitch in relief of A.J. Burnett on Tuesday.

UPDATE, 12:19 p.m.: Pettitte is two innings into his three-inning session. He’s pitching to Austin Romine while Mike Harkey alternates standing in the left and right batters box. Dave Eiland is watching from behind the mound.

Two batting cages over, Joe Girardi is throwing batting practice to his son and one of his son’s friends. Two very different baseball worlds, 30 feet apart.

Just heard from a couple of Yankees who were making the trip to Viera. The bus has turned around and the team is heading back to Tampa.

No word on a plan for the afternoon, but the Nationals won’t be involved.