The LoHud Yankees Blog

According to Ed Price, the Yankees have placed Chad Gaudin on waivers.

The Yankees clearly don’t have room for all five of their fifth-starter candidates. This spring, Gaudin has been the least reliable of the bunch. Plus he’s out of options and is owed $2.95 million, which is more than three times what Sergio Mitre is owed. The other candidates will make a little more than the league minimum.

If Gaudin clears, the Yankees could send him to Triple-A, or they could release him and pay him only a fraction of his salary.

Phil Hughes allowed three home runs including a walk-off on Monday, but he and Joe Girardi each felt it was his best outing of the spring, and it came in his final outing before the Yankees begin to make fifth-starter decisions. Joba Chamberlain also pitched well in an intrasqaud game. “It seems like it gets muddled more every day,” Girardi said.

Andy Pettitte has his usual rotation spot locked up, but his spring has been anything but ordinary. Pettitte was one of six Yankees pitchers to pitch in yesterday’s loosely structured intrasquad game. The notebook also has items on Jamie Hoffmann’s return to Los Angeles, four players being sent to minor league camp, A.J. Burnett’s shaky beginning in Clearwater and Alex Rodriguez’s scheduled meeting with federal investigators.

When the Yankees reassigned their top two prospects to minor league camp on Sunday, Austin Romine was the other guy. Overshadowed by Jesus Montero, Romine has quietly become another of the top catching prospects in baseball. That’s why this Q&A started with a question I never thought I’d ask a guy who won his league’s MVP award last season.

Do you think your offense is sometimes overlooked? People tend to make a big deal of the fact that you’re the guy here who can handle the position defensively.
Romine: I do, I think my hitting gets overlooked a little bit, but how can it not behind Montero? That guy’s a freak at the plate. But I like to think that I take a lot of pride in my hitting. Every year I set the bar. I want to hit .300. I want to hit a little bit more home runs, have a little bit more RBIs. I do take a lot of pride in my hitting, and I want them to think a little bit higher of me. I can hit, and I’m going out to do it every year.

Is it a good or a bad thing knowing that Jesus gets so much of the attention?
Romine: I don’t mind it at all. I’ve always been under the radar and I prefer that. I don’t need anything of the focus. I don’t mind it, but I’m a humble guy. I don’t need cameras and stuff in my face. Just stay under the radar, do my work, work hard, and I’ll get a shot hopefully. And when I do I’ll be ready. I’ve been under the radar for three years already.

In an organization that has so much catching, do you sense that as long as you do your thing, it’s going to work out?
Romine: Exactly. It’s pretty spaced out. We’ve got a lot of good young catchers, from an organization that a couple of years ago had nothing to having a lot right now. There’s nothing you can do. If you don’t do well, then obviously they’re going to pass you and it’s going to take care of itself. All I can do is keep going out and doing the same thing I do every year. Put up good numbers. Handle the staff. Get wins for the team. That’s all I’m really worried about, winning and getting better every year, and I think I have.

What were you able to take from big league camp?
Romine: Just work ethic. These guys show you what it takes to get there and stay there. When they get here they don’t just shut it down and coast because they know that there are 120 kids across the street who want their job. There are a lot of veterans in here who have many years of experience, and they still work harder than anybody I know. It instills that work ethic in you that you still have to work hard, even when you get there.

Do you look at the future? Posada has one year left in his contract, and that seems to line up pretty perfectly for you.
Romine: It’s hard not to think about it when you’ve got eight thousand people telling you the exact same thing you just said. It’s hard not to, but when you start thinking about the future, you’re not really in the present, and I like to live in the present. This pitch. This second. This minute. You have to focus on that day because something could happen, God forbid, and that could be your last game. Then you have to sit there and wonder if you gave it your best, or if you were just waiting for something to happen in the future. I don’t want to be that guy waiting for something to happen.

A decision about the Yankees fifth starter is coming, and it’s coming soon.

“We’ve got Tuesday off and Wednesday we’ll probably have some serious discussions about what our next move is and who we feel is going to get innings,” Joe Girardi said.

Today, Girardi watched two of his candidates pitch. He watched Joba Chamberlain get a ton of ground balls in the intrasquad game and he watched Phil Hughes strikeout six against the Phillies. By the end of the week, the Yankees fifth-starter candidates will at least be trimmed. Girardi wouldn’t rule out anything. He said it’s possible both Hughes and Chamberlain end up in the bullpen. He said it’s possible — but unlikely — that someone goes to Triple-A. It’s possible a couple of candidates will get one more start before the Yankees make a decision.

“We have five guys,” he said. “We have, in a sense, one spot in the rotation and three in the bullpen. I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen. We still have two weeks to go.”

Here’s Girardi’s morning session after Chamberlain pitched in the intrasquad game. He said there was “no rhyme or reason” to which pitchers pitched in which game.

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Here’s Girardi’s postgame session after Hughes pitched and moves were made.

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• A.J. Burnett allowed five runs in his first inning against the Phillies, but settled down to pitch the next three scoreless. “I threw some good changeups,” Burnett said. “They got hit, but you keep throwing them. It’s different. In the season, you might start off bringing the curveball out a little earlier, but we wanted to establish that fastball early and they swung early.”

• Chamberlain on his changeup: ”It keeps getting better. This was probably the best my changeup’s ever been. I threw some great pitches today. There’s times I got a little bit tired but those are times you’ve got to bear in and not take a pitch off because it can hurt you… I got a swing and a miss on Weber who has been hitting the ball great all spring. To see a guy who’s been locked in like that to swing through a changeup is a good sign for me. And I got him to roll over on a changeup in his first at-bat.”

• You really have to consider Marcus Thames a heavy favorite to make the team now that Jamie Hoffmann has been sent back to Los Angeles. “As I’ve said all along, Marcus has the most experience in that situation and against left-handers and has a proven track record,” Girardi said. “But we’ll continue to evaluate the other guys.”

• Ramiro Pena also has the “most experience” label in the utility infielder competition.

• Mariano Rivera got three outs, one of them a strikeout. He is scheduled to pitch again on Wednesday. “Feeling good fellas, feeling good,” he said.

• Chan Ho Park was dominant in the intrasquad game: Seven outs, five strikeouts, one hit. He threw 29 pitches, 21 for strikes. “He did everything we wanted him to do,” Girardi said.

• Damaso Marte got four outs, including a double play. He walked one, struck out one and allowed two hits. Dave Robertson also got four outs. He struck out three and walked one.

• Mike Rivera has a sore hamstring, leading to a brilliant tweet from Mark Feinsand.

• The hitters stats from the intrasquad game.
Thames: 3-for-10, all three hits off Pettitte.
Winn: 4-for-9, double
Golson: 3-for-6, double
Gorecki: 6-for-10, 3 doubles and a walk, doubled off Rivera
Romine: 2-for-6
Rivera: 0-for-5
Miranda: 1-for-5, double
Hoffmann: 2-for-4, walk
Weber: 1-for-5

• Judd Golsan was the only lower-level minor leaguer to bat in the intrasquad game, probably because he’s a lefty. He went 0-for-4 but did draw a walk.

• As for numbers you can find in a box score, Mark Teixeira went 4-for-4 today against the Phillies. Curtis Granderson went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double off lefty Cole Hamels. Ramiro Pena also had two hits.

• Royce Ring retired the only batter he faced, getting lefty Raul Ibanez to pop out.

With the wind blowing out in Clearwater, Phil Hughes allowed three home runs this afternoon. The last one was a two-run walk-off by Wilson Valdez, a guy with one major league home run in his career.

The home runs told the story of the game, a 9-7 Phillies won, but they didn’t tell the story of Hughes. The first home run was legitimate — in fact, it was crushed — but the others carried over the wall, and Hughes otherwise allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out six through 4.1 innings.

“I felt really good with all my pitches,” he said. “It just seemed like every fly ball that was hit out there was either going to hit off the wall or leave the yard. I threw probably the best changeups I’ve ever thrown. Probably the first strikeout I’ve ever gotten with a changeup. It’s hard to swallow the three home runs and say I was happy with the way I threw, but I really was.”

Joe Girardi called this the best Hughes has thrown all spring, and Hughes said he’s simply going to wait for the Yankees to make their decision about a fifth starter. Girardi said that decision could come as early as Thursday morning.

“I’ve done all I can do,” Hughes said. “We’ll just have to see where they want to go from here… I feel like I’ve worked hard to get myself to this point where I can be a successful starter.”

Here’s the Hughes audio.

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This afternoon, the Yankees reassigned Eduardo Nunez, Reegie Corona, Jorge Vazquez and Brandon Laird to minor league camp.

That left Ramiro Pena, Kevin Russo and Juan Miranda as the only non-starting infielders left in big league camp, and left Pena and Russo as the only utility options.

“Pena has the most experience there and we want to see Ruse more, he’s played extremely well,” Girardi said. “You get to a point when you’ve got young players like Nunez, you want them to play every day, and to get one at-bat per game is not fair to them. They need to go get ready for their season. That’s why we did it today.”

This afternoon the Yankees also returned Rule 5 pick Jamie Hoffmann.

“It’s a kid that we believe has tools,” Girardi said. “He went about his business the right way. His effort was tremendous. The numbers didn’t translate. Will he be a good player? I believe he can be, but right now we had to make a tough decision and the Dodgers wanted him back.”

YANKEES
Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena SS
Kevin Russo 3B
Eduardo Nunez 2B
A.J. Burnett P

RHP A.J. Burnett

PHILLIES
Jimmy Rollins SS
Placido Polanco 3B
Chase Utley 2B
Ryan Howard 1B
Jayson Werth CF
Raul Ibanez LF
Ben Francisco RF
Dane Sardinha C
Cole Hamels P

LHP Cole Hamels

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

WEATHER: Bright and sunny. Temperatures in the upper 60s

UMPIRES: HP Chad Fairchild, 1B Jerry Crawford, 2B Marty Foster (welcome back), 3B Andy Fletcher

ON THE LINE: Phil Hughes is pitching out of the bullpen, still trying to make his case for the fifth spot in the rotation. Joe Girardi said there’s nothing to read into the fact Hughes is pitching in the big league game and Joba Chamberlain was chosen to pitch an intrasquad game. They simply bumped yesterday’s pitchers to today.

UPDATE, 1:30 p.m.: Just got to Clearwater in time to hear that Rule 5 pick Jamie Hoffmann has cleared waivers and been returned to the Dodgers.

UPDATE, 1:35 p.m.: Right now it’s 5-1 Phillies in the bottom of the first. Placido Polanco hit a to-run home run, then Dane Sardinha had a two-out, three-run double. I haven’t seen a lot of Burnett today, but he’s been all over the place from what I’ve seen. Looks like getting Phil Hughes enough innings won’t be an issue.

UPDATE, 1:39 p.m.: Playing off the bench today: C P.J. Pilittere, 1B Juan Miranda, SS Reegie Corona, 3B Jorge Vazquez, CF Greg Golson, RF David Winfree.

No backup second baseman listed. Hoffmann was on the list this morning for left field, but obviously that won’t happen. Jose Gil, Brandon Laird and Jon Weber also made the trip.

Available to pitch: Phil Hughes (obviously), Jonathan Albaladejo, Amaury Sanit, Royce Ring and Zack Segovia.

UPDATE, 2:25 p.m.: That’s two drives to left field for Kevin Russo today. The first was caught at the track — nice running grab — and the second was hit into the corner for an RBI double, scoring Ramiro Pena who had tripled. It’s now 5-3 Phillies with Russo and Pena both hitting pretty well.

UPDATE, 2:26 p.m.: Make that 5-4 Phillies. RBI double by Eduardo Nunez.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: Sac bunt by Burnett and a sac fly by Gardner have tied the game at 5.

UPDATE, 2:33 p.m.: Two-run homer by Teixeira. The Yankees are officially teeing off on Hamels this inning.

UPDATE, 2:56 p.m.: Royce Ring came in to face lefty Raul Ibanez and got a popup. Now Hughes is coming in with one out in the fifth. One other change: Kevin Russo has moved from third to second, with Jorge Vazquez now playing third.

This morning’s intrasquad game is going to be the sort of thing you only find in spring training. The same group of fielders will play defense for each “team” of pitchers. The fielders won’t hit and the hitters won’t field, except for the catchers, who will do both. The hitters will run the bases.

Basically, pitch to pitch, it will be like a normal game — live hitter at the plate, live fielders in the field — but everything else will be played under a different set of rules. It will look and feel like a real game for the pitchers, and that’s all that matters.

I doubt it’s a coincidence that Marcus Thames is facing the two left-handed pitchers. I assume Randy Winn is in both lineups so that he can hit both right-handed and left-handed.

Team Pettitte
Pitchers: Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Damaso Marte, Dave Robertson
Catcher: Mike Rivera
Hitters (facing team Joba): Juan Miranda, Randy Winn, Mike Rivera, Jon Weber, Jamie Hoffmann

Team Joba
Pitchers: Joba Chamblerlain, Chan Ho Park
Catcher: Austin Romine
Hitters (facing team Pettitte): Marcus Thames, Randy Winn, Austin Romine, Reid Gorecki, Greg Golson

Defensive players
A lot of these names will be completely unfamiliar. They’re all lower-level minor leaguers, and thankfully, Kyle Higashioka was in camp for the day to catch bullpen sessions and agreed to identify everyone.

INF Addison Maruszak, INF Jimmy Paredes, INF Jose Mojica, INF Emerson Landoni, INF Kelvin Castro, OF Nathan Aron, OF Judd Golsan and 1B Luke Murton.

I know that’s too many infielders and not enough outfielders, but those are the names I was given. There might have been another outfielder who wasn’t standing with the group. It really won’t matter too much. All of these guys are playing a second game this afternoon at the minor league complex.

UPDATE, 10:02 a.m.: Limits for each pitcher: Pettitte and Chamberlain (5-6 innings, 75-80 pitches), Park (2 innings, 35 pitches), Rivera, Marte and Robertson (1 inning, 25 pitches).

Not sure who it is, but there’s an actual umpire here to call balls and strikes.

Top of the first: It seems that the lineups are subject to change. This really is like a minor league spring training game. The lineup Pettitte faced went like this: Golson, Winn, Thames, Gorecki, Weber, Golson, Miranda.

Golson: Struck out looking.
Winn: Clean single to center.
Thames: Single between third and short, might have been an out against a big league defense, but I tend to think it would have gotten through.
Gorecki: Fly out to right.
Weber: Single, RBI.
Golson: Hard-hit double to the wall in left-center. Two runs scored.
Miranda: Struck out looking.

That’s three earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts for Pettitte.

Bottom of the first: Chamberlain pitching.

Winn: Fly out to center field.
Hoffmann:  Clean single up the middle on a 3-0 pitch.
Rivera: Grounded into a 5-4-3 double play after several pickoff throws from Chamberlain, who stayed on the field to give his third baseman a glove slap for a pretty solid play.

That’s one hit, no earned runs and no strikeouts for Chamberlain.

Top of the second: Pettitte pitching. Looks like the infielders are going to rotate in and out. They seem pretty interchangeable, and so far they’ve played pretty well.

Weber: Struck out looking.
Thames: Ground out to short.
Gorecki: E-7. The left fielder simply could not track down a routine fly ball. Gorecki got to second.
Romine: Infield single. Tough play for the third baseman, runner to third.
Winn: Fielder’s choice, 6-4.

Should have been a 1-2-3 inning for Pettitte. Instead  he stranded runners at the corners. He’s thrown 35 pitches, 25 for strikes.

Bottom of the second: Chamberlain pitching. Just noticed CC Sabathia sitting among the coaches, watching Pettitte and Chamberlain.

Miranda: Ground out, 3-1.
Hoffmann: Ground out 4-3 after a good at-bat.
Winn: Doubled to center field.
Weber: Ground out, 4-3.

Good inning for Chamberlain. He had Winn in the hole 0-2 before giving up the hit to center field.

Top of the third: Pettitte pitching.

Thames: Single to left.
Golson: Struck out swinging.
Gorecki: Single up the middle, runner to second.
Hoffmann: Fielder’s choice, 6-4, runner advanced to third.
Romine: 5-3.

After getting knocked around in the first inning, Pettitte has looked pretty good in the past two. He’s throwing a lot of strikes.

Bottom of the third: Chamberlain pitching.

Miranda: Flied out to right.
Winn: First-pitch single to left.
Rivera: Double play, 5-4-3.

Chamberlain is at 42 pitches, 27 strikes. Three hits, no walks and no strikeouts through three innings. He’s gotten two double plays.

Top fourth: Pettitte pitching. He threw eight pitches, all strikes this inning, which ended with one out and runners at first and second.

Thames: Single to shallow center.
Golson: Single to center, runner to second. The CF made a bad play on the ball. Might have been an out against a big league outfielder.
Weber: Struck out.

Pettitte is finished after 3.1 innings. He threw 66 pitches, 45 for strikes.

Bottom fourth: Chamberlain pitching.

Gorecki: Double to right, took third on an error by the RF.
Hoffmann: Walked.
Miranda: Hard-hit double to right. Both runs scored.
Thames: Popped out to the first baseman in foul territory.
Weber: Struck out looking.

Chamberlain’s inning was over after the Weber strikeout. It ended with Miranda still at second.

Top of the fifth: Apparently the fourth inning wasn’t Pettitte’s last after all. He’s back out there for the fifth. Maybe they wanted him to have to sit down and get going again. I don’t know. Weird.

Winn: Fly out to deep center field.
Thames: Struck out swinging.
Romine: Single up the middle.
Golson: Single to left.
Gorecki: Infield single. The shortstop hesitated as if considering going to second. Probably should have been an out.

Doesn’t matter whether it should have been an out on the Gorecki grounder, because that was Pettitte’s final pitch of the inning. He walked off with two outs and the bases loaded. Counting outs instead of “innings” Pettitte’s line is: 4 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. He threw 80 pitches, 54 for strikes.

Bottom fifth: Chamberlain pitching.

Hoffmann: Singled to right.
Miranda: Grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
Rivera: Popped out to the catcher in foul territory.
Golson: Popped out to the third baseman in foul territory.

That’s a four-out inning for Chamberlain. Assuming he’s done Chamberlain’s line is: 5 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. He threw 75 pitches, 48 for strikes.

Top sixth: Mariano Rivera pitching.

Gorecki: Singled up the middle on a 2-2 pitch. Took second on a passed ball.
Thames: Fly out to right.
Romine: Ground out.
Winn: Struck out looking.

That should be it for Rivera, 22 pitches, 16 strikes. He allowed the one hit.

Bottom sixth: Chan Ho Park pitching.

Thames: Ground out to short.
Rivera: Struck out swinging.
Winn: Struck out swinging.
Gorecki: Struck out swinging.

Park got his first three out, including two strikeouts, on just nine pitches. He then struck out Gorecki on four pitches.

Top seventh: Damaso Marte pitching.

Winn: Single to center.
Thames: Struck out.
Minor leaguer*: Grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
Gorecki: Doubled.
Minor leaguer*:  Walked
Romine: Fly out to center.

* The Yankees twice sent one of the minor league fielders up to hit. I have no idea who it was, but he was a lefty.

Bottom seventh: Park pitching.

UPDATE, 12:29 p.m.: Sorry for the lack of updates on Park’s second inning and Robertson’s inning. I had to go downstairs for interviews, now I have 30 minutes to get to Clearwater. I’ll start updating again when I get there.

Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena SS
Kevin Russo 3B
Eduardo Nunez 2B
A.J. Burnett P

RHP A.J. Burnett

No DH for the Yankees today.

UPDATE, 8:45 a.m. Slight change in the intrasquad game. Andy Pettitte will pitch with Mariano Rivera, Damaso Marte and Dave Robertson. Joba Chamberlain will pitch with Chan Ho Park. Park is scheduled for two innings.

Pettitte’s “team” will pitch to Mike Rivera and face Marcus Thames, Randy Winn, Austin Romine, Reid Gorecki and Greg Golson.

Chamberlain and Park will pitch to Romine and face Winn, Rivera, Juan Miranda, Jamie Hoffmann and Jon Weber.

Nick Swisher has always shown power and patience at the plate, but this spring he’s been hitting for average as well, and that’s by design. Swisher worked this winter to “quiet” his swing, and it seems to be paying dividends.

Speaking of changes, Sam wrote today about the changes in Alex Rodriguez. Not the physical changes on the field, but rather the subtle changes off the field and in the face of controversy.

This afternoon, the Yankees will play an intrasquad game as a way to make up for yesterday’s rainout. The notebook also has items on the latest round of big league cuts, a meeting with the Players Association and Curtis Granderson’s role in the outfield.