The LoHud Yankees Blog

Chris Dickerson said there were more familiar faces than he was expecting when he walked into the Yankees clubhouse this morning. He knows Russell Martin from their time in the National League. He knows Brett Gardner because they played against one another in the minor leagues and were in the Fall League together. He knows Eric Chavez because … actually, I’m not sure why he knows Eric Chavez, but he does.

One thing Dickerson did not expect was to have his first Yankees locker right next to the current Yankees captain. Dickerson had been in the clubhouse for a few minutes — getting his gear and being constantly pointed in the right direction — before he finally realized who was in the locker next to him.

“I just noticed that. Seriously,” he said. “I just got back from the training room with my pants, and I was walking over here and I looked. Ohhh. Okay. Yeah. Wow. A trash can separates us.”

Welcome to the Yankees, Chris.

And Yankees, meet your new outfielder.

Dickerson doubled in his first at-bat, then hit an RBI single up the middle in his second. He singled again in his third at-bat and — in a most unexpected twist — was pulled from the game with cramping and spasms in his hamstring. The Yankees are hoping it’s a minor issue that resolves itself in a day or two.

With the Brewers, Dickerson opened the spring in a competition for the starting center field job and had settled into a fourth outfielder role before Friday’s trade. With the Yankees, his best chance of making the Opening Day roster is that Curtis Granderson opens on the disabled list.

“It’s not something that you really want to concern yourself about and think too much about,” Dickerson said. “It’s more just coming here and try to get prepared and put yourself in a position to help the team. Continue to work hard these last couple of days. You can’t make it too complex.”

Dickerson’s mother was born in Brooklyn, his grandmother lives in Queens and the Yankees drafted him out of high school (but his mother wanted him to go to college, so he didn’t sign).

“It’s really exciting for my mom’s side of the family especially,” he said.

Here’s Dickerson talking before the game. He was in the trainer’s room after the game and didn’t talk about the injury.

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Associated Press photo

After announcing his final rotation decisions this morning, Joe Girardi said this afternoon that he plans to announce his final roster on Monday. He might do it tomorrow, but Monday is probably the day he’ll fill in the blanks.* Monday just so happens to be the deadline to add Eric Chavez to the roster.

“I don’t think he can look any better than he looks,” Brian Cashman said. “He’s done everything he needs to do.”

Chavez is in camp on a minor league deal, and as Cashman explained the technical language, Chavez can request that he be added to the roster on Sunday. The Yankees then have 24 hours to agree, or Chavez can opt out and go elsewhere. It won’t be an issue.

“You never know until it happens,” Chavez said.

Fact is, Chavez is hitting .410 this spring. He’s hit one home run, four doubles and played solid defense at first and third. Joe Girardi has said more than once that Chavez is showing no signs of injury, and Chavez keeps saying he feels great. He had that minor calf injury, but even Chavez — a guy who has reason to be worried about the slightest nagging pain — was never concerned. The Yankees won’t make it official until they have to, but it’s clear that Chavez is making this team.

“He’s looked really, really good,” Girardi said.

Truth be told, most of today’s notes came in the morning. Scroll down a little bit or click here to read those.

• Russell Martin was supposed to catch CC Sabathia this morning, but he sat out because of a tight left hamstring. The fact it has nothing to do with his surgically repaired knee seems to be a good sign, and Girardi said he’s not concerned. Martin is scheduled to catch again on Monday. “We feel that he’s going to be fine,” Girardi said.

• Speaking of Sabathia: 3 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. He threw 37 pitches, 24 for strikes. No surprise, but Gustavo Molina said he looked great.

• As for Molina, he caught Sabathia’s minor league start, then hustled back to Steinbrenner Field in time to catch all of the major league pitchers who threw the late innings. Molina caught a total of nine innings today, and Girardi said he won’t catch tomorrow. Molina got to the big league park in the third inning, just in time to catch Mariano Rivera in the fourth.

• Rafael Soriano pitched two-thirds of an inning and said this was his last spring outing. Girardi wasn’t so sure Soriano was finished until Opening Day, but Soriano said he would not be pitching again until the regular season. “I’m ready to go,” he said.

• Today was almost certainly the final appearance of Manny Banuelos, who allowed one run on two hits and three walks through three innings. He struck out three and will leave big league camp with a 2.13 ERA. “I’ve been pleased,” Girardi said. “For the most part, I think he’s handled his surroundings very well for a 19- and 20-year-old. He has been able to throw strikes for the most part, quality strikes.”

• Alex Rodriguez’s insane spring continued with his sixth home run this afternoon. He has 14 RBI and a .422 batting average.

• On March 14, Nick Swisher was hitting .188 with two RBI this spring. After a 2-for-3 game today he’s up to .250 with eight RBI. He’s not exactly on fire, but he’s starting to get something going offensively.

• I mentioned it earlier, but I’ll mention it here as well: Girardi was encouraged by the fact Curtis Granderson swung a bat today. He wasn’t supposed to do that until tomorrow, but he came through his other drills so well that the training staff let him take about 30 swings, 15 soft toss and 15 off a tee. Girardi said he feels a little more encouraged that Granderson might have a shot at Opening Day.

• The Yankees still don’t know who’s starting tomorrow. Only three 40-man pitchers are scheduled to make the trip: Steve Garrison, Romulo Sanchez and Ryan Pope.

Additional minor league pitchers added to the travel roster: Buddy Carlyle, Eric Wordekemper, Francisco Gil, Josh Schmidt, Pat Venditte, Andy Sisco, Kevin Whelan, Amaury Sanit, Wilkins Arias and Tim Norton.

Position players not making the trip to Fort Myers: Russell Martin, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher and Chris Dickerson. Gustavo Molina is still listed, but he probably won’t actually go after catching nine innings today.

Minor league position players who will be making the trip to Fort Myers: Luke Murton, Luis Nunez, Yadil Mujica, Ray Kruml, Austin Krum, Abe Almonte and J.R. Murphy.

Associated Press photos, that’s Chavez being low-fived by Nick Swisher in the top picture

Quite a day for Chris Dickerson.

In his first game with the Yankees, Dickerson went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, then he limped off the field with a left hamstring injury.

So far, the Yankees medical team says it’s cramping and spasms. That’s all they can diagnose at this point. Dickerson is not scheduled to make tomorrow’s road trip and will see the trainers instead.

“Let’s just hope it’s cramps,” Joe Girardi said.

Turns out, Dickerson felt some cramping this morning but played through it.

“Probably trying to make a good first impression,” Girardi said.

The good news is that Girardi is “a little bit” more optimistic about Curtis Granderson, who did more than expected and remains a possibility for the Opening Day lineup.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (11-14-3)
Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Chris Dickerson LF
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Austin Romine C

LHP Manny Banuelos (0-1, 1.86)

PIRATES (10-18)
Jose Tabata LF
Neil Walker 2B
Andrew McCutchen CF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Pedro Alvarez 3B
Garrett Jones RF
Ronny Cedeno SS
Jason Jaramillo C
Kevin Correia P

RHP Kevin Correia (1-2, 6.38)

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Little cloudy, but still plenty of sunshine. Wind blowing out to center field.

UMPIRES: HP Mark Wegner, 1B Dan Iassogna, 2B Dave Rackley, 3B Toby Basner

GRANDERSON UPDATE: Curtis Granderson wound up taking a few swings today. When those went well, he did a little tee and toss — about 15 swings of each — and said he felt good afterward. “If anything, sneezes hurt,” he said.

Granderson said it’s 50-50 whether he’ll be ready for Opening Day. He feels fine going through baseball activities, it’s just a matter of how quickly the Yankees move him. Based on conversations with Granderson, Girardi and Brian Cashman, I think the team legitimately doesn’t know whether he’ll be on the Opening Day roster. I believe they’ll probably move with caution and my guess is that he won’t be in the lineup on Thursday, but I don’t think it’s out of the question.

UPDATE, 1:24 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez’s sixth spring homer has given the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

UPDATE, 1:47 p.m.: Dickerson is here to hit right-handed pitching, and he just doubled in his first at-bat, showing some of his speed to get to second in time. It’s 2-1 in the bottom of the second after Banuelos allowed a run in the top of the inning.

UPDATE, 2:06 p.m.: One more indication that Gustavo Molina is going to make the big league team: He’s now in the game to catch Mariano Rivera in the fourth inning. Austin Romine stayed in for three innings from Manny Banuelos, who allowed one run on two hits and three walks. He also struck out three.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: Dickerson’s second Yankees at-bat is an RBI single in the fourth inning. It’s 3-1 Yankees after four. Meanwhile, I just checked with some folks at the minor league complex, and Molina started his day by catching CC Sabathia in the minor league game, then got here in time to catch the Yankees relievers. If there was any doubt Molina is making this team, this surely erases it.

When he thought of Bartolo Colon in the bullpen, Yankees manager Joe Girardi thought of Alfredo Aceves, and he thought of Ramiro Mendoza. He thought of those long relievers who could do it all: Spot start when necessary, pitch multiple innings when asked, and get three big outs in key situations.

Girardi believes Colon could be that sort of reliever, the sort of reliever Sergio Mitre never was and the kind of reliever Freddy Garcia probably wouldn’t be.

“Serge was more of a starter,” Girardi said. “He was never really a one-inning guy. We just think Bartolo can do some different things… In a sense, you feel that not asking him to throw 200 innings might be easier on him, physically.”

Those seem to be the biggest factors in the Yankees final decision. Colon’s raw stuff has been impressive, and his ability to stay healthy is a concern. That combination, the Yankees feel, fits best in the bullpen.

Nova was clearly the best option as the No. 4 starter, and Garcia’s track record suggests he’s a reliable No. 5, but Garcia’s similar to Mitre in that he’s unlikely to be an overwhelming reliever. Colon has shown unexpected velocity and movement, and his fastball might play up in key situations. It’s also been five years since Colon last pitched more than 100 innings in the big leagues. The Yankees didn’t want to take their chances on hoping for 100-plus innings from him this year.

“We will make sure that we use him properly, that we don’t abuse him or throw him days in a row,” Girardi said. “We understand this is something he’s really never done a whole lot of, so we have to be smart about it. It’s kind of like when we moved Aceves, who had always been a starter, to the bullpen. How we did it with Phil Hughes when we moved him; you’ve got to be smart how you do it.”

• Colon was supposed to start tomorrow’s game, but now that he’s in the pen, the Yankees want to keep him fresh for Thursday’s opener. Colon will instead pitch briefly out of the bullpen on Monday. Tomorrow’s starter will be someone from minor league camp.

• A.J. Burnett will start on Monday, Garcia will start on Tuesday and Ivan Nova will stay behind to start a game on Wednesday. Phil Hughes will pitch in a minor league game on Tuesday.

• One other thing to consider about Colon in the bullpen: “He warms up quick,” Girardi said. “Larry talked about it, that when he gets ready for his bullpens, it’s quick. Serge wasn’t really fast about it because he had always been a starter. Most starters can’t do it very quickly.”

• Girardi said it’s “conceivable” that the Yankees will skip Garcia the first time through the rotation. This was one of those moments when “conceivable” clearly meant, “likely.”

• Pedro Feliciano is dealing with the same upper-arm tightness that slowed him down earlier this spring. He seemed to be on his way back, but Feliciano felt it again during his most recent bullpen. He’ll throw off flat ground tomorrow, but Opening Day is in doubt. The Yankees should know for sure by Tuesday.

• The first two pitchers Girardi named as possible replacements for Feliciano were Romulo Sanchez and Luis Ayala. Asked about Mark Prior, Girardi said, “anything is conceivable.” This time, though, the word conceivable was clearly being used to indicate a scenario that’s not at all likely.

• Girardi still thinks there’s a chance Curtis Granderson will be ready for Opening Day. He’s supposed to run and throw today. Tomorrow he’ll take some dry swings with a broom stick, and if that goes well, he’ll also hit a few balls off a tee tomorrow. “There’s a chance,” Girardi said.

• George King noted that Eric Chavez can ask for his release today, but it’s clear he’s going to make the team. “He’s looked really, really good,” Girardi said.

• Still no final decision on a backup catcher, but Girardi again sounded like he was leaning heavily toward Gustavo Molina. He compared Molina to Garcia, in that the Yankees knew what to expect from Molina and didn’t feel the need to give him many at-bats this spring. “We wanted to see what our kids could do, so we gave them a lot of playing time,” Girardi said. “Now we’ve started to play Molina more. If we decide to go in that direction, we want him ready to go.”

• Is the lineup set with Brett Gardner first and Derek Jeter second? “Still a topic of discussion,” Girardi said. “They’ve gotten plenty of opportunities to do it here and it’s been pretty good.”

• For you numbers folks out there: Kevin Millwood was given No. 45, and Chris Dickerson will wear No. 39.

• Off the bench: C Gustavo Molina, 1B Eric Chavez, 2B Doug Bernier, SS Ramiro Pena, 3B Ronnie Belliard, LF Austin Krum, CF Justin Maxwell, RF Abe Almonte.

• Out of the bullpen: Mariano Rivera, Rafael Soriano, Joba Chamberlain, Dave Robertson, Boone Logan, Mark Prior, Luis Ayala, Romulo Sanchez, Steve Garrison, Josh Schmidt, Pat Venditte and Chase Whitley.

• If you’re curious, I had a Brian Cashman story in the paper today.

Associated Press photos

Joe Girardi announced this morning that Ivan Nova will be the Yankees No. 4 starter and Freddy Garcia will be the No. 5.

Bartolo Colon will be the long man.

The staff would be set, but Pedro Feliciano might open on the disabled list. In fact, that sounds likely.

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Chris Dickerson LF
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Austin Romine C

LHP Manny Banuelos

Nothing is settled, but Jesus Montero’s chances of making Yankees roster certainly seem to have diminished in the past week. Montero hasn’t hit especially well this spring, and Joe Girardi has admitted that the 21-year-old seems to be pressing. Francisco Cervelli’s injury opened a door, and it’s only natural that Montero would try to force his way through it.

Would he be upset if someone is gets the job?

“No, I would be fine,” Montero said. “I’ll be working hard. My moment is going to be there.”

In a lot of ways, Gustavo Molina’s moment came in early December. The Yankees were the first team to make an offer, and Molina jumped at the chance after having to sign late last year.

“If you get here, it’s for a reason, to show what I can do on the field,” Molina said. “They know what I can do on paper. Whatever is coming through is my best. I give my best every day. Make a tough decision for anybody, even in the big leagues… You never know. I learned that in ’07 with the White Sox, you never know what can happen in spring training. Sometimes people get hurt and opportunites are coming up, and sometimes you play good and you open eyes for somebody to give you a chance.”

Molina made the White Sox Opening Day roster in 2007. It was his first time in the big leagues. He’s since played for the Orioles, Mets and Red Sox.

“After you make it to the big leagues, you know what you have to do to get there, so that’s what you bring to spring training,” he said. “… I want to be part of this team. You see a lot of good people around, good players, and you want to be a part of that, so I hope I get a chance.”

Montero hopes to get a chance too. He said he’s still trying to prove he belongs, still trying to win that spot on the Yankees bench.

“They decide everything,” Montero said. “I’m doing my best here. I’m doing my job. I’m doing whatever they want me to do. I feel comfortable right now. I don’t know what decisions they’re going to make, but I feel happy.”

• Joe Girardi said he plans to announce his pitching assignments tomorrow. Decisions were made tonight, and Girardi is going to talk to his players first, then make the decisions public. When asked whether Ivan Nova has earned a rotation spot, Girardi said “I need to talk to my players first,” but also nodded his head.

• Speaking of Nova, he didn’t have his good stuff tonight, but still got through six solid innings, allowing two runs on three hits. “His stuff was not extremely sharp tonight, but that’s actually maturing and that’s a good thing,” Girardi said. “You’re not always going to have your A stuff and be sharp, and you have to find a way to do it.

• Nova found out about the Mitre trade when he got to the stadium today. He can count to three. “When he got traded, I know there’s more space now,” Nova said. “That makes me feel good. I don’t want him to leave, but now there’s three spots.”

• Girardi said he occasionally does “different things” with his backup players. Today, Molina was scheduled to be the backup, but Montero instead played the final few innings. Girardi wouldn’t say what should be read into that, but I wonder if it was an effort to give Montero one last big league inning before sending him to minor league camp. Just a guess.

• In his first at-bat back from a minor calf injury, Eric Chavez hit his first spring home run. He singled in his second at-bat and doubled in his third (after nearly hitting a home run that went just foul). He’s now batting .421 this spring.

• Speaking of which, Girardi said he took notice of Chavez’s batting practice this afternoon. “It was like, off the charts today,” Girardi said. “And it just went right into the game.”

• Curtis Granderson came through his pregame running feeling good enough that he was cleared to do some light throwing as well. “I think the intensity will be more tomorrow,” Girardi said.

• Joba Chamberalin, Dave Robertson, Boone Logan and Rafael Soriano are all scheduled to pitch back-to-back games, so they should all be back in tomorrow’s game.

• Nick Swisher’s foot came through tonight’s game just fine.

• Russell Martin said he was definitely safe when he was called out tagging up on a fly ball to left. He also said he loved it that Girardi went out to argue on his behalf. Arguing in a spring training game? “I figure you’ve got to practice,” Girardi said.

• New outfielder Chris Dickerson is flying into Tampa tonight. I have to assume he’ll be at the complex for tomorrow’s game against the Pirates.

• Brian Cashman said he’s not sure when Kevin Millwood will actually arrive in Tampa.

• After completing one trade and agreeing to one minor league deal, Cashman said he’s not finished shopping this spring. Doesn’t mean he’ll make another move, but he’ll keep looking around. “I feel that we have some quality choices in house, but my job is always to find people who are better than what we have,” Cashman said.

Top picture was taken by Paul Dean and emailed to me. From left, that’s Montero, Molina, Tony Pena, Russell Martin and Jose Gil. That’s an AP photo of Girardi with Astros first-base coach Bobby Meacham, and an AP photo of Jeter, Swisher and Kevin Long in front of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

YANKEES (10-14-3)
Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Andruw Jones RF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez LF

RHP Ivan Nova (1-0, 1.29)
Nova vs. Astros

ASTROS (11-19)
Michael Bourn CF
Clint Barmes SS
Hunter Pence RF
Jason Michaels DH
Brett Wallace 1B
Bill Hall 2B
Chris Johnson 3B
J.B. Shuck LF
Carlos Corporan C

RHP Nelson Figueroa (2-0, 3.86)
Figueroa vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., not on television

WEATHER: I would make the case that today has been the nicest day of the spring. Just a gorgeous day with a little bit of a cool breeze blowing. The winis blowing out to left-center a little bit, but not much.

UMPIRES: HP D.J. Reyburn, 1B Dan Iassogna, 2B Vic Carapazza, 3B Tyler Funneman

ON THE LINE: Ivan Nova seems to have a spot locked up, so there’s not much left for him to prove in this start. Truth be told, every roster spot seems more or less set at this point, though I suppose there’s still a choice to be made between Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena. Nunez gets another start in left field, and there’s no backup listed, suggesting he’ll play all nine innings out there.

OUT OF THE BULLPEN FOR THE YANKEES: Rafael Soriano, Joba Chamberlain, Dave Robertson and Boone Logan are the first four listed. Romulo Sanchez is also available, as are four guys from the minor league complex: George Kontos, Ryan Flannery, Naoya Okamoto and Fernando Hernandez.

OUT OF THE BULLPEN FOR THE ASTROS: LHP Gustavo Chacin, RHP Jose Valdez, RHP Ross Wolf, RHP Lance Pendleton and LHP Gabriel Garcia. Pendleton is the Astros Rule 5 pick out of the Yankees organization and Valdez was a long time Yankees minor leaguer. Former Yankees reliever Mark Melancon did not make the trip for Houston.

OFF THE BENCH: C Gustavo Molina, 1B Addison Maruszak, 2B Ramiro Pena, SS Doug Bernier, 3B Ronnie Belliard, LF (none), CF Justin Maxwell, RF Taylor Grote. Luis Nunez and Ray Kruml are also up from the minor league complex for the day. They’ll be available as backups.

SIDES: Three pitchers threw sides today: A.J. Burnett, Bartolo Colon and Phil Hughes. Jesus Montero and Austin Romine caught them.

UPDATE, 7:24 p.m.: Ivan Nova got through a 1-2-3 first inning, but he’s allowed a leadoff double here in the second. The Yankees stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the first.

UPDATE, 7:26 p.m.: Nice little running catch by Nunez in left. He’s certainly not completely lost out there. Some balls are obviously going to give him trouble, but as an emergency option, he’s pretty solid.

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: There’s Eric Chavez’s first spring home run.

UPDATE, 7:37 p.m.: Brett Gardner says he doesn’t want to be too passive this season. He wants to be patient, but not passive. He just went deep on a 3-1 pitch to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead in the second.

UPDATE, 7:55 p.m.: With two outs, Nova allowed a single, walk and hit batter to load the bases for Hunter Pence, who singled in two runs before Nova ended the inning with a ground ball. That one inning was as bad as the rest of Nova’s spring combined.

UPDATE, 8:46 p.m.: Nova seems to have settled in. He’s pitched three scoreless innings since that two-run third, and he’s allowed just one base runner in that span.

UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: Two-run triple by Russell Martin has given the Yankees a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Martin’s knee and hip must be feeling pretty good because he was moving really well around the bases.

UPDATE, 8:56 p.m.: Martin was thrown out at home on Taylor Grote’s (near) sac fly to left. In a rare show of spring emotion, Joe Girardi actually came out to argue the call. I have to think that has something to do with Martin being a new guy and Girardi trying to back him up from the very beginning. If it’s not that, then Girardi just let himself get worked up in a meaningless game. Either way, Girardi was in mid-season form.

UPDATE, 9:02 p.m.: Nova threw 98 pitches, 59 for strikes. Soriano pitching now.

Let’s take today’s pregame notes topic-by-topic shall we?

The Sergio Mitre trade
Brian Cashman said the Yankees and Brewers had been talking for a while, and they decided to make the move last night. “I felt we were far enough through the spring, it was time to do something,” Cashman said.

Obviously this makes it all but certain that Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon will each make the Opening Day roster. As for Dickerson, he could very well be the guy who opens on the roster if Curtis Granderson has to begin the season on the disabled list. Dickerson is a lefty, and he’s a careeer .273/.363/.420-hitter against right-handers. He’s a natural fit alongside Andruw Jones for a week or so.

“He’s a guy we’re definitely going to look at if Grandy can’t play,” Girardi said. “He’s got big-league experience and he’s got tools. He’s hit for average in his career, he can hit some homers and he’s played mostly center and left.”

The roles of Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon
At this point it’s a foregone conclusion that Ivan Nova has locked up a spot in the Yankees rotation. The question is, which of Garcia and Colon takes the fifth spot and which one slides into the long relief role?

“I think the decisions we have to make have to be that, projected innings that we think they can give us, do you have concerns about the amount of innings that you think they can give us?” Girardi said. “Those are things we have to take into account when making the decision of who’s going to be our starters. In saying that, we have to do it fairly quickly.”

It would seem that there would be greater innings concerns around Colon than Garcia, which could be an indication that Colon is the one heading to the bullpen. The Yankees are planning a staff meeting after batting practice today, which should be the next step toward making that decision.

“I have my thoughts, yeah,” Cashman said. “I’m going to engage everybody on the staff and find out what their thoughts are as well. I’ve got a pretty good feel. We’ve been talking informally and we’ve had one formal meeting and we’ll have another today, but I can’t tell you if we’re going to give you white puff of smoke today or not.”

The Kevin Millwood signing
The Yankees have had a minor league offer on the table for a long time. Millwood decided to accept it today. He has an out on May 1, and Girardi made it crystal clear that Millwood will not open the season on the major league roster.

“I don’t know if he can help us or not, but I’m willing to put a no-risk, possible-reward option that’s been on the table the whole time,” Cashman said. “We’ll put him in, get him ready, and get him into competition and see if there’s anything there. If there is, then we’ll have some decisions to make. If there’s not, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Millwood has been pitching in California, and could be ready for Scranton’s Opening Day roster. Otherwise, he might stay in Tampa for a week or so before joining the team.

“He’s probably up to 95 pitches,” Cashman said. “He’s been throwing for the last three or four weeks, at least that’s what’s been represented… He’ll come to Tampa and thenn we’ll stretch him out down here for as long as it takes. He might be here a week, it could be two weeks. I don’t know. We’ll do what’s right by him, and then ultimately put him in a position so we can really, truly evaluate him against competition.”

The backup catcher situation
The natural question this afternoon was this: Would Jesus Montero be in line to make the major league team if he’d had a better spring training?

“I’ve actually thought that his defense has improved the last two weeks in spring training,” Girardi said. “He went through a little rough spell and I thought he played better. Part of it could be pressing, there’s no doubt about it. I don’t know how, as a young kid, you don’t get excited about the possibility of making a club for the first time in your life. Most of the guys in that room were that way at one time, so that makes it difficult.

“You sit and you watch players and you have a vision of what might be right for them, and sometimes your vision changes. That’s something that we need to decide in the next couple of days. Do we go with one of our younger kids, or do we go with Molina?”

As for a few more standard notes from this afternoon…

• CC Sabathia is pitching at the minor league complex tomorrow because it gives the Yankees more flexibility. “Sometimes you can do things a little bit different,” Girardi siad. “If he has a seven-pitch inning, you can do another out. They won’t necessarily let you do that here.”

• Girardi said he doesn’t know yet who’s starting Sunday’s game. He has starters lined up for Monday and Tuesday, but he didn’t want to announce them just yet.

• Here’s Girardi more or less guaranteeing that Colon, Garcia and Nova will make the team: “You don’t want to say everything is etched in stone, but it’s a little clearer. We’ve talked aboiut three of the four guys going and now you take one away. Could things change? Yes, they could, but we said all along it would probably be three out of those four.”

• Today is a standard, planned day off for Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

Associated Press photos