The LoHud Yankees Blog

Nine days ago, the Yankees had few options to fill an open spot in the bullpen.

They had six pitchers on the 40-man to choose from. Two of them were on the Triple-A disabled list, one was a Double-A starter on his way to the disabled list with blister and two had pitched the day before. It was unclear just how serious Pedro Feliciano’s injury might be, making it difficult to open a spot for a non-40-man pitcher.

Hector Noesi was the best option and the Yankees brought him up from Triple-A. Tonight he was sent back having never pitched in a big league game.

“If we had a starter go down, he’s one of the guys we would consider,” Joe Girardi said. “And he’s not getting that type of work here.”

The Yankees have played seven games since calling up Noesi. All of them were decided by four runs or less, and six were decided by three runs or less. They’ve had two off days in that span, and they’d had two days off before making the move. The situation just never lined up for Noesi to get much work, and so the Yankees will plan for the future and let Noesi get stretched out again.

Meanwhile, they’ve added a pitcher for the here and now. In an organization full of pitching talent, Buddy Carlyle is certainly not the most exciting name, but he had 11 strikeouts and three walks through 7.2 innings with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was charged with three runs, all in one game. At 33 years old, he has 104 games of big league experience, including 27 starts.

“I had a little experience with Buddy in spring training with the Marlins and I saw him with Atlanta,” Girardi said. “Buddy’s a strike-thrower too, and Buddy’s pitched in the big leagues and he has experience and he’s done different things. He’s started in the big leagues. This is an experienced guy.”

At this point, the Yankees know the drill. They’ve been rained out three times this season, and it seemed every single player who came into the clubhouse from the field this afternoon was asked about the weather. It was still raining. Then it was just barely raining. Then the rain was fairly significant. Then it was more of a mist. All of a sudden, the game was rained out.

“We don’t like it because we know that they’re going to probably be split doubleheaders and that makes it tough,” Joe Girardi said. “It makes it tough on your bullpen and it makes it tough on your guys, but what are you going to do?”

Phil Hughes didn’t like it. He was supposed to throw a bullpen today, a bullpen he was hoping would be his final step toward a rehab assignment. Hughes settled for throwing long toss, and his bullpen has been bumped to tomorrow. He’ll throw 45 pitches — three 15-pitch “innings” — and he’s hopeful that Larry Rothschild will give him the green like to begin a rehab assignment within a week.

“Larry will kind of be the judge of that based on how my bullpen looks and how I feel bouncing back after long toss and throwing,” Hughes said. “If I feel fine and sees enough out of me in the pen and feels like I’m ready to go, then I should be ready for a start.”

Hughes said he really can’t tell much at this point. The Yankees haven’t had a radar gun on him, and even if they did, Hughes suspects there would be a significant difference without his usual game-day adrenalin. Having a radar in the bullpen “would frustrate me even more,” Hughes said. He needs a game to truly know how far he’s come.

Here’s Hughes speaking this afternoon.

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• CC Sabathia will start tomorrow. The Yankees haven’t chosen a starter for Sunday because they want to map out the rotation first. “We want to look at how it affects the whole schedule,” Girardi said.

• No makeup date has been announced, but Girardi has been told it won’t happen this weekend. Tomorrow and Sunday should be one game apiece.

• Girardi indicated that it’s possible Francisco Cervelli will be activated during the upcoming home stand. He’ll DH tonight and catch again tomorrow. “We’ll see how he’s feeling,” Girardi said.”I’m not saying we’ll make a decision, but he’s doing pretty good.”

• Without Hector Noesi, the Yankees don’t have a 100-pitch guy in their bullpen, but Lance Pendleton and Buddy Carlyle can both go three innings or so, and Pendleton could probably go a little longer if necessary. “He’s probably going to be called on to pitch more if you get into these 17 days in a row and 33 in 34,” Girardi said. “We’ve just been in a lot of tight ballgames and have had strategic days off that have allowed us to do what we’ve done. You can’t keep up that pace, because we’re not going to have those days off.”

• Curtis Granderson is obviously swinging the bat incredibly well the past few days, and that earned him a bump up to No. 2 in the lineup. “I thought he got off to a slow start because his spring training was a little bit interrupted at the end,” Girardi said. “He’s been swinging the bat with authority. He’s a pull hitter that fits very well in the No. 2 spot.”

• The Orioles are skipping Chris Tillman this weekend. They’ll start Brad Bergesen tomorrow and Jake Arrieta on Sunday.

• Andruw Jones turns 34 years old tomorrow.

Associated Press photos

Today’s game has been rained out. Meanwhile, the Yankees have made a move.

About 10 minutes ago, Buddy Carlyle walked into the Yankees clubhouse and started unpacking his things into a locker next to Joba Chamberlain.

The Yankees didn’t announce the move initially because they weren’t sure Carlyle would arrive in time for the game. His flight had been cancelled and Carlyle had to drive down. He’ll join the bullpen, and along with Lance Pendleton, give the Yankees a pair of multi-inning relievers. Joe Girardi said Carlyle can go three innings if necessary, about the same as Pendleton.

To make room, Hector Noesi was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Noesi had yet to pitch for the Yankees, and the team didn’t want to leave him sitting around with no work. He’ll move back into the Triple-A rotation.

To open a 40-man spot, lefty Jose Ortegano was designated for assignment.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF

Brett Gardner didn’t expect to be in the lineup on Wednesday. He knew the Blue Jays were starting a lefty, he knew Andruw Jones would be in the lineup, and he knew which of the three outfielder regulars deserved to sit.

This weekend, the Yankees are facing nothing but right-handed starters, and that means Gardner will be back. No Yankees position player has gotten off to a slower start, but while Joe Girardi has seen enough to drop Gardner out of the leadoff spot, he’s made it clear that Gardner has not lost his starting job.

“You have to take advantage of the opportunities that are given to you,” Gardner said. “They gave me a chance to lead off the first couple of weeks of the season. I didn’t do a good job of it. It’s not the end of the world. Whenever I get an opportunity, whenever I’m playing, when they ask me to steal a base or get a bunt down, I have to do a better job of getting everything done.”

Nothing seems to be going right for Gardner these days. He’s been caught stealing three times, he’s botched bunt attempts and his timing at the plate has been off. Gardner said it has nothing to do with the two-handed approach he started using this spring, and it has nothing to do with his new spot in the lineup. He’s just not swinging the bat very well.

“I can look back to the first couple months of last season when things were going so well,” Gardner said, “and not only use that mentally and emotionally to help my confidence, to help me believe that I belong here and can be successful here, but also I can look back at the video and try to compare things. See if I can find some differences that I can point out, because I know those couple months, that’s the best I’ve been. If you can be successful for a couple months, there’s no reason that I shouldn’t be able to find that and get back in that groove again.”

Would he want to be the leadoff man again?

“That would mean that I’m back on track and playing well, so obviously that would be great,” Gardner said. “By no means do I think I should be in that spot right now. Whenever I’m in the lineup and have a chance to contribute. I’ll be ready to.”

Associated Press photo

Tonight
LHP CC Sabathia (0-1, 2.52)
vs.
RHP Brad Bergesen (0-2, 3.38)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Saturday
RHP Freddy Garcia (1-0, 1.29)
vs.
RHP Chris Tillman (0-2, 6.16)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
RHP Ivan Nova (1-2, 7.63)
vs.
RHP Jake Arrieta (2-1, 5.06)
1:35 p.m., YES Network

A woman in Yonkers has filed a lawsuit against the Yankees claiming the team stole their famous top hat logo from her dead uncle.

The woman is named Tanit Buday and she claims that her uncle, Kenneth Timur, was commissioned to design a logo for the Yankees. She says that he came up with a top hat design remarkably similar to the one so famously associated with the team, but he was never compensated for his work. Why this took more than 70 years to become an issue is unclear.

“There is no proof of this claim,” Yankees spokesperson Alice McGillion wrote in an email to my Journal News coworker Ernie Garcia. “This is a wonderful country where anybody can sue for anything, even when the allegations are over 70 years old.”

In other news, a few relatively minor press releases have rolled in today. Here are the nuts and bolts from the Yankees, the Babe Ruth Museum and Major League Baseball.

Babe Ruth’s bat on display this weekend

Fans traveling to Baltimore for the Yankees’ series with the Orioles this weekend will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hold a piece of history during their visit. Throughout the weekend, Babe Ruth’s 1927 record-setting homerun bat will be on display at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum. This bat is kept in the archives and is not usually on public display.

Ruth was born in Baltimore on February 6, 1895 in the row house (216 Emory Street) located around the corner from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The house opened as a national shrine to Ruth in 1974. Exhibits depicting the historic home and Babe’s life & times were installed under his family. Among the unique artifacts/mementos in the Museum are Ruth’s 1914 rookie card, the bat given to Ruth by Shoeless Joe Jackson and Ruth’s first known autograph.

Yankees partner with Keep America Beautiful

The New York Yankees today announced they have partnered with Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s largest volunteer-based community improvement organization, to help celebrate Earth Day at Yankee Stadium. On Thursday, April 28, prior to the Yankees game vs. the Chicago White Sox, the first 18,000 guests in attendance will receive a package of flower seeds aimed at encouraging individuals to engage in the environmental betterment of their community.

The partnership continues the Yankees’ ongoing effort to incorporate eco-friendly initiatives in and around Yankee Stadium. Since its opening in 2009, Yankee Stadium has made a strong commitment to efforts to help sustain the environment.

Various waste-reducing activities, including the establishment of the Yankees Sustainability Facility Program, have helped promote responsible energy consumption and community improvement. The program ensures the efficiency of all equipment while focusing on energy reduction. During the 2010 season, waste management through composting and the recycling of cardboard, glass, metal, plastics and paper helped divert more than 35 percent of Yankee Stadium’s trash away from landfills. Additionally, close to 9,000 gallons of cooking oil used in the Stadium last year were converted into roughly 7,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel.

MLB and MLBPA reach agreement for retired players

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association jointly announced today that they have agreed to make an annual payment to Players who retired before 1980 but who did not have enough service time to qualify for a pension benefit under the Major League Baseball Players Benefit Plan.

… Since the 1980 season, all Major League Players have vested as members of the benefit plan after just one day of service in the Major Leagues. Prior to 1980, Players secured a pension benefit only after completing at least four years of Major League Service. Under this new agreement, Players who retired between January 1, 1947 and January 1, 1980 with no retirement benefits for their Major League Service will receive an annual payment of up to $10,000, jointly funded by the Commissioner’s Office and the MLBPA. The collective bargaining parties have committed to these payments for an initial period of two years. Payments beyond the initial period will be discussed in collective bargaining.

Commissioner Selig said: “Very simply, we felt that this was the right thing to do for these former players, who contributed to our game’s unparalleled history. I am very pleased that we have partnered with the Players Association to take this step.”

Off days seem to work pretty well for minor league updates. There’s not much going on with the big league team on these days, so we might as well look into the minor league system.

Today let’s start in Double-A. Austin Romine is always the other catcher in the Yankees system. He’s not considered one of baseball’s elite like Jesus Montero, and he’s not a raw mega-talent like Gary Sanchez, but Romine is a legitimate prospect his bat is heating up.

He hit a walkoff single on Tuesday, then he homered twice on Wednesday. Romine got off to a slow start in the season’s first week, but in the past five games he’s collected nine hits including a double and two home runs. He has nine RBI in the his past five games after not driving in a run in any of his first six games. His slash line is up to .310/.420/.500.

Of course, in this system, Romine isn’t the only minor league catcher who’s been hitting lately.

Jesus Montero continues to rake for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He had another three-hit game last night, and although he hasn’t homered since April 9 and has yet to draw a walk, Montero is batting .423/.423/.558 through 11 games. Down in Charleston, Gary Sanchez is back from a brief stint on the disabled list and had a hit last night. While Sanchez was out — Josh Norris says it was a sore oblique, of course — J.R. Murphy got some regular time behind the plate and his bat is still going strong with three homers, 13 RBI and a .326 average.

For the immediate future, the catching situation that has the most impact on the Yankees is happening in Tampa, where Francisco Cervelli is supposed to be begin a rehab assignment tonight.

• Kei Igawa is up from Double-A to start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tonight. Kevin Millwood is coming up from the Double-A roster to start for Scranton tomorrow. As Donnie Collins pointed out, Millwood should have time to make one start after tomorrow before his out kicks in.

• Speaking of Triple-A starters, David Phelps and Adam Warren have turned in back-to-back gems this week. Phelps allowed three hits and struck out six through 6.1 innings on Tuesday night, then Warren followed with eight scoreless innings on Wednesday. Minor league pitchers — and big league pitchers for that matter — occasionally talk about creating a friendly rivalry in which one player’s success helps to spark another’s success. Those two outings could start something like that.

• Jorge Vazquez is up to seven home runs in Scranton, meanwhile Chris Dickerson has started hitting in Triple-A. Eight hits in his past four games has Dickerson’s slash line up to .292/.393/.375. He’s had two doubles and a triple in the past three days, his first extra-base hits of the year.

• Manny Banuelos is back from his blister and made his second start on Tuesday night. He allowed two hits and one unearned run through four innings for Double-A Trenton. Dellin Betances is still on the disabled list in Trenton, but he seems close to a return.

• Good numbers from a name you might not know: Mikey O’Brien, a ninth-round pick in 2008, has a 2.16 ERA with 19 strikeouts through his first three starts with Charleston. He’s walked only three and his production has been pretty steady (his numbers aren’t the product of just one good start), but he has yet to get a win. O’Brien could be building on last season when he had a 2.08 ERA in Staten Island.

Here’s the latest from The Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig expects the playoffs to expand from eight teams to 10 for the 2012 season.

Selig went public last fall with his support for expanded playoffs, and the matter is subject to collective bargaining with the players’ association.

“I would say we’re moving to expanding the playoffs, but there’s a myriad of details to work out,” Selig said Thursday at his annual meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors. “Ten is a fair number.”

Selig said scheduling is the major issue of discussion, including how many games the new wild-card round will be. The two wild cards in each league would meet, and the winners would advance to the following round against division winners.

“The more we’ve talked about it, I think we’re moving inexorably to that,” he said.

Associated Press photo

The Yankees have a rotation problem that could very easily become a bullpen problem.

CC Sabathia is the only Yankees starter to pitch through the seventh inning this season, and he’s done it only once. The Yankees have had four starts last more than six innings, and they’ve had five starts last fewer than five innings. The rotation hasn’t given the Yankees much distance, and that’s meant more work for the bullpen.

Joba Chamberlain has already pitched 10 times. So has Mariano Rivera. An unusual number of off days and a couple of rain outs have let Joe Girardi lean heavily on his top four relievers, but the schedule won’t always be so generous.

“They’re getting their days off, that’s the big thing,” Girardi said. “Eventually when we start playing every day, guys are just going to have to sit. That’s the bottom line. We’re going to have to spread it around, and one of the big keys there is getting some more distance out of our starters, which we have not been able to do early in the year. Hopefully that changes.”

The raw numbers suggest Chamberlain and Rivera are on pace for more than 100 appearances, but in this case, the numbers are deceiving. The Yankees are 22 days into the season. Through the first 22 days last year, Chamberlain pitched nine times (he actually pitched nine times in the first 20 days). According to Baseball Reference, Chamberlain threw 167 pitches through the first 22 days last season. He’s thrown 162 this year.

Because of the days off, the relievers workload is not especially extreme. It’s just not sustainable.

Girardi proved last season that he pays close attention to the workload of his relievers. He actually took heat for being so cautious late last season, and to call him reckless this year seems a little over-the-top. Chamberlain actually laughed out loud at the idea that he’s been overworked and might not be fresh at this point.

“There are very few times where we have this kind of break up as far as many games and then a day off,” he said. “You take advantage of it when you can.”

Right now the Yankees can take advantage, and they have taken advantage.

But the Yankees are scheduled to play the next 17 days in a row. There will be no built-in rest for the next few weeks. The Yankees will need their starters to provide that sort of relief.

Associated Press photo