The LoHud Yankees Blog

Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Jones RF
Posada DH
Martin C
Gardner LF

Ramiro Pena has arrived.

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

Here’s the announcement from the Yankees.

Earlier today, the Yankees claimed RHP Jess Todd off waivers from Cleveland. Todd previously spent 2011 with Triple-A Columbus, posting an 11.00 ERA in eight games without recording a decision (9.0IP, 18H, 11ER, 6BB, 6K, 2HR). He split 2010 between Cleveland (0-0, 7.50 ERA, 5G, 6.0IP, 9H, 5ER, 3BB, 9K) and Columbus (4-2, 3.31 ERA, 44G, 4SV, 49.0IP, 46H, 20R, 18ER, 18BB, 53K, 6HR). Todd was originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2007 First Year Player Draft.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Yankees designated INF Kevin Russo for assignment.

The Yankees’ 40-man roster stands at 40.

Tonight
RHP Ivan Nova (2-2, 5.14)
vs.
LHP Matt Harrison (3-3, 4.59)
8:05 p.m. ET, YES Network

Saturday
RHP Bartolo Colon (2-1, 3.00)
vs.
LHP Derek Holland (3-1, 4.66)
8:05 p.m. ET, YES Network / MLB Network

Sunday
LHP CC Sabathia (2-2, 2.68)
vs.
RHP Alexi Ogando (3-0, 2.17)
2:05 p.m. ET, YES Network / TBS

This week, I’ve been able to look across the border to see Canada on my way from the ballpark back to my hotel. It was here in the northern part of the country that the Yankees started to go south, losing three games for the first time this season and generally playing sloppy baseball.

“You don’t like losing games like this,” Joe Girardi said. “You don’t. It happens. Sometimes frustration sets in by your players because you’re not getting base hits, or you’re swinging the bat well and you’re not getting base hits and things happen. You’re going to go through this as a club and you got to fight your way out of it. You have to come out and play a good game tomorrow and put these three games behind us.”

The Yankees won the opener of this series, and they had to get through Justin Verlander and Jose Valverde to do it. It might have been a sign of good things to come, instead it was an early peak. They’ve hardly hit since that night, and in the past two games base running mistakes and fielding errors have been costly.

Even when they did get a big hit yesterday, the play ended with Eric Chavez heading for the disabled list.

“There’s no question that this hasn’t been a pretty series for us,” Alex Rodriguez said. “We take a lot of pride in playing good, fundamental baseball. We have not done that the past three or four days. We expect to get back on the saddle starting tomorrow.”

To get back in the saddle, the Yankees are literally going south. They flew out last night, and I’m in the air this morning. Tonight, the Yankees open a weekend series in Texas. It’s time to move on and time to get going.

“We just have too much talent to go through a stretch like this,” Mark Teixeira said. “Hopefully it’s going to be over soon and we can start scoring five, six, seven runs a game again.”

Associated Press photo of Nick Swisher

Ramiro Pena just talked to Donnie Collins after tonight’s Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees game.

Pena confirmed that he has been called back to the big leagues. I have to assume he’ll fly to Dallas in the morning and join the team in time for this weekend series against the Rangers.

It could be that Eduardo Nunez will step into the Eric Chavez role at third base, and Ramiro Pena will step into the Eduardo Nunez role at short. Or maybe the Yankees will stick with Nunez as the No. 2 guy at every infield position, leaving Pena as a defensive replacement for the late innings. Either way, Pena’s role is probably limited.

Based on the numbers and based on conversations with people in the Yankees organization, Eduardo Nunez seemed to take a defensive step forward last season. He’d been touted for his strong arm since he came into the system — Baseball America said it was full 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale — but Nunez battled inconsistency, and even in his breakout 2009 season, he made 33 errors with Double-A Trenton. Last season in Triple-A, he cut that number to 14, 10 of them coming at his natural shortstop position.

This season, he’s already made five errors. He made two this afternoon — one of them costly — and he also made two in his only other start at shortstop this season.

“For Nuney it’s a frustrating day,” Joe Girardi said. “But we believe in this kid, and we don’t believe this is who this kid is. He’s a kid that’s exciting when he’s on the base paths, and he’s shown that he’s got some pop in his bat, and he can do some things offensively. He’s struggling a little bit right now throwing, and it’s something we have to get him through.”

It’s easy to see what the Yankees like about Nunez. He had two hits including an RBI single today. He’s hitting .385 while showing the ability to steal a base off the bench. He has enough range to play anywhere in the infield, and his arm strength is legitimate. Girardi said that strength leaves him little margin for error. If his throw is off, it can be nearly impossible to handle.

Nunez said he feels comfortable, and he doesn’t necessarily think he’s rushing his throws. He’s just not making good throws. “I was thinking, ‘Give me another one,’ so I could catch it and make a good throw,” he said.

Some good perspective came from Alex Rodriguez.

“For one, depth is an issue,” he said. “He could play a little bit more shallow. Once you catch the ball, the runner’s already at first base and it creates a lot of pressure on the throw… You don’t play shortstop with your arm. You don’t play infield with your arm. Arm is just a plus. Infield is only played with your legs. You’ve got to come get the ball, narrow the path and narrow the throw. If you’re throwing 160 feet every time, that’s a lot of pressure. If you make that 135 feet, it makes it a lot easier play. That’s something he’s going to get with time. It’s a little bit complex, what I’m trying to explain.

“I made a lot of the same mistakes.”

Here’s Rodriguez after the game. He started talking about Eric Chavez, then got into Nunez and the series as a whole.

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.

• Girardi indicated no plans of replacing Nunez on the roster. “I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from this kid, but right now he’s in a little funk,” he said.

• Really, it was a pretty good start for A.J. Burnett, with the exception of some pitches that got away from him. Through seven innings, he allowed just three hits and two earned runs, but hit batters, walks and errors — leading to three unearned runs — crushed him and the Yankees. “I start with the walk and the hit batter in the bunt situation,” Burnett said. “You have to get an out right there. The errors, that happens. It’s not like they’re not trying.”

• The pitch that bothered Burnett most was the one that hit Ryan Raburn when Raburn was trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt in the seventh. “I just tried to throw it belt high or a little above, get him to pop it up,” Burnett said. “It just rose out on me.”

• All things considered, Burnett was happy with his outing: “That’s the best I’ve felt out there in a while as far as repeating delivery out of both the windup and the stretch,” he said. “I threw a lot of hooks for strikes, which helped a lot. It’s a tough one to swallow.”

• All four Yankees starters went at least seven innings this series, but the Yankees scored a total of 10 runs, half of them in the opener. “We pitched well,” Mark Teixeira said. “We just didn’t play defense and we didn’t hit when we needed to.”

• Speaking of Teixeira, he said he was stuck between two scenarios on the Nunez throw that went high and let two runners score. “If I jump it’s a run (because the batter will be safe),” Teixeira said. “If I don’t jump, it’s either an out or two runs. Kind of a do-or-die there. I thought maybe I could stretch it and keep my foot on, but I just couldn’t do it.”

• According to the YES Network, the last time Rodriguez was used as a regular-season pinch runner was in 1995 for Tino Martinez. “For Tino?” Rodriguez said. “That makes sense.”

• When Girardi went to third base to check on Eric Chavez, Steve Donohue seemed to be checking Chavez for a long time on the field. It was more or less an act. The Yankees knew Chavez was coming out. “I was trying to get Alex loose,” Girardi said. “I don’t need another third baseman getting hurt.”

• Girardi said Derek Jeter will play tomorrow.

• Usually this sort of thing is meaningless, but today I thought Girardi was right: “We hit bullets all over the place today,” he said. “Sometimes they’re going to be caught. What are you going to do? We hit the ball hard today.”

• Weird moment in the middle of the sixth when a fan jumped into the Yankees dugout while trying to get onto the field. He was subdued immediately by stadium security, handcuffed and taken away. “He jumped on the stairs and was probably trying to go on the field, but when he jumped on the stairs he fell,” Girardi said. “We weren’t far away from him. It kind of shocked us.”

Associated Press photos

Just got a text from Donnie Collins in Scranton.

Ramiro Pena has been pulled from tonight’s Triple-A game in the top of the second inning. Donnie said there’s no explanation for it, which suggests he’ll be the guy coming up for Eric Chavez.

Obviously there’s nothing official, but it seems to be a pretty good sign that Pena’s the guy.

Eric Chavez will go on the disabled list tomorrow after fracturing a bone in his left foot. The Yankees aren’t sure when or how the injury happened. Chavez had tripled to right-center — Don Kelly missed a diving catch and the ball rolled to the fence — and Chavez seemed fine until he rounded second base.

“We didn’t notice it until after he got by second,” Joe Girardi said. “I don’t know if he did it when he hit the bag or if he did it after. I didn’t ask when he did it. I felt bad for him because he’s been through these injuries, and as well as he’s been playing, it’s frustrating.”

Chavez has been a key part of the Yankees bench this season, giving them a powerful left-handed pinch hitter and a legitimate backup for Alex Rodriguez. Chavez was x-rayed in Detroit and caught the first flight back to New York so he can be examined by team doctors. No word yet on how long he’ll be out, but there’s no doubt he’ll go on the disabled list. With Eduardo Nunez able to play third and Nick Swisher able to play first, the Yankees don’t necessarily have to call up a corner infielder.

Of the potential call-up candidates on the 40-man, Ramiro Pena is the most familiar option, but he’s really struggled offensively in Triple-A. Kevin Russo is another versatile option. He’s hit .275/.370/.400 in his past 10 games, but his season numbers aren’t pretty. Outfielder Chris Dickerson has also hit a little better in the past two weeks or so, and Justin Maxwell continues to hit for tremendous power while carrying a low batting average and high on-base percentage. Third baseman Brandon Laird has not hit at all this year.

The name that obviously jumps to mind is spring training superstar Jorge Vazquez, who’s built on the numbers he put up in big league camp and continues to rake in Triple-A. He’s a corner infielder like Chavez — though not nearly as good defensively — and he’s hit .302/.321/.585 with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He leads the team in home runs and RBI. He strikes out a bunch, but he has a boatload of power.

“I’m sure he’s a guy that we’re going to consider because we lost a corner guy and he is a corner guy,” Girardi said. “He’s played first, he’s played third. I know he’s swung the bat well in Triple-A. I haven’t seen the last couple of days what he’s done, but before that he’s swung the bat well so he’s definitely in consideration.”

UPDATE, 5:42 p.m.: Donnie Collins has tonight’s Triple-A lineup, and it offers absolutely no clues to a potential call-up.

Associated Press photo

A.J. Burnett carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, then everything went wrong for the Yankees. Two hits in the sixth cost them the lead, a hit and a two-run error put the Tigers in front in the seventh, and tests eventually revealed a slight fracture in Eric Chavez’s left foot. The 6-3 loss was the Yankees third in a row, the first time they’ve lost three straight this season. Filling in for Derek Jeter, Eduardo Nunez had two hits but also made two errors at shortstop.

Associated Press photo of Nunez. It was the “birthday” of the Tigers’ mascot, so other mascots were here as a kind of birthday party. It was … weird.