Joe Girardi wouldn’t order Francisco Cervelli to wear the extra-padded helmet that David Wright made famous, but after hearing a pretty strong suggestion from his manager Cervelli will give the plus-sized headgear a try. With two concussions in the past few months and an estimated 10 head injuries in his life, Cervelli knows he can’t afford to take any chances.

“It’s not about how I look,” Cervelli said. “I’ve got to take care. If it’s for my health, I’ve got to do it.”

That doesn’t mean he likes it. Cervelli admitted he looked in the mirror plenty of times after receiving his new helmet – he originally thought it was a joke when he was called to the trainer’s room to pick it up – and when asked what he thought of the look, Cervelli shrugged. “It’s ugly,” he said.

Still, he’s good-natured about it. Jorge Posada was the first person to call him Gazoo — “What a guy,” Cervelli said, laughing — and Cervelli knows he’ll get plenty of digs from his teammates. As long as he’s playing in the majors, he’ll deal with it. “I just want to be here,” he said. “I can handle it if I’m here.”

(For what it’s worth, I felt the helmet – it’s definitely heavier, but not as much as you might think. The biggest obstacle, I would think, is just that it may throw off the balanced feel of a hitter’s head as he looks out at the pitcher. After a few weeks, I’d imagine that unusual sensation would fade. Cervelli says he won’t wear the helmet behind the plate or on the bases – only at-bat.)

UPDATE, 5:59 p.m.: It just started pouring here at The Boss. I’ll keep you updated on the plan for later as soon as we hear anything.

The Yankees have just handed out new lineups for tonight with Derek Jeter no longer hitting leadoff. There’s no further word on what happened, and the Yankees clubhouse is closed since the team is working out. Just speculation, but there has been a bad cold going around the Yankees clubhouse – it hit Tony Pena, Dave Eiland and Joe Girardi (to a lesser degree) – so perhaps Jeter picked up the bug. As soon as we hear something I’ll update the post.

Here’s the new lineup:

Winn DH
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Thames LF
Hoffmann CF
Pena SS
Corona 2B

UPDATE, 3:53 p.m.: Yankees just announced that Jeter is out with the flu. Apparently the bug is picking up steam.

UPDATE, 4:34 p.m.: Yankees trainers sent Jeter home so he wouldn’t pass on his illness to anyone else, and Girardi said he hopes Jeter will play Saturday. For those wondering, here’s the travel roster for tomorrow’s looooong bus ride to Viera to play the Nationals:

Pitchers: Pettitte, Garcia, Logan, Mitre, Mitchell, Segovia
Catchers: Cervelli, Gil, Montero, Pilittere, Rivera
Infielders: Cano, Corona, Nick Johnson, Laird, Miranda, Nunez, Pena, Russo, Vazquez
Outfielders: Gardner, Curtis, Gorecki, Granderson, Hoffmann, Weber, Winfree, Winn

The bus is supposed to leave at 7:45 a.m. and Girardi said that, with an awful forecast for the east side of Florida, the Yankees expect to hear from the Nationals by 7:30 a.m. if the game will be played. If it isn’t, Pettitte will probably throw a simulated game in Tampa or the Yankees may play an intra-squad game.

In other news, Girardi said that he has encouraged Francisco Cervelli to consider wearing the extra-padded batting helmet that David Wright tried at one point last year. Also, Hal Steinbrenner was in the house today for meetings but Girardi said that wasn’t uncommon.

Here’s Girardi’s audio:

It’s not a particularly pretty day here in Tampa, and the tarp is still down on Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees are scheduled to go through a workout before the game with the Braves tonight at 7, but it sure does feel like thunderstorm weather – thick and windy. I’ll keep you posted on any developments.

If there is baseball tonight, the Yankees will likely see Braves wunderkind Jason Heyward but not, unfortunately, Melky Cabrera (who isn’t on the travel roster. Eric Hinske is, though). Listed as Yankees reserves tonight are, among others, Austin Romine, Jesus Montero, Colin Curtis, Mark Melancon and Dave Robertson.

While you’re waiting for the clouds to clear up, how about taking a look at this video of a piece of the upper deck at old Yankee Stadium coming down? Thanks to reader Jennifer for passing it on. It’s still hard to believe that, sooner than later, that stadium is going to be completely gone.

Yankees vs. Braves

Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Thames LF
Winn DH
Hoffmann CF
Corona 2B

Pitching: A.J. Burnett

Most fans at Steinbrenner Field are there to see – obviously – the Yankees. But there may well be someone else worth watching tonight.

Braves prospect Jason Heyward has gotten more hype than just about anyone this spring, and as far as I can see most of it has been deserved. Did you see this home run he hit the other day? Heyward hurt his back running into the wall on Tuesday and so he missed yesterday’s game, but is expected to travel from Orlando and play tonight.

Could he end up flaming out? Sure. Any prospect could. But this kid sure seems like the real deal and, as Darryl Strawberry said when he saw him, “If he stays focused and plays hard, he will be very special.”

—–

Yankees clubhouse opens around 1:30 p.m. for – weather permitting – tonight’s game. I’ll have the lineup posted as soon as it’s available.

Some of you may have seen the viral video making the rounds on the internet featuring a ridiculous Cuban baseball brawl (involving, I kid you not, two bats). If you haven’t – or even if you have – check out this tidy wrap-up by good buddy Big League Stew, who compiles just what precipitated the entire thing and also embedded the clip.

If you’re like me, watching the clip quickly brings to mine this classic exchange in the movie “Anchorman”:

Ron Burgundy: Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
Champ Kind: It jumped up a notch.
Ron Burgundy: It did, didn’t it?
Brick Tamland: Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart.
Ron Burgundy: I saw that. Brick killed a guy. … Did you throw a trident?
Brick Tamland: Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.
Ron Burgundy (calmly): Brick, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safehouse or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you’re probably wanted for murder.

Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain took their second turns in the fifth-starter derby with mixed results, though Joe Girardi says that stats don’t tell the whole story.

Alex Rodriguez has lawyers working to set up a meeting with federal investigators and A-Rod is looking forward to getting his FBI interview over.

Johnny Damon took A-Rod’s advice and personally reached out to Yankees ownership last winter, but didn’t have Rodriguez’s success. The notebook also has news on Curtis Granderson’s return to Lakeland, Austin Jackson’s new situation and a death in the Yankee family.

• I’ve never quite understood the whole “sign a one-day contract and then retire” thing but that’s what Nomar Garciaparra did today and, according to Johnny Damon, it was a “classy move” by both the Red Sox and Garciaparra. Apparently the wounds from 2004 have healed and, now that he’s retired, we’ll all be seeing Nomar again on ESPN.

When some of us asked Damon which team he would do such a thing with when it came time to retire, he went quiet for a second, then shrugged and said, “I guess my longest tenure is with the Royals – and I haven’t played there in 10 years!”

Amazingly, he’s right – six years in KC, two in Oakland, four in Boston and now four in New York for the well-traveled Johnny.

• Torii Hunter is one of my favorite players – both to watch play and interview – and his overall point about African-American players in baseball is a reasonable one to bring up. It just didn’t come out particularly well, as you can see in this story, and even Hunter knows it.

• Joe Torre is off in Taiwan with part of the Dodgers team so Don Mattingly is the interim manager in Arizona. In an interview this afternoon, Donnie Baseball revealed that the Dodgers have talked with him about eventually becoming Torre’s replacement. Remember when the Yankees were choosing between Mattingly and Joe Girardi? Seems like a long time ago now, doesn’t it?

• Unfortunate situation involving the Rays pitcher David Price today. Seems he was hit on the hand by a shattered maple bat, though he was lucky and will escape needing stitches. “It was more of a scare than anything else,” Price said, according to The AP. “I don’t really remember what happened, to be honest. Tried to make a play on the ball and I guess out of the corner of my eye I saw the bat and just threw my hands up. Could have been a lot worse than what it is right now.”

Joe Maddon said what a lot of people around the game are thinking, likening the maple bat to the Claymore Mine, which was an explosive in use since World War II. Maple bats have shown an incredible propensity toward shattering, and their shards are very, very dangerous. “If we’re going to wait for someone to actually get killed or impaled,” Maddon said, “we’re going to wait way too long. Something has to be done.”

• Finally, Major League Baseball announced PED suspensions for several minor leaguers, including two from the Yankees Dominican Summer League team. Josue Rodriguez and Israel Tolentino will both serve 50-game bans for testing positive.

—-

That’s it for tonight. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting on a long day. Back at it tomorrow, though the clubhouse won’t open until around 1:30 p.m. because it’s a night game. Check in early and often, though, for a few other items before we get to Yankees-Braves.

Say what you want about Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes, but the most interesting thing I saw all afternoon was the catch that Curtis Granderson made on Miguel Cabrera in the fourth inning.

I know that the defensive value of Granderson vs. Brett Gardner is a hot debate, but when Granderson went back – all the way back – to the wall to catch Cabrera’s 410-foot laser, it was something to see. I’ve always been fascinated by the over-the-shoulder catch, mostly because I think it’s amazing that outfielders are able to see the ball, then look away to run, then turn around and find the ball again. Granderson said the keys to the play are getting a good jump and, even more, listening the other outfielders.

On that play, Gardner and Marcus Thames both began by screaming at Granderson to go back – since they’re on an angle, they can see just how deep the ball is hit – and then, as he approached the wall, they both shouted to let him know that he had just enough room to make the catch without worrying about hitting the wall. As it turned out, he finished about one stride away from the fence. Perfect.

“That’s one of those things where everything has to go right,” Granderson said. “It’s a play that’s hard to practice.”

Take a listen to the audio. It’s pretty interesting to hear just what goes into making a grab like that.

That’s it from here. I’m headed back through the traffic to Tampa. Thanks to everyone for reading today.

Joe Girardi has been saying all spring that he’s not going to focus on statistics when it comes time to decide on the fifth starter. There are other things at work, Girardi says, and not all of them are obvious to the average fan. Here’s an example:

Joba Chamberlain has been told work on getting his pitches in on hitters, particularly right-handers. In his meltdown inning this afternoon, Chamberlain tried to come inside to Austin Jackson and watched Jackson hit a single. Then he tried to come in on Ryan Raburn – another single. Then, a few batters later, he tried to come in on Gerald Laird – grand slam to left and his stat line was suddenly disastrous.

Phil Hughes? He’s been told to work on his change-up. While facing Raburn in the fourth inning today, Hughes was in a 1-1 count. Instead of throwing a cutter (which is what he said he might normally do), Hughes threw two change-ups, both of which missed the plate. Now in a 3-and-1 hole, he had to come over with a fastball that Raburn crushed over the left-field fence.

In both cases, the end results are ugly. But in both cases, the Yankees know that their pitchers were following instructions and trying make themselves better in the long run. Talking about Hughes and his change-up, Girardi said, “I think it comes down to, ‘Does he trust what we’re saying?’ And I think he does.”

My personal opinion is that, regardless of whether it’s based on results or something else, Hughes is firmly in the lead for the fifth starter job. I think the Yankees want him to be a starter long-term and, to this point, he hasn’t done anything that would cost him the spot. Either way, the Yankees are looking at both Chamberlain and Hughes as important pieces for their future – which is why they’re paying attention to a lot more than just the final spring training statistics.

—–

If you’re interested in more from Hughes and Chamberlain, check out some of the audio below.

Here’s Hughes:

And here’s Chamberlain: