Report: Yanks Now Planning To Call Up Murphy And Sizemore (UPDATED)

Hey, so you know that post I wrote earlier this morning about what it meant for the Yankees to call up John Ryan Murphy and Russ Canzler?  Yeah forget all that.  Via Sweeny Murti and confirmed by Dan Barbarisi, the plan has changed to replace Canzler with Scott Sizemore.

Sizemore is hitting .344/.436/.500 in 39 Triple-A PA with 4 XBH, 5 RBI, and 16 Ks.  He's played 5 games at third base for the RailRiders, 2 at second, and been the DH for 3.  Originally expected by some (read: me) to be the Opening Day utility infielder, Sizemore ended up falling out of the competition due to some lingering leg stiffness and lack of ST reps.  He has an opt-out clause in his MiL deal that kicks in on May 1st, so it does make sense for the Yankees to see what they've got in him before then.

Not sure how this will change Joe's plans for the infield for the rest of the week.  I have to assume Kelly Johnson stays at first base now, Sizemore and Solarte will play second and third, and Jeter and Anna will handle short.  Murphy would have given them some more third base insurance, so I kinda would have preferred Canzler, but whatever.  It's hard to pick nits when we're talking about Quad-A guys.

** UPDATE 11:52 AM- Confirmed by the team.  Murphy and Sizemore up, Cervelli to the 60-day DL. **

The Implications Of The Murphy And Canzler Call-Ups

Brian Cashman said tonight that "weather permitting, Russ Canzler will probably get the call up" to join Yankees. Decision isn't final.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 15, 2014

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Bryan Hoch tweeted that out last night, after it was reported that John Ryan Murphy, and not Austin Romine, would get called up to replace Francisco Cervelli as the Major League backup catcher.  It has yet to be reported by any other beat guy or confirmed by the team itself, but I have to imagine this is the decision that will be made.  When the Yankees take the field tonight against the Cubs, they will be back to full strength.  Well, at least in terms of number of healthy bodies on the active roster.  That's better than where they were at on Sunday night.

While these moves provide the obvious benefit of getting the Yanks back to a standard 5-man bench/7-man 'pen roster breakdown and filling in the cracks on their injured infield, it's what's between the lines that is the real story here.  The decisions to call up Murphy and Canzler tell us a little bit about what else might be happening on the roster and in the front office.

What To Expect From Tanaka Tomorrow

(Courtesy of the AP)

Masahiro Tanaka returns to the hill tonight tomorrow for his 3rd Major League start.  His first 2 have been nothing short of impressive.  He's shown good velocity, next-level movement, plus command, competitiveness, and as evidenced by Mike Axisa's post on RAB yesterday, the mind for the game and balls to throw any pitch in any situation.

How he's gone about showing all those things off in 2 games has been fun to watch.  On 4/4 against the Blue Jays, Tanaka threw 97 pitches and managed to throw all 7 of the pitches he knows: 30 sinkers, 24 splitters, 18 sliders, 12 4-seam fastballs, 7 curveballs, 5 cutters, and 1 changeup.  He showed off the whole arsenal to a deep and powerful lineup, got 13 swinging strikes, 8 Ks, and a win.