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.

Monday Evening Injury Update Roundup (UPDATED)

There was a swirling torrent of injuries yesterday.  Here's the latest on all of them from today:

- Via Dan Barbarisi, last night's MRI revealed a Grade II strain of Francisco Cervelli's right hamstring.  He's been put on the DL and is expected to miss at least 4-6 weeks.  Shane Greene was optioned to Triple-A and Austin Romine likely will be called back up to take Cervelli's spot.

- Brian McCann had an x-ray done on his right ring finger after having that HBP ball hit him late in last night's game, and luckily that one came back negative.  He'll be fine.

- Apparently Yangervis Solarte took an inadvertent shot to the man region on that play at first base last night, hence the limp and pained reaction.  Nothing wrong with his groin.  He's good to go.

- Haven't heard anything on Jeter or Roberts, so I'm assuming Jeter is still playing tomorrow.  My guess is that Roberts will not and the Greene send down was to clear another roster spot for his non-40 man replacement.

** UPDATE 8:26 PM- Via Barbarisi again, it's actually John Ryan Murphy getting the call up instead of Romine.  Guess the Yankees really want to see what this kid can do. **

Random Thoughts & Afterthoughts From The First Two Weeks

(Gotta be the early leader for play of the year, no?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

The opening 2 weeks of the 2014 regular season have come and gone, and there's already an abundance of things to talk about in Yankeeland.  The Bombers woke up this morning atop the AL East, albeit as part of a 3-way tie with the Blue Jays and Rays.  Considering all the injury problems they've had to deal with and the slow start the heart of their order got off to, I'm more than happy to see them where they are with a 7-6 record.  The starting pitching has been very good (1st in MLB in IP, 2nd in BB/9, 10th in K/9, tied for 9th in fWAR), the offense is starting to heat up and really hasn't been as horrible as their run total might indicate (.335 team wOBA is 6th best in MLB), and they've gotten just enough from their makeshift bullpen (specifically Kelley, Warren, and Betances) to not have the loss of D-Rob be a total disaster.

While the team rests up and ices down in preparation for their interleague series with the Cubs tomorrow, here are some of my thoughts on what we've seen in the first 2 weeks.

Yanks Limping (Literally) Into Their First Off-Day

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Very often in sports, commentators or writers like to say that something "couldn't have come at a better time" to help a struggling team.  In the Yankees' case, this first scheduled off-day of the year really could not have come at a better time after last night's injury casualties.  If the Yankees had to play a game tonight, it's doubtful they'd have enough healthy bodies to fill out the starting infield.

Game 13 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 BOS 2

(Courtesy of the AP)

It didn't come without some stress and further infield injury problems, but I got the win I wanted last night.  The Yanks took the first series of the season with the Sawx last night, creeping back over .500 in the process and moving into a much needed first scheduled off day of the year.  The finer details of last night's affair can be found in the live blog from last night below.  After the jump, the notable players and their stat lines.

BREAKING: Cervelli Leaves Game With Right Hamstring Injury (UPDATED)

It happened as he tried to beat out a double play at first base in the bottom of the 4th and it immediately didn't look good.  Francisco Cervelli grabbed at his right hamstring and collapsed to the ground after crossing the first base bag, and he just limped off the field and straight into the locker room.  At best, he tweaked the hamstring similarly to how Mark Teixeira did last week.  It looked a lot worse than that though, and the Yankees are really, really short on healthy infielders right now.

Kelly Johnson will probably have to move to 1st base for the rest of this game and Joe might have to play Jeter at short.  This situation gets worse and worse.  More on this story as it comes out.

** UPDATE 8:38 PM- Joe confirmed on the ESPN broadcast that it was a right hamstring injury for Cervelli.  Carlos Beltran has come in to play first base for the first time in his career and Ichiro will go to right field.  Check the live blog below for any more updates. **

Game 13 Yanks-Sawx Live Blog

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

There's been a lot to like from this first Yankees-Red Sox series of the 2014 season.  The Yanks have gotten generally good starting pitching in all 3 games, with only a few bad pitches making CC and Hirok's lines look worse than they actually pitched.  The D-Rob-less bullpen has looked very good, with Dellin Betances and Adam Warren looking more and more like legitimate middle relief weapons.  And the middle of the order is starting to come around now that Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano are hitting consistently and Brian McCann broke out of his early slump with 2 jacks on Saturday.

The perfect capper to this positive series would be a victory tonight to secure the series victory, and that's a perfect situation for the first AB4AR live blog of 2014.  By now you know there won't be any Jeter in tonight's lineup.  Here's how the Yankee will look without him:

1) Brett Gardner- LF
2) Carlos Beltran- RF
3) Jacoby Ellsbury- CF
4) Alfonso Soriano- DH
5) Brian McCann- C
6) Yangervis Solarte- 2B
7) Kelly Johnson- 3B
8) Francisco Cervelli- 1B
9) Dean Anna- SS

SP) Ivan Nova

First pitch is a little over a half hour away.  Live blog goes live after the jump.

Jeter Out Tonight With A Tight Quad

Girardi: Jeter's quad got tight on Friday. Had yesterday off. He's getting today off because of it too. No tests scheduled.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 13, 2014

With a lefty on the mound tonight in Felix Doubront and a day off yesterday afternoon, there was no reason for Derek Jeter to not be in the lineup tonight.   Unless of course, there was something physically wrong with him.  Something was obviously up in that department when the lineup was announced a little over an hour ago and Dean Anna was listed as the starting shortstop again, and sure enough, something related to Jeter's legs is the cause for his absence tonight.

The reports on the quad don't make it sound like a big deal.  No tests are scheduled on it and Joe did tell the media he could use Jeter tonight in a pinch if he had to.  Sounds like more of a precautionary thing than anything else, giving him an extra day of rest when there's an easy opportunity to do so.  Right now, the plan is for Jeter to be back in the lineup on Tuesday.

Nova Needs To Throw Strikes Tonight

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

It's been a tough start to Ivan Nova's 2014 campaign after a pretty good Spring Training.  His pitch plot for his first 2 starts is above and it tells the whole story of his first 2 starts.  He just isn't throwing enough strikes.  He's all over the place with his 4-seamer and his curveball, the 2 pitches that he leans on to be successful, and he can't afford a repeat of his early lack of command against a patient veteran Red Sox lineup tonight.  The fastballs need to be on the corner, the curveballs need to be somewhere near the zone to get hitters thinking about swinging at them.  If Nova can tighten up his command and shrink the spread of that pitch location plot tonight, it'll be a step in the right direction and could give him some positive momentum to build on.

P.S.- Don't forget about the live blog coming later tonight.  It should start sometime around 7:30 PM Eastern/6:30 PM Central.

Game 12 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 BOS 4

(Courtesy of the AP)

Friday night's game was a bummer.  The Yankee one, not the Brewer game that I went to.  CC was cruising along like he was in his prime and then that Grady Sizmore home run went out and it was like somebody pulling the e-brake.  I just wanted a win today.

Game Notes:

- He's not driving in a ton of runs, but Jacoby Ellsbury is making things happen in the 3-hole.  He bunted for a base hit with 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st, and 5 pitches later Carlos Beltran hit a 2-run homer to give the Yanks the lead out of the gate.

- That lead didn't last very long.  A leadoff single and an A.J. Pierzynski 2-run homer to start the 2nd inning and it was tied at 2.  Kuroda missed with a few sinkers, which is never a good sign for him.

- He managed to settle down after the 2nd and his offense picked him up again a few innings later.  Brian McCann finally broke out and clubbed his first Yankee HR to lead off the 4th, and Alfonso Soriano went back-to-back with him for his third of the season.

- McCann struck again in the 6th with his second homer in as many plate appearances, this time with Carlos Beltran on base to make it a 6-2 Yankee lead.

- Kuroda recorded an out in the 7th, but left after walking 2 batters.  Matt Thornton couldn't do the job in relief after K'ing David Ortiz and the Sox got 2 back on an HBP and a 2-run Mike Carp single.

- Not to worry though.  The rest of the 'pen held Boston at bay, Kelly Johnson tacked on an insurance HR in the 8th, and Shawn Kelley bounced back from his last tough outing to get the save.

Teix Says He Could Return Next Sunday

Mark Teixeira says he expects to be activated the first day he's eligible - expects its sunday in tampa
— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) April 12, 2014

 Interesting little tidbit from Teix this morning.  He told reporters he expects to be activated off the DL as soon as he's eligible.  That would be next Sunday, when the Yankees will be in Tampa Bay to take on the Rays, and if that happens then it would be a huge boost to the Yankees.  They've scored 39 runs in their first 11 games, which puts them in the bottom half of the league.  They've got guys playing out of position almost every night to cover for Teix while he's out.  Getting him back in the lineup and back at first base would help settle the constant juggling Joe has to do and lengthen the middle of the order out again.

Nobody else in the organization has confirmed this yet, but Teix did start stretching and working out regularly this past week.  If he can get back to baseball activities early next week and the doctors see nothing wrong with his hammy, there's a strong possibility that his expectation can be met.

That Damn 6th Inning

(Courtesy of the AP)

I obviously didn't get to the recap of last night's game this morning, but there's really only 1 thing you need to know about it and that's the 6th inning.  CC Sabathia was absolutely dominant from the 1st through the 5th and equally so in the 7th.  It was vintage CC, more than good enough to carry an offense that only gave him 1 run of support.  But just like his last time out, it all fell apart for him in the 6th.

It started with a Jonny Gomes leadoff home run on a misplaced 4-seamer.  It continued with a pair of GB singles.  It ended with a Grady Sizemore 3-run shot to right on a misplaced slider.  2 bad pitches to make 1 bad inning and that was that.

Other than the 6th, CC looked great.  He was locating his fastball, his sinker had great movement, and he was getting a ton of swings and misses on his slider.  He looks like a much better pitcher than he was last year, much more comfortable with what he's doing out there.  But these bad innings are absolutely ruining his outings and making his stat line look much worse than it rightfully should be.  It's something CC either has to figure out or it's something we have to learn to live with now that he's reached his mid-30s.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/11/14

Since I blew the Yanks-Sawx ST live blog, I'm thinking it's time to break that seal  for 2014 and make up for it this Sunday night.  Don't mark it on your calendars yet, but be on the lookout for confirmation sometime this weekend.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits rifled through the last 20 years of bad, small sample size offensive seasons to find the 5 worst in team history.  No surprise that 2 of them came from last season.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB pointed out the great job the Yankee rotation has done commanding the strike zone so far.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA put Masahiro Tanaka and his first MLB start under the PITCHf/x microscope to see what it could teach us about his approach going forward.

- Matt Mirro of Yanks Go Yard mused on ways to keep Yangervis Solarte's bat in the lineup when Teix returns.  If he keeps hitting like he has been, that's something Joe will have to figure out.

- On Thursday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Alley proposed the idea of trading Gary Sanchez for a useful Major League piece and looked for some previous trade comparisons to establish a baseline for return value.

- SJK of NoMaas broke down the Yankees' first 9 games to find their strengths, weaknesses, and explanations for the sub-.500 start.

- On Friday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had more on the budding relationship between Brian McCann and the pitching staff.

- El duque of It Is High... commented on the change in John Sterling's HR call agenda and how his calls have started to lose their luster as a result.

This Friday's jam is "Slacken" by Truckfighters.  These dudes couldn't sound more like they're from Cali if they tried, but they're actually Swedish.  They're swinging through Milwaukee in mid-May and I intend to see them when they do.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Examining Derek Jeter's Early Contact Trends

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

For all the concern about how he'd be physically this year coming into spring camp, concern that I admittedly shared, it was a pretty quiet Spring Training for Derek Jeter.  He was on his own schedule, he got into games early enough, he never reported any problems with his ankle or legs, never had any issues really.  He worked at his pace, felt good, and was ready to play when the regular season started.  What was a small concern was how quiet his bat was in ST.  Jeter hit .137/.214/.157 in 51 spring at-bats, striking out 10 times and hitting a ton of groundballs.

Regular season production is what really matters and Jeter's was going to be watched closely regardless of how he hit in the spring simply because he was a shortstop turning 40 and coming off a season lost to injuries.  He's played in 9 of the Yankees' first 10 games and so far that production has been pretty good.  Jeter wakes up today with a .290/.389/.355 slash line, 3 runs scored, 2 doubles, 4 walks, and a .342 wOBA.  After a weak-hitting spring camp, Jeter appears to have found his timing and his early contact rates are encouraging.

Yankees Leading The Early Charge In Pitch Framing

A few days ago, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs posted a very cool piece analyzing each team's early pitch framing success.  Using an existing pitch framing model, he tracked all called pitches for each MLB team to determine how many more or less called strikes they were getting compared to the expected average.  The Yankees topped the list with +25 called strikes, 3 more than the next closest team and 9 more than the 3rd highest team, each of whom had a larger called pitch sample size than the Yankees.

There are plenty of disclaimers that have to be put on this.  Pitch framing is still a relatively new method of analysis and there are a lot of things that aren't factored into Sullivan's study, namely individual differences in strike zones by umpire and the effect that pitchers' command has on final pitch location and the catchers' ability to frame.  Based on those 2 factors, I'd say it's a little premature to start assigning run values to each additional called strike like Sullivan has, but at a high level this study shows that there is value in above-average pitch framing and speaks to the 2-sided skill set it takes to be an above-average team in that department.  Both Francisco Cervelli and Brian McCann rate as above-average framers, McCann decidedly so, and the Yankee pitching staff has a 6.1% BB rate, tied for 4th best in MLB.

When you're commanding the ball in or near the strike zone and have good receivers and framers behind the plate, you should have a very good frame rate like the Yankees do.  Over the course of a season, every additional called strike will add up to something positive for the Yankees in terms of win expectancy and that's always a good thing.

Game 10 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 BOS 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

It was an ugly finish to the season-opening home series.  The Yanks lost 2 in a row to Baltimore, 1 by way of blowout and the other by 9th inning pitching meltdown, fell out of the brief lead they held in the division, and dipped back below .500.  They could have used a series-opening win against the Red Sox as a way to get things going in the right direction again.  They had Michael Pineda and a very short bullpen with no Kelley or Warren, not necessarily an ideal pitching situation against the dangerous Boston lineup.  As it turned it out, it ended up being just dandy.

Game Notes:

- He gave up a few hard hit balls in the 1st, but Pineda settled in nicely and rolled through the Boston lineup the first time through.  Mixing 4-seamers, cutters, and sliders, he didn't allow a single hit and struck out 4 through 3.

- A fielding error to start the bottom of the 4th opened the door for the Yankees, and it was the big hitters in the middle who put a run together.  Carlos Beltran singled through the shift to put runners on the corners and Brian McCann yanked one inside the bag to plate a run.  An Alfonso Soriano GIDP made it 2-0.

- Hand substance or no hand substance.  Pineda was nasty through 6.  He only gave up 2 hits, struck out 3 more, and even started using his changeup a little bit.

- So obviously we all thought Dean Anna was going to hit his first HR of the season before McCann, right?  He did with 1 down in the 5th, starting another 2-run Yankee inning that ended with a Jacoby Ellsbury RBI single.

- Joe let Pineda start the 7th, but he ran out of gas quickly and it showed when he hung a cutter up to Daniel Nava that Nava hit for a solo HR.  1 more hit and it was over for Pineda and on to the bullpen.  Cesar Cabral struck out the 2 batters he faced and handed it over to David Phelps, who cruised through the final 2.1 innings in order to get his first career save.

Plenty Of Intrigue, As Always, To The First Yanks-Sawx Series Of The Season

(Courtesy of whoever did this originally.  Thing is baller)

The best rivalry in baseball heats up again tonight when the Yankees and Red Sox hook up for the first of what will be a 4-game weekend series.  Both teams are 4-5 to start their respective seasons and both teams have some disappointing and unexpected results that put them there.  The Yankees lost 2 of 3 to the Astros and lost the last 2 games at home to the Orioles heading into this series.  The Sawx got swept by the Brewers in their home-opening series.  Needless to say, neither of these teams is off to the start they were hoping for.

What adds to the importance (as important as an early April intra-league series can be) of this series is the vastly different offseasons each of these clubs had.  The Yankees are coming off a high-spending offseason in response to their failure to make the postseason in 2013, part of which included signing former Red Sock Jacoby Ellsbury to a very lucrative 7-year deal.  The Sawx had a relatively quiet offseason, losing more guys than they replaced externally and instead trying to re-up this year through prospects and returning internal young players.  They're still trying to find their footing, but they're also still the 2 big swinging dicks in the AL East, no matter what Tampa Bay has to say about it.  tarting tonight we get our first idea of how much each of them is still swinging...

P.S.- I'm really hoping somebody on the Yankee pitching staff remembers the A-Rod beaning from last year.  Last time I checked, they still owe Boston one for that nonsense.

Keith Law Scouts Double-A Trenton

This is almost a week old and I missed it initially, but Keith Law of ESPN attended the Opening Day game for the Trenton Thunder last week and filed a scouting report on some of the big name prospects playing.   Toronto pitching prospect Aaron Sanchez (not the "Chopped" judge) was the highlight of Law's report, but he also gave his takes on Yankee prospects Bryan Mitchell, Gary Sanchez, and Mason Williams.  The whole article is here and it's an Insider only piece, so here are the highlights for those without Insider access:

- Law isn't a big fan of Mitchell.  He liked his fastball velocity and believes Mitchell's cutter could eventually become his best pitch, but long-term he sees Mitchell as more of a relief prospect based on his lack of fastball movement and curveball command.

- Sanchez looked to be a little too much for Sanchez in 1 AB, but Law thought Sanchez looked pretty good behind the plate considering how often Mitchell was junking curveballs all over the place.

- Williams, despite hitting the ball hard a few times, still isn't showing enough maturity in his approach for Law's liking.  Law described Williams as "too aggressive for his own good" and said this is the year where we need to see some improvement in the finer points of Williams' game to match his tools.

Game 9 Wrap-Up: BAL 5 NYY 4

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It was Tanaka Day for the second time of the 2014 season last night, and the first one ever to be held at Yankee Stadium.  After a rocky early going and a stellar finish to his MLB debut, Masahiro Tanaka took the hill in front of his new hometown fans looking to make a good first impression.  The first first impression may not have been the best one possible, but once again it was the finish to Tanaka's night that was the big story.

Game Notes:

- Tanaka worked around a leadoff double in the top of the 1st.  He wasn't so lucky in the 2nd.  A pair of singles put 2 runners on, and with 2 outs he hung a 1-0 slider that Jonathan Schoop clubbed for a 3-run HR.

- That early sting didn't face the lineup.  They came back with a pair of solo HRs in the bottom half of the inning, the first by Carlos Beltran (his first) and the second by Kelly Johnson (his second).

- Beltran got things started on the tying run in the bottom of the 4th with a leadoff double.  He moved to third on Brian McCann's sac fly and scored on a groundout by Alfonso Soriano to tie the game at 3.

- That early 3 was all the Orioles would get from Tanaka.  He allowed a measly 3 singles in his final 5 innings, striking out 7 batters for a total of 10 on the night and retiring the final 7 he faced in order.  He wasn't quite as sharp as his first start, but he was still very good.

- Unfortunately for him, the D-Rob-less bullpen couldn't repeat their Monday performance.  Thornton and Warren got through the 8th, but Shawn Kelley melted down in the 9th, giving up a leadoff double, 3 straight singles, and a sac fly to score 2 and put the game out of reach.

- The Yanks made it interesting by plating 1 run in the bottom of the 9th.  With a runner on 1st and 1 out, Yangervis Solarte came up and grounded into a heart-breaking game-ending double play.  Sucks.

McCann's Slow Start Could Be Due To Lack Of Selectivity

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Despite spending more than a few bucks to upgrade the offense this past offseason, the Yankees have been slow to see any fruit from their free agent labor.  They've scored 29 runs in their first 8 games, good for 18th in MLB, and their 3 HR are still just enough to keep them out of the basement in that category and tied for 29th.  The biggest reason for this sputtering offensive start is the lack of production from the middle of the order.  Mark Teixeira hit the DL before he even got going, Alfonso Soriano is just now starting to find his stroke after a rusty start, and both Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann are sporting sub-.500 OPS values in 60 combined plate appearances.

Obviously there's going to be improvement from all 4 of these guys as the season progresses, everybody gets settled in, and Teix gets healthy again.  But in looking at McCann's rough start, the roughest of all at .172/.200/.172, there could be a pretty simple explanation and an easy fix.

Infield Woes On Full Display Yesterday

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Question.  What do you get when you combine a 40-year-old shortstop with already severely limited range coming back from a series of various leg injuries, a 36-year-old second baseman who's played in only 29.6% of all regular season games since 2010, a 26-year-old MiL lifer playing third base, and a backup catcher playing first base for the first time since high school?  Why it's yesterday's starting infield, course!

Whether you watched it live or read about it later, you probably already know that yesterday afternoon's game was a disaster.  Ivan Nova and his poor command are mostly to blame for that, but the infield deserves its fair share too.  The argument could be easily made that nobody on that infield deserved to be a Major League starter as his position and yet there the 4 of them were.  On this day, this was the best a team with a near $204 million Opening Day payroll could muster.

What Was Nova's Problem Yesterday?

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

The better question might be what WASN'T his problem yesterday.  That pitch location plot tells the story as simply and as straightforward as any game recap could.  He threw too many fastballs, 2 and 4-seam, up in the zone and then couldn't command his curveball near the zone.  Nova didn't have 1 pitch working for him yesterday and when that's the case and you're missing up in the zone a lot, you're going to get punished.

The good news is that he didn't walk anybody yesterday, though I'm not sure that counts for much when you consider how many hits he gave up and the fact that he walked 5 in his first start.  In 9.1 IP over these first 2 starts, Nova has put 23 men on base.  16 hits, 5 BB, and 2 HBP.  That's way too many of all 3 of those categories and Nova needs to be better than that.  He's had 2 starts with command issues.  Time to see if he really has matured and can make the adjustment next time out to correct them.

Game 8 Wrap-Up: BAL 14 NYY 5

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

I'm not even going to waste my time or yours with an intro to this recap.  This game was ugly.  U-G-L-Y and not an alibi to be found anywhere.  The first true stinker of the season.

Game Notes:

- Ivan Nova was on the hill again and he was even worse than he was in his first start.  He gave up 3 runs in the top of the 1st on 2 singles, 1 of which came on a potential double play ball that turned into a base hit thanks to Derek Jeter's horrible range, and a 2-run bomb by Adam Jones and the O's were off and running.

- A Carlos Beltran RBI double in the bottom of the 1st was negated by a Jonathan Schoop RBI double in the 2nd, and Nova really put the game away in the 4th when he gave up 4 singles in 5 batters and got charged with 3 more runs without finishing the inning.

- The good news from this game is that Alfonso Soriano seems to be coming around.  He led off the bottom of the 4th with a solo home run to make it a 7-2 deficit.  He also doubled in the 9th.

- The rest of the Yankee scoring came in the 4th on another ribbie double for Yangervis Solarte and a groundout by Brett Gardner, and in the 8th on a garbage time solo shot by Kelly Johnson.

- Cesar Cabral came in after Nova, but it was Vidal Nuno who really took one for the team in relief.  He got touched up for 7 more runs on 8 hits and 2 BB in 3.1 innings of work.  At least it gave all the guys from last night a day of rest.

Adam Warren, Shutdown Reliever

Gas face... Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I guess that's what we get for being on the right side of the injury luck coin in Spring Training, huh?  After making it through March almost completely unscathed, the Yankees have now lost 2 key players as a result of last weekend's series in Toronto.  On Friday night, it was Mark Teixeira straining his hamstring and heading to the 15-day DL.  On Sunday night, David Robertson joined him when he strained his groin.  The team officially announced his DL trip yesterday afternoon, creating more stir in an already very new and unsettled bullpen and giving the Yanks another early-season obstacle to overcome.

Tuesday Morning News And Notes: 4/8/14

There was a lot of stuff happening late in the day and early in the night yesterday.  I was a little preoccupied with UConn winning the national championship (again), so I didn't get to all of it.  Here's a quick recap of the big late day stories:

- Obviously the biggest was D-Rob heading to the DL with a Grade I groin strain.  He says he doesn't expect to miss much more time than the 15 days.  Cesar Cabral has been called up to take his place on the active roster.

- The Yanks managed to get something for the recently DFA'd Eduardo Nunez when they traded him to Minnesota for 20-year-old lefty A-ball pitcher Miguel Sulbaran.  Sulbaran is small with what scouts have generally called "average" stuff, so he's no high-ceiling prospect.  But he's a lefty who can start and the Yanks have been good about working with pitchers like that recently.

- The official diagnosis came in on Mark Teixeira's hamstring after a morning MRI and it's also a Grade I.  Teix was hopeful to be out for close to the minimum 15 days as well.  We'll see.