The Day in Tampa

There really wasn't a whole lot of news coming out of Yankees camp today. Brian Cashman did indicate that Marcus Thames have a opt out of his contract if he doesn't make the team so basically him and Jaime Hoffman are in the same position. If Hoffman doesn't make the team he has to be offered back to the Dodgers due to him being a Rule 5 pick. If thames doesn't make it he can become a free agent. Joe Girardi stated that he would have a team bonding exercise on Tuesday but wouldn't say what it was yet. He also said he knows who will start Wednesdays Grapefruit league opener and will announce that tomorrow. Joe Girardi said that he will put both Gardner and Granderson in left and center during the exhibition games. He said he knows they can both handle center but wants to see if they can handle left. Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte will each throw a bullpen on Monday which will be their first one. Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain both threw batting practice today. Hughes threw 29 pitches getting 6 swings. Joba threw 30 pitches and got 7 swings. Chad Jennings of the Journal News said he probably would say Chamberlain had the better commnad. You really can't find out much from these sessions, during the games is when you find out a lot. Joba and Phil are both taking this competition as fun, they are friends and were joking about it today. If you want to hear some audio of them visit the http://yankees.lhblogs.com/ which is the Lohud Yankees Blog by Chad Jennings and Sam Borden. A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez and Wilken De La Rosa all threw bullpens today. The other pitchers who threw live batting practice other then Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes were Boone Logan, Dustin Mosely, Edwar Ramirez and Mark Melancon. The other group consisted of Kei Igawa, Zach McAllister, Ivan Nova, Kevin Whelan, Hector Noesi, Jeremy Bleich and D.J. Mitchell. There was still no sign of Chan Ho Park, maybe he will arrive tomorrow.