Mets Vs Nationals

The New York Mets are playing a early game today, they started at 12 noon and the game is on SNY and WFAN radio in New York. Here are some quick notes from this morning. Francisco Rodriguez left the team to be with his family in Venezuela. Omar Minaya said he will be with the team for Opening Day. Minaya confirmed that Reyes will stay behind for extended spring training when the team breaks camp. He said "He will stay here with the extended program. he is coming along very well. We want him for the whole year and feel it's safter for him to stay down in Florida." There is no date for Reyes return right now. Minaya said it is likely that 12 pitchers are on the roster for opening day. Minaya said "I like our team, when you look at our team, with Jose hopefully getting in the mix, teh team as a unit feels good. Underneath the expectation levels, I think we can prove some people wrong."

Yanks Recap and Some Notes

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays this evening by the score of 5-3. Sergio Mitre got the start and looked very good. He pitched 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits with 0 walks and 5 strikeouts. He gave up a 2 run homerun in the 4th inning, that inning his pitches were up but that is a very good outing. Damaso Marte pitched a inning giving up a hit, run and walk. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Boone Logan got the save with a scoreless inning. He allowed a walk and had a strikeout. He is trying to make the team as the second lefty and if Aceves can't go and starts on the DL his chances look pretty good. Derek Jeter was 2-3 tonight with a walk, Nick Johnson was 1-4 with a rbi. Marcus Thames was 1-4 and Alex Rodriguez was 2-3 with a walk. Randy Winn and Ramiro Pena were both 1-4 with a rbi. Francisco Cervelli also had a hit. The Yankees will play the Minnesota Twins tomorrow afternoon at 1 on the yes network. Here are some postgame notes from tonights game: The Yankees assigned Jon Weber and David Winfree to minor league camp after the game. Weber hit 483 this spring and is tied for the team lead with 4 doubles. He was definitely the nice story of camp. He is 32 years old and never made the major leagues. He had this to say "It was the best time in my life, in my career, that I have ever had. I made it to the final week with the New York Yankees." Girardi said he did everything that he could and opened up some eyes. Mark Teixeira was at camp today and reported no swelling of his elbow. That was great news for the Yankees as he got hit hard last night. Alfredo Aceves was also feeling better today and there is a chance he will play catch tomorrow. The decision on if Phil Hughes will start in the minors and come up when they need a 5th starter or just start in the majors is coming soon. Girardi said "We should have that for you shortly. I think we are just about done with that." Joba Chamberlain probably won't pitch in back to back games this spring. The Yankees only have 4 more games.

Mets and Yankees Rained out

The New York Yankees were rained out for a second straight day and the New York Mets were also rained out today. There was no news out of Mets camp but Jose Reyes is still a big topic. Everyone is weighing in if this was because of HGH or not and about the Mets just having bad luck and being a poorly run organization. What do you guys think of the Reyes situation??

• The Yankees after 2 rain outs in a row are going to play split squad games tomorrow. Javier Vazquez will start at home against Baltimore and Alfredo Aceves,Dave Robertson and Royce Ring will pitch in relief of him. Chad Gaudin is going to pitch the road game against the Pirates and Sergio Mitre and Boone Logan are also scheduled to pitch. Zach Segovia and Amaury Sanit will also make the trip.

• Here are some quotes about Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. Pitching coach Dave Eiland said "We're looking for certain things, regardless of what day they pitch,whether they pitch the same day or not." He said it isn't just about the numbers, it is the quality of the pitch. It is working ahead in the count, first pitch strikes, command, stuff, how economical are they?? Are there long at bats? Are the balls hard hit? He said you can go out and pitch a few innings with lasers being hit all over the field but give up no hits or runs, that doesn't mean you made good pitches though.

• Here are the position players making the trip tomorrow: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira,Kevin Russo, Eduardo Nunez,Jorge Vazquez,Nick Swisher,Marcus Thames,Reid Gorecki,Jaime Hoffman,David Winfree,Francisco Cervelli,Jose Gil,Mike Rivera and Austin Romine.

• Curtis Granderson was scheduled to make his first start in left today. Joe Girardi said he did not know if he will be in left tomorrow but knows he will be sharing the outfield with Brett Gardner.

• Cervelli said he felt "nothing" with his head after taking batting practice. He said "We will see tomorrow."

• CC Sabathia is still scheduled to start on Sunday. Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte are making their spring debuts on Tuesday. Chan Ho Park will throw batting practice tomorrow and make his first appearance next week.

• The minor league games start on March 18th and Joe Girardi said that they will send some of the rotation candidates there to get some innings.

Recap of the day in Mets Camp

Jenrry Mejia threw live batting practice today. He was wild but Jerry Manuel was impressed with the natural cut on his fastball. Jon Niese and R.A. Dickey also threw batting practice and according to SNY producer Matt Dunn, Niese was happy to just be throwing again. The team had a media training this morning and Darryl Strawberry, John Franco and Mookie Wilson all spoke during the meeting. The Mets announced their will be a interleague game on Monday and Nelson Figueroa will open the grapefruit league on Tuesday. Arturo Lopez has cleared waivers and will return to camp as a non roster invitee. Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News is reporting the Mets have made an offer to lefty reliever Joe Beimel. Top prospect Ike Davis is drawing a lot of buzz around camp. Jerry Manuel said today he envisions a opening day lineup of Angel Pagan, Luis Castillo,Jose Reyes,Jason Bay, David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Jeff Francouer and Rod Barajas. He said he could flip flop Bay and Wright. He said he thinks Ike Davis would best be served down in the minors. I agree with this you don't want to rush the kid, he is the first baseman of the future, you have to be patient with him and let him develop. He also said he thought Luis Castillo had a good year last year despite the dropped pop up agains the Yankees and expects him to be good this year. To see some video and photos of todays action in Port St. Lucie visit here

Yankee Notes from Tuesday

Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain each threw 40 pitches in their bullpens today. They will throw again on Friday when they throw live batting practice to the position players. Joe Girardi said he didn't see Andy Pettittes bullpen today, he was watching the catchers throw to second. He said the main reason he was there was to see their arm strength but also to tell them not to overdo it. Damaso Marte was sporting an ice pack on his left shoulder today. He still hasn't thrown a bullpen, he said he will next week. He has thrown off flat ground. Boone Logan has decided to go to a changeup as his third pitch, he has been using a splitfinger in recent years but decided to go back to the changeup which has come back to him fairly quickly. Here are the pitchers who threw today Group 1 was Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes,Andy Pettitte and Edwar Ramirez. Group 2 was Kei Igawa,Mark Melancon, Boone Logan and Dustin Mosely. Group 3 was Zach McAllister,Ivan Nova and Kevin Whelan. Group 4 was Jeremy Bleich,Hector Noesi and D.J. Mitchell Derek Jeter will meet with the media tomorrow and Alex Rodriguez on Thursday. Joe Girardi will give his team address tomorrow morning.

Yankees Full Squad Report Day

The New York Yankees full squad had to report to spring training today. Tomorrow is the first official workout but this morning beginning at 7:30AM they took their physicals. Derek Jeter will be addressing the media tomorrow and I am sure the topic will be about his lame duck contract status. Alex Rodriguez will be meeting with the media on Thursday and then next week the games will begin. It really has been camp quiet around the Yankees and it seems like it will stay that way. Alex Rodriguez was a big controversy one year ago and now he is a World Champion and maybe had the best performance of any player in the postseason which no one could of seen coming. I am sure he is going to stick to the same routine of not saying too much and when he does it will be all about the team. He will let his baseball talent do the talking for him. Mark Teixeira did have a little to say this morning. He said that he doesn't see any reason why the Yankees can't defend their title. He also said they could be better then last year and isn't worried about complacency because this is the Yankees and we know we have to win every year. There is audio of him speaking this morning on the Lohud Yankees Blog at http://yankees.lhblogs.com I will be back with more later on today, there should be some news and notes but like I said it has been eerily quiet.

News from around Baseball

The Washington Nationals officially introduced Chien-Ming Wang yesterday. He had an interesting quote and here it is. " I would like to do my best to make a contribution to this teams tradition." What tradition would that be, whatever they do have it isn't good. In other former Yankee news, Hideki Matsui talked to the press from Angels camp and said this " To be honest my knees aren't 100 percent." It looks like Brian Cashman and the Yankees made a good move here. Brian Cashman said in an interview with Nomaas that the reason he chose Marcus Thames and Randy Winn over Reed Johnson was that his 4th outfielder should have a history of playing full seasons. CC Sabathia will be throwing a bullpen today for the first time. I will have some news and notes from Yankees and Mets camp later on today.

New York Yankees first official workout

The New York Yankees completed their first official workout for pitchers and catchers today. It was a quiet day down in Tampa. The only news was that Joe Girardi has decided to lighten the workload of his starting pitchers. This is mainly because they won the World Series and ended it in November which made for a shorter offseason then usual. Joe Girardi said they figured they could ease guys back into it, make sure that they are physically ready for the same type of workload. They have two weeks before they start to play games. Alfredo Aceves, Chad Guadin and Sergio Mitre threw the first bullpen sessions of the spring, they are all competing for the 5th starter spot and bullpen roles. CC Sabathia won't throw his first bullpen until Saturday and he will be in line to start the spring opener on March 3rd followed in order by A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez. Joe Girardi said they will take Posada along slowly although he is feeling good and ready to go. Girardi said ideally he wants him to catch 110-120 games and DH some of the rest. Jorge Posada said whatever days off they want to give him he is fine with it. Bryan Hoch the Yankees beat writer for http://mlb.com said that Joe Girardi talked briefly to the players today. The media wasn't allowed in, he basically said to take it easy, they have 2 weeks before games and stressed communication. He said if you feel anything physically tell the coaches. He stressed I would rather have you miss a couple of days now then a few weeks or months later. There really isn't any other news coming out of Tampa from today, if there is anything later I will be sure to post it but it was a quiet first official day in camp.

Yankees add 5 more to Non Roster Invite List for Spring Training

The New York Yankees added 5 more players to their list of non roster invitees to spring training. The players are infielders Brandon Laird and Jorge Vazquez along with right handed pitchers D.J. Mitchell, Dustin Moseley and Ryan Pope. The Yankees will now have 25 non roster players in camp and bring the total number up to 65. Laird is the younger brother of Tigers catcher Gerald Laird and led the Florida State Leauge in Rbi's last season with 75. He also batted 266 with 13 homeruns. Mitchell is only 22 years old and made his professional debut last season when he went 12-7 with a 2.63 era in 25 appearances in Class A Tampa and Charleston. He made 24 starts and had 124 strikeouts which was second among all yankees minor leaguers. He also was tied for second in wins and fourth in ERA. Moseley came from the Angels where he went 1-0 with a 4.30 era last season. He was on the disabled list in April with right forearm tightness and in August underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left hip. Pope was with Trenton all of last season and went 5-12 with a 4.78 era. He was selected in the third round of the 2007 draft by the Yankees. He is the only player to ever come out of Savannah College of Art and Design. Vazques is 27 years old and was a 10 year veteran of the Mexican League. He signed with the Yankees in December of 2008, he made his Double A Debut last season batting 329 with 13 homeruns and 56 rbi's in 57 games before missing the final 2 months with a left wrist sprain. This information was provided on Yankees.com. The Yankees are going to have a packed house once everyone reports to camp next week, it should be fun as they are coming off a World Championship. It will be interesting to see if any young guys make a name for themselves because with the Yankees the roster is pretty much set but you never know for future trades or at some point if they can help the club with injuries or ineffectiveness.

Baseball is Back-Almost

Today marks the last day of the offseason. Who would of thought we would of made it to spring training and Johnny Damon still doesn't have a team although it appears he and the Tigers are getting closer. The New York Yankees will officially open up spring training tommorrow with pitchers and catchers reporting at 10:00AM, manager Joe Girardi will address the media at 12 Noon. It has changed from years past where all the players really have to do is call and say they are in the area, a lot of the players have been trickling in at the minor league complex since last week. Here are the last few notes from pre spring training and then tommorrow it will be full coverage all day everyday of the Yankees and Mets so please check back often for news and opinion. I hope you will all come here and start debates and talk about different aspects of the season. I am always open to suggestions and opinions and it doesn't matter if you agree with me or not. I can be reached through the comments here or email at gmarchesej@aol.com. I thank everyone for all the support and lets have a great season. The New York Mets don't report until Thursday. Chien-Ming Wang officially signed with the Washington Nationals today, he will have a press conference on Friday. Here are the pre-spring training workout notes from today. CC Sabathia talked to the media today and stated he has only thrown 2 bullpen sessions so far and he usually has thrown 5. He stated he isn't too worried about catching up. He will throw one tomorrow when he reports to camp. He also stated he does plan on taking his teammates to Orlando Magic games during spring training, he already has the tickets so whoever is up for it come see him and he is ready to go. He also talked about being hungry for more and recruiting Lebron James to come play for the New York Knicks. Brett Gardner took batting practice and looked good. Everyone is saying how scruffy he is looking, I can't wait to see him. Derek Jeter, Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena and Curtis Granderson also took batting pratctice. Most of the coaching staff was in attendance. Dave Robertson, A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Javier Vazquez did some throwing. It was a rather cool day in Florida with temps in the 40's and 50's still much better then being here in the snow though.

3 more joining Big League Camp

The Yankees said today that three more minor leaguers will be added to big league camp. Pitchers J.B. Cox,George Kontos,Kanekoa Texeira. J.B. Cox has always been a highly regarded relief prospect and is coming off of some injuries but is still a guy to watch. George Kontos is a guy that the Yanks drafted out of Northwestern a couple of years ago and is a starting pitcher who may be in AAA this year. Texeira was the other guy inclued in the Nick Swisher trade and is another relief guy to add to the mix. It will be interesting to see some of these younger guys especially when the regulars are out to the WBC.