Yankees Saturday notes

Here are the Yankees notes for a Saturday.  Chad Jennings of the Journal news and Lohud Yankees blog has the notes and I as always offer my opinion as well.

One swing was enough to put Mark Teixeira on base three times today. And that made this a good day for the Yankees power-hitting first baseman.

“The one swing I took I hit a line drive up the middle which is positive, and I walked twice,” Teixeira said. “That just means I’m seeing the ball pretty good, and right now it’s really about seeing pitches and having good swings. It’s not about hitting the ball in the air and out of the park. That’s going to come. I felt good about today.”

A lot is written about pitchers working on specific things this early in spring training, but hitters are going through the same thing. They’re still fine tuning their mechanics, working on their timing and trying to see pitches.

“I’m not trying to lift the ball right now,” Teixeira said.

Instead, he was happy with an opposite field single earlier in the week, and today he was happy to hit a ball sharply up the middle for an RBI single. Of course, you know that Teixeira’s going to lay down a bunt against the shift at some point this spring. Twitter will shutdown for at least 20 minutes that day.

 Not sure I’m buying this one, but Randy Levine told Jon Heyman that the Yankees believe they can re-sign both Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano while still staying below the $189-million luxury tax threshold. I think it is possible but don't know if it will happen.  I could see Granderson going and Cano staying long term

Eduardo Nunez took batting practice today, but his right hand was still sore and he’s been shut down again. Joe Girardi said Nunez will probably get a “couple more days” to let the hand heal, but no new tests have been scheduled. Nunez was hit by a pitch on Monday and hasn’t played since.  The Yankees are usually cautious and in this case I would be as well.  It doesn't make sense to rush this guy, he is too valuable off the bench. 

 Girardi on Michael Pineda’s changeup: “He threw some good ones. Got some outs on a couple of them, got some strikes, got back in the count. That’s the purpose of it. We don’t expect it to be as far along as his slider, but it’s nice to have that weapon in his pocket.”

 All of the Yankees came through today’s game with no physical problems. No one to add to the injury list.

 Speaking of injuries, Brian Cashman said today that the Yankees really have no frame of reference to determine how long Dave Robertson might be out with his bruised foot. “Since I’ve been with the Yankees in the late-80s, I don’t recall having bruised metatarsals,” Cashman said. “Although they articulated it as a good thing and he’s going to go through Monday and have the boot off, he’s still a pitcher. He’s a reliever, so you don’t have to stretch him out much, but how long will it take for him to be weight-bearing and pain-free? That’s still a grey area for me, so we have to be extra cautious. It sounds like the time frame is encouraging, but I don’t have a history that my amateur doctor side of experience from prior people can guide me on this one.”

 Really nice bunt single for Brett Gardner today. He also got his first stolen base of the season. Justin Maxwell also stole a bag, meaning Russell Martin no longer has more than half of the Yankees total stolen bases.

 Three Yankees had 2-for-2 days today: Jayson Nix, Jose Gil and top hitting prospect Gary Sanchez. Nix had a double, Sanchez and Gil each had RBIs.

 Alex Rodriguez drove in a couple of runs with a single and a groundout. He has four RBI this spring … Another hit for Zoilo Almonte, though his batting average is down to a pedestrian .500 … Raul Ibanez had another hit today, but he also committed an error when he stumbled going after a ball in right field. David Adams also had an error, but I must have been in the clubhouse when it happened because I didn’t see it.

Cesar Cabral had a really strong outing with a scoreless 1.1 innings including two strikeouts … Pitcher of the day must have been Brett Marshall with two scoreless innings. The young sinkerballer walked two and struck out three … Michael O’Connor and Dan Burawa also threw scoreless innings. Between them, Ryan Pope allowed two runs in the eighth inning.