New York Yankees Saturday spring training notes

Melky Mesa has pulled out of the WBC. He stated today that he made up his mind about a week ago and it is solely because of the opening in left field. I have no idea if he has a legitimate shot at it, but he has looked good early in the spring. 
Phil Hughes will play catch on Sunday. Boone Logan has a sore left elbow but the MRI came back clean. He will rest for a few days and Slade Heathcott has a sprained right thumb. It is a minor injury according to manager Joe Girardi.

The Yankees made their first round of cuts on Saturday. The cuts were Corey Black, Matt Daley, Nick Goody, Shane Greene, Bryan Mitchell, Zach Nuding, Mike O’Brien, Ryan Pope and Kyle Roller.

Nova was looking to throw strikes today and he did that. He said after the game that no one has to tell him to throw strikes that it is obvious. He threw 22 strikes out of 27 pitches today. He has the stuff and was very good two years ago, last year he struggled a little bit. The fifth starter spot is his to lose, he has to show more consistency. He said he has to attack the strike zone and let his teammates do the work in the field, he said he did it today and will continue to try and do it going forward.

Gardner stole his first two bases of the spring today and he had two more hits and is hitting 571 in the spring.

Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano are now leaving for the WBC. There are some other minor league guys also but those are the only two major league players leaving for the classic. The Yankees will have some younger guys getting more chances to impress with them gone. The Yankees competition though is really only in left field. The catchers are going to be Stewart and Francisco Cervelli since neither has an option and they want Austin Romine to have more time at AAA. I don’t know who will be the starter and if they will really have one or just have a platoon behind the plate.